The four of us soon bonded and often socialised after shooting stopped. Brooke's MMA career was starting to take off when she had her accident, and she had been tipped for stardom, but she was philosophical about it and keen to start a new chapter in her life. We often sparred during downtime to keep us sharp and learned from each other. There was a nine-inch difference in our heights, and I weighed nearly twice as much as she did, so it might have looked odd to spectators. We bought some padded gear to protect ourselves during our sparing, but Brooke didn't hold anything back. My bigger size and strength meant I had to be careful, but it was very useful in improving my defence. We often drew a good crowd. Most of them had never seen martial arts performed and never from two such expert exponents.
Filming continued through April and May, and then we relocated to a Romanian town with many Soviet-era buildings to give the shots a bleak industrial vibe. We stayed here for three weeks, filming in and around the town, before briefly returning to the UK. After a one-week break, we headed to the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico to shoot the movie's climax. Our base was near the Belize and Guatemala border in a remote part of the Yucatan, and the crew had set up a tent camp for us. When I say 'tents', they were luxurious, so we, or at least some of us, were comfortably housed.
We all ate in one large marque with many tables and chairs. Although the main cast tended to eat together, we also tried to mingle occasionally and eat with the extras and crew. My Spanish was the best of the four of us, so I often translated, but many locals also spoke good English. I found this aspect of my new career fascinating, having the chance to go to different parts of the world, spend time with locals, and learn about their lives. Over the years, travelling around the world competing, I'd gradually learnt that this was a good use of my time, although I'd never spent long enough in one place before to get to know the people. My enthusiasm for learning the local culture soon rubbed off on the three girls, and they shared their experiences with the locals and seemed fascinated to learn from them.
We filmed both in the jungle near us and at a disused mine in the area, which we used as the headquarters and laboratory the villain used to develop the virus. Therefore, we tended to be either hot and sweaty or hot and covered in dust. Neither was very pleasant, but both were unavoidable. Costumes were figure-hugging vest-type tops and shorts for all of us. Stewart, the director, knew what would sell tickets, and four good-looking people showing off their bodies were definitely money earners. There was no nudity to keep the ratings down, but plenty of eye candy for both a male and female audience, which of us was eye candy to which demographic didn't really matter.
Brooke and I did most of the fight scenes ourselves, both being 'professionals' at it, while Astrid and Celeste used stunt women for the more complex scenes. I really liked doing the stunts but knew there were limits to my abilities. Watching the stunt crew was exciting and nerve-wracking in equal measure, and we all had great respect for them.
For the last week of filming, Mai joined me, and it was great to see one of 'my' girls again. We spent the night getting re-acquainted, and thankfully, I managed to get her to keep her noise levels down as the tents, although luxurious, were still made of material. Still, I got knowing looks from Celeste and Brooke the following day, and Astrid then told them more about my 'harem' and how noisy we usually were. Mai didn't help by enthusiastically agreeing with Astrid, and they tried their best to embarrass me. I knew I couldn't win, so I just owned it, joking about what a stud I was and saying that I needed four women to keep me satisfied. Brooke and Celeste took my comments in the manner they were meant and laughed along with Mai and Astrid.
Filming finally finished at the end of July, and we were even on schedule. Stewart was ecstatic with how the movie was going, and we celebrated that evening with lots of booze. The following day, we started packing up, all feeling the effects of the night before. Mai, Astrid, Brooke, Celeste and I were going to get a small plane to Cancún to catch a scheduled flight to Miami. We would then spend a week resting before returning to England to do any final sound work if they felt we needed to re-record any parts. Alicia, Naomi, and Sabrina were due to meet us in Miami so we could enjoy our time together. The girls would also have a chance to meet Brooke and Celeste. Stewart and the production crew were leaving later that day to fly back to London. The rest of the crew had to stay for a few days packing and would then bring the bulk of the gear home with them.
The four girls and I dressed smartly for our flight. I wore a short-sleeved shirt and shorts, and the girls a mix of pretty blouses and shorts for Astrid and Celeste or summery dresses for Mai and Brooke. We all wore good walking shoes, though, as the ground was wet and muddy from a storm that had started overnight. Once we got to Cancún, the girls intended to put on some sandals that matched their attire.
The journey to the airstrip took nearly an hour in the minibus. The roads were poor and flooded in places from the rain, but we eventually arrived. We dashed over to the small departure building, jumping over puddles and bundled in, only slightly damp from the rain. The pilot, Pedro, soon came to meet us, only to say we would have to wait another hour due to the weather. Not having much choice, we settled into some chairs and chatted while our bags were loaded onto the plane, and we got the go-ahead to leave. The airstrip was small and only served light aircraft, and I imagined passengers to be infrequent. A vending machine served hot drinks and crisps, but I expected most of the packets to be past their sell-by-date, so we didn't risk them. The girl at the desk looked understandably bored. She wasn't there when we arrived, so she probably had another job in between passengers arriving, but she had to sit at the reception desk in case we pesky passengers required anything.
Eventually, Pedro returned with the good news that we could now depart. The rain had passed, so we walked over to the small, single-engined plane and got into our seats. It could only hold six passengers, so it was not very roomy. I sat at the back in a row on my own. Brooke and Celeste were in the front two seats, with Mai in front of me and Astrid beside her. Pedro couldn't speak much English, so he told me in Spanish about our flight. We had just over two hours of flying time to Cancún, but thunderstorms were predicted en route, so we might have to fly around them, making the trip slightly longer. I relayed this information to the girls, and we settled in as he did his pre-flight checks and got clearance to take off.
Soon, the engine noise increased, and we taxied to the end of the runway. After a brief pause, the engine roared, and we accelerated down the runway and into the air. We all looked out of the windows as the trees passed us and grew smaller as we climbed. Being a small plane, we all had window seats and could watch the countryside pass below us as we flew. However, the plane was too noisy to hold a conversation easily, and, one by one, we nodded off to catch up on our lost sleep from the night before and recover from our slight hangovers.
I jolted awake sometime later as the plane hit some turbulence, and one of the girls gave out a little scream. It was raining heavily, and we had all been woken as the plane bounced in the turbulence. Seeing we were awake, Pedro shouted back that, as expected, he had to divert around the thunderstorm. Looking to my right, I could see the big, dark, ominous clouds with the occasional flash beneath them from the lightning. We flew for another twenty minutes, holding onto our seats to keep us from bouncing too much. Looking to my left, I could see further storm clouds approaching, and soon, we were in the middle of them. Visibility outside was atrocious, and the rain was incessant. The plane was now being buffeted violently, occasionally dropping what felt like hundreds of meters but was probably only a few before climbing again. The girls were all clearly frightened, and to be honest, so was I. I reached forward to put a hand on Mai's shoulder to comfort her, squeezing gently every now and then.
I don't know how long we had been in the storm and had no idea how high we were. The clouds were so dark and the rain so heavy it was like the middle of the night. The only respite from the darkness was the frequent lightning flashes, but all that did was light up the inside of the plane, the rain too heavy to see far outside. All of a sudden, during one lightning flash, Celeste screamed. Looking forward, I saw a high, tree-covered ridge right in front of us.
