Lia's files 1_Presumed extinct

by Kathrin Kilambya

  The day promised to be as beautiful as the last one – the sun was already up and shining, no clouds blocking it from view. There was a band of clouds moving in from the west but just a small affair and high up. There would be no rain. The sky was a brilliant blue, fresh and clear, and the air definitely smelled spring-like.

  “Kind of strange.” I mused. “We’ll never again know what the weather will be in the next few days unless we master the art of forecasting the weather ourselves. From what I learnt, these high altitude clouds over there mean that a bad weather front is approaching and it’ll rain within some days, don’t they?”

  The others looked at me in surprise, then gazed up into the sky.

  “I think you might be right.” Yuki slowly answered; turning to Nin, she added. “You ought to know Nin, after all, you are the one of us with a pilot-training. Understanding the weather surely was part of this, wasn’t it?”

  “Well, yes and no.” Came Nin’s hesitant reply. “I know how to fly an airplane, but honestly, just a little about weather systems. I always relied on the weather forecasts. I think of the four of us Lia knows most about this subject. After all, you did courses in geography and climatology, didn’t you?”

  “Well, yes, I did some courses in climatology. But, honestly, I can’t remember much other than what I just mentioned.”

  Gazing over the valley, I added. “But you know what this is just one example of all the tons of things that from now onwards we will have to do or find out by ourselves. And you know what? I kind of like the idea.”

  The others looked at me in a funny way, Alice clearly not really understanding, what we were talking about. The others looking dubiously. So I tried to explain it a bit better.

  “I mean, yes, we’ll now have to find our own way about the world. From finding food and water to learning how to move about in a safe way and what to stay away from. Every aspect of our life has changed. Whatever we’ll need from now onwards, we’ll have to find it ourselves. It will either be ‘we know how to get something or to organize it’ or ‘stay without it’. No alternatives. And this includes knowledge about our surroundings, the weather. Just think, for example, of how we’ll find our way in an airplane to Africa. There won’t be any guiding system in place. We’ll have to navigate on sight. There won’t be any GPS-based navigation working any more. But you know what? This doesn’t really frighten me! Call me a fool, but it’s kind of thrilling, don’t you think?”

  “I think I know what you mean.” Nin slowly replied. “To me it seems like a sudden and seemingly endless number of possibilities open to us. No more limitations of any kind. A lot of uncertainty, sure, but also endless opportunities. Take the trip by airplane for example. How we will navigate, you ask. Well, I don’t yet know. We’ll have to discuss this with Paul. I have some ideas, but we’ll have to see. It won’t be easy, that much is clear. But on the other hand we also won’t be bound by any human rules anymore, such as custom regulations, passports, fly-over rights or such things. And, anything that we will need equipment-wise for example, we will simply go and take in the shops that stock them.”

  He gestured at me and added while winking at me. “And take binoculars. We all know that Lia never goes anywhere without them. And I finally understand why. Coz I realize now what an incredibly vital tool they are, especially now in this new world. And, frankly, I feel like ripping them from you, Lia. But then again, I needn’t worry too much. I know a shop where we can get more. All we’ll have to do is go there and take them. No worrying about how much they might cost. Kind of exciting, isn’t it?”

  Yuki gave him an exasperated punch. “Sometimes you’re an idiot, Nin, honestly! I don’t find it particularly exciting to be totally alone. No matter how many things we could now just go and take without having to pay for them. Really!”

  “If you put it like that, it certainly sounds stupid, but I didn’t just mean that!” Nin wasn’t backing down. “I meant all the possibilities we now have, the limitations too, of course, but the possibilities! Just think of that plane we want to go and see. In the old world we would never have dreamt of getting near it, leave alone examine or even fly it. Now it’s there. We go and have a look at it. And if it’s suitable, we’ll take it. No questions asked.”

  I understood what he was trying to say, though I would have said it in other words. And I nodded at him. He looked relived at this kind of support, because Yuki still glowered at him.

  Alice, not really understanding what we were talking about, had abandoned our discussion and ventured further into the grove following the path we’d taken yesterday, the one leading to the farm. I was about to shout for her to come back when she turned around and looked over to us. So I silently gestured for her to return to us and was relieved when she immediately obeyed.

  She looked excited and carried a little flower in her hand which she handed over to Yuki.

  How sweet!

  I thought better than scolding her for leaving on her own. There would be plenty of opportunities to instil that new rule. She must learn to stick close to one of us at all times now, never to venture anywhere on her own. There would be no more carefree running and shouting about. But this could wait, we would tell her later.

  Yuki wasn’t yet ready to let go of the topic for she pensively said while glancing at her belly, which was showing only the slightest notion of a bump. “Well, whether we like it or not, everything has changed. Frankly, I would give a lot to have the old world back.”

  Immediately, I felt guilty, and immensely so.

  Glancing over to Nin, I saw that he felt the same. Helpless, guilty but also angry.

  “But we’ll rise to the occasion, won’t we?” Yuki looked up at Nin, a strange mixture of anger, mock and love in her eyes.

  He bent his head as if defeated and she had mercy on him, raising her hand to caress his cheek. He didn’t dare look into her eyes, not yet.

  To break the awkward tension, I took Alice by the hand and started toward the edge of the grove. “Let’s get going. It’ll take us a while to reach the airport and that plane of yours, Nin. We’ll have to tread slowly and carefully.”

  I didn’t look back to them, but they followed quickly, Yuki first, Nin bringing up the rear. I gave him my binoculars and, after carefully scanning the area, he decided that it was safe to move over the meadow down to the lowest row of houses, closest to the river. We quickly ran across that open space and then stopped at the edge of the first houses.

  Down here the houses had been less affected by the bombs. But still, most of their windows were broken. As we passed the second house a stench wafted from a broken window on the ground floor. We all wrinkled our noses in disgust and Alice wanted to know the source of this sickly sweet stench.

  We all hesitated a bit, unsure of how to tell her.

  It was Yuki who volunteered the answer. “I am afraid, little one, it means that there are dead bodies in the house.”

  Alice looked up at us, shocked. And when she saw our solemn expressions she drew closer to us. I bent down to take her hand. We quickly and quietly hurried passed that window.

  As I glanced down to Alice I saw tears glistening on her cheeks. I quickly scooped her up in my arms. She started to sob and I murmured into her hair. “It’s alright, sweetie. I know it’s awful.”

  “They are dead? The old lady and her husband? They died? And what about their dog? I liked them. They were always so friendly.”

  Her words were barely audible through the sobbing. I patted her back and held her tight. There was nothing I could say or do to lessen the impact of this realization that all around us we could now find dead bodies. Nothing but be there for her.

  I understood her fears all too well. After all, it would take a lot to make me walk upwards along the river to that spot where the four bodies of those people whose brutal murder I had witnessed lay.

  Nin came back and lifted Alice from me. “We’ve got to move. We are too exposed here. Here, Lia, take Piglet and my gu
n, I’ll carry Alice for a while.”

  He lifted her onto his back and she clung onto his neck, still sobbing hard. Yuki silently gestured for me to hand her the gun and I complied. If I was to carry two guns as well as Piglet and Malinda, I’d be useless in case of danger. Plus, as Nin had said before, Yuki was the much better shot than I. We quickly hurried after Nin and Alice.

  Nin didn’t follow the little path down to the river, but decided to cross through the gardens of the lowest houses and along a little row of trees that led all the way down to the river. That way we remained under the cover of the trees. The grass was still wet but it was so nice to be outside and smell the fresh spring air, that none of us bothered about getting our shoes wet.

  It must have rained upstream recently because the river was swollen and the water dirty; the noise of the water made it impossible to hear anything else, which was disconcerting, and we didn’t pause long before crossing over the wooden bridge.

  On the other side we followed the path which led away from the river toward the airport. About fifty metres on, the noise of the river abated and when we reached the edge of the trees Nin stopped and turned asking to be given my binoculars. When he saw Yuki carrying his gun, he frowned but said nothing. I handed him the binoculars and he carefully scanned our surroundings once more.

  And again, there was nothing and no one except us.

  Still, we remained under the cover of those trees for about ten minutes, carefully checking and rechecking everything, listening hard for any unusual sounds. For, once we’d walk on it would be a long way back to safety. Better make sure the coast was absolutely clear.

  Finally, we carefully moved along the edge of the trees toward the airport.

  To our right, about thirty metres away, was another farm house with adjacent building. A wave of stench wafted over from there. We all blinked, but Nin explained to Alice that it could well be the sheep or cows that had died in their stable; that this stench did not necessarily mean human death. Still, it was gruesome.

  The further away from our shelter we got the more restless and tense I felt. We were so vulnerable! Maybe it had been a mistake to come all four of us down here. We were approaching the airport now. A sprawling complex of different buildings. And there were too many possibilities for someone to ambush us. But Nin walked along confidently and Yuki too didn’t show any signs of nervousness. Maybe it was just my nerves, still a bit overwrought from my experience of some days ago.

  As we approached the airport we could see that a lot of the buildings had been destroyed by bombs. But Nin knew the way to that part of the airport where the rescue company’s hangars were and he led us there through the maze of ruins, buildings and sheds. A lot of cars were parked on one of the parking lots. And nobody would ever come back and claim their car.

  “There it is!” Nin suddenly whispered pointing to his left toward a hangar with a sign of the rescue company on its big doors. And it had not been damaged by the bombs!

  We ran over there, Nin still carrying Alice on his back. He let her slip down once we reached the doors. He tried to open them but they were locked; with a chain and a padlock. Nin took a quick look around, then gestured to Yuki to hand him his gun. But she just pointed to the side of the building. There was another smaller door. He checked and it wasn’t locked. We entered the hangar.

  A couple of planes were parked within. Nin glanced around and quickly strode forward to one of them. He was very excited. His, our plane was there and looked perfectly all right!

  While the others went to inspect the plane, I remained by the door, peeking outside every now and then to check that we were still alone.

  The others disappeared on the far side of the plane and I could hear Alice giggle about something. Then suddenly Nin’s head appeared in the cockpit quickly followed by Alice and then Yuki. Alice waved at me enthusiastically and I waved back at her, relieved that she had apparently overcome her shock.

  Nin busied himself in the cockpit for a while, Yuki and Alice disappeared into the plane and after some minutes climbed down from it and came over to me.

  “It seems that the plane is in top condition.” Yuki reported happily. “Nin is checking how much fuel its tanks still hold. We inspected the interior and decided that we could take out a few seats and then pack a lot of equipment. It looks like it might really be an easy trip, Lia!”

  Alice was laughing, too.

  “Lia, Nin says we may be in Kenya soon, and there we will meet Mum and Nate. I am so happy!”

  How could he! It was nowhere near certain that we would be able to fly this plane. And there he went promising everyone an easy getaway!

  I just felt very nervous. It seemed way too simple and easy. Could it be a trap? Had we just walked into a trap set up for us? It didn’t seem. We hadn’t noticed anything or anyone.

  Still, I felt terribly nervous.

  And that Yuki and Alice didn’t seem to be as cautious as I was, made it only worse.

  “Hey, it’s working!” Nin shouted over to us while he climbed down from the plane.

  Far too loud! And I hastily gestured for him to shut up. He got my message because he looked alarmed and ran over to us in a sprint.

  “What’s the matter? Have you seen someone?”

  “No, just don’t shout around like this. You don’t have to advertise our presence. If someone were nearby they’d know about us now. I don’t like it, it feels like a trap!”

  “Lia, don’t worry, really! I am sure that we are safe here and that no one is near.”

  He playfully punched me in the side, grinning.

  “The fuel tank is more than half full, Lia! More than half. It’s incredible! I didn’t dare hope for this. All we have to do is roll this baby out of this hangar and onto the airfield. And despite the ruins, the way to the airfield remained unblocked, see! It’s incredible. From all I could see, the plane is ready for take-off. Of course, it won’t hurt for Paul to check it thoroughly, once they arrive, but it sure looks good. More than I ever dared dream!” Nin was very excited.

  And if what he said was true then we’d surely been very lucky. I just didn’t dare believe it yet.

  “That’s all very nice and I’ll be as happy as you want me to be, but please, let’s get out of here. We’ve been here too long and I want us to move.”

  Finally, he caught up with my anxiety and realized that we were indeed far from being safe here. He grabbed his gun from Yuki, nodded to me and we carefully made our way back toward the river and the bridge.

  There was no-one anywhere to be seen. But just as we left the airport area and headed back toward the river, we could hear a dog bark behind us and some others joining in.

  It sent shivers of fear down my back. Starting forward for the covers of the trees, I grabbed Alice’s hand, dragging her along. But Nin swept her up in his arms and ran past me. So I turned around and let Yuki pass to be able to cover their backs.

  Just as we were turning into the little path that led to the bridge, a pack of dogs appeared by the airport. More than ten. But I didn’t take the time to count them. They were running fast. Our direction. Every now and then checking our scent for they hadn’t yet seen us.

  “Run, hurry, we have to reached the bridge before they catch up with us!” I turned around shouting.

  While we sped toward the bridge we could hear them gain ground.

  Soon the bridge came into view, but the last metres were uphill and it slowed us down a lot.

  We were all out of breath and gasping as we ran across the bridge.

  I stopped and turned when I’d reached the other end.

  “Nin, bring them up to the house! I’ll try to stop them! Run, hurry!”

  Nin shouted a brief “Yes!” then they disappeared up the path.

  I turned around to face the dogs, hoping that I’d have enough time to prepare and take careful aim. But I had barely unslung the gun from my shoulder and raised the cock, when the dogs pounded onto the bridge.

 
; The front one was a heavy black thing and I managed to get him with the first shot. This stopped the others for a second and gave me time to adjust my position and take better aim at the next one. They were all sorts of breeds and sizes and I homed in on the next largest one, a big brown one. I pulled the trigger and he sank down, whether dead or just wounded I couldn’t make out.

  The death of two of their biggest buddies seriously disconcerted the others but it didn’t stop them. They advanced gingerly across the bridge, unsure how to go about it, but determined to get me. I fired three more shots at them, not aiming well, just randomly spraying bullets. Two more sank down. Then I got up, gun still at the ready, and slowly moved backwards.

  Mistake! Big mistake!

  Of course they interpreted this as fear on my part and eagerly started forward.

  I changed tactics and walked toward them now, firing at random. Another four went down.

  Now the remaining six retreated to the edge of the bridge. I aimed at them and got one in the shoulder. This finally prompted the others into disappearing from view.

  I didn’t wait, but spun around and ran across that last stretch of the bridge and up the path, expecting them to pursue me. But, apparently, I had unnerved them too much. They didn’t follow me. Glancing back and checking every few steps while at the same time trying to run as fast as I could, I climbed up the path. Soon, my lungs felt like bursting.

  Nin, Yuki and Alice were waiting for me at the upper end of the little path, there where it joined a small tarmac road leading along the lowest row of houses we had passed when we’d come down toward the airport.

  Nin stood in front, gun raised and ready. Yuki and Alice were just a few metres behind him. When I came into view they looked relieved, but Nin didn’t lower his gun.

  “What are you doing here? You were to go straight home!” I rasped, totally out of breath from the running and the fright, when I reached them.

  “We had to make sure you were okay.” Nin replied. “It seems that you managed to stop them. Congrats, sister, your aim is better than we all thought.”