And so he doesn't. He supposes he should be grateful enough that Sigma at least provided him an excuse.

He sits in the rain and mud as Sigma walks away. It takes a while, although the lapse of time if still truncated by the mist and water obscuring the view of the forest. In a few moments, Sigma is gone, swallowed up in the grey and green horizon.

"I'm sorry!" Howard calls, much too late, much too uncertain. And then, soaked down to the bone, he trudges into the jungle too, in the opposite direction.