June sat to the left side of Big John, the sun overhead blinding her. It was hot where they were, beads of sweat dripping from her face and hair sticking to the back of her neck as she sat on the small bench. They had transferred boats awhile ago, a river guide taking them to wherever their destination was...El Dorado she assumed. After a conversation between the two of them the night before there was a shaky plan in place, dependent on if they managed to stop somewhere off the river. It wasn't looking too probable at the moment.
There were five of them in the small boat, the guide, a guard with his gun pointed at Big John, Big John himself, June and Singh...the man in charge speaking about the history of the land and the river. June had been tuning him out, she had no interest in hearing what he had to say. She was trying to formulate something to do if their plan didn't work, a plan B of sorts. Her eyes were stuck on the murky waters and it was Big Johns knee hitting hers that pulled her from her thoughts.
"Pizarro. Sir Walter Raleigh. They also came up this river you know, John, hmm?" Junes eyes lifted to Singhs for the first time since they had even stepped onto the boat, but his eyes were stuck to Big John. "And they had the fever, you know, as we do, that set army upon army, and atrocities beyond description. And all of that killing, John, for something only rumored to exist. Something no one ever found. My grandfather, he died on that ship, you know, John? As did many others. All for what, hm? For what? For nothing. They failed."
It was sick to see how poisoned his mind was, how engulfed he was in this quest. He killed for this...for something that he couldn't even be entirely sure existed. Something he just trusted to be there.
"You murdered my friend." Big John said, sounding rather upset about it. June had only a part of the story, a small explanation that Big John had warranted her when they were talking. He pretty much told her what him and John B had been up to since they had gotten back from Barbados. "Why? So your grandfather wouldn't have died in vain over 100 years ago?"
"You didn't even know him." June added, her voice low but still audible. Singhs eyes flickered to her for the first time and he sneered, looking to the guard and making a small gesture with his hand. The guard nodded, quicker than any of them could have expected, the man backhanding June across the face. She let out a surprised cry, Big John starting to reach for her but the guard holding the gun up. She looked up at Singh with a fearful expression and she felt the blood coming from her lip...the previous cut had reopened. Singh leaned forwards and gave her a scolding smile, her blood beginning to boil as he spoke. The shock soon wore off.
"You are not part of this. Keep your mouth shut." Her open mouth instinctively closed and she straightened back up, her hand dropping from her cheek as her fingers trembled. Her head turned to the guard and the gun was on her now, that gun being the only thing keeping her from pushing Singh off the side of the boat. "That is correct. And what about you huh? You had the fever a long time you know. You sacrificed a promising academic career. Yet you went on. Why?"
Big Johns head turned back from June, a contemplative look in his eyes as he pondered his answer to Singhs question. Why had he been so enthralled in the gold? What did it cost him?
"For the kid, I guess. It was something we did together. I didn't care what others thought of me. I just wanted him to know that I...that I wasn't nothing." Junes eyes squinted in the sun and her cheek burned as she soaked his words in, seeing so much of John B in his father at that moment. John B had that mentality, he always had something to prove to the people he cared about. Her eyebrows furrowed and she gulped back the regret of some of what she had said to him earlier, realizing maybe she didn't know everything.
