***

Tina’s POV

Jodi stood up suddenly and when Tina felt the boat rock she lowered the camera and held onto Jodi’s arm for balance. She felt Jodi take hold of her and for a split second was grateful to have the strong arms about her. She expected to be pulled in only to find herself being pushed out a few seconds later landing in the tepid murky water. Even though she couldn’t swim and wasn’t wearing a life-jacket she instinctively waded in the water trying to make her way back to the boat. In those first few seconds she expected that either Jodi or Kelly would jump in to save her or at the very least extend a paddle for her to grab onto while they pulled her in but no such attempts were made.

The two people that she loved most in the world just stood by watching her struggle. As she tried to keep her head above water she kept her eyes focused on them. She saw a look on Kelly’s face that resembled fear. She saw Kelly attempt to reach back to get what she hoped was the rifle from the floor of the boat but then the move was aborted with a look from Jodi and a slight negative nod of her head. Seconds later Tina felt the extreme pain as the sharp teeth of the crocodile sunk into her left shoulder and suddenly there was blood. She screamed in pain and then she went into protective mode recalling everything Joe the guide had told her about defending against a crocodile attack. They’d been having the conversation just to pass the time, but nevertheless Tina had paid close attention to what Joe was saying. At the time she couldn’t think of why except that it was a piece of information that could benefit her should it come up in a game of Trivial Pursuit. Never once did she consider that what she had garnered from the idle chatter would be used a couple hours later to save her own life.

Tina managed to escape the crocodile attack with her life but when she was found semi-conscious in a shallow part of the river by a Hermit named Dave Wells she was half dead and grotesquely mauled. Her jaw was broken. The left side of her face, and shoulder had gaping wounds from the bites. Her neck and throat area was badly bruised. She’d suffered an injury to her left eye and her vocal cords were damaged. Fortunately her vision wasn’t impaired and her voice was only slightly altered.