by T. M. Clark
‘Go ahead. Give me an excuse to shoot you, you son of a bitch,’ Xo said, putting his rifle against Douglas’s head through the nylon.
Douglas snaked himself back into his bed. But now he knew that the next night, if they were still there, and when everything was calm, he would have to create some diversion to get out of the tent, then he could overpower the kid—if they left him there alone again.
He had begun testing their defences.
* * *
During the morning, they reinforced the boma with more thornbushes and kept watch throughout the day. At the darkest part of the night, when the moon was almost gone and the sun had not shown its face to the African continent yet, the lions began roaring.
Chloe looked up from where she sat near the fire and into the dark bushes.
‘They are still far away,’ Khululani said.
But after a while, as the roaring got louder, they knew the lions were closer. Khululani picked up his hunting rifle and loaded it.
Nick scanned the area with his torch until he finally caught some reflective eyes in the bush, on the opposite side to where the horses were in the boma. They looked defiantly at him. ‘There you are.’ Slowly, he moved the light around. ‘I can’t see any more lions waiting in the grass around them.’
Chloe stared at the lioness, which just stared back.
Xo added more wood to the fire. The horses neighed. ‘I don’t know about you, but I’m not keen on going out there with those lions about.’
‘She seems to be alone,’ Nick said as he continued to search with his torch for more lions, then came back to her again, shining the torch in her eyes. ‘The males we can hear might not be part of her pride.’
The lioness stood up and walked away, as if realising she was not getting any meal from the humans there tonight.
‘Holy shit, she’s huge,’ Chloe said.
‘That she is and look at those muscles. Well fed too. She can’t be alone to be in such good condition. She must be part of a pride that works well together.’
The lioness turned sideways on and was highlighted in Nick’s spotlight. ‘Look, suckle marks on her undercarriage. She’ll be hunting alone while her cubs are hidden from the pride. Good girl, you go find some easier prey than us.’
‘That’s sweet that she has cubs and is looking after them, but good girl?’ Chloe challenged. ‘She would almost take me at hip height, and you say good girl like she’s some domestic kitten.’
‘Healthy lions are essential to keep the natural balance of the game right. They weed out the weak and the old. So yes, good girl, she’s a mum looking after her cubs, just doing what comes naturally. They’ve been successful predators for a long time, but even their existence is threatened by humans. One day soon people will realise that they can’t keep taking the predators out of the food chain without having a disastrous effect,’ Nick said. ‘She’s cunning and a good hunter, obviously. Maybe you should go check on the horses and make sure she didn’t stand up on her hind legs and work out a way to use those big paws to open the boma to feed them to her cubs.’
Khululani laughed when he saw the reaction on Chloe’s face. ‘You need to learn when Nick is bullshitting you.’
‘Nick! You’re a domkop!’ Chloe said. ‘How can you start a story with one line of truth and then spout all that rubbish? I should know better; you have been doing that all my life!’
Nick laughed. ‘Come on, Xo, you and I’ll go do a perimeter check around the boma. The likelihood of us having to scare more lions away with a shot again is real high, even if that mama has moved on.’
‘This time he is not joking,’ Khululani said.
Xo nodded and stood up. ‘I think Chloe got it. I’ll go with Nick to check on the horses, you guys keep the fire nice and high. And make sure those lions don’t get to the Caçador Escuro, as much as that would be justice.’
* * *
Douglas settled in; he had to be patient and wait. They had switched it up and not left the kid alone again. Not even with Chloe in camp to keep him company. The kid and the woman, he had a chance against. Khululani alone—the likelihood of a successful escape was slim. Not with a shot shoulder, a broken arm and his face still throbbing from his busted nose.
His window to freedom was shrinking.
Using his feet as they gripped the nylon in the tent’s corners, and further where each peg held it securely to the ground, he quietly lifted the peg so that when the time came, he was ready to roll the whole thing, even into the fire if necessary, to get away.
‘Stop moving in there, go to sleep!’ Khululani said, then he was outside the tent and stomping on the pegs, pushing them back in the ground, and moving large boulders onto the corners.
Enoch and Filipe would be back soon, and they would move on. He would be given over to the Zimbabwe police. And while he knew some of them were corrupt, many were dedicated men and women, and proud, too. He wasn’t sure that even the promise of a well-paid bribe would get him out. He had to get away. He had to escape.
He dozed waiting for the next changeover of the guards, when he could shift the rocks and try again, but it never came.
* * *
They heard a whistle, and an excited Xo answered in return. ‘Enoch’s back!’ Chloe said aloud.
He walked into their camp and both Xo and Chloe threw themselves into his arms.
‘You guys are all up, and here I thought I was walking in early,’ Enoch said.
‘We’ve had lions visit us,’ Chloe said.
‘If you pack up and ride out of here, the truck is about two hours away, and you can leave the lions to live their own lives, away from you.’
‘That’s fantastic news,’ Chloe said.
‘And,’ Enoch said, ‘this is for you.’ He dug in his small pack and handed her a bottle of Coke.
‘Awesome,’ she said, hugging him again. ‘Thank you, thank you!’
‘And ours?’ Xo asked.
‘What? You think I would bring her one and not you?’ Enoch said, handing them out to the rest of the group.
‘No, but that is going to taste like nectar right now,’ Xo said, getting his knife out and opening the bottles.
‘To a journey almost over,’ Chloe said, standing next to Mike.
‘I’ll drink to that,’ Nick said.
The Cokes didn’t last long, and they put the empties back into Enoch’s pack before they got busy dismantling the camp.
As they were riding away, Enoch and Filipe had the Caçador Escuro on his short rope out in front and the horses a way behind. Xo first, then Chloe riding Marin with her father balanced in front and held tightly, and up the back came Nick. Ever dependable Nick who had stayed by her side, and done everything he could when she asked, and whom she knew she was falling in love with. They needed so much more time together to get to know each other as adults, time away from the stress of trekking, and away from the watching eyes of the Caçador Escuro.
Chloe turned around to look past Nick, at the site that would be their last outdoor camp. Delaware was close now.
At last she would be able to relax, and they would all be safe.
An old male lion walked into the area they had so recently vacated, sniffing around for scraps of food left behind. His face was tattooed with scars from fights—perhaps for glory of his right to mate, or for his territory, but the latest sores were unhealed and more recent. His mane was just as magnificent as when he’d perhaps been king of that area, and had his pride around him. Supported. Strong.
Instead of how he was now—isolated and alone.
His ribs showed like ripples on water against his tawny skin as he walked, carefully picking up one huge paw and placing it down, as if each step was a mission of its own to accomplish.
He sniffed around the fire, and finding nothing, moved to the tree the Caçador Escuro had been tied to during the day. He sniffed the ground, and the air, and then lay down under the canopy of leaves in the shade.
Tears formed in Chloe�
��s eyes as she looked forwards, and she squeezed her dad’s waist as she held him in front of her.
* * *
Aunty Grace was sitting in a deck chair next to a cattle truck, her sunglasses and large hat shading her from the sun. There were also two men flanking her, standing as if the mid-afternoon sun was nothing and they were guarding someone of great importance. They wore camo colours, and their guns were pointed towards the riders. They may have sneaked up on her aunt, but not her guards.
‘Oh, come on, I’m sure she told you we were coming,’ Chloe said, and they immediately lowered their weapons at the female voice.
‘Chloe!’ Aunty Grace said as she stood up. ‘I was just having a nap.’
Chloe looked at the lady standing in front of her. She couldn’t help feeling that she was looking into a mirror thirty years in the future—Grace was as tall as Chloe, with silver hair and a face that belonged to someone who’d experienced a lot of trauma very early in their life, but the family resemblance was very clear to anyone who saw them together. She held herself with an understated elegance, despite the T-shirt and cut-off denim shorts that she wore.
‘Aunty Grace!’
‘It really is you, Chloe!’
Enoch was there to take the weight of Mike from her as she slid him off Marin and then she jumped off and ran to her aunt. They hugged until Grace said, ‘Okay, enough. Get your horses loaded so we can get you home. Was that Mike up there riding with you?’
‘Yeah, but he isn’t doing so well,’ Chloe said, walking with her aunt to where Mike was lying on the ground.
Grace threw her arms around him and hugged him.
Mike half lifted his arm, and while Chloe could see him try, he wasn’t able to put it around Grace fully, but it was close. She hadn’t seen him do that to anyone else, aside from her.
‘He recognises you,’ Chloe said excitedly. But the excitement had already sapped all Mike’s energy, and she watched as his face once again showed pain, and his arm flopped to his side.
Enoch was there in a heartbeat, picking him up and carrying him to sit in the front of the truck.
Grace frowned. ‘It’s been a while since we were all together. Come on, let’s go home.’
‘It’s so close we can almost smell it!’ Chloe said. Their trip had not gone as smoothly as she had hoped, but they were in Zimbabwe now. The SAP couldn’t touch them here, and within a few hours, they would be home—safe at Delaware.
‘First, we need to get Dad to a doctor, and then we need a police station; we have a prisoner travelling with us.’
CHAPTER
33
Chloe nodded to her aunt’s two militia as they circled the perimeter of the school grounds again. Christmas was only five days away, and the roof had been decorated with bits of tinsel and greenery from the bush, and the yard was immaculately swept, showing the pride that the school had been chosen to host the medical clinic. Chloe looked at everyone patiently waiting.
News of the medical team had spread fast, with many of the people travelling for hours, and in some cases days, to see a doctor. They were thankful for the extra care they were receiving, but also worried about what other drama might follow the visitors.
The people were frightened. The dissident war was raging around them, family and friends, even work colleagues, were going missing in the night, and entire villages were being slaughtered and buried. But still they came—to wait in the hot sun, hoping that they would be seen by the doctor or the clinic sister.
For all the trouble that her beloved country was going through, the people themselves were always the same: friendly and patient, believing that tomorrow might be a better day. Chloe looked towards the toilet block building and smiled.
Dr Lily Winters walked up to stand next to her on the verandah, two cups of tea in her hands. She passed one to Chloe and indicated that they sit on the step.
‘Thank you,’ Chloe said, lowering herself down. Obviously, the doctor wanted to talk.
‘I have always loved hot tea on a warm day. Not sure why, but I think it reminds me of my roots. I grew up in South Africa, and even though I moved away, something always calls me back,’ Lily said. ‘But you also need the hydration, the way you have been walking up and down outside the classroom all this time.’
‘Sorry. Enoch says I pace around the house when I’m stressed.’
‘Surprised there isn’t a furrow in the concrete.’ Lily smiled, softening the words. ‘Two things. First, your prisoner.’
‘He’s not just mine,’ Chloe protested.
‘He says his name is Douglas Jones, and he’s a Zimbabwean professional hunter and you have taken him hostage for no reason and treated him unfairly. He wants me to save him from you lot. Your men standing in the rooms all the time with us, Filipe, Nick and Khululani, they told me not to listen to his lies and I’m more inclined to believe them. However, it is not for me to judge. There is no phone here, so I can’t call the police. You need to know that my colleagues have told me that the closest police station to here if you head north-ish is at Matibis. It’s called Chikombedzi Police Station. Or if you are heading west, the bigger one is at Beitbridge, the Dulibadzimu Base.’
‘We’ll head to the Beitbridge one, it’s on the way home,’ Chloe said. ‘Travelling on the roads, they will lead us south-west to the border town and then head north again.’
‘That’s what your men said too,’ Lily said. ‘That your farm Delaware is in Mazunga.’
‘That it is,’ Chloe said.
‘But to me, prisoner or not, his health comes first. The shoulder that took a bullet will be fine, it’s just a flesh wound. Between you all that seems to have been kept pretty clean, and it is already healing. I gave him a few stitches to help close it up faster. It’s too late to reset his nose without surgery. But his arm’s a different story. He needs to go to a hospital. It’s been shattered by a bullet, as well as having splinters embedded quite deep in his hand. To be honest, I’m not sure how he kept walking the distance you say he’s covered without passing out, even with his arm immobilised in the rope sling. He clearly has an extremely high threshold for pain.’
‘We’ll let the police know when we drop him off,’ Chloe said. ‘And the sooner we offload him, the better.’
Lily nodded. ‘It is what it is. I have put a temporary cast on to help stabilise it. Now, about your dad. I’m sure you know that your father could’ve done without this additional trauma to his legs.’
‘Obviously I know that, and I would’ve done anything to have it different, but circumstances are what they are, and he sustained these massive bruises.’
‘I do understand. There isn’t much more I can do for him. The nurses are bandaging his legs, and we have given him some pain relief. I’m worried that this is more than just bruising, though, that he has DVT.’
‘Deep Vein Thrombosis? You sure?’
‘Trauma like he’s endured can cause major clotting. Without an MRI or a CT scan, or even a contrast venography, where I can inject dye into his feet and then use an X-ray to see the veins in his legs, I can’t give you a proper diagnosis out here. Normally, I’d prescribe anticoagulant medicines to thin the blood, but …’
‘The doctors in South Africa said he can’t take those.’
‘I suspected as much. He’d be susceptible to bleeding on his brain, based on what you’ve told me. He needs tests run—I’d suggest that you take him to the hospital in Bulawayo. They might have the equipment working for the scans, but I would still caution against any anticoagulants if they recommend them.’
‘What will happen if it’s DVT?’
‘There’s a lot of clotting in the veins in his legs. There’s already a lot of inflammation, what we call phlebitis, and he’s already showing the signs of starting a leg ulcer. These are easy enough to treat—the danger is if the clot leaves the leg vein. If it travels through the circulatory system, he could suffer from what’s called a pulmonary embolism, which is when the clot blocks off the main
artery to the lungs or one of its major branches.’
‘And if that happens?’ Chloe asked.
‘About one-third of the patients this happens to don’t make it,’ Lily said.
Chloe was shaking her head. ‘So how do I stop it breaking off, if he can’t have the drugs to make it flow better?’
‘You can’t. You can only hope it doesn’t break off,’ Lily said.
‘So there’s nothing I can do? It’s just a waiting game?’
‘That’s right. I’m sorry I’ve been so blunt, but I figured that you must be tired of people giving you false hope with your father’s health these last few years. I won’t be one to add to your list. Your father is basically hanging on by sheer determination now. My advice would be to get him home to where he might recognise things, and keep him calm. Keep on with the physiotherapy, elevate his legs as much as possible and just wait for the swelling to go down. Hopefully, the clots will all be reabsorbed into his body. I also suspect that the jarring he sustained has started the bleeding on his brain again.’
Chloe bit the inside of her cheek and stared out at the landscape. ‘Thank you for being honest. At least now the last part of the trip is in a vehicle where we can watch him better. And once we are home, he’ll be in his own bedroom again by tonight.’
‘You know, you should be real proud of what you’ve accomplished with your father, and how you have kept him with you all this time. Many people would have just institutionalised him and walked away,’ Lily said.
‘I could never do that, and neither could Enoch.’
‘He’s a lucky man to have you both,’ Lily said, and she downed the last of her tea. ‘Right, tea is finished, and I need to get back to other patients. No rest for the wicked.’
Chloe grinned and stood up with her. She put out her hand. ‘Thank you for being here. Otherwise, our journey to find help would have been a nightmare.’
‘We are the lucky ones to be included in this medical outreach. Quintin and I were not sure we would make this clinic, but I’m glad we did.’