An intense sun beat down upon the prison compound, bringing fourth multitudinous odors. Rotting food, rotting flesh, sewage. A foul place to be sure. There was one long low brick building that dominated the compound, and a smaller, much nicer building closer to the high brick wall that surrounded the entire encampment. The first building was the prison its self, the nicer building was the guard house. The jail had small barred windows to let in a modicum of sunlight and fresh air, such as it was. One could only imagine the stench within the cells. Outside the guardhouse, two uniformed men sat in wooden chairs, their heads bent down to provide them more shade from the bill of their hats. One slept, evidenced by his sonorous snoring. The other was awake, but swigging from a half gone bottle of Tequila. Outside the walls, vendors selling everything from fresh fruit to cooked food walked about or set up folding tables to sell their wares. These vendors cried out to all who passed to sample their wares, to buy something, anything. An elderly woman paced back and forth calling to the guards to buy her fresh fruit. She hobbled with a terrible limp, and seemed unduly burdened by the basket of fruits she held. The drunk guard came up to buy some of her offerings. She asked him "Quanto?" How many? He held up one finger and replied, "Uno." The old woman shook her head, "No, no, quanto?" pointing to the guard at the gate, the one in the chair and made a motion with her finger to indicate she wanted to know how many men were there. He grunted, "Neueve." he replied. She encouraged him to go get them, to see if they too wanted some, but he refused and she grudgingly sold him the selected produce. The old woman hobbled away, loudly cursing the guard for not getting his cohorts to come buy her goods. He dismissed her words with a wave of his hand and bit into his treat. As she passed from the sight lines of the mock village, and the prison, her posture straightened and she walked upright, and quickly, without a limp. A few moments walk into the jungle found her in a clean, well kept, well camouflaged camp. She dropped the bag of native fruits to the ground gently, as not to bruise them, and flung off her kerchief, and pulled the rubber mask from her face. Rock came out of the tent.

"Any trouble?"

She continued to remove the layers of clothing she wore, and removed the padding from her waist.

"Nope. And the fat drunk one told me there were nine of them there. If this doesn't change, and I don't think it will, this should be a piece of cake. There is barbed wire on top of the wall, but I may be able to get in another way as well. If they are this lacksidasical about a fruit seller, they may be more so for a pretty senorita!" She smiled despite the sweat trickling down her flushed face. Rock frowned at this idea. He didn't like her way of subterfuge. He much preferred to just go in shooting. He decided telling her no outright would be a bad idea, Lily didn't care much for ultimatums. It just made her more determined to do it her own way. He changed the subject.

"You know, I found a river nearby, shallow, sandy bottomed. Wanna go get freshened up?" Lily nearly sagged with gratitude. It sounded very good to her right now.

"Yes! You will take me there now?" He laughed at both the desperate tone of her voice and the strange accented way she said this.

"You have been speaking Spanish too-a much today. You are getting an accent!"

"Hey,' she replied, Œwhatever it takes." He ducked into the tent to retrieve a small bag of personal things and grabbed up his Machete.

"Let's go, senorita!" He led the way to the river, and as promised it seemed very clear and free of local fauna. Probably not flora though, Lily thought, and made a concerted effort not to drink the water, nor soak in it long. She still wore a bra and panties, in case they needed to move suddenly, but it didn't hinder her pleasure at the cool water, or the soap so thoughtfully provided by Rock. He sat on a large rock at the river's edge and watched her. His blood pressure rose a few notches, he could feel his own pulse in several points in his body, and it was all he could do not to go to her now, wet and soapy. He knew her skin would be hot to touch beneath the cool water, and slippery all over, perfect for exploring hands. He managed to restrain himself, but dipped his bandana in the water and wrung it out over his head. That helped a little bit, but he needed her to finish, and it wouldn't hurt if she didn't moan every time she poured water over her burning flesh. He grew impatient and got up to stalk about, randomly whacking things with his machete. Lily noticed this and smiled inwardly. I think my bath is over. She squeezed the water from her hair, and wiped her face with her hands and sighed. She came out of the river and found her shoes and a towel, the latter she wrapped around her hips, leaving her wet breasts, held up like a shelf by her bra, to air dry. Rock stopped pacing when she came out of the river and now stood staring like a school boy. The water clinging to her skin in droplets captured his attention, and his mouth was open slightly. Lily saw this and couldn't help herself but to come to him, taking his face in her hands and kissing him full on the lips.

"Thank you. I really needed that." She dropped her hands to her hips and as he just stood there, she smiled and asked him,

"Well?" His restraint was all but shredded at this point, and he could not trust himself to speak. God how he wanted this woman. He wanted to press her down in the soft moss on the riverbank and touch and kiss and lick every inch of her. He wanted to get in the water with her and soap them both up until they couldn't hold onto each other anymore. He regained a modicum of control and turned without speaking to the path they had come and lead the way back to camp. An unfortunate iguana scurried into their path and Rock whacked it's head off with the machete. He immediately felt bad, but Lily was elated. She squealed and scooped the four feet of lizard off the ground by the thick root of it's tail and let the blood pour out . Rock was looking at her strangely, and she noticed his confusion and repulsion, and said quietly,

"They taste good cooked." Rock suddenly laughed out loud, his tension relieved. He smiled at Lily. His Lily. Wet, half naked, holding a headless iguana, with the idea that they would eat it. She smiled back. A sweet smile of understanding, and they walked side by side back to the camp. Lily went to find some dry clothing while Rock got a fire started and made an impromptu spit, to roast the little beast on. Lily came out thankfully garbed in a t-shirt and knee length cut off jeans. She did a little exploring of the area and was able to find some wild carrots, which she dug up with a sharpened stick, some wild onions and a little coltsfoot, an herb which mimicked salt. A patch of clover and daylily bulbs were a lucky find and she brought all of these back to the camp. She washed the vegetables, and wrapped them in some foil they had brought, seasoning the carrots and bulbs with the onion and coltsfoot. She placed this packet on the coals to cook along with the iguana, that was just now starting to crisp up. The sun had almost set, it was merely a glow behind the canopy of leaves now, and the camp was lit by firelight. Neither of them spoke. They knew that soon, they would be breaking camp and going to rescue Daniel and his team. Lily was both elated, and strangely disappointed. She wished things could have been different, but then, she thought, that it was unrealistic to think these things. Unproductive. They divided up the iguana and the vegetables, eating quietly, and somewhat morosely. No one appreciated the crisp skin on the Iguana, the tender veggies. No one spoke to break the tension. Lily was lost deep in thought, caught by the mesmerizing flames. The last time she had been with Rock was much the same. Survival moment to moment. She didn't know that she wanted this all the time. Maybe it would be different, her mind offered. No. Lily shook her head at these thoughts. His life would never be the stable haven she craved. All her life she wished to slow down, to enjoy, to not have to "survive". But she always ended up working on survival. It was her business. It was what she did. She really thought about chucking it all again. What would be lost? Nothing. Except the uncertainty of her day to day. It was what made her love Daniel so much. He was such a steady person. He had steady beliefs, steady employment. Plans. Aspirations. Rock only had danger and risk to offer her. Lust, pleasures of the flesh. No real commitment was possible with a man who would likely die the next time he went to work. Granted, he wasn't dead yet. Testimony to his prowess, but...Lily wanted more. Much more. It saddened her and she stared into the fire lost in these thoughts. Would either man be enough for her? Was she too much for any one man? Maybe she shouldn't wish for the lives of the regular people. Her life wasn't regular. Would it ever be? Did she want that? So many questions without answers. She finished her meal and turned in, restless in her sleeping bag, hot and cold at the same time, feeling lost in the universe. Would her prince ever come? Had he come already and she just didn't recognize him? Hard telling. WIth the tree frogs croaking their songs, she fell asleep, just wishing, for once, she could wake up with the man she loved and not have to get up and run away. Maybe it was her lot in life to be lost. She finally gave over to sleep, in anticipation of the day ahead.

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