As the sun rose up the following morning, we had a fast breakfast and we started walking, so we could make the best of the day light.

Birds were singing and no other noises could be heard except for some animal walking on the trees or in the bushes. The forest was getting thicker and thicker and it became soon a kind of jungle. We could see insects of all types and giant trees all around us. The sun was not so strong because a roof of leaves was sheltering us. There were moments in which the water lifted to our knees and moments the soil was so hard we couldn't plant a tent.

Walking around was getting harder and harder, so we made a stop and rested. As we sat, we looked at each other faces and I saw Mike had something that was wrong. He saw the question in my eyes so, he covered his.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"I feel weak" answered the geologist "I've got a high temperature"

"Why didn't you say it before?" shouted the doctor.

"I didn't want to be a burden for all of you , this mission is much more important than my life" Mike said with the tears in his eyes.

"Don't be a fool" cried Ashley helping him to lay down and rest meanwhile John was checking his conditions.

"He's very weak" he said "He need medicaments and a warm place. Scott and Luke go find some dry bushes to make a fire, now!"

As soldiers, we turned around and start looking for wood without even saying a word. We could hear John giving orders to Ashley.

Once we got far from the camp, Luke started complaining

"Can you believe it? All screwed up just for someone too weak to come along without being a weight! I can't stand this!"

I tried to make him reason about the fact we should have helped everybody in need because we were a team, but there was nothing that would have changed his mind. He was so angry, he started waving his machete around and destroying every life form in front of him. Once he calmed down, I saw something in his eyes, some kind of fire burning inside. It scared me.

"Don't you realize the impact that this discovery could have on the entire planet, finding something that could regenerate the body? Don't you understand how this could make us extremely rich and famous? We are one step of it and something ruin everything!" he shouted.

"I understand your worries but we must stick together for the sake of everyone" I replied.

"I don t care about everyone sake. Only the strongest survive, this is not a game, I came here to win this and so I will do it" he answered furiously.

"Ok then let's collect some wood, come back and see what to do" I said, trying to cool him down.

Finally he seemed more calm and he started collecting wood, then we moved toward the camp.

As we arrived, we saw the tent already built and we got inside. Mike was lied down and Ashley was taking care of him with water and some wet clothes around his forehead, while John was checking his bag to find the right medicament.

When the fire lighted up, we cooked something, so the geologist could get some force to move on.

Luke proposed to look around during this time, so it would not be a complete waste of time.

Everybody agreed but nobody could go with him because we were all occupied in something essential, so he went alone even if we tried to persuaded him to change his mind and there was no need to burst things up. He said he could make it alone and just with his sleeping bag and a metallic water bottle, he could proceed and find what we came there for.

That night, after taking care of Mike, who felt asleep with high temperature, Ashley, John and I stood around a tiny fire almost without talking, our faces were long and we didn't feel motivated for the mission we had just started.

The geologist was not getting better and the sky was getting cloudy.

We spend that day and the following one doing almost nothing because it was pouring badly and we wondered about Luke if he was good and how he could manage to survive out there on his own.

"Would you have guessed this rain?" said Ashley.

"The forecast about this area was sunny and hot"

"Being close to the tropic, it's normal that the weather changes easily" answered John with an encouraging smile. I was staring at the top of the tent and watching the drops tracing patterns on the outside of our plastic roof.

"What are you thinking about?" asked Ashley.

"My past and future" I answered without looking at her.

"Sometimes it happens, I get meditative"

Even though everything was falling apart, the doctor kept smiling and Ashley was relaxed, while Mike was still sleeping. I couldn't understand how they could be so fine and not worried while we could finish our food and it was pouring badly outside.

John asked me:

"Everything's alright Scott?"

"I can't get the way you are so relaxed while everything around is so going badly" I answered in a angry way.

"Worrying is like praying for something you don't want to happen, just chill out Scott" said Ashley.

"In this moment we're taking care of Mike while Luke went looking for a new place, we need to relax if not we won't be able to go on with the mission"

After this explanation, I got the message and I started to enjoy the calm ambient, the peace and the doing nothing. All the daylong I wrote some poetry, played cards and told some stories.

We started talking about our views and our beliefs. John was a believer while Ashley was a free thinker, so she didn't want to submit to some kind of God she had never seen. She was very practical and with a scientific mind set. Even John got that mentality but he had left some space for miracles and magic.

I was moderate, I didn't have a special opinion, I loved to think my way things through and I was open to every new point of view without being affected by it. I could see the point of every argument and understand deeply the behavior of everyone, but I didn't care about was right or wrong, good or bad. All I cared about was to understand how things worked to describe them, to find a golden rule. As a writer, I needed full access to everybody point of view. I was there to learn and when you just say what you know, you're only repeating, but if you listen, you may learn something new.

In that moment Ashley and John were having an argument.

Like two chess players, they knew each other and moved their pieces not to cry checkmate, but to see when the tired opponent would make the wrong move and gain a turn to get an advantage that may let him or her to victory. They were both skillful players who knew well their weak spots and how to protect their king. I was having fun listening to them because they forgot that, at the end of the game, no matter if you win or lose, all the pieces return in the same box.

"I told you a million times" said John.

"You can't see a miracle if you are not looking right. You need to understand what to see and how"

"Rubbish!" replied Ashley.

"I know exactly what I am doing. I have perfect eyesight and I am planning everything step by step without the help of anyone. I can do this on my own" she replied.

"You have your life planned so thick like this forest that you won't let the sun come in and you forgot how the heat on the leaves feels like. You believe you can do this alone but inside you desperately need help" John said calmly. He did it on purpose because he knew that there is no better way than instigate someone and make him lose his temper without a sign of reaction to what he says.

"Help? From whom?" she said angered. She had eaten the bait and the conversation started to heat on.

"You are telling me to believe some dogmas hundred years old that are imposed by some who don't follow their example or fool people to get richer and richer with beautiful lies? I won't! There is the need to tell people that they have the power to change things by their own without listening to what others say. People are threatened by an illusionary fear that hold them to be just human. They should be aspiring to more" She cried.

"I agree with what you say, but you need to detach from the plans of the world, his comfort zone and start looking for something that is held by the hands of someone bigger than yourself. Only then you can experience light in his purest form" he said.

After two days spent this way, the heavy rain finally stopped.

Mike finally got better and we could start again to walk forward. Nobody knew what happened to Luke and if he got saved from the heavy rain. All the environment prepared for it bent and changed as the water wished, but it was hard to say if our biologist made it through the rough weather.

"First of all, we should track Luke" said Ashley.

"He's fundamental for our researches"

"That's a good idea dear" replied John.

"But there's no way to know where he is, so let's trail a new way. Scott which way should we go following your map?"

Around me the landscape was different and I didn't recall anything from before, so I took off my rucksack and checked my writings.

"No! We can't leave someone behind!" cried Ashley.

"I can track any kind of animal in the forest, an human would be easier even with all this water!"

"Ok calm down Ashley" said Mike, putting his glasses on his nose from his pocket.

"We should vote because, remember the mission, we have should be our top priority but it's also unfair to leave someone in the wilderness"

"Ashley be reasonable" said John kindly.

"Think about everything, don't take it personally, don't let your judgment cloud our way"

Ashley crossed the arms and turned her head angered. The situation became hot so I proposed:

"We should stick together without any fight so let's decide with a coin, what do you think?"

Ashley turned my way and screamed.

"Let's decide on Luke's life with the toss of a coin of course, then what? this is madness!"

I knew the consequences would have been harsh but I knew what I was doing, having a loaded lucky coin in my pocket. John said:

"For the sake of the mission we shouldn't argue, so the coin would be a way to accept everyone fate, let's do it"

Mike nodded and Ashley was always more furious.

"Ok here's the coin" I said taking the silver coin from my pocket.

"Head Luke rescue, tail the mission first"

As I finished to say this, a metallic sound took everyone attention.

As I stopped, the coin fall and I asked Mike to check the result. "Head" He said in a solemn way.

"Ashley lead us to Luke" he added with a smile. I winked to her, who passed next to me without even looking at me.