The Extinct (21 page)

Eric, still drunk, climbed back into his tent where William was sound asleep. But he was unable even to close his eyes. He took out Jalani’s gun and held it tightly in his palm until morning, listening for any sounds outside. Every once in awhile, he could hear the distant echo of laughter.

CHAPTER

39

Jalani stoked the fire, keeping an eye on the rain clouds moving in. Sandra sat across from her and Douglas was already drunk and lying next to the fire warming himself. Namdi sat on a log sipping tea and watching the ashes drift on the winds and land softly on the dirt before dissipating.

“Tell me something doctor,” Douglas said, “That elder said one of the children claims the animal talked to it. I’ve heard myths that hyenas can imitate human voices. Is it true?”

“I don’t know,” Namdi said. “As a man of science I say no. But there was a time when I was traveling by myself through Tsavo. I stopped at night near a large clearing and made a fire and put up a tent. I was speaking on my cell phone and I answered it saying ‘this is Dr. Said.’ In the night before I went to sleep, I heard a noise in the bush. I came out of the tent and saw the yellow eyes of hyenas in the darkness and heard their laughs. I was getting out my rifle, when I heard a voice say, ‘this is Dr. Said.’”

“Christ,” Douglas said, “what’d you do?”

“I got into my jeep and drove away. But, one is more likely to be frightened when alone. It was probably a growl that I misheard because I was scared.”

They listened to the crash of thunder behind them and could hear the rainfall not more than a few miles away. The air now smelled of wet dirt and had a dampness to it that made breathing a little more difficult.

“How do you know Thomas?” Sandra said to Jalani, wanting to change the subject.

“We met in Kigali.”

“Rwanda?” Douglas 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 little sticky from last night’s rain and made a crunching whoosh noise when split apart to allow them through. They walked slowly, each step sending a wave of adrenaline through their bodies.

Eric felt something hit his chest and he jumped. He brought his rifle up and saw the birds they’d startled taking off into the blue sky. He breathed relief. Before he had a chance to relax, what sounded like an explosion rang through the air.

“The jeep,” William said.

They ran out of the grass and down the dirt trail to the jeep. Thomas joined them a second later. The jeep was tilted to one side, both tires on the left completely flat. Thomas knelt down and examined them; there were large holes on the outside of the rubber, piercing all the way through the tube.

“He knew,” William said.

Thomas looked at him, surprise flashing across his face before disappearing. “He doesn’t know anything,” he said.

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“What’re we gonna do?” William said.

“We wouldn’t get ten feet on just a rim,” Thomas said. “We’ll have to walk.”

“Back? It’ll take us days. I’d rather call them to pick us up.”

“We’re at least a day away from them by jeep. A Marathi village is only three or four hours walk from here. Gather only what you need.”

Driving over the Andhra Pradeshn ground and walking over it were two completely different experiences. Eric found his feet sinking into the soft dirt and he’d have to really make an effort to keep an even stride. They walked for hours, stopping every thirty or forty minutes for some rest in the shade of a large tree or boulder. Water was low; only eight bottles left. Food wasn’t as much a problem as the intense heat could ward off an appetite.

“Do you think he’s following us now?” Eric asked.

“I don’t know,” Thomas said, not turning around.

“Have you killed hyenas before?”

“Plenty. When I was your age, there wasn’t an animal safe from me.”

“Why?” William said. “Why is it you take such pleasure in killing another creature?”

Thomas stopped and turned around. “I’ve seen hyenas eat a person from very close Elder, closer than you are to me now. You wouldn’t be saying that if you’d seen them. The way their bloody faces laughed as they tore . . .” Thomas hesitated, his face flushed with anger. “Nevermind,” he said, regaining his calm. “You’d have to see it.”

The sun began going down, coloring the sky blue-black as stars began to shimmer. The moon was full and any storm clouds that had been there before had moved on.

The Marathi village was a speck in the distance but as darkness fell it seemed as if it were as far as the moon itself. The sounds of animals in the night were like an actual, physical, presence. As if the air itself had been turned to roars and growls. It circled them, enveloped them, and seemed to close off the rest of the world as they slowly began their ascent up a hill that led to the village.

A roar shattered the steady noise of the plains. It was deep and echoed through the valley. The group stopped to listen, Eric gripping his gun tightly in his hands. It was silent for a minute afterward but slowly the other animals began their cacophony of bellowing again, and the valley returned to normal.

“I’ve never heard an animal make such a sound,” William said. He looked to Thomas but he was gazing in the dark, not paying attention.