The Antelope's Journey

6. The safari

Being Jim has always been hard. I grew up poor, lived poor and almost died of poverty. Then someday my twin brother got up and said that he’d be back—he was going away to play a relic hunt game for big monies in return. A relic hunt in this day? Of course, I found that idea to be utterly preposterous, but poverty can force you to believe in anything. I gave him my best farewell and sent him off with a ‘good luck’.

He never returned and someday, I woke up with a diamond patch on my arm. Right here on my bicep. The following nights, I would dream snippets of him. He would be sending short messages, urging me to find him. Not knowing where to look, I started off by surfing the internet looking for a tattoo like mine—the diamond patch. Suddenly, some big guy budged into my house—it was a small single room, actually. He appeared bold and sophisticated—his goons called him boss. He brought me to his station, he gave a place to stay and promised me that he knew where my brother was.

And so, I waited for almost 2 decades for this opportunity. However, I never anticipated that I’d be here being chased by the nature’s wild. These vicious nature’s guards dispersed to fill the field. They came in their numbers and kinds. I never thought once I’d see predators and preys working together, unit this day. Loud tromps of buffalos and elephants—sensation as that of an earth quake. Roars of wild cats, I never felt so fearful. The sprint of the cheetahs—we could almost trip.

I never thought Mbali could run like that, she was right ahead of all of us leading our pack out of that wild. I suppose she was more terrestrial than aquatic. Just some hours ago, she almost drowned to death in that underground. Now, she prints like the cheetah on land through all the resistance of the wind and the crusty ground.

They had been walking for hours since the ordeal with the floods in the underground. They may had seen warning posters as they entered the safari, however, they did not heed the warnings. They wanted to get going and finish this journey all at once. Each one of them was still depressed from their near-death experience with the collapsing of giant rocks and the floods. Some have also lost their friends in that underground. If anything, it was best to finish this as quick as they could.

Entering the safari, everything seemed quiet and no siting of the wild. They had that reason to stay relaxed—they had walked hours and hours navigating through the safari. They had their maps guiding them through. At once, one located a golden lion hiding in dry grass. It gave its death stare and its paws deeply rooted on soil for a jump start. Like that, it became a reoccurring event of siting even more animals gravitated on their station ready to pounce. “Remain calm and keep walking,” said one man.

They were quivering—some made a good effort at hiding their fear and some gave it away. They walked along, trying as hard to remain silent while tramping on the dry ground with twigs and dead leaves. Knees were shaking and their hearts were, especially, pulsating. They knew they could not trust in one another to remain calm in that situation. In fact, they were expectant that one would flop. In deep, one fell and lead a short yelp, all of them paused. They gave a quick scan off the wild, the animals appeared a bit closer now and made a pause. “You have to,” a careful whisper from Betty to the pale, rangy man on his knees, “get back up. Quietly.” Gently, the man pushed himself back up. His knees were weak already, they could see him shake and his forehead was all drench in his sweat. They stayed looking at each other like that, almost waiting for the first person to make a run for it.

“f**k it!” the rangy man whooshed off with a sudden yelp. In suit, the others followed. Now they were being chased by the nature’s monsters. Galloping and hauling up the dust. Roars and screeches. Far at front, Mbali was leading them. The logic was clear, they had to run faster than each other. However, they were all clamped together—each was very competitive.

“There!” Mbali yelped, “I see a lake! There’s lake ahead! Keep running!” The lake was big. No-one knew how deep it went or what lived in there but they all aimed for it. Surely, the river was much better than what they were faced with.

Francina felt a grip on her shoulder, instantly, she was thrown down. She found herself rolling back towards the animals. Now, she could see many others on the ground. Could they have been thrown like she was? She knew exactly who did this. The animals were getting closer to her now. She got back on her feet and just as she could start running—a bite on her pants down by the ankle. She thrust other foot back, hammering into the tiger’s eye. It drew back a little. She began running again. She could see the others had made it far into the river.

Out of curiosity of what we had escaped behind, I turned. And I was shocked to see her encircled by those vicious ones. She had become my favourite. When I first saw her thrown in the cell opposite mine, I knew that she and I would make a great team. She appeared trustworthy to me unlike the others, I couldn’t understand them with their fluctuating emotions. I saw her put up a fight, she had her blades out and slicing. She wanted to live so bad, unfortunately they buried her in themselves…

I wanted to help but…