He took one tiny sip before wetting her hanky and placing it back on Jelani's head.
"I think this should do the trick for now. Let's crack it Alex. I'm not sure how long he’d be able to hold on. We’ll save this last bit for an emergency."
The stranded pair walked west for several more hours without stopping. Spurred on only by their goal to get to the river before sunset. Jelani's condition deteriorated fast and somewhere along the way he had slipped into a coma. The battle started up in Alex’s head again. She couldn’t believe it had come to this. She wondered how life could be so cruel and was certain she had never felt more helpless in her entire life.
Their individual thoughts and easy conversations kept them going and they learned that their will to survive was stronger than ever. At one stage Alex looked back to check on Sam who was taking significant strain even with her helping him carry the stretcher. Droplets of blood lay in a trail behind the cot. At first, she thought it was Jelani's, but then gathered that the blood was coming from Sam’s hands which were bleeding under the strains of the stretcher.
“Bloody hell, Quinn! You're bleeding! Stop! Let me have a look."
"Nah I'll be all right. It's just superficial abrasions."
"You can't walk like this. Stop!”
She let go on her side of the stretcher forcing him to stop and turned his palms so she could see.
"I'm no medical professional, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that it is more than 'superficial abrasions.' Why didn't you say anything? Here, we can use my shirt to cover the branches, and if you've still got some of the secret stash of bandages in your backpack, we should wrap your hands too."
"You honestly don't have to take your shirt off Alex. It's not that bad, I assure you. Besides, I think it might just be a tad too soon in our relationship."
"Oh, get a hold of yourself, Quinn. I'm not naked under my shirt, you know. I'm wearing a tank. Your hands are bleeding and since you don't have any clothes left beside your pants, we should start using mine."
That mischievous smile of his buckled her knees and melted her insides. He was naughtier than an adolescent teen for sure. She couldn’t help but wonder if it meant he was thinking of her in that way. Alex blushed again at the thought of being with him. He was the first man who saw her soul for who she was. He somehow developed an uncanny way of knowing her exact needs. But even though she tried to hide her red cheeks, she knew he had spotted it. The energy between them was electric.
When she was finished wrapping the stretcher’s poles with her sleeves, she cleaned and wrapped his blistered hands. "There, that's better. It should do for now, right?"
"I think Bear would be very pleased with our survival skills Miss Hunt, don't you?"
"I think we're a mess, Quinn. We look like we've been through World War II with all our bandages and ripped clothing."
Somehow, in the midst of the African jungle, Alex felt her walls come down one by one. She had been confined and cooped up for so long but Sam Quinn was slowly bringing her soul to life again.
The sun dipped lower towards the horizon as they stopped for another three-minute rest and a quick check on Jelani. They had been heading west for almost eight hours straight, so had to be close to the river.
Jelani gave a dull aching moan.
"Don't move Jelani. Stay still,” Sam whispered.
"Jelani. Is he awake Quinn? Jelani, it's Lakicia. Can you hear me?"
Faint groans came from his weak body, but he kept his eyes shut. He looked grey, although Alex wasn’t sure if it was from the dust kicking up or from his injuries.
"What's going on, Quinn? Is he all right?"
Sam ignored her. He had his torchlight in Jelani’s eyes and then lightly tapped on Jelani’s tummy again.
“Quinn! Is he okay?"
Blood trickled from Jelani's nose and mouth as Alex and Sam watched.
"Quinn, that doesn't look right."
Her voice was no more than faintly audible, and her hands trembled as she battled to control the flood of emotions that overcame her. She knelt down next to Jelani and wiped his mouth with her hand. Somehow, even though she had no medical training whatsoever, she knew this was his end. She looked up at Sam, squatting on his other side who did nothing but look at her with apologetic eyes. Tears pooled in her eyes, but she forced herself not to show Jelani any weakness.
"Don't worry Jelani. You are a warrior. I'm here my friend. Right by your side. You're the best friend I have ever had. I'll take care of you."
She got up abruptly and moved to the front of the stretcher.
"Come Quinn. Hurry! We need to get him to the Sangoma."
But before Sam could take his position behind the stretcher, they heard a final groan, and the most silent of breaths left Jelani's body.
Aptly, at that very instant, Alex and Sam heard the thunder bellow from the grey clouds above their heads and droplets of rain gently fell down on them. It was as if the spirits spoke in Jelani’s death.
Mere days ago Alex stared out of her window wishing she could have the courage to go out into the rain again, and here she was. It was nothing she remembered it to be.
She dropped the stretcher and stared down at Jelani's lifeless body.
"No! Jelani you can't die. Wake up, Jelani. Wake up!”
But he was gone. She fell to her knees and pressed her ear to his chest. "Wake up Jelani, wake up please?”
Self-blame engulfed her once again as she cursed herself for causing the commotion in the car that had him crashing into a tree. In that moment, she blamed herself for letting them take her mother, allowing her father to go after her mother’s ghost and putting Jelani in this position. As she sat frozen in time, staring down at Jelan’s lifeless body, the heavens declared their mighty power over the earth and she vaguely became aware of Sam’s hand over hers.
"I'm so sorry Alex. There was nothing more I could do for him."
Sam’s words made her angry. She didn’t want to hear the typical script all doctors used when a patient under their care died. How they got away with it was ill understood by her. Nothing anyone said in that moment of loss could ever make it better. She was numb except for the sudden uncontrollable angst that trapped her breath in her throat and constricted her. What if she never made it out of there alive? She could die there too. Just like Jelani and her mother and probably her father as well. Eaten by lions or gored by a Rhino. There in the middle of the African bush.
"Alex, look at me."
Sam’s hands gripped her shoulders as he tried to force her to look at him. But all she felt was her body shaking uncontrollably and her breath still caught in her throat. She couldn’t seem to get any oxygen into her lungs. It was stuck. Wedged in her throat with nowhere to go.
"Alex, I'm going to inject you with Diazepam. Just a little to calm you down."
Seconds later the sharp sting of the needle pierced her dehydrated skin. Not even when Sam’s strong arms pulled her under the shelter of the tree next to him, did Alex react. The drugs didn't take long to kick in, and Alex found herself going through the same lightweight sensation she had back at her apartment in London. Though her body felt numb, her heart still ached inside her chest as she mourned her friend’s death.
“Relax Alex. You'll be fine. I’ve got you,” Sam whispered next to her ear.
He deliberately had her back towards Jelani's dead body on the ground and when she fought to have another look just to be sure it wasn’t all a dream, he firmed his grip on her.
“All right GI Jane, just relax. You don't want that image etched in your mind, trust me. Focus on breathing deep slow breaths instead.”
The man always had to be right, and she couldn’t stand it. But she found herself adhering to his breathing prompts nevertheless.
"In... and out. In... and out. Keep going. In... and out."
The steady inhaling and exhaling helped, and soon she breathed normally again. The rain was wet and cold on her skin. In the midst of her bre
athing ritual, he took the shade-net structure off Jelani's stretcher and positioned it over them.
"That should do it. You're okay now Alex. Just relax. The meds had a stronger effect than I anticipated. I assume because you haven't eaten in days."
She watched as he gently tipped Jelani off the stretcher and wedged the steel plate against the tree sheltering them from the rain. From his backpack he took out a couple of dry twigs and bark and before she knew it, he had kindled a fire underneath their shelter. With skill he broke more branches that were still relatively dry from the tree above them. The crackling sound and the heat from the fire lulled her body into a peaceful sleep.
The rain soon stopped, and the full moon sat high above the dark clouds; casting an organic torchlight across the Savannah. The night was eerily silent. In London the city noises were often deafening, but at least a sign of life. Out there the intense silence thud in their ears. As the night grew colder they sat tightly together in a futile attempt to keep warm. The climate in that part of Africa was one of being sweltering hot during the day and adversely freezing at night. When Alex got up in the deep hours of the night to gather more wood for the fire, she stopped dead in her tracks when she came face to face with a lioness about thirty meters away.
"Quinn," she said in a muted monotone.
"Get up slowly and bring a fire torch with you. We have company."
He had been resting his head against the tree when she got up. With her back toward him, there was no way of knowing if Sam even heard her. Her eyes stayed fixed on the lioness. She knew full well that, if she dared look away, the lion would charge. So Alex tried getting Sam’s attention again.
"Quinn. Can you hear me? Bring the fire torch."
"What?" He jerked up from a deep sleep — not impossible at all considering it was his first sleep since the accident.
"Shh" Alex cautioned, but it was too late. The lion had already spotted Sam and they watched as the lioness pulled back her upper lip exposing her white fangs. She was down in an attacking position and ready to charge at anything that moved.
"Quinn, no sudden moves. Reach over slowly and grab the fire torch. Don't make hasty moves. This lion is ready to charge."
Alex knew that if there was one female lion, there was guaranteed to be a pack of hungry males lying in wait behind her. Aware of Sam taking his time in coming up behind her with hopefully a torch in hand, Alex cautiously moved back toward the tree.
"Can you climb a tree, Quinn?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"Pass me the torch. Slowly.”
Alex gripped the burning branch; her eyes still firmly fixed on the prowling lion. Her suspicions were correct. The fire illuminated the grass ahead, and about five pairs of glowing eyeballs glared back at her.
"Now step back slowly and climb the tree from the other side."
She was sure she could hear Sam’s heart beating or perhaps it was hers.
"Now's not the time to be dragging your feet, Quinn."
She still felt dizzy. The drugs hadn’t worn off yet which ironically kept her wits about her. She was far calmer than she ought to be.
"Hurry Quinn. I'm only going to have a split second to climb that tree before these beasts charge for me.”
"Okay, I'm up. How high should I climb, though? I mean, don't lions climb trees?"
"As high as you can go Quinn. Hurry!"
She kept eye contact with the lion and slowly took small steps backward toward the tree until her back hit the trunk.
"Can you break another branch off and lean lower so I can light it with my torch? I'm going to have to drop this torch if I want to beat the lion up the tree."
The males seemed to get impatient with their female hunter and chuffed a couple of murmured growls at her. It was enough to have her take a step forward. It wasn’t the time for Alex to hesitate. She needed to get in that tree before the lion killed her.
“I got you Alex. Come!"
Alex cast her torch at the lion and, like a bullet leaving its barrel, she climbed the tree faster than she had ever thought possible. Assisted by Sam’s firm hand, she made it through the thorny branches just in time.
The lion and two other females she never knew were there, charged straight toward them. One's massive paws were halfway up the tree trunk, ducking at the flailing torch. The others thankfully backed off for some bizarre reason.
Safely up in the tree, perched like a sprawling eagle, Alex picked up a commotion between the male lions on the ground. It took her several seconds to register that they had pounced on Jelani’s corpse that lay under the tree.
"Jelani! No! Get away you beasts! Leave him alone!"
But it was too late and Alex and Sam watched as the pack of carnivores dragged Jelani into the darkness of the night. "NO!”
Alex quietly prayed that it was just a horrific nightmare and that she’d be waking up in her bed any minute.
"This just can't be happening, Quinn. There's no way I would be in Africa in the middle of the bush watching a pack of lions devour my childhood friend. Tell me it's not true."
"I'm so sorry Alex,” Sam repeated next to her, but she ignored him.
Because if he was indeed speaking and next to her in that tree, it meant she wasn’t asleep and that horrible ordeal was very, very real.
Chapter Eight
3 years ago - Izzy
They were all up early that following morning. The excitement of their most recent discoveries injected an invisible surge of energy amongst the crew. It was the closest they came yet to finding anything worthy that showed significant evidence that Rhapta did exist. They had tangible proof that they could very well be extremely close to finally discovering the lost city.
"Has anyone seen Eric this morning?"
Charles was frantically running about camp looking for Eric. Something he did only when he got flustered and was under severe stress.
"What's the hullabaloo about Charles? I'm sure he's somewhere."
"I need the photos to submit our findings to the University. They want it yesterday.”
Charles was an overachiever of note.
"You are such a perfectionist, Charles. I’m sure they’re not that urgent for it.”
"No Izzy, it’s vital we send it right away. This is where we have to set aside patience and deliver."
"What exactly are you in such a tizzy over, Charles?"
He ignored Izzy and stomped off, irritated with her nonchalant attitude.
It took a unique character to show enough patience to dig for hours on end for something he didn’t even know existed. 'Fairytales and unicorns' was how her father always put it and yet, there they were staring back at her from the table.
They found a primal knife made from ivory, an ancient scroll in a never-been-seen-before cryptogram wooden safe and now a cipher code in Greek. Three steps closer to finding Rhapta.
"Izzy,” Charles came barging into the tent again. “That chap has disappeared, camera and all. Where the hell could he be?"
"I'm sure I saw him at first light when I got up. He must be here somewhere. Have you checked all of the vehicles Charles? As far as I know, he doesn't like sleeping in the tents; something about the Rhinos coming for him at night. Don't ask. The crew have been teasing him about it ever since he confessed it around the fire the other night.”
“Well, the fool has vanished off the bloody earth. I can't find him anywhere and the Uni is on my back for the photos. Some high society benefactor is due to arrive today, and they're trying to squeeze more money out of the guy. So they need proof we are telling the truth and have found enough to continue the dig."
Charles took off his hat and wiped his brow. “We can’t afford losing this, Izzy. The Uni took a bit of strain after the last hazing debacle hit every British newspaper. The ramifications of it caused some of the elite sponsors to cease their donations in support of the stop-hazing campaign. We need this.”
Charles stopped and took a large swig of whiskey to calm his
mood before moving over to where Alexandra was still at it with her computer and the fancy cipher code. It was probably the only way to distract him right now, so Izzy followed him.
"What time do you want to leave Charles?"
He didn’t answer her; decidedly deep in thought as Alex and he worked through the cipher using all sorts of decryption tools on her computer.
"Charles, I said, what time should we leave in the morning? We're going to have to get an early start. I've been working on the map, and the river it’s most likely to be is the one out here. Look," pointing to the map spread open on the table.
"Sure Izzy." Charles was engrossed with the cipher code. Ordinarily, most wives would get utterly annoyed at his blatant pass over, but Izzy just laughed. She knew there was nothing on this earth that could take Charles Hunt’s attention away from the cipher now. It was best just to let him get on with it in his own way until he cooled down or wore out, whichever came first. So Izzy turned her attention back to the map and started plotting out a couple of options for them to take.
"My golly Alexandra, you are indeed something special. I can't believe it. You definitely got my brains my girl!” Charles bellowed a laugh.
"Izzy, I think our genius child got it again!"
Alex was something all right and Izzy never grew tired of her daughter’s brilliance.
"You never cease to surprise me, Alexandra. Show me."
Alex pointed to several Greek numbers on her computer screen.
"See Mum, I think it's no more than pointing to a particular letter of the Alphabet. But... back then everyone used the Roman or Greek Alphabets only. The English language was rarely spoken and only by dignitaries from England. So most secret presidential communications were done in another language, like French or Portuguese. So, hiding something would have had to be somewhere far less obvious to the general population at the time. It was hands down genius. They used the English alphabet instead. They wrote the numerics in Greek, but the cipher is, as a matter of fact, English. Look. Eleven is the eleventh letter of the alphabet which in our English alphabet is the letter K. Five is the fifth letter of the alphabet which is E. Twenty-five is the twenty-fifth letter which is Y. See?"
The Alex Hunt Series Page 8