“Jean-Pierre!” Debby shouted in his wake. But he didn’t answer.
Everyone looked at Bhrigu. And he smiled calmly and looked back at everyone.
Jean-Pierre entered the other hall of the cave and clenched his fists with tension and incomprehension.
“That’s it, I’ve had enough,” he said quietly to himself in French, “we have to get out of here. What are they up to?!”
He stared at the smoldering fire, exhaled loudly, and began to move toward the bundle of wood lying near the wall. He wanted to see what the weather conditions were now, and if they could find the remains of an airplane fuselage or maybe a military helicopter, but…
“What?” Jean-Pierre whispered, and his eyes darted around.
“How’s that?” looking around, Jean-Pierre whispered near the blank wall of the cave. “Where is the exit?”
He looked around, but found no other passage than the one that led to the hall with the lake. He took a step back from the wall, then walked toward it again and began to move parallel to the wall by touch. He touched it with his hand to make sure of what he saw. The space was quite dim. He took a few more steps and went back to the logs. He picked up some dry twigs and threw them into the fire in the center of the hall. The fire quickly grew brighter. All the walls became clearly visible. Jean-Pierre looked them over carefully once more. The confusion was quickly replaced by anger. He walked in a circle, tapping his hand on the wall. When he reached the makeshift shelves, he kicked them off. The solid monolithic rock was all over the place.
“How could it be?” mimicking a grimace of incomprehension, Jean-Pierre thought.
“How could it be?” he said quietly, remembering the circumstances of last night.
“How could it be?” he shouted, rushing toward the lake.
He ran into the hall in a rage and wanted to do something terrible to the hermit, but the doctor stepped forward quickly and diverted his attention to himself.
“What happened, Jean-Pierre?” Dr Capri said loudly.
“Where is the exit? I’m asking you, Aborigine!” Jean-Pierre kept shouting behind the doctor’s back.
“What are you talking about?” David asked incomprehensibly.
Jean-Pierre turned away from all the people and exhaled. He pressed his lips together and inhaled through his nose with such an effort that his chest almost doubled in size.