said. “When was this?” “During the civil war.” “You were there during the war?” Douglas said. “Yes,” Jalani said, obviously uncomfortable. “Well?” Douglas said. “What happened? How’d you meet?” “Thomas saved my life. I have stayed with him since then.” “What was it like in the war?” Sandra asked.
“I didn’t know what people were until I saw that war. Then, I knew. When Thomas found me I was being rounded up. I was told I would be forced to leave the country, but I found out from someone else they were just going to kill me. There were four guards guarding ten of us and I decided to run. I was only eleven. I was half a kilometer away before one of their trucks came and they shot me in my legs.
“Thomas was near there for some reason. I don’t know why. He shot one of the men as he put a gun to my head. The other men were cowards, they ran.” She looked skyward. “It was the worst place in the world. There were hundreds of children without arms or legs that had been cut off. Women were raped in the streets. People were burned in large fires and when they tried to climb out men would push them back in. I have never seen Thomas cry except while we were there. I don’t know if that place has left him.”
Slowly, droplets of salty rain began to pour and the fire began to die down. Douglas looked up to the sky, feeling the water against his face. “I hope they’re all right.” “They are fine,” Jalani said. “I think we should get to sleep however. Tomorrow, we should build some traps.” “How long do you think we should give them before going out to look for them?” Douglas said. “They have enough food for five days. After then we will find them. We will pay the park officials to find them.”
Douglas looked out over the storm clouds, a swirling mass of gray and black, the occasional lightning bolt brightening the sky and thunder booming through the air a few seconds later. “I hope it won’t come to that my friend.”
CHAPTER
40
The morning was already hot by the time Eric lumbered out of his sleeping bag. His head throbbed and he still had the taste of whiskey in his mouth. Guilt weighed heavily on him at his slip up, but he was also angry with Thomas for letting him drink. But in the end it wasn’t his responsibility. He’d saved Eric’s life, he couldn’t babysit him too.
As he climbed out of the tent he saw William making eggs over a low fire. The air still had the smell of fresh rain but everything was drying quickly. Eric wondered how this place managed to get enough water when it evaporated the next morning. “Rough night?” William said. “I guess.” “I felt you get you up, what happened?” “The hyena was close. Or some other hyena, I can’t tell. Where’s Thomas?” “Walking around. You want eggs?” “No thanks. We got any juice?” “In the cooler in the jeep.”
The water buffalo he’d seen yesterday were gone and they were alone for miles around. Except of course for the birds and insects. They were always there, always just on the edge of your vision. Eventually it got so you’d get used to seeing something flapping out of the corner of your eye and you learned to ignore it.
Eric walked into the brush and urinated before getting a bottle of orange juice out of the cooler and taking a long swig. Glancing around, he couldn’t see Thomas. Then he saw a tan wide-brimmed hat sticking up out of the grass and he made his way down to it.
Thomas was crouching, examining some tracks on the ground. His rifle was propped next to him; hand caressing it; lost in thought.
“What’d you find?” Eric asked.
“Tracks. But not like I’ve seen before. Look at this, look how deep these are. Deeper than a male lion’s.” Thomas glanced up and around them. “It’s got to be five hundred and fifty kilos at least. Maybe six. That’s more than a thousand pounds.”
“They don’t get that big?”
“Nowhere near. The largest I’ve ever seen was about a hundred and ten kilos.” He stood up and slung the rifle around his shoulder. “This may be the kill of a lifetime,” he said excitedly.
They walked back to the camp to see William finishing off some eggs and watching a flock of birds maneuver in the sky, twisting and falling close to the ground and then swinging up high in unison.
“Pack up, Will,” Thomas said. “I don’t want to lose him.”
Soon they were traveling again and the scent of the guts Eric was scooping out was making him nauseated. It seemed to him they were traveling too far away from anyone else. Thomas had said the village was east but they were heading north. He wasn’t sure if there were any other villages north, but the landscape was getting sparser and he was seeing more predators. He’d already spotted a leopard in a tree staring down at them and heard the roars of a pride of Asiatic lions somewhere in the brush.
William called Sandra on his cell phone but couldn’t get any service. He tried a few times and finally turned the phone off and stuffed it into his backpack.
The day went on as slowly as Eric could’ve imagined it going. He’d check his watch, thinking it to be 1:00 or 2:00 and see that it was only 10:30. He had to coat the back of his neck with sunscreen and constantly drink water, though that was running a bit low and he had to slow down.
Thomas stopped the jeep to rest in the afternoon and they were near a large grassy hill. Eric could see a few animals at the top of the hill but couldn’t make out what they were. He sat down on a rock and was amazed how tired he was. The sun could drain your energy as much as movement could.
“I wonder where he is?” William said, gazing into the vast expanse of grass before him.
“Who knows?” Thomas said. “Never did understand them. You know, a lot of scientists that come out here say they’re smart. Smarter than apes I’ve heard. I don’t believe it. I think they’re random and that can get mistaken for intelligence.”
“It’s killed a lot of people and gotten away with it.”
Thomas scoffed. “A cow could kill a lot of people if it wanted to and they’re dumb as rocks. It’s just an animal, it doesn’t know anything.”
When they began driving again it was already late in the afternoon. They hadn’t seen anything of the beast, not even tracks. Worry gripped William. “What if he’s gone back to the others?” William asked. “I don’t think he has,” Thomas said. “Why?”
“He couldn’t get back this fast. They can run far-their hearts are twice the size of lions’ even though they’re smaller-but they can’t run fast without resting. No, he’s still out here somewhere.”
“But what if-”
Thomas slammed the brakes and the jeep came to an abrupt halt, knocking Eric forward into the back of William’s seat. Thomas held up his hand for silence. He turned off the engine and stared into a patch of long golden grass. “What is it?” William whispered. “He’s here.” “How can you tell?”
Thomas pointed to an area just next to a tree. In the grass, barely visible, was the back of something in motion. The fur was a gray color and spotted black. Every once in awhile, the top of a massive head would poke up a few inches and then back down into the grass.
“Hand me my rifle Eric,” Thomas whispered.
Eric, moving slowly so as not to make any noise, took the gun and slipped it in between the seats. Thomas took it and calmly stepped out of the jeep onto the dirt and began to take aim.
As his rifle came up, the beast ducked down, and was gone. Thomas made his way to the front of the jeep and then climbed on the hood. There was nothing. As if it had never been there. He fired a shot in the air, startling the other two men. He then took aim into the grass and fired three consecutive shots, the casings clinking as they hit the metal of the jeep on the way to the ground.
After a few moments, Thomas hopped down. “Get your rifles and come with me. We’ll try and flush him out of the grass.”
When everyone was out of the jeep, Thomas motioned for the other two to go around to the south end of the patch of grass and he would go to the north. William, Eric behind him, walked slowly, keeping his eye on the grass. The only sounds he could hear were his own breathing and the pounding of his heart in his ears.
They walked around and William nodded to Eric before they walked into the thicket of grass. It was still a
