10 Minutes From Home | Book 1 | 10 Minutes From Home

by Howard, Bill

  CHAPTER 28:

  EXODUS

  Clive actually seemed to be smiling a little. Thom wasn’t. Clive had a large laceration on his face that must have been recently acquired as it was still bleeding. Thom’s shotgun barrel was still smoking from the shot that scared off the rabid monkeys. Ellie and I got to our feet and stood facing Clive and Thom.

  “Thank you,” I said. “You have impeccable timing. This is Ellie, she helped me out and we’re headed back now. Her kids are in Brooklin." I motioned to the dog, who was lying on the ground now, tired. “This is Max.”

  Clive extended his hand and shook Ellie’s. Thom just stood there. He didn’t seem angry, just distant. The first thing that flashed into my mind was Ellie’s sighting of the might-be Isabel, but I dared not mention that without risking a good thrashing.

  Clive spoke up. “We better go. Thom and I were just attacked by a young Orangutan. It almost tore my head off, but Thom managed to shoot it before it did. I felt horrible that he had to do that, but I would have felt worse if he didn’t.”

  I took a step towards Thom, though carefully--he did have a shotgun. His eyes turned to meet mine as I stood in front of him.

  “Thom, I…”

  A thunderous crash behind me interrupted my sentiments; we all retracted from the noise and lowered to the ground. There was a massive crash of glass from inside the pavilion, and all the monkeys scratching at the door fled in all directions. There was a moment of silence after the crash, then a bellowing roar from inside. I wasn’t particularly in favor of sticking around to find out what it was, so I stood up and motioned for the others to run with me in the opposite direction. Everyone got up and we turned tail and started running. We barely got a hundred metres before we heard another crash. I looked back as I kept running just in time to see the yellow-eyed gorilla smash through the glass wall of the pavilion and stumble out onto the walkway. It seemed to be covered in a lot of blood, and had a half carcass of spider monkey hanging from its jaw. It just stood for a second; its massive hand swung up and pulled the monkey remains from its teeth, tossing it on the pavement. It then scratched its chest for a moment before its head turned our way and its eyes caught sight of us running. A quick snarl ripped out of its nostrils and it started to gallop on all fours towards us. I screamed forward to the others, who had all passed me when I got distracted looking back. I wasn’t eloquent, but the tone in my voice as the word RUN was drawn out must have gotten the point across, because they all ran as fast as gazelles on the Serengeti. I glanced over my shoulder, and, for a moment, reality was very much like the side mirror of a car, where objects may appear closer than they are, because I could practically feel the hot breath of the gorilla. I could only think of one thing that might save us.

  “Split up, into the woods!" I shouted.

  We exploded in different directions into the wooded areas. My feet were gliding over fallen trees and stumps as if I were running on air, my chest hurt with the quick, panicked breaths being pushed in and out of my lungs. I took the chance and looked back again, hoping to determine which one of us the gorilla decided to go after. I turned my head and glimpsed a wall of coarse black hair just as it connected with my back, sending me off my feet and into the air. I hit a tree chest first, and it felt like a dump truck had just run into me point blank. My body stopped dead against the bark and slid down, crumbling into a pile at the base of the old maple. The gorilla came to a halt, kicking up dead leaves all around me. It hovered above me, its heavy breath blowing on the back of my neck. I closed my eyes and prepared for the worst. Then I heard its breath stop suddenly and the gorilla shifted in the dirt. I turned my head slightly and looked up at the massive beast. If it weren’t for the fact that it was about to tear me apart, it would be an amazing sight; the sheer size and beauty of the animal was staggering. It still stood over me, but its head was turned to the left, looking out into the woods, and its breathing had slowed almost to a stop. It was tense and the hair on its shoulders stood on end. I turned as much as I could and looked into the direction it was facing, but I didn’t see anything. The gorilla did not move. Its eyes were locked on something, and the all-too-familiar pink foam drizzled slowly from its chin. I had been holding my breath for some time now and had to let it out, but I did so carefully, quietly. I shifted slightly and tried to get a better look at the gorilla’s fixation. About two hundred meters away, I saw a slight movement on the ground, but it was barely discernible. I watched intently. It moved again, but this time I noticed a pair of golden shoulder blades rise and fall above the leaves. I could now make out that it was a lioness, and judging from what was transpiring here, she was a hungry lioness. She was large, I could see that now, and was closing in on the gorilla and me. I started to veer away from my position at the gorilla’s feet, sliding on my back to its right, slithering through the leaves slowly like some clumsy snake. I made it a few feet when the gorilla pounded its fists into the ground in the direction of the lioness. I could actually feel the ground tremble. The low grumble from within the gorilla was reverberating through my chest like an earthquake. The lioness was within about 50 meters, and was raised up into a defensive position, making itself visible, its head lowered but hind legs dug into the ground. The gorilla lunged forward again, but raised itself up onto its legs, pounding its chest and roaring. As it started to lower back down, the lioness launched off its hind legs and flew through the air towards the gorilla, its outstretched front claws making contact with the gorilla’s chest, digging into the thick black flesh. The gorilla barely reacted to the attack, instead just grabbing the lioness by the back and hurling it off into the dirt. At this point I figured I was pretty safe to pick up the pace a little, so I stood up quickly and tore off in the direction of the path. Neither the gorilla nor the lioness seemed to care much, as they continued their assault on each other, raising a huge cloud of dust, dirt, and leaves. I ran as fast as I could to the path, then on towards the front of the zoo. When I reached the next intersection of the path, I met up with the others, who had gathered behind a large wooden sign. After I ran over to them, I had to put my hands on my knees and try to catch my breath. They had all been watching the “When Animals Attack” episode that unfolded before their eyes, transfixed.

  “Okay, this is fascinating, but shouldn’t we get going before one of them wins?" I stated in short quick breaths.

  Everyone seemed to snap out of it and we headed to the entrance of the zoo. We got to the gates and ran through them out to the huge parking lot. There wasn’t a soul in sight, so we continued through the vast lot and back into the woods surrounding the highway ahead. We ran for about 15 more minutes, until we were about to collapse from exhaustion, before we came to a stop in a small clearing. Ellie and I sat down on a fallen tree, Max lowering himself into the dirt beside us, and Thom and Clive fell flat down onto the ground lying on their backs. We took deep breaths, our heaving chests eventually slowing to a normal pace. Ellie spoke first.

  “Thank you so much. I think we would have been dinner on the Planet of the Apes were it not for you.”

  Clive nodded, one corner of his mouth raised in amusement. Thom also nodded, a look of relief on his face. I looked over at Thom, who looked back at me, and for the first time in a while he didn’t look like he wanted to kill me. I was going to say something but at the last minute I thought I should just leave it alone. I assumed the fact that he was here at all was a sign he might be coming around on the whole subject of hating me. I would rather settle for the cold shoulder in person than nothing at all.

  CHAPTER 29:

  FAMILY TIES

  Over the next while, we tried to put as much space between the zoo and us as we could. Ellie took Max and walked up front with Thom while Clive and I kept behind them about twenty paces. Clive filled me in on how they had managed to get to us at the zoo. Once he had everyone safe in the military zone, Clive insisted he be able to leave to check his church in case any of his parish sought him out there. The military guys
didn’t want to take sides against the church, so they agreed to let him go on the condition that he return to the compound before dark. Clive agreed. He said his farewells to the families of the Bramford, packed up some supplies, and headed out. The church was only a half-hour walk from the base, and was much of it was through wide-open areas where he would be able to see anything coming before it became an immediate threat. He had taken a pistol with him, as well an additional one hidden in his pack. No one was supposed to take firearms off the base, but the guard who checked him out at the gate wore a crucifix around his neck and had muttered “bless you father’ as he handed the bag back.

  Once Clive got to the church, he found it to be locked up tight; the heavy church doors sealed from the inside to keep out any would-be intruders. He went around the back of the church to the rectory and descended the few stairs to the basement access door. He knocked a series of knocks as if he was trying to gain entry to a clubhouse--the exact combination of knocks he had previously discussed with Thom at the Bramford. After a few uncertain moments, the latches on the other side of the door started moving. The door opened wide to Thom’s somber face. He welcomed Clive in. Clive checked to that Thom was okay, and he was. He had made it to the church without incident, and used a key that Clive had given him to get in. He had only been there a matter of hours, but had spent that time calmly thinking over the events of the previous day. He said he had not felt sadness like this since he had lost his family, and that in the short time he had known Isabel, he had developed a very strong bond with her. He realized now that everything was not my fault, but he still had a hard time shaking the feeling that if I had decided things differently, Isabel would still be okay. But it was hard to know what might have been. So Clive suggested that they head out to try and find me and get to Thom’s house as originally planned, and Thom agreed. They ate a quick meal, prayed a quick prayer, and packed up. Clive had a few bicycles in the basement of the church, and he figured it would be the best way to make up some time. They headed out in the direction of the route I had communicated to Frank, who, by the way, seemed to arrive fine at the military encampment. Clive didn’t have a chance to get the story from Frank regarding his disappearance and resurfacing, but he assured me that everyone from the Bramford was fine and being looked after by the military. They were being detained there, so under no circumstances was anyone allowed to leave, just as I suspected. Clive had just been lucky and had God on his side.

  Once Thom and Clive went north and headed through the Rouge Valley, they eventually came across signs for the Toronto Zoo. They considered the chances of finding me there and figured that it would at least be worth checking out. Once at the entrance, they ditched the bikes and hopped the fences. They wandered around for a while, checking the food stands and other places that made sense for me to be. They were walking along a concrete bridge that was once used for monorail when a young Orangutan jumped out of the trees and tackled Clive. The thing bit at Clive’s face, but he managed to keep it at bay as Thom repeatedly hit the primate in the back with his gunstock. It didn’t seem to faze the orangutan, which kept attacking Clive, one claw slashing him across the face. Clive managed to get his feet under it and braced against its torso, pushing it up and away from him. As it rose up above Clive, Thom took the shot from a few feet away and hit the orangutan in the shoulder and side of the head. It flew sideways off Clive’s feet and off the bridge into the woods below. Both Clive and Thom felt terrible having to do that to an animal, but they didn’t have much of a choice. Shortly after that, they heard the commotion from our encounter with primates of our own, and fired some shots to try to distract the crazed infected people and the gorilla. Once they saw us flee to the pavilion, they circled around to the opposite side and proceeded to rescue us from our monkey hell. And now we were here.