Jim plunged into the pond legs first, the cool water surrounding him, almost taking his breath away.  Jim pierced through the water at a velocity that he wasn’t prepared for.  Panic set in as he continued to sink a few feet under.  The water was dark, he couldn’t see the surface.  His ability to find his way back to the surface felt impossible.  Knowing he had to find his way or drown, he started glancing around in every direction he could.  He knew how to swim, but without direction, it was hopeless.  Jim felt his clothes tugging behind him, but there was no one there.  It occurred to him a few seconds later that his clothes, nearly weightless, were trying to rise to the surface.  He spun around and swam in that direction.  Jim could feel his oxygen depleting, his eyes weren’t used to being open under water and began stinging.  Jim paddled his arms upward and the water got brighter, the outside world was coming into view.  With one final shove upward, he broke the surface of the water.  Jim took a very big gasp of fresh air.

“Jim, over here!” Sam called, loudly.

Jim spun around and saw Sam on a nearby shoreline, water dripping off of his wet tunic.  Still gasping for air, but achieving control.  Jim managed to swim his way over to the shoreline.  He crawled out of the pond and lay flat on his back, breathing heavily.

“Yeah! Wasn’t that awesome!” Sam continued, cheering.

Awesome wasn’t exactly how Jim would describe it, but it certainly gave him an experience to tell the crew about some day.

“Forgot how to swim too, I take it.” Sam playfully taunted.

Jim just lay there, catching his breath.  Before long, Jim got to his feet slowly.  Sam helped him in this endeavor.  When on his feet, Sam looked at him.

“When the gettin’ gets tough, and a man’s got to make a decision.  Sometimes he has to take a leap of faith to achieve his goal.  You did alright today, fella.  Now whaddya say we get back to my cabin and get prepared for tonight?” Sam said, patting Jim on the back.

“What’s happening tonight?” Jim asked, still kind of dazed.

“We’re gonna see what we’re up against in rescuing your friends.” Sam said.

On the way back to Sam’s cabin, Sam would occasionally point out different things in the forest.  He would point out different plants and trees, stuff that was or was not edible.  He would occasionally have Jim collect some plantlife that ended up smelling very good.  Herbs and spices,  it all grew wild.  They continued down a path that had been walked down before given the bare patches that were just noticeable enough to not get lost, but to anyone else, it wouldn’t mean a thing.  Sam stopped in his tracks.  Jim stopped as well.

“You smell that?” Sam asked, looking to the tops of the trees.

Sam spread his hands out, palm up, moving them slowly around.  Jim could smell something, though it wasn’t unpleasant.

“That smell means we have more rain coming.  We’re at the bottom of the hill still.  We need to start working our way uphill toward the cabin or we’ll never make it with the mud on the ground.” Sam said, matter-of-factly.

Not one to argue with Sam, he followed Sam up the hill.  Little rain droplets began to form.  The sound of these droplets could be heard lightly pelting the forest around them.  Sam and Jim continued up the hill as the sound of the rain droplets intensified.  Jim could, once again, smell the stale smell of lingering smoke.  They were getting closer to the cabin.

By the time they got back, the rain had become a little heavier.  The sound of rumbling thunder was off in the distance.

“Come on and help me out here!” Sam loudly instructed.

Sam pulled a very tightly knit blanket of leaves and sticks, held together by some sort of string material.  Jim grabbed one end of it, Sam grabbed the other, and they draped it over the fire pit.  The rain continued picking up, and the thunder grew louder.  A flash of lighting streaked across the sky.  Sam went back to where he grabbed this blanket from and pulled out four large, sharp, carved branches and a large rock.  He tossed two of them over to Jim as well as a rock.

“Pound these two into the corners, don’t want this tarp blowing away, we won’t be able to cook anything for a couple of days if we don’t secure this thing.” Sam instructed, talking loudly above the continuing thunder and increasing rain.  

The two men managed to get the tarp secured and Sam grabbed a couple of empty buckets.  He placed them both outside the main door to the cabin and grabbed the pails from the previous night and went inside the cabin, waving his arm for Jim to join him.  Jim needed no further invitation and joined Sam inside the cabin.

Sam placed the buckets in the center of the room.  He opened a closet in the rear of the room and pulled out a couple of chairs.  He placed one against a wall near a window and handed Jim the other one.  Sam pulled an object out of his tunic and used it to light the candle on the desk, he then sat in his chair.  Jim placed his own chair between the desk and the front door.  Sam took a deep breath and leaned back against the wall, his face to the ceiling.   

“So, Jim, who's the girl?” Sam asked, relaxation setting in.

“She’s the love of my life.  Her name’s Veronica.  If it wasn’t for her, I probably wouldn’t have taken that leap earlier.” Jim responded, now realizing again how much he missed her.

“I  know.” Sam said, lowering his face to look at Jim.

“Sam, when you look at me, do you see a leader?” Jim asked, genuinely. His head hung low.

“No.” Sam replied.

Jim looked up at him suddenly, a little surprised by his quick response.  Jim already suspected he wasn’t this great leader that he was supposed to be, but it caught him off guard to hear Sam confirm his suspicion with such certainty.

“Not yet, you ain’t.  But you will be, one day.  But that day ain’t today, and the day more ‘n’ likely won’t be tomorrow.” Sam finished his thought. “Do you still have some of those herbs I had you get earlier?” 

Jim reached in his pocket and pulled out a big bundle.  Jim handed the bundle to Sam.  Sam pulled out some very thin, very small bark sheets.  Jim watched curiously as Sam pulled apart the herbs and placed some of them in the bark. Using his fingers, he then rolled them up and licked the bark sealed.

“Do you smoke?” Sam asked, handing the rolled bark to Jim/

“No, thanks.” Jim said simply.

“Suit yourself.” Sam said.

Sam got up and stuck the roll in the flame of the lit candle.  The end of the roll glowed bright red like a cherry.  Sam inhaled deeply, held his breath for a few seconds and let it out.  A big plume of smoke billowed from his mouth and through the window.  The sound of rain and thunder, still very active outside.  Sam sat back down, continuing to puff away.

“Chamomile cigarette.” Sam said, briefly lifting it in the air. “I gave up tobacco a long time ago.  Stole my lungs from me.  I Gave it up and got my lungs back.  This just relaxes me, helps me get tired.  I usually brew it as a tea, but, no fire for that right now.  Tell me more about your friends.” Sam said, still puffing away on his cigarette.

“Well…” Jim said, leaning back in his own chair. “First you’ve got Connor.  Loyal as can be.  He never trusts anyone right away, but it’s not difficult to earn his trust.  Once you do, he’s ready to go to bat for you.  He can be a bit of a hot head, but not hard to talk down.  He’s our technology specialist.  Then you have Lydia.   She’s a real spitfire.  She basically assumes everyone is lying until proven otherwise.  If there’s anyone that’ll give you trouble, it’s her.  She’s our medical expert, and she is also Connor’s romantic partner.”

Sam took another drag of his cigarette.  There wasn’t much left, and he snubbed it out on the window sill.

“Then there’s Veronica.” Jim smiled at the mention of her name leaving his lips. “She’s my everything.  She is my strength and she is my rock. Without her, I probably wouldn’t know what to do with myself, let alone have any desire to press forward with the mission.” Jim spoke, tears beginning to well up in his eyes.

“She’s also your greatest weakness at this moment.” Sam cut in sharply.

Again, Jim didn’t know how to react to this sudden interjection.  All he could do was stare at Sam, searching for answers.

“I can smell the love on ya, you wear it on your sleeve like a badge of honor.  It’s touching, but any enemy you come across will recognize it like a predator does prey.  It’ll be your undoing, and her’s.  I only hope this ‘Connor and Lydia’ were smart enough to not let their love for each other be known.” Sam said, standing up and walking back to the closet.

Sam pulled out a pouch of some kind and a couple of cups.  He walked over to Jim, gave him a cup and opened the pouch.  The pouch had dried, smoked meat inside it.  He gave a little handful to Jim and insisted on Jim trying some.  Jim took a bite and was pleasantly surprised at how good it tasted.  Jim dipped his cup in the pail in front of him and took a good long swig.  Sam did the same and sat back down.  Sam rolled and lit another cigarette.

“Do you know why I did what I did with you today?” Sam asked, dragging on his cigarette.

Jim thought he knew the answer, but allowed Sam to tell him anyway.  He shook his head.

“I needed to know what kind of man you are.  I needed to know if you could handle yourself if trouble came your way.  In this world, you don’t have to go looking for trouble, it’ll find you all on its own.  It’s all a matter of how you handle that trouble when it comes and spits in your face.  I give you a five out of ten on your overall reaction today.  Had you not started fighting back, you’d have failed entirely.  But you did fight back.  You fought back better than I thought you would.  Something woke up inside you today, I could see the fire in your eyes.  You may have finished on top today, but how you start something determines how it needs to be finished.” Sam continued puffing on his cigarette.   Your head may not be in the right place as a leader, this moment, but I guarantee you, you will be ready before you know it.  The real question is, do you think you can handle some recon work?”

Jim knew what he was talking about, and decided that he knew he had to.  If he ever wanted to hold Veronica again, he had to do exactly as Sam said the night before.

“Yes, I believe I can do it.” Jim said, confidently.

Sam sized him up for a moment.

“I do believe you are ready.” Sam said, winking.  “We ain’t leavin’ tonight though.  All the mud outside will make it impossible to cover our tracks.  It’ll get cold tonight, and the ground’ll be solid enough to work to our benefit.  We’ll leave a couple hours before dawn so we can scope out how, when, and who leaves camp as scouts.  If we’re lucky, we can figure out where they have your friends hold up.  I gotta warn you though.  I have no idea what condition your friends are gonna be in.  You’ve got a rage inside you that neither one of us need gettin’ the better of ya when we’re over there.  All I can say is, contain it!  Their lives will probably depend on it.” Sam said, snubbing out his final cigarette.

Sam chewed some smoked meat and took another swig of his water.  Jim did the same.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, nature calls.” Sam announced, before walking out of the cabin and jogging his way through the rain to the outhouse.

When Sam got back, Jim did the same.  After getting back in the cabin, Sam had already laid out both of their bedrolls. 

Jim hadn’t realized how tired he was, all of that physical activity that day really took its toll.  As much as Jim wanted to try and formulate a plan in his own mind about how the next day would go, he knew nothing about the place yet.  He only knew that seeing his friends, regardless of condition, would be the ultimate challenge for him.  Jim looked over at Sam who had already fallen asleep.  Sam snored, but nothing that would drive a person crazy.  Jim turned on his side, away from Sam, and closed his eyes.  He wasn’t sure what time it was, but he knew a couple hours before dawn sounded incredibly early for rising.  The storm outside had slowed to a crawl, and Jim could feel the air getting cooler.  He would have to fall asleep before it got too cold.  The slow and steady sound of rain, coupled with the now distant sounds of thunder would be his lullaby tonight.  Jim drifted off to sleep.