"Doctor Thornton, I did not sign up for this trip only to be stranded in the middle of nowhere." Emily's freckled face was bright red, but whether from sunburn or anger he could not tell.
"Wait, what are you talking about? We're not stranded." The psychological toll this place took on travelers sometimes caused a person to crack. He hoped this was not the case with Emily, who, despite having a face and body that screamed 'delicate flower,' had been a trooper up to this point.
"Victor is gone." Her voice trembled as she spoke and she looked like she was on the verge of tears. "He said he was going to hike back to the lagoon, take one of the boats, and go home."
The news struck Thomas like a punch to the gut. If their guide was gone, that left him alone to get three students back to civilization. He supposed he could do it, but this meant the expedition was over. Damn. Another day or two might have done it. With serious effort, he regained his composure. Under the circumstances, it would not do to appear rattled in front of the others.
"But we still have the other boat, so we aren't stranded." He stared through the trees in the direction of the lagoon, as if his eyes could penetrate the miles of tangled greenery and see their remaining boat, their only path back to civilization, waiting there beside its dark waters. "But why did Victor just up and leave? Did he say anything?"
Emily gave Derek a look that said, "I told you so," and Derek nodded.
"I think it's been coming on for a few days, Professor," Denesh said. "He didn't like it here, and kept telling us it was a bad place and that we should not stay. He knew it would do no good to say anything to you, though. You were so focused on whatever it is you're still doing out here." He held his hands out to his sides in a gesture of confusion. "I do think Victor was on to something, though. There's a wrongness about this place, and it's got us all spooked."
"Superstitious nonsense." Thomas was embarrassed that he had been so focused on his search that he had failed to notice that one of his team was on the verge of abandoning the group. "He got into your heads, that's all. He fed you tales about spooky stuff, and it took root in your psyche. Don't let it control you."
"It's not just that, Professor," Derek said. "I had to kill an opossum today."
"Chestnut-striped," Emily chimed in, proving she had been paying attention to her field guide.
"An opossum," Thomas repeated, unable to keep the disbelief from his voice. He could not begin to fathom where Derek was headed with this.
"I know how it sounds," Derek protested. "You had to be there, I suppose, but it's not just that I killed it. I had to kill it. It came marching into camp in the middle of the day, which is strange enough in itself, and it went straight for our food. It ignored me when I tried to shoo it away. Then I kicked it and it…" He swallowed hard. "It attacked me. Turned on me, made this crazy noise, and sprang up like a mountain lion or something. It tore up my pants leg, but I got hold of it by the tail before it could bite me. Even then, it kept snarling at me."
"An opossum snarled at you." Thomas didn't get it. Perhaps this was all just an elaborate ruse to get him to pack up and leave. Or maybe it was a joke.
"It was a snarl," Emily added. "It sounded like a ferocious predator."
"I flung it across the camp and it smashed into that tree over there." Derek nodded at a kapok tree with a trunk nearly ten feet in diameter. "It should have crawled away, but it got up and came right at me again. I kicked it away and it still kept on coming at me. Finally, I had to stomp it to death." Derek's eyes fell, clearly upset by the memory.
"So you had an encounter with a rabid opossum and now you believe Victor's stories about the bogeyman. I'm disappointed in you."
"It was not rabid." Frustration was now clear in Derek's every word. "You don't understand. It didn't appear crazed at all. Its actions were purposeful, and, I don't know, it was almost as if it thought it was a giant predator and I was the small animal in its way. It never seemed the least bit frightened, or even wary, just determined. It was like there was no question of it doing what it wanted to do, and I could pose no threat to it in any way."
"I work at a vet's office every summer," Emily added. "Even in the early stages of rabies, if an animal goes into the aggressive state, it's accompanied by other symptoms, like disorientation, trembling, loss of muscle coordination. I saw none of that. That animal was different. We kept the body if you would like to look at it."
They led him to the spot where the opossum lay. Thomas took his time examining the disfigured remains of the small mammal, though, in truth, he doubted he would recognize even the late-stage signs of rabies. He kept his features calm, letting the silence and his own serenity settle the nerves of his upset students. Finally, he gave a diagnosis of "perhaps" and rose to his feet.