“Where did Hans go?!” I shouted, my words exploding out of me in a deafening yell. I whipped out the kitchen knife I had stashed in my pants, the crude sheath of leaves I had constructed falling away as I charged straight into the heart of the cave, pointing my knife into the darkness. Horror washed over me as I sprinted into the cave, the girls following behind me, hot on my heels. We had left Hans in a shady spot out of the sun’s rays, along with Bernard. Although Bernard had cooperated with us and had given us vital information about the river, we had not trusted him enough to leave him unbound, since he could have raided all our supplies for himself. Leaving him in the cave alone with Hans had clearly been a mistake, even though both of them had been tied up.
Only Bernard remained. Ho
