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    “I don’t know - for your situation and all. I know the sting of poverty too.”
    “Don’t be, it’s my own fault. Gambling’s a horrible addiction and comes at a high price.” She sighed looking at her. “Higher than you know.”
    “I hate to break up the ABC family night special, but what the hell is that?” Josh pointed ahead of them to the large, menacing carved stone pillars jutting out of the ground.
    “They are warnings.” Melanie explained running a hand over the chipped surface of one of the grotesque pillars.
    Jessica pulled out her camera and began taking pictures. “Now this is cool and deserves remembering.”
    Mark walked around the pillars, eyeing the strange beasts carved onto the surface. “What are these creatures?”
    “Demons of the underworld. Many of the tribes did not worship the gods in the sky. They believed they were cast into the shrouded gloom of the jungle’s canopy to hide them from the gods above, as if their very existence was somehow a shameful sin. So they prayed to the gods that shared in their world of darkness and gloom.”
    “Fascinating,” Dustin whispered, examining the stones closely as he walked around them. “Do you know what tribe made these?”
    Melanie inspected the pillars closely. “It is hard to say for certain, there were dozens of tribes that lived in this area, but my guess would be the Tupari.”
    “Who were they meant to warn?” Jessica asked snapping one more picture.
    “Other tribes mostly - this would let them know that the hunting grounds beyond were spoken for and to go further would result in death, capture or all-out war.”
    Mark stared at twisted beast on one of the poles. “For some reason, I think death would have been preferable to capture.”
    “The end result was likely the same either way.”
    “What do you mean?” His brow rose.
    Melanie smiled. “Most of the tribes of old were cannibals and ate the flesh of their enemies, believing it gave them their strength and wisdom. If they didn’t kill you outright, they saved you for later.”
    Dustin used his inhaler nervously. “The tribes still around don’t still practice that do they?”
    “Not openly. “ She smirked. “We should keep going, we have a long way to go and only a few hours of usable light left.”
     
    Dustin woke with an audible yawn and a long stretch. The sun shot spears of light through the canopy above onto their small camp, littering the earth with brilliant shapes. The last lingering wafts of smoke drifted from the dead fire and mingled with the morning.
    He sat up and looked around, everyone was still sleeping contently. He looked down at his watch confused. It was almost ten in the morning; they should have been up and hiking long before now.
    “Guys,” he shook Mark gently, “guys wake up… something’s wrong.”
    Mark groaned as he rolled over rubbing sleep from his eyes. “What is it? It can’t be time to get up already?”
    “It’s almost ten.”
    “What?” Mark sat up, checking his own watch in dismay.
    “Melanie should have woken us by now.” Dustin murmured, waking Jessica and Josh.
    Mark looked across the camp to where Melanie had been sleeping. “A better question would be, where the hell is she?”
    “You’re fucking kidding me!” Josh growled, scrambling out of his sleeping bag and to his feet, searching the camp.
    “I doubt she just left us here.” Jessica told them hopefully, a hidden guilt hitting her as memory of the night before came back to her. “Maybe she just decided to let us sleep and to scout ahead or something.”
    “Then why would she have taken her belongings with her?” Dustin pointed out dourly, noting that nothing of the guide remained.
    “That bitch! I’ll kill her!” Josh screamed, kicking his pack.
    “Calm down Josh, maybe she is coming back, maybe this is just some bad joke…you know to scare us or something.” Mark said but even as he said that words he knew them to be wrong.
    Josh