The Amazon’s Lily

The Amazon’s Lily
Rebecca Stark
The troops were moving further away from the coast, feet dragging through the mosaic of tall grass. They were under the cover of the stars, their cameo uniform blending into the surrounding as they were becoming just another shadow in the trees.
“Hurry up. Hike! Come on, men!” Dr. Tony Jenkins was in the lead as they hit the first barrier of trees. He slashed out with his machete, beads of sweat coursing down his stern face. There expedition would last a week in total, they were to get in, get out. All they needed was a picture and a small sample of the, rare flower of the Amazon, which sat hidden within the thicket of the forest.
They had been traveling approximately twelve hours up river, and the heat extinguished during this summer was unremorseful and would sure to bring heavy showers soon. Camp would be set up inland, twenty yards from the river. During the night many animals like to hunt close by so they forted their tents among tees closely clustered together and a fire would be burn throughout the night to ward off any straggling critters from getting to close. Watches would be assigned in pairs, first up was Daniel Newton bio specialist form Cambridge University and Kimiko Yang Grant Director for environmental protection.
Kimiko, “So we meet again Mr. Newton.”
“Oh, have we met before? I don’t think I recall,” his smiled was illuminated by the fire licking at the bugs that swooped to near.
“Maybe you recall the coat closet…I still have that wine stain on my pocket, you know.”
“Yeah…I’m sorry about that.” He ran a hand through the thickness of his black hair.
“Don’t worry about it, my ex gave it to me, never like the thing anyways.”
“That’s a shame it looked good on you.”
She just laughed, taking a drink of water from her canteen.
There voices grew silent in the blackness continuous echoing admitted by the Amazon.
“It’s scary…” Kimiko turned her attention back on Daniel, “ to be out here like this.”
“Yeah…but I always dreamed of an adventure like this, to have a chance to put myself into situations only epic characters can really conquer.”
“Why aren’t you a Hypochondriac.”
Their laughter mingled with the white noise then went silent once more. Their shift ended two hours later, and they retreated back to their individual tents.
Sure enough morning showers were brutal, and the crew had to pack things up in a hurry, before their camp site got flooded. They were maybe uncomfortable in their sodden clothes but once the humidity catches them, it was seem like hell had unburied it’s self.
Kimiko, tied the useless mess of hair into a pony tail slinging her gear onto her back. They were ready to move on to higher ground, they were still really close to the river so the area would soon be flooded with water, if they didn’t move forward now.
Jenkin took the lead again, today they were aiming to make it thirty miles in land towards the heart, this way it would take just another day to get to the flower and then an additional two days to get back to town, and then home.
The Amazon Rain forest is green, and this green takes up 1.2 billion acres, hosting 2.5 million insect and over 2000 different bird and animal species, and a 4,000 long river snaking through this vast territory.