Out of Captivity : Surviving 1,967 Days in the Colombian Jungle

366 OUT OF CAPTIVITYHe didn’t look disappointed at being the bearer of bad news. After heleft, the three of us huddled up.“Well, here we are. No surprise,” Keith said.“Let’s just hope they take these things off tomorrow morning,” Marcsaid.“So, look. We’ve talked about this before,” Keith continued, “andnothing is going to break us down. No matter what these fuckers throwat us, they will not break us down. Chains suck. We suck it up. Themilitary guys have been in them for years. We can beat this.”“You’re right, Keith,” Marc added. “Let’s keep our routines. Tomorrowmorning when you normally do your English class with Juancho,I’ll go with you. We can stretch out the chains so I can get to Miguel’sworktable. Then, after breakfast, we’ll exercise, just like always. Now iswhen we really need to work together.”“Agreed. We can’t let it divide us. Whatever else is going on amongus, we don’t let these chains add to it.” I looked at Keith and Marc.None of us was happy with this development, but having other peoplewe trusted and respected in the same situation made it a bit easier todeal with.“We’re going to do this. I’m not going to let these things start fuckingwith me.” I liked Keith’s attitude and I hoped that each of us wasgoing to be able to walk the walk.The first time I felt the cold metal around my neck, I found myselfthinking of heavy tow chains. The weight of them was bad, but not asbad as I’d imagined. The real problem was not the weight but the grip.They made you feel like you were being choked. Every time I swallowed,my Adam’s apple rubbed against the steel. Keith and Marc werechained together, while I was chained to Lucho. From that day on, heand I shared a hooch adjacent to where Marc and Keith slept. At leastthe proximity would be a good thing.Shortly after they fastened the chains around us, Lucho and I agreedthat we needed to get along no matter what. We had good reason to feel