The others had obviously woken up as Jerry was already ushering them to do chores, looking downright panicked. Sam wondered if they'd noticed he was gone.

"Where have you been?" Jerry demanded upon laying eyes on Sam. "You have no idea how worried I've been. Next time you decide to go wondering off with friends, you should consider leaving a note, or even ask for my opinion seeing as I am your older brother."

"Calm down, older brother." Sam laughed. "I'm the leader and I don't have to report to you. But I'm sorry you were worried about me. I just needed some fresh air for bright ideas."

"Who's this guy?" Jerry asked, his eyes falling on Ron.

Sam stared at Jerry, his jaw dropping. Jerry was usually polite to the point of driving them all mad, and now, out of the blue, he was being extremely rude.

"Oh, excuse my lack of manners," Ron said, bowing towards Jerry. "I'm Ron, an old friend of your folks'. I'm here to assist you with whatever you may need."

"Yeah, okay then," Jerry said waving Ron away with the same uncharacteristic rudeness.

"Who are you and what have you done with Jerry?" Sam squinted at his brother. "Or, you're actually Jimmy and you're pulling a prank on me."

"What?" Ron asked looking from Sam to Jerry confused.

"No, no, I'm Jerry. I just feel a bit odd, that's all," he said, touching his bandaged head. "Must be the worry."

"Where is everyone?" Sam asked, trying not to feel guilty about worrying Jerry into rudeness.

"Around, doing stuff..." Jerry said evasively.

Just as he had finished the sentence, everyone suddenly appeared from among the tents and headed for Sam, Jerry and Ron.

"Who's this, then?" Tom asked interested.

Ron stared back with an expression of utter shock on his face. No more grin or fancy bowing.

"You!" Kyle said advancing upon Ron who looked even more shocked now. "You look awfully familiar. Where have I seen you before?"

"What the...? How?" Ron stammered looking at Kyle.

"How what?" Kyle asked frowning.

"You just... you..." Ron couldn't produce a coherent statement, as if Kyle had stolen all his words. He turned to Sam for support but Sam glanced at him questioningly. "So..." Ron cleared his throat and seemed to pull himself together. "These are your brothers, Sam? Jerry and Kyle and..." He fell silent, looking at Jimmy and Tom absently.

"Yes, this is Jerry, that's his twin, Jimmy, this is my twin, Tom, and that's Kyle, the one who shocked the words right out of you," Sam answered and couldn't suppress a smirk.

"You have twins?" Ron asked turning to Sam completely now.

"Obviously. I was going to ask you about that, since you said you were there when we were born." Sam watched Ron carefully. As shocked as he had seemed, Sam had the feeling Ron was more shocked about Kyle than the existence of Jimmy and Tom.

"I had no idea..." Ron said looking away from Sam and mumbling something unintelligible from which Sam only caught his father's name. "Anyway," Ron said with renewed vigor. "I guess it's time I properly introduced myself. My name is Ron and I followed you here because I wanted to see what's become of you. I haven't seen you since you were as big as bread loafs."

"You do look familiar," Billy said thoughtfully.

"Oh, you must be Bill's kid!" Ron said with an air of surprise, as if he hadn't spotted Billy before.

"You know my father too, then," Billy concluded looking unpleased at being called 'Bill's kid'.

"Yeah, as I've said, I know your whole family. I hope you'll let me stick around to help."

"Yeah, sure, why not," Jimmy answered, wrapping one arm around Ron's shoulder and leading him over to Jim and William to introduce them.

Kyle, Jerry, Billy and Tom gathered around Sam as if to block him from view, but he knew they actually wanted answers. Jimmy joined them moments later.

"I found him in a straw hut which, so he says, belonged to Snitch Gravel and was full of surveillance equipment. He set fire to it and I got him out before it exploded. He says he's here to see us," Sam said desperately. "He said he was there when we were born and that he was sorry he left everything behind. I felt he was honest, that's why I brought him to camp."

"He seems nice," Jerry said, looking back at Ron who was now engaged in conversation with Jim.

"He seems familiar to me," Kyle said.

"I don't really like him," Billy said frowning.

"That's only because you didn't like that he called you 'Bill's kid'." Tom laughed patting Billy on the back.

"So you guys don't think he's dangerous?" Sam asked relieved.

"Not really," Kyle said, his face scrunched up in concentration. "I know I've seen him somewhere before, if I could only remember where..."

"Did the context have anything to do with Snitch Gravel?" Jerry whispered looking back at Ron.

"No, it had something to do with Dad or Bill. I can't remember. Damn it!" Kyle answered turning away from them and staring absently at William who was skipping in a circle.

"I still think we should keep an eye on him," Jimmy said crossing his arms over his chest. "I'll do it."

A flash of annoyance gripped Sam. "No, Jim should do it."

Jimmy raised his eyebrows. "You'd rather let a stranger do it than me?"

Sam cursed under his breath. He still found it annoying that Jimmy was calling the shots, but he had a point. He had no idea how trustworthy Jim was. "Fine then, we should all keep an eye on him."

Jimmy scowled, but didn't argue any further. Sam took a deep breath, trying to extinguish the annoyance and looked at Kyle who still gazed a William blankly.

"Are you all right, Kyle?" Sam asked worried.

He'd noticed that Kyle's eyes darted towards William whenever he was worried or in a meditative mood. Not a good sign. Kyle was already quieter than usual.

"Yeah, 'm all right," he answered absently. "I'd better go take William for a walk."

"You just did that. And I already said Jim should babysit him. William's getting to you," Sam said reaching out to stop him as he'd already started off towards William.

"He is not getting to me," Kyle snapped and Sam let him go immediately.

The chill bouncing of his frame was enough to have Sam rub his arms for warmth. Kyle turned his back on them and walked away.

"Something's not right..." Billy mumbled to himself and set off to gather up his tent.

A half an hour later they set off through the desert towards the mass of green that was barely visible through the heat waves. Sam led the way and analyzing the map they'd worked on in Magnet Town.

He gritted his teeth trying to focus on the map and not the way Jimmy had laughed at him earlier, saying he was obsessed with maps. That was so not true! The fact that he was now studying a map had nothing to do with it. He looked at the numbers Kyle had noted down and, to his shock, realized Kyle had appreciated the distances correctly. He'd just never bothered to read the numbers.

Under the each line, Kyle had also noted down the number of days he believed would take them to reach each point on the map. They supposedly had at least three days of walking to do before they reached the forest. But then, if Snitch Gravel was in the labs, how did Von Crooken reach them so quickly? Maybe Snitch Gravel sent him to Magnet Town to keep a lookout.

Sam wondered the part the surveillance hut Ron had destroyed had played. But that thought was drown by worry for Kyle. He walked in the back with Jim, but they were actually talking, which meant Kyle hadn't closed off completely yet.

As his eyes focused on the map again, he noticed another number Kyle had scribbled on the piece of paper, one that didn't seem to have anything to do with the map, since it contained way too may digits. He tried to figure out if it was a birthday or a phone number or a cryptographic message, though he had no idea why Kyle would write down a coded message on the map. Unless he wanted to tell Sam something important and private. Invigorated by this perspective, Sam started applying the usual keys, trying to break the code.

The journey went on for hours, hours in which Ron became friendlier towards them. He would walk beside one of them and talk to him for hours, asking all sorts of questions about their lives.

Finally, as the sun began to set, Sam called for a break. He sat on a boulder in the vicinity while the others unpacked food and water, and continued to study the map.

"Jimmy was right. You are obsessed with maps," Billy said, making Sam jump.

"Am not!" Sam replied childishly, pulling the map away as if Billy was trying to hurt it.

"Then will you put that aside and listen to me for a moment?" Billy asked, sitting next to him on the rock.

"What is it?" Sam asked surprised by Billy's sudden desire to act serious.

"It's about Ron," Billy answered darkly.

Annoyance grabbed on to Sam again and he rolled his eyes. "Oh, not this again! I get it that you don't like him, but that doesn't classify him as 'dangerous'."

"It's not that I don't like him," Billy said carefully. "But he's been asking all sorts of questions. And when you're not looking, he analyzes you in a strange way. It seems really weird."

"Honestly, it's not." Sam put the map down since he'd sunk into it again. "It fits perfectly with what he's said so far. It's only normal to ask questions and stare at people you haven't seen in eighteen years."

"Yeah, well, I still don't like it."

"Now you're being paranoid. What's gotten into you? Why don't you just let Jerry do the worrying for you?"

"Because he really seems to like Ronnie," Billy answered looking over at Jerry and Ron who were analyzing William. Actually only Jerry was analyzing William. Ron was holding him still.

"He's been great help so far," Sam pointed out returning to his map with a clearly dismissive attitude.

Billy fortunately got the hint and went over to Tom. Sam struggle with the number for a few more minutes, then dropped the map and ate something in a hurry. His failure to figure it out frustrated him to no end and made him feel like punishing himself. And the others.

So as they started off again, Sam kept them walking all night. They had to switch to a sleep-by-day, travel-by-night schedule if they didn't want to melt. It didn't matter that they were all tired, cold and hungry. They were men, they could rough it up.

The others had complained at some point, but Sam pointed out annoyed that if he could walk on, so could they. No one said a word after that, though Sam had the distinct feeling they were pissed off. He didn't care. He knew better. That's why he was the leader, and they should get used to that already. Not do stuff on their own and not listen to what he said. They needed a lesson in obedience.

As the night went on, Sam's feet ached, his muscles burned, but he made the march his personal endurance test. His failure to crack the code got Sam in such a bad mood, he wanted the others to feel as bad as he did. But as the sun rose, he was out of excuses to walk on. He tried stretching it as much as possible, but around 10 a.m., the group stopped on their own accord.

"I guess we could stop now," Sam said reluctantly. Not that anyone was following him anymore.

"How much longer would you have had us march if we hadn't stopped following you?" Jimmy asked annoyed, searching inside his rucksack.

"Until I gave the order," Sam snapped back.

"This leader thing is going to your head," Jimmy mumbled to himself, but they all heard him.

"Come on, we mustn't fight," Jerry said with an attempt at cheeriness. "We've come this far and we're going to eat and sleep and everything will be good again."

"Yeah, whatever, I'm not hungry, but you go ahead," Sam snarled and walking away with his map.

He sat down on a rock and buried his face in the map. A part of him kept nagging him that this wasn't right, that he had no real reason to be upset, but snapping at everyone made him feel as if the air wasn't suffocating him anymore, as if his throat wasn't burning with thirst. Since they'd already left the river behind, he couldn't afford to drink as much as he wanted or they'd run out of water. It was maybe the constant thirst more than anything that kept him sulky.

Angry with the lot of them, Sam refused Jerry's food even if he was starving. It pained and annoyed him at the same time that no one came over to try and get him to join them. They're right, said a small, honest part of him. His legs burned after all that walking and his feet were killing him. If the others felt the same, of course they were mad at him.

Who cares? Sam stared at the number written on the map again, but his heart wasn't in it anymore. He kept throwing glances over the map to see what the others were doing. An intense feeling of outrage grabbed him as he noticed his team gathering up and going to bed as though nothing had happened.

Jerry came towards him, a slight crease between his eyes, and sat next to him. He merely studied Sam for a few minutes while he scribbled on the map.

"What are you doing?" he asked all of a sudden, making Sam jump.

"What, you think I'm wasting time now?" Sam replied, pulling the map away.

"No, I just wanted to know what you were doing. Literally." He added the last word after a pause.

"Oh. I was trying to figure out what this number means," Sam said rather embarrassed, showing Jerry the map.

"Kyle wrote that down?" Jerry asked curiously. "He's been writing all sorts of numbers absentmindedly. I don't think he's fully aware he's doing it," he continued once Sam nodded the answer to his question.

"Really?" Sam asked curiously. "And what do you think they mean?"

"Try dividing it by..." Jerry hesitated, taking the number in. "Twice by 60 and then by 24."

Sam looked at Jerry curiously and started dividing in his head. Very soon his head jerked up. "Twenty one point five."

"Wow, you're fast! Well, considering that Kyle scribbled this number on our first day in Magnet Town, there you have it," Jerry said as though he had explained everything.

"I still don't get it," Sam said confused.

"Twenty one point five. 21 days and 12 hours by the looks of it. Since Kay left..." Jerry added seeing that Sam still didn't understand.

"What? Kyle's been counting the... the seconds? He's been counting the seconds since Kay left?" Sam asked shocked. He felt a strange mix of repulsion and pity.

"Apparently he has. I don't blame him. I miss Tina, too. I hadn't noticed how much of a comfort she's been to me in the jungle until now." Jerry gazed into the sun absently.

Sam stared at him confused. Jerry wasn't the one to confide his feelings to anyone. Sam frowned, trying to decide how he felt about Christine not being there, but he couldn't. His whole mind was filled with the uselessness of the number he'd tried so hard to work out. He almost felt angry with Kyle for putting him through all that, though he was aware that Kyle had never put him up to anything.

"Where's Kyle?" he found himself asking.

"Out with William," Jerry answered flatly.

"I thought I told him to let Jim take care of him. Why doesn't anyone listen to me anymore? William is getting to him."

"I think so, too. I'm very worried about him. Ever since... come to think of it, ever since we came over to this side of the canyon, he's started acting a bit odd. He's very quiet, but if you disagree with him he gets... scary. You know what I mean." Jerry shuddered.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Sam glanced at the number again, all annoyance with Kyle forgotten.

He actually felt sorry for his brother now. He wondered how much longer Kyle could go without snapping. The thought made him feel even worse than before. How could he put his team through all that? He was such a selfish prick.

Sam opened his mouth to apologize to Jerry, but froze. His brother stared into the sun absently, swaying his legs with an air of disconcert Sam had never seen before. At that moment, Jerry didn't look much like Jimmy anymore. He almost looked like Kyle.

Jerry jumped off the rock and stretched lazily. "Well, I'm off to bed. You kinda wore us out with all that walking. You should turn in soon, too. Dragging you around doesn't seem very appealing. Sleep tight, kid," he said and headed for his tent.

Sam stared after Jerry and pinched himself. It hurt, but he didn't wake up from the freaky nightmare. Jerry never, ever called him 'kid' before.It was as if he and Kyle had exchanged bodies. But Jerry had been right about one thing. He had to get some sleep. Feeling extremely worn out, Sam headed for his tent.