As she sat there in the water, which was actually quite soothing, she cupped the water and washed it over herself, washing away the surface blood that was now running down her bare skin. As soon as she washed the blood away, more appeared from the deep cut. The skin around the cut was already starting to bruise badly and beginning to turn red, with other areas changing to a dark blue.
Tears flowed now, as she was so distressed and in such pain, without any real hope of rescue. She also began to fear the smell of her blood might attract predators, since she had no idea whether there might be animals out there already aware of her predicament.
Her parched throat reminded her that she still hadn’t drunk any water. So, despite the pain she was now feeling, she cupped her hands to drink the life-giving liquid.
It was difficult to keep her hands together to get much water to her mouth, as they were trembling so much. As she drank the first palm full, the earthy taste she remembered from yesterday returned. But it was refreshing and it wasn’t too unpleasant, so she cupped her hands yet again to drink more.
Finally, having satisfied her immediate thirst, Carly decided to get out of the water, but as she moved again she realised how painful her cuts and bruises were. She dared not stand up fully in the river, for fear of slipping once again, so she semi-crawled in an arched position, with her feet and hands feeling their way along in a crab-like motion, until she’d reached the relative safety of the riverbank.
As she reached it with her hands and then her feet, she climbed out and onto dry land and stood up. She turned to look back at the river, relieved that she’d managed to get out.
As she was watching the water, she saw something moving in the muddy flow. She froze to the spot when she realised what it was — a large python, its head above the water as it meandered downstream. And it seemed to be looking at her.
‘Oh, my god!’ she thought.
She had a real phobia of snakes and to see one so big was terrifying.
‘As if it wasn’t already enough to be dumped in the middle of Africa, I now have to contend with a snake.’
Her heart started to pound even harder than it had during the night, as the very thought of snakes in the water she had just drunk from was overwhelming.
‘What if it had swum by when I was sitting in the river?’ she thought and shuddered.
Suddenly, Carly felt even more alone and vulnerable. She watched as the snake swam off into the distance until she could no longer see it. She stood there for a few moments, not daring to move, just in case it came back or she saw another one.
Then, as she began to walk slowly along the side of the river, with her eyes now riveted to the flowing water, she wondered if she’d wake up and discover that this had all been a big nightmare.
Just as she was thinking that, something caught her eye. A huge creature was blocking the path directly in front of her!
She stared at the animal and it stared back, as if it were weighing her up. Its golden-yellow eyes were fixed on her. Instantly, her heart was in her mouth and pounding away again.
CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN
Konner looked out into the dark from his tree prison, hoping to see some glimmer of light — perhaps there might be a house in the distance or someone with a fire. But nothing. The only lights were the stars above him, and as he looked up in wonder at the millions of sparkling lights, he once again realised how alone he really was.
Had it not been for his situation, he might have been able to appreciate the wonder and beauty of the scene above him. Instead, he could only worry about what he would do when the light returned in the morning.
Time seemed to stand still. Minutes seemed like hours, and hours felt like days, as he perched in the tree, not daring to move. He could still hear the sounds of animals, none of which was familiar, in the dark night around him, but every sound made him feel even farther away from home.
Tears welled up in his eyes, as he considered how helpless he felt. ‘What am I going to do in the morning?’ he thought. ‘Sure, I’ll be able to see again, but the animals will still be out there and waiting to eat me.’
Thinking about what to do to quench his thirst and satisfy his hunger, he thought about eating the leaves in the tree. Not knowing whether they would be poisonous or even if it would help much, but realising that if he had nothing to eat or drink he’d die anyway, he reached out, grabbed a few leaves and put them into his parched mouth. The smooth surface of each leaf crunched as he bit through its hard, outer coating.
The leaves tasted somewhat like iron and they were quite hard to chew, but nonetheless he could taste their moisture as he crushed them between his teeth. Not the best meal he had ever eaten, but at least it might provide some fluids until morning, when he hoped to go looking for a river or lake. He knew it was the beginning of the rainy season here in Zambia and that the rains had begun to fall, so there should be water in the rivers, if he could manage to find one. He just hoped that where he’d been dropped was near to a river.
Looking down to the ground, he could make out a large creature moving past the trunk of the tree. He could almost feel the adrenalin pumping back into his veins as his heartbeat increased once more. He hoped that the animal would not get a whiff of his scent.
His relief that the animal walked off into the dark was short-lived, as seeing it had only served to remind him of his predicament and how dangerous it was. He kept wishing he would wake up from this nightmare and find he was in his bed at home.
Finally, despite what seemed like an eternity, the sun eventually started to rise and the starry night gave way to a blue, cloudless sky.
As the morning sun lit up the ground, Konner scanned around near the base of the tree and looked through the leaves and branches, as far as he could, to see if there were any animals lurking nearby.
He worried that the pride of lions might be still around, waiting for him to climb down from the tree. ‘But surely these animals don’t have that level of intelligence,’ he thought, hopefully. ‘Yeah, right.’
Now that it was light, he was able to assess the damage to his body and could see the cuts he’d suffered from the night. He could see the gouges in his leg from the lion’s claws, where the bleeding had now stopped. He also checked the soles of his feet and could see that they were both cut and blistered from his walking on the hard African ground.
After studying the scene around him once more, he decided his only option was to climb down from his night-time prison and make tracks to find water, maybe some food, and possibly even eventual rescue.
Trying to ignore the pain, he looked at the way down. His fear of heights became his next big obstacle, as he froze against the tree, only now realising that he was up quite high. Last night, with a menacing lion on his heels and as it was dark, he had managed to get up the tree without giving too much thought to his acrophobia. However, in the cold light of day and being able to see the ground clearly below, this fear struck with a vengeance.
He began to shake almost uncontrollably, but despite that, he still managed to slowly move his left leg to the next branch down, being careful not to lessen his grip on the trunk. His back was still against the rough bark, and as he slid down it cut into his bare skin. When he placed his full weight on the branch, it moved, which sent another shiver through his body.
He realised the only way to proceed was to turn and face the tree, not look down and take it a step at a time. So he slowly turned, being careful to look at the branches and leaves directly in front of him. Feeling his way carefully step by step, switching from one leg to the other, eventually he managed to get to the ground.
He resumed walking in yesterday’s easterly direction, leaving the refuge of the tree behind him, not knowing whether in fact this was the right way to go or not. On high alert, he proceeded cautiously, worried about whether the lions were still in the vicinity or whether any other wild, meat-eating animals were about.
Feeling totally parched now and beginning to feel the heat
of the sun on his bare skin, Konner looked across the plain to his left in the direction of the sun and could see some animals in the distance, including the very recognisable zebra. The others looked like wildebeest. They all appeared to be on alert, too. Was it because they’d spotted him, or was it that they had spotted some other predator that he couldn’t yet see?
Making progress was difficult, as the ground was really hard on his feet. He knew that his only chance of survival in this seemingly endless, waterless zone was to keep going and to ignore the pain.
But faced with his extreme situation, he recognised he had found something deep inside himself, a primal determination to survive. He even began to think about what he might do if he managed to get out of it alive.
As he had those thoughts, he realised that only a day or so ago he was safe and out here shooting these same animals that were now his biggest fear. He was able to go to the fridge and get a cold beer. Whereas now, he wasn’t sure where his next drink— or any drink — was coming from.
As Konner walked across the short, dry grass, he scanned the distance to see if he could see anything that might resemble a river or a lake. Over to his left he could see that the land dipped away and, as he continued to walk, he could see there appeared to be more trees and greenery.
This was a good sign. With the ground dipping away, not quite as deep as a valley, it encouraged him to think there might be a river in the distance, which was likely to be the Luangwa. If it was, he knew that it would have water in it, as it always did during the rainy season. However, he also knew that it harboured some very dangerous creatures, including crocodiles. With renewed vigour he pushed on, whilst trying to ignore the ever increasing pain from his blister- and cut-ridden feet.
Looking from tree to tree and from almost every patch of grass to the next, he scanned for danger, hoping to find, if not the river, at least a waterhole. Suddenly, from that direction he heard the sound of an elephant trumpeting.
‘Oh, my god!’ he thought, ‘how do I deal with an elephant?’ That was a question he had not had to worry about before when he was with guides and armed with a rifle.
As he walked he began to notice more and more what appeared to be well-trodden pathways, which all seemed to lead to where he was heading. ‘This must be the right way to go!’ he thought.
He chose to follow a winding mud path, which was a whole lot smoother on his feet than the ground on either side of it.
Suddenly, he caught movement to his right behind the trees. He froze to the spot, not knowing what it was or how big it would be.
‘Is it dangerous?’ raced through his mind.
His heart rate soared once again. And then the animal showed itself. As it did, Konner felt a warm sensation running down the inside of his legs.
CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT
Not daring to look down at what he realised was his bladder emptying, Konner stared at the animal now standing directly in front of him. It was a huge, bull-like creature with heavy horns across the top of its head.
He recognised it as a buffalo. Its enormous back was almost as tall as he was, with its shoulder height rising around two metres from the ground.
‘That thing must weigh nearly 2,000 pounds,’ he thought.
The buffalo’s huge head was carried slightly lower, with the top of its horns located just below its back-line. The beast stood there with its front hooves in a wide stance and looked menacingly at him. The stance the buffalo had was needed to support the huge weight of the front part of its heavy body.
The animal had a dark brown coat and whitish circles around its eyes. Its horns were fused at the base, which seemed to form a continuous bony shield across the top of its head. Rising out from the base, the horns curved down and then smoothly curved upwards and outwards towards the tips. The span of these horns between the ends was at least a metre wide.
The buffalo was raising and lowering its head in an aggressive manner, and then made a move towards him. He stepped backwards away from the animal, not knowing quite how dangerous this beast was. He was taking no chances, and his primal body functions were taking over automatically. His sympathetic nervous system, which he had no conscious control over, was part of his fight-or-flight response.
Without realising it, his bladder had relaxed to void excess weight and fluids, readying his body for flight, and his stomach and upper-intestinal action were being slowed down. Inside Konner there was a constriction of many of his blood vessels in certain parts of his body, whilst at the same time there was dilation of other blood vessels that supply the flow of blood to the main muscles used for flight or fight.
Other changes were happening in his body, including the relaxing of his anus, so he now felt a trickle of warm faeces running down the inside of his legs. Konner felt like time had slowed; everything was happening in slow motion and all his senses felt heightened; his hearing seemed to be less and his vision had tunnelled, and he was no longer aware of his peripheries.
The catecholamines, or ‘fight-or-flight’ hormones, were being released into his blood stream by his adrenal glands in response to the stress that now confronted him. Without knowing it, the human body’s most abundant catecholamine, epinephrine (adrenaline), had been released in large levels together with norepinephrine (noradrenaline) and dopamine, all of which are produced from phenylalanine and tyrosine.
The buffalo then made a lunge towards Konner, lowering its head and huge horns towards the ground. He hesitated no more and turned to run; his muscles seemed to be stronger than he usually remembered them to be; his lungs and heart were pumping stronger than he’d ever known. As he fled, he could hear the buffalo behind, thumping its hooves on the hard ground and snorting loudly. He ran for his life, as fast as he could, jumping over the small bushes and instinctively dodging back and forth between the trees.
His lungs were now burning and he was desperate to stop running, but he pushed on. He had a body that was not designed to run and he could feel his stomach wobbling each time he placed a foot on the ground. Not certain the beast was still behind him, he continued to run through the trees and bushes.
‘The buffalo could be almost on me, as I’m sure despite its bulk, he’d be able to out-run me any day,’ he worried as he began to slow with fatigue.
Daring to look behind, he couldn’t see the animal anymore, so he stopped running. He continued to walk quickly, though, wary about where the buffalo was or whether he might run into other animals in the bushes. He couldn’t let his guard down at all.
Exhausted from his encounter with the buffalo, he took a moment to sit down on a raised bit of ground in the shadow of the nearest umbrella tree. The shadow was almost directly under the tree, as the sun was high in the sky and, as he sat there in the shade, he looked out across the plain at the herd of wildebeest and zebra in the distance.
The ground was already heating up from the sun, and heat haze rose up from the grass like a huge, steaming pot, making the distant animals appear like apparitions. Even in the shade of the tree, he felt hotter than he remembered, and he ached from head to toe.
The deep-seated primal feeling he’d got when he was up in the tree during the night returned. It was a powerful desire to survive, like what radiated from the wildebeests and zebras. It sent a shiver down his spine, whilst spurring him on even more to find water, which he was certain was nearby.
He forced himself to his feet and moved out from the shade of the tree. The sun beat down relentlessly, burning his sensitive, bare skin. His back was already red from the day before, so this heat was like being in front of a blow torch. Not having sun cream to protect him, blisters were beginning to form on his back from the relentless rays of UV light.
Yet, despite his pain and discomfort, he pushed on through the bushes and trees in the direction of the sloping ground, ever watchful for signs of more danger. He already knew there could be elephants at the waterhole, having heard them earlier. His heart was still racing and now he wondered whether his heart coul
d take much more of this pounding. He felt that he was very close to a heart attack every time he was faced with danger; his senses had never taken such a bashing before. He thought about the adrenalin rush that he got when he was shooting the animals out here, but that was nothing compared to this.
Finally, he came through a clearing and saw the water, but instead of being clean, it was a brown colour. There was a herd of several elephants lying and playing in it, stirring up the mud below.
The waterhole was a bit of a walk from the trees and the clearing he’d come through, and he found himself out in the open plain once again, which made him feel uneasy. He had no choice but to move on. He continued to walk towards where the water was and what appeared to be an abundance of life.
As he got closer, he could hear the slurping sounds of the animals drinking from this one huge life source, all seemingly trying to satisfy their thirsts as quickly as possible to avoid being there for any longer than was necessary. There were other animals around the waterhole, too, which included birds. There were several smaller birds which had perched themselves on the backs of many larger animals, and these darted and pecked at insects and flies that they found on their moving smorgasbords.
There were also a number of slightly larger white birds stalking around at the water’s edge, seemingly looking for food in amongst the muddy ripples. They moved between the hooves and feet of the zebra and wildebeest. Every now and again, they’d fly up, as one would get too close.
All the animals were wary of Konner, except for the elephants, which were absorbed in playing in the mud and in covering their wrinkly skins with copious amounts of the brown liquid. It seemed as though the elephants took priority over all the other animals at the watering hole. There was a little group of antelope, which moved away from the water’s edge as they saw him approaching.
These small creatures were very twitchy. As they considered whether Konner was a danger to them or not, they sounded off to one another with warning cries. There were a few zebras drinking at the water’s edge, too, a bit further away from Konner than the antelopes, but they also moved away as he approached. The birds nearest to him on his side of the waterhole took to the air and escaped to the other side, feeling they were now safe from this strange-looking, white-skinned creature.
Nothing Left But Fear Page 21