by Scott Bergin
Thomas steadied himself with one hand, and picked up the bicycle laying next to him with the other. He managed to get on the bicycle and stand up over it, one foot on either side. He walked the bicycle backwards, toward the open end of the truck. As he glanced over his shoulder, he wondered if they were going too fast for this. Thomas backed the bicycle up to the very ridge of the truck, and he continued to hold onto the sides. At the same time, he wondered if he could even make it out of the truck before they crashed. Thomas realized that he was about to test the brain teaser about a person in a falling elevator. The one that asks if someone was standing in a falling elevator, and they jumped up at the last moment, would they survive. Thomas tried to convince himself that the person would survive, and that the same principles were at work here. If he pushed off hard enough, it would counteract the fact that the vehicles were going forward so fast. The result would be like taking a small jump on a bicycle. Only, Thomas wasn't very convinced that it would work, but he knew it was his only shot. Thomas quickly grabbed the handlebars tightly and pushed the bicycle backwards with his feet. The bicycle fell the three feet to the ground. When it hit, Thomas was not prepared for the jolt. He immediately lost control of the bicycle. The front wheel turned sharply, and Thomas was thrown off the bike. He and the bike slid off the road, and into the ditch. They kicked up a large amount of dust, and they made plenty of noise.
"Whoa!" Alex said, turning to look at the mess.
"What was that?" Gabrielle asked, still fighting to control the vehicles.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please keep your bodies and bicycles inside bus at all times." Alex said.
"He bailed out?" Gabrielle asked.
"He sure did." Alex said. "But it didn't look to pretty."
"Neither will ours." Gabrielle assured him.
"Ours!" Alex exclaimed. "You think I'm jumping out, you're crazy."
"No. I don't think you're jumping out." She replied. "But you're right about the crazy part." Gabrielle turned the wheel and held it. The two vehicles started veering off the road.
"No! No!" Alex shouted in protest. "What are you doing?"
"Just hang on!" She hollered back. The two vehicles veered into the ditch and fell on their side. Alex's window shattered on impact with the ground. Dirt and grass flew up into the car, and piled up next to his head. They slid for a hundred feet before coming to a stop.
"Are you still all right?" Gabrielle asked.
"If I say no, do you promise to stop trying to kill me." Alex replied.
"You're all right." Gabrielle said, then unbuckled herself. Immediately she fell onto Alex.
"You want to get off me?" Alex mumbled, his face squashed into her thigh.
"Sorry." She said, and raised herself off him. Alex unbuckled himself, and stooped in the car with her. Gabrielle opened the door and crawled out. Alex followed. They stood staring at the undercarriage of the two vehicles, wondering what to do next. Alex walked to the back of the truck.
"What are you looking for?" Gabrielle asked.
"This." Alex replied, holding up a small blanket.
"Now doesn't seem like the proper time for a picnic." Gabrielle said, folding her arms. Alex tore a strip off the blanket, and walked toward the bottom of the truck.
"No." He said. "But it's a hell of a time for a bonfire." Then he removed the gas cap and stuffed the strip part of the way inside. Alex lit the lighter and turned to Gabrielle.
"Start running." He said, then he lit the blanket and started running toward her. By the time Alex started running, Gabrielle was already up to full speed. The fire burned into the truck's gas tank, and the truck exploded. The explosion sent flaming gasoline onto the road. A thick, dark plume of smoke and flame rose off the truck. Then the car exploded, doing the same. The double blast sent them to the ground, though they were out of the flame's reach.
"Now who's trying to kill us?" Gabrielle said, spitting out a mouthful of dirt.
"I can explain." Alex insisted.
"No need to." Gabrielle said. "It's simple, you're a pyro." Then Gabrielle sat herself up, and brushed herself off. Alex did the same.
"No." Alex said. "I just want Thomas to think we're dead."
"Well, we almost really were." Gabrielle said.
"Let's go find him." Alex said, wrapping the remaining piece of the blanket around the guard's arm, and his own.
"Why?" Gabrielle asked, as Alex started leading them back down the road.
"What do you mean, why?" Alex asked.
"I mean, why follow him?" Gabrielle began. "We have no camera, so we can't photograph him. We have no weapons, so we can't stop him. In fact, he has got a weapon. If he sees us again, he will probably kill us. So why follow him?"
"Because he is a murderer, and a thief." Alex replied. "If we lose him now, we may never find him again. We don't know where his is from. If we don't follow him, he'll get away with everything."
"A thief." Gabrielle said. "What did he steal?"
"Some page from a book." Alex said. "I don't even know what the book was."
Suddenly Gabrielle stopped walking.
"What is it?" Alex asked.
"There." She said, pointing toward a path of trampled grass. "He went off through there."
"You're right." Alex said, noticing the bicycle stuffed in the tall grass.
"You're really going to follow him, aren't you?" Gabrielle asked.
"I have to." Alex replied. "And you know what you have to do."
"What?" She asked.
"You have to take this." Alex said, pulling the bicycle from the grass. "And you have to ride it back to Yaoundé. You have to photograph the bombing, and the cloud's destruction. If you don't do that we're both out of jobs."
"You trust me to do that alone?" Gabrielle asked.
"I've already put my life in your hands, so I think you can handle a camera." Alex replied. "You can tell the police what happened if you want, but I don't think they can do much for me. I think this bike is still in fairly good condition." Alex set the bicycle down beside her. Gabrielle threw her arms around Alex, and squeezed him tight.
"You come back to me in one piece." She said, fighting back the tears.
"I will." Alex said. "I promise. I will." Alex squeezed her so tight, that he lifted her off the ground.
"When you're done in Yaoundé." Alex said. "Fly to London."
"London?" Gabrielle asked.
"Stay at the office, night and day." Alex said. "So I'll know where to reach you."
"You don't have to worry about that." Gabrielle said, trying to force out a smile. "I'm sure Dana won't let me leave anyway. She'll probably make me do the work for both of us."
"I've gotta go." Alex said, loosening his grip and setting her down.
"I know." She whispered. Then Gabrielle looked Alex straight in the eyes, and kissed him firmly on the lips. Alex hadn't expected it, and didn't know how to react at first. Then he kissed her back, and let his hands fall to his sides. Gabrielle did the same. When they separated, the last part still touching one another was their lips. Gabrielle said nothing, but only mouthed the words, I love you. Alex did the same. Then Alex turned and stepped into the tall grass. Gabrielle stood the bicycle and got on it, watching Alex the whole time.
"Be careful." She finally said.
"I know." Alex replied. "It's a jungle out there." With that, Alex darted off into the tall grass, and he was gone. Gabrielle turned the bicycle back down the road, the way they had come. She started pedaling toward Yaoundé, and she knew the journey would take her a lot longer than the last time. Alex ran through the tall grass and into an open field. On the other side of the field, he saw Thomas casually strolling into the woods. Alex could clearly see that the line of trees Thomas was entering was the border of the tropical rainforest. Alex waited until Thomas was out of view before starting after him, and heading into the jungle.
Chapter 17
April 12
4:00 p.m.
The Congo
&n
bsp; Alex continued trailing Thomas by a hundred yards, as he had for the last three hours. During these three hours, the jungle had gotten progressively thicker. The canopy that towered several hundred feet above them seemed to devour all the sunlight, but that did not make them feel any cooler. The humidity was twice as bad without the sun to cook off the moisture. For the past half hour the density of the jungle seemed to remain the same, and Alex assumed that it meant they had reached the heart of the jungle. There was very little plant life on the ground floor, due to the lack of sunlight. Alex was relieved at this. There was no chance of him stumbling and rustling a plant that would alert Thomas to his presence. The wide open floor also gave him an excuse to drop further back. He had no intention of getting caught. At least, not as long as Thomas still had the gun.
With all this walking, and no one to talk to, Alex couldn't help but let his mind wander. His thoughts drifted straight to Gabrielle. Only a couple of hours ago she had kissed him, and told him that she loved him. He had done the same in return. Now he began to ask himself why he had. If he did love her, he should have done something more to prove it. But he didn't know if he really did love her. So, he was still not upset with himself. Then there was the possibility that Gabrielle didn't really love him. She could have just been caught up in the moment. Maybe she was trying to make his goodbye memorable, nothing more. If so, then he acted perfectly. Any additional display, and he would have only made a fool of himself. Whatever the circumstances had really been, Alex was unsure. The only thing he was sure of was that none of this could be determined for sure, not while he remained in the jungle. He needed to be with Gabrielle to find out if she loved him, then he could decide if he loved her back. Alex decided to stop thinking of all the what ifs, and to simply think of the kiss. In the middle of this harsh jungle stood a man with nothing on his mind but the softness of a tender kiss.
Alex froze in his tracks. Thomas had stopped moving, and was only ninety yards away. Thomas removed a shiny metal object from his coat, and he was playing with it. Alex could not tell what it was, and decided to get in closer. Alex crawled quietly along the jungle floor. He came to rest against a large tree with a twisted trunk, only a hundred feet from where Thomas was standing. Now Alex could see everything more clearly. The metal object looked like a small pizza pan. It was less than a foot across, and it was only a couple of inches deep. It looked great for getting water, but there didn't appear to be any water here. Thomas bent over and set the pan against the base of the tree. Alex noticed that it also had a twisted trunk, much like the one he now leaned against. He could not believe that Thomas was really going to abandon equipment in the jungle, when he apparently had very little. Alex waited patiently for Thomas to leave, so he could go over and get the pan. Then Alex wondered if it was going to be a trap. Perhaps Thomas knew that Alex was following, somehow. Alex felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Did Thomas know he was here? Thomas still stood next to the pan. He was clearly not going to abandon it. Thomas pulled out the gun and drew the hammer back. Alex wanted to get up and start running. At least he would have a chance that way. He knew that if he stayed where he was, he stood no chance. Still, he did not move. He was paralyzed with fear of being discovered, and fear of being shot. He felt as helpless as the pan that lay against the tree near Thomas' feet. Thomas turned, took aim, and fired the gun. Alex closed his eyes and waited to feel the bullet. He felt nothing. When he opened his eyes, he saw Thomas holding up the pan, with a fresh hole in its center. Thomas tucked the gun away, and Alex breathed a sigh of relief. Then Thomas pulled out his knife. He began working the knife on the bullet hole. Then he continued walking, deeper into the jungle. Alex decided to wait until he was far off before getting up to pursue him.
Alex sat with his eyes closed, and his head against the tree. He was still thinking of the shot. He had felt as trapped as the pan, now he wondered if he would end up like it. For the first time, Alex realized the possibility that he might not leave this jungle alive. One mistake, and he would never see Gabrielle again. At the same time, he knew that if he let Thomas out of his sight for too long, he would be in just as much trouble. Alex had no compass or map, or any idea where the hell he was. In fact, he didn't even realize that they had already left Cameroon over an hour ago. Alex figured that Thomas must have a map and a compass, because he seemed to know right where he was going. But when Alex thought about it, he had never seen Thomas look at a compass or a map. For someone to memorize their way through a jungle would not only be impossible, but suicidal. There were no landmarks to guide you through. Mountains couldn't be seen through the thickness of the canopy, and even the sun could be hard to find at times. He put this possibility out of his head. Alex just assumed that he had not been close enough to Thomas, when Thomas checked his bearings.
Alex opened his eyes, and looked straight up the trunk of the tree. The trunk spun round and round as it wound its way up into the canopy high above. Alex was drawn back to his depressing thoughts. It looked like a spiral staircase leading to heaven, and it was inviting Alex to climb. His next thought was even worse. He thought it was following him and demanding that he climb it. Alex quickly stopped looking, and stood up. Thomas was nearly out of view, and Alex could not afford to lose him. Alex began following Thomas again, but he could not help stopping at the tree that Thomas shot. He examined the tree, but did not look up its trunk at the canopy. He did not want those morbid thoughts to creep back into his head. Alex did not understand why Thomas had shot the pan, or the tree. Whatever the reason, it was still with Thomas, and not with the tree. Alex moved on, toward Thomas again.
Alex looked down at his arm. The guard's arm had worked its way out of the blanket, and it would soon be dangling by the handcuffs again. Alex's wrist was already sore from the chafing earlier. Alex unwound the blanket from the arms, and hung it from his waist. He held the rotting arm away from his own as well as he could. Then he wrapped the guard's arm in the blanket. With the very end of the blanket stuffed into the handcuffs, for padding. It was not as comfortable, having to swing the dead arm like a billy club, but Alex couldn't stand to have the rotting flesh against his own any longer. Alex began to wonder if any animals might smell the flesh, and come looking for food. The arm stunk very bad, and Alex wouldn't have been surprised if Thomas had smelled it at a hundred yards. Alex was also getting concerned about food. He was not hungry, or at least that's what he told himself. There was no recognizable food in the jungle. The monkeys high overhead seemed to be doing just fine, but they were obviously gathering food from the top of the canopy. Alex had no prayer of getting up there for food. Even if he could, he might not know what was edible and what was poisonous. Then Alex got an awful thought. If it came down to it, could he eat the rotting flesh inside the blanket to survive? He remembered that he had grabbed the lighter from the dead man in the car, so he could cook it. Granted he couldn't roast it over an open fire, Thomas would surely see that. However, he could still cook it. Piece by piece, over the lighter itself. It could be done in order to survive, and it would not get him caught. Alex did not know if he could bring himself to do it. If he could, it would not be today. He would have to get a lot hungrier, the kind of hunger that doesn't come in one day without food. It would require a kind of hunger that can only be described by those who have experienced true starvation. If he was going to be able to eat the dead man's arm, it would be a last desperate attempt at survival. Alex hoped it wouldn't come to that. If the situation got worse and it did come down to that, only then he would decide what to do. Again Alex's thoughts turned to his own mortality. He wondered what would become of him if he died out here. Would he be the next meal for some scavenger? He wondered if his fate could be any worse than the guard who had his body parts dragged across the countryside while his body has barely even gotten cold. Then Alex realized that his fate could be worse. He knew they were traveling south, ever since they left Yaoundé. If they traveled too far they would be in the Congo, and there were stil
l isolated tribes of cannibals in the Congo. Alex thought that the rotting flesh might give him away to something worse than an animal, a cannibal. Now Alex had a new reason to fear for his life, and a new reason to wonder if he would ever see Gabrielle again. He also had new questions to ponder. Were they still heading south? How far had they gone? How far would they go? Would they be going through cannibal territory? Alex wondered if that was Thomas' reason for having the gun. It couldn't be just for shooting holes in pans. Alex looked up at Thomas again, he was still carving his knife into the hole. Alex had no idea what Thomas was up to, and he tried to clear his mind of it. All Alex had accomplished so far with his wild ideas was to cause himself to worry more. Which was exactly what he didn't need. Alex decided to relax and enjoy the scenery, and try to think positive thoughts. The only one he could come up with was Thomas dropping his knife, and firing the other four bullets in the gun. Then Alex could probably run up and club him to death with the dead guard's arm. Even this had a down side. Alex realized that Thomas was his only guide through the jungle, to kill him would be suicide. He knew that he stood little chance of finding his way through the jungle without Thomas as a beacon. As he continued to follow Thomas, Alex turned his thoughts back to the single subject he could think of that had no harsh side, Gabrielle.
Chapter 18
April 12
7:15 p.m.
Yaoundé, Cameroon
Gabrielle managed to get the rickety old bicycle within Yaoundé's city limits before nightfall. It was all she had hoped for. Upon reaching the city she ditched the bicycle on the side of the road. After several hours on that uncomfortable seat, she preferred to walk. In a matter of minutes she noticed that a substantial amount of people had returned to the city. Most of them were either soldiers or photojournalists, but some were ordinary citizens. Every time Gabrielle saw one citizen, there were at least two people with them. One would be a photographer or a reporter, and the other a soldier. Gabrielle walked a little further, toward the museum. When she got within a block of the museum, she ran into a large group of soldiers and reporters. The reporters were trying to get the story on the museum. The soldiers were there to prevent looting. As a compromise, the soldiers agreed to escort the reporters and photographers around the museum, but not inside it. Gabrielle joined the group, and the tour began. Gabrielle realized that the photographs everyone was talking would all end up being identical. What she needed was something different, something she was not allowed to film. She let the group get a little distance on her, while she dawdled with her camera. Gabrielle felt a hand on her back, urging her to move along.