Night fell, it was freezing. Cal had gone to fetch some wood and made a fire. We all sat round the fire.
"Sidney, can I see you for a moment?" Cal asked
Before I could respond, he pulled me with him far away from them.
"What are we here for? It is cold out here."
"How would you feel about being heated up naturally?"
I smiled shyly. Instantly, I felt goosebumps all over my body.
He kissed me. The coolness of his lips against mine made me go crazy. His hands slipped down to my ass, he squeezed it and I regretted ever wearing that uniform because it was taking time to come off.
The early morning birds' melodies woke me up. I realized I was naked, lying on Cal's chest. I was embarrassed.
"Good morning beautiful"
I closed my eyes tightly.
"You don't need to be embarrassed, we are even."
"I just can't believe we did this amidst our situation."
He kissed my forehead. "What are we going to do about Jake?"
"Just tell him the truth."
He was quiet.
"What are we going to do about Vera?"
"We're going to find her."
Suddenly, we heard a scream.
I stood up. While Cal smiled at my nude body.
"Pervert!!!"
"Hahaha." He looked around, "If anyone sees you naked, I am going to pay half of your bride price"
I ignored him and dressed up. Surprisingly, he dressed up before me. We ran toward the direction we heard the noise.
*******
We saw a white man with a knife; he was pointing the knife at Vera.
"What are you guys doing in my territory!"
"Sir, please, calm down!"
"Don't tell me f*ck!" he yelled.
"I am sorry, but we are lost, we don't mean to invade your privacy."
"How'd ya expect me ta believe dah"
"We had an accident and fell off the cliff."
"That has always been the excuse; this is the fifth time now. You do not look like Americans"
"No, we are Nigerians"
"I'm going to call the police!" he yelled. "Get out of my property, you fraudsters! That is your way out!" He pointed in a direction.
"Fraudsters" I was boiling.
Cal gave me a sign to keep quiet. "Thank you. We are just going to go call the rest of us and leave"
"They are more fraudsters?"
Cal just glared at him, he gestured at us as we walked away from the man. Vera was limping and her face was so pale, as if she stayed in the water longer than we did.
"I thought I would die." Vera welled up.
"You are alright now, don't worry."
She hugged Cal and started crying. Then she looked at me and gave me a look that I found really offensive. Assh*le! We walked to where Elena and the rest were, we told them everything as we left the man's territory.
"So, where are we going to?" I asked Cal.
"The camp."
"So we are going to trek to the camp?"
"What else will we do?"
"We don't even know the way!"
"We will ask for the way to Atlanta. That's where the camp is set"
There was a woman ahead of us, Cal walked to her.
"Ma'am, please, can you tell us how to get to Atlanta from here?"
"Hahaha! That is miles away from here. Are you guys Africans?" she said looking at the rest of us.
"Yes ma'am."
She looked as if she wanted to help, but she was scared, "You can just get to the police station at the next stop, they would help you" she said as she walked away.
We watched her leave then, she turned back and looked at us, standing and looking at her pathetically. She came back.
"You all look really pathetic. Can I trust you guys?"
"We promise not to do anything stupid."
"Okay, I could help you get to Atlanta. My husband would be leaving for Atlanta in a few minutes. You could join him. He has a trunk"
We were so excited.
*
"Meet my husband, Philip, Philip meet my new African friends"
"Nice to meet you all, I have been expecting you all. Just a minute." The man took his wife to a corner and started whispering to her.
We all waited wondering what they were talking about and in a few minutes, they were done.
"Let's go, thank my wife, and don't thank me."
We all randomly said our thank-you as we hopped on his trunk and were on our way to Atlanta.
Cal knew the way from the junction the man stopped us. He led the way until we got to where we set the camp. It was about 50 minutes walk
********