Nothing Left But Fear

by Russell, Adrian

  ‘Good,’ Druker replied. ‘Let’s see how long these little shits last out there. I’m willing to take a bet with you that they last for less than a day. Are you willing to take up a wager?’

  ‘Nah, not a betting man, but if I were, then I think they might last a bit longer, especially Lane. So long as he stays near to the cave, he may stand a chance,’ Scott replied, as he glanced at the screen showing the tracking units.

  As they discussed their first two experiments, both men looked across at another computer screen with a map and two pointers on it, one with the name Lane attached to it and the other labelled Smith.

  ‘There they are, and you can see the tracker units are working just fine, even though Lane is in the cave. So let’s see how long he lasts, but there’s been no movement yet,’ Druker said.

  'We hid that booster unit just outside the cave, just as you instructed us to do, and it’s obviously working, whereas Smith is out in the open,’ Scott said, ‘so let's see how long they last.'

  As Scott was about to leave the office, Druker instructed him, 'Don't go far, Scott, I might need you.'

  'Okay, boss,' Scott replied in his usual compliant fashion as he turned and headed out the door.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Graham decided to walk more hastily away from the water and the approaching rhino, in the same direction he’d already started to move, whilst at the same time hoping the animal was more interested in getting a drink than attacking him.

  When the rhino reached the spot where he’d been standing, it stopped and turned to look around. For an instant it stared at him, raising and then lowering its head again as a warning to Graham. He stopped walking for a moment and slowly crouched down, hoping that this gesture might calm the creature, which was standing only a few metres away. The rhino lowered its head to the ground and snorted, and as its nose touched the dry soil and the air escaped out of its nostrils, a small plume of dust rose up.

  The rhino turned its huge bulk to face him, and as it did so, it lunged forward. At this point, Graham was still in a crouched position and, as he tried to recoil back, he lost his balance and fell backwards onto the hard ground. The dirt and stones dug into his bare back as he fell, but when he looked up, he could see to his relief that the rhino had moved away. The huge creature was heading for the water again, but he stayed on the ground, not daring to move until the rhino began to drink.

  He watched the huge creature walk further into the waterhole. With each step the ground beneath its feet sank down under its weight and into the mud below.

  As the rhino began to drink the murky water, Graham very carefully began to get up from where he’d fallen, turning on to his side and then using his hands to help him rise, trying not to make too many sudden movements for fear of alerting the rhino or the lions.

  Finally, he got to his feet and began to walk slowly away from the waterhole and the creatures that surrounded it, not really knowing where to go or what to do next. He could feel his stomach churning, which was likely to be from drinking the brown, fowl-tasting liquid, and he was surprised that he’d not thrown it all up.

  He stopped for a moment to scan the surrounding savannah. He knew that he needed to stay fairly close to the water, but he also felt he needed to be able to hide away from the animals within some bushes and trees. Unfortunately, where he stood there was little immediate cover on this side of the waterhole, whilst on the other side and behind the lions there were plenty of trees between them and the river beyond. He stood still, looked around and surveyed the land again, looking for the best direction to head in. Over to his right were the closest trees, which he felt was his best option, rather than being in the open savannah.

  His feet were hurting badly from all the walking he’d done already and from chasing after the elephants earlier. He had nothing to put around his cuts, so he had to bear the pain and move on. Heading towards the area of trees in the direction of the sun, he could now feel the full heat of it on his face and chest. He knew that later he would be in much pain from severe sunburn, but by getting to the cover of the trees, this would help his problem.

  ‘If that rhino hadn’t turned up, I could have rolled in the mud and covered my skin to protect it,’ he thought with annoyance.

  He then heard the sound of zebra again in the distance, with their distinctive call, like someone with a strange type of laugh, which only helped to remind him of exactly where he was.

  Continuing to hobble along, he looked at the ground for things he might be able to eat, but there was only dry grass that was yet to benefit from the distant rainfall he’d seen earlier. There were also the seemingly hundreds of small stones that all dug into the soles of his very sore feet, which brought tears to his eyes.

  He suddenly stopped, frozen in his tracks, as he heard the unmistakable roar of a lion, the resonant, belching-type of sound that comes from deep inside the lungs of a male. It’s a sound that can be heard from many kilometres away by other lions and, of course, other animals in the area.

  The roaring was coming from the pride at the waterhole. One of the male lions was obviously making himself heard and letting every other lion in the area know that he was present and that he was boss. This sound sent shivers through his body and, as the voice of the zebra earlier had reminded him of where he was, the lion’s roar only served to accentuate his predicament and how vulnerable he felt.

  Feeling totally lost and alone, he continued to stumble across the African ground. He was constantly on alert and checking all around for danger. He didn’t know where that danger was, but he knew full well there was yet more to come. The group of trees seemed to be so far away and his progress was very slow.

  The sun seemed to be getting hotter by the minute and he could feel the skin on his body being burnt. The height of the orb indicated to him that it must be close to midday, which was the time of day to avoid it most. But he had no choice in the matter, so he battled on; walking towards what he hoped would be some kind of refuge for the rest of the day. As he walked, he could see that the zebra he’d heard a few minutes earlier were interspersed with a number of wildebeest. It would appear that they were all heading towards the waterhole that he’d left behind, which would be interesting with the pride of lions waiting there.

  The herd of mixed animals seemed to make light work of the hard African plain, as they meandered down towards the life-giving water. He continued trudging towards the cover of the trees, whilst at the same time keeping an eye on the herd and for other animals that might be lurking nearby.

  As Graham watched the herd approach the waterhole, he could see them get very agitated, which was of course because of the lions, but their urge to drink water outweighed their fear, as, like him, they had an overwhelming need to drink and the ever more overriding instinct to survive.

  He realised even more now that his body was not in a fit state to be in the situation he was in. If he were to run from a predator, he didn’t stand a chance — not that many other humans would, anyway.

  Having no clothes to hide behind made him feel truly exposed and as vulnerable as he could ever imagine, although this vulnerability was not so much the worry of being seen by people - it ran much deeper than that - the nakedness exposed him to his core - it made him a part of nature on the one hand, whilst on the other highlighted how his body was no longer designed to be a part of it.

  Looking back to see where the herd was, he could see that it had reached the waterhole. Huddled together, each animal was restless, due to the presence of the lions on the opposite bank. The herd moved as one and almost had a combined life of its own, as it gradually shifted and nudged ever closer to the water. Then, as he looked up to where the lions had been, he noticed they had moved; they were no longer lying on the mound overlooking the waterhole. He began to panic, as with his first scan of the area, he couldn’t see any lions at all. But then he suddenly noticed a couple of them crawling through the grass in a way that made them look like commandos.

 
; One of these lions was not too far from him; in fact, it was probably only 200 metres away. He then saw something move ahead of him in the taller grass. It was another of the lions. He was shocked at how they’d somehow got ahead of him. Without him even noticing, they had worked their way around the boomerang-shaped waterhole and on to this side where he, the zebra and wildebeest were.

  ‘Where are the rest of the lions now?’ he wondered. ‘Are they after me or are they more interested in the herd behind me?’

  His heart rate jumped a notch in response to this newly discovered threat.

  The adrenalin level in his blood rose still higher, as he realised what was happening around him. The lions were creating an ambush style attack and he was right in the middle of it. In different circumstances, this would have been exciting to watch, but given his present situation it was spine-tinglingly terrifying.

  His heart was pounding, and then his bowels and bladder let go. He felt the warmness of his urine run down the inside of his legs again and he could smell that he had just opened his bowels, too. His whole body was getting him ready for fight or flight. He was dumping excess weight in preparation for running, yet he knew full well that he’d never be able to out-run these vicious cats.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  The cave floor was at a slight incline, rising up as it went deeper into the rock face. David continued to slowly back up, as the male lion continued to sniff the air, trying to pick up his scent. It opened its mouth in a grimace, showing off huge canine teeth, as it appeared to be smelling the air with its mouth as well.

  His heart was still pounding, and if it was possible, it was beating even faster now and almost increased in stages with each step the lions took closer to his position.

  As David edged yet further back, the two big cats seemed to be slightly confused. He was not sure whether they were unsure about going further into the cave, or whether they were confused about what prey they had found. Either way, he hoped that they would decide against attacking him and move away, as he was certain that his heart was about to explode.

  The lioness wasn’t quite so far into the cave as the male, and made a small, gruff sound, which made the male turn around.

  With the male lion slightly distracted, he moved still further back into the darkness, as his heart continued to pound. He had never been so scared in all his life.

  Fortunately for him, the sound made by the lioness seemed to be a signal to the male, which now turned and walked away from the cave and towards the lioness. Then they both disappeared from view.

  With his heart still pounding, he knelt frozen to the spot, not knowing what to do next. Should he go even further into the cave? Or should he stay where he was and wait until he thought it would be safe enough to come out?

  ‘But when will it ever be safe?’ he thought, not even certain he was safe in the cave. ‘What if the lions have set up camp just outside the entrance, and how can I find this out without going outside to see?’

  The nightmare that was unfolding before him seemed to be getting worse by the minute. His predicament was now totally overwhelming. In all his life so far, he’d never felt so outside of his comfort zone and never known fear on this scale. The taste he’d noticed before came back to him; it was a kind of metallic, bitter taste, and he noticed his mouth was extremely dry, making it difficult to swallow.

  The sound of the dripping water suddenly brought his mind back into focus again and it seemed even closer than before. His eyes had adjusted a bit more to the dim light that barely reached where he crouched in the cave, but as he turned to face where the sound of dripping was coming from, it was too dark to see a thing.

  ‘Perhaps if I could get to the water, I would at least be able to have a drink,’ he reasoned, ‘which might help with my parched mouth.’

  He sensed his situation was getting critical, and he knew that he needed to drink some water soon just to survive.

  Realising that the lions seemed to have gone for now, he turned to face the darkness of the cave behind him. He contemplated going towards the entrance, but decided that the safest option at the moment was to continue crawling on his hands and knees towards the rhythmic dripping sound, which appeared now to be resonating around the cave.

  He moved very slowly, not only because he couldn’t see a thing, but also because the rock surface was hard on his knees. Also, as he moved, he was careful to put out his right hand in front of him to test the way.

  Many scary thoughts were racing through his mind: ‘What if I touch something?’ or worse still, ‘What if something touches me?’

  Suddenly, his urge to get to the source of the water was not strong enough for him to push further into the cave. He paused where he was, scared to move forward and terrified to move back.

  For what seemed like an eternity, he was frozen to the spot. He imagined all kinds of animals in the dark closing in on him and devouring his body with huge teeth. He forced back tears, feeling totally helpless and vulnerable.

  In the end, he turned back to face the cave entrance once again. As he sat there looking towards what appeared to be a quite small aperture, he began to wonder again how he’d ended up here. He then thought about the two men and the strange interview he’d had back in Chelmsford, and one of the men was the same in both these memories.

  He then remembered another detail: He had awakened in a cage in a darkened room. How his brain had failed to recall such a significant incident until now was a puzzle. But because of the bizarre nature of events, he was still uncertain that these weren’t dreams that he’d had.

  As he stood there facing the cave’s entrance, David now recalled a part of this new memory where two other men came to his cage. He recalled one of them telling him to ‘shut the fuck up’ when he’d simply asked for something eat. This is where his memory became fuzzy again, so he brought his thoughts back to where he was now, as it seemed more important to decide what he should do next.

  The small source of light coming in through the cave entrance would, in normal circumstances, be welcoming in such a dark environment. But he knew what animals lurked out in that light-filled space, animals with teeth and animals that eat meat. So, instead, this sight was of no comfort whatsoever for him, other than providing a light source within his new-found prison.

  He felt exhausted, even though he’d not really moved much since waking up from his drug-induced coma. His body was on a constant level of high alert, something that it was not used to, but certainly something that no human was used to in this modern age. However, he knew what he was experiencing right now was what all wild animals experience every day of their lives.

  ‘People constantly talk about stress and being stressed, but in the modern world the stress that people experience bears no resemblance to this,’ he thought. ‘The stress of meeting that deadline or the stress of catching a train on time are really nothing compared to where I am now.’

  But David knew that staying where he sat was not an option. He had to do something. In the end, he decided to make for the single light source where he’d been before. At least there was a chance of finding help, despite the obvious dangers he knew existed. If he stayed in this cave, the only people who would find him were the people who had put him here in the first place, and that might be never.

  Keeping close to the floor to prevent himself from hitting the roof of the cave again, he crawled away from the dripping sound. However, the thought of those lions sent another shiver down the length of his spine. He recalled the male lion’s intimidating stare, an image that began to evoke in him the same primal feelings as before. Despite this, he continued his slow crawl towards the entrance, watching intently for any movement outside, whilst at the same time thinking about how he might find something to eat. It was a strange feeling for David — despite the huge levels of fear and stress he felt, he was beginning to feel hungry. He had no idea how he would manage to find food. He had no training in survival, and he had no idea about what was edible or not o
ut there.

  With the likelihood of lions still roaming around outside, he felt trapped. Tears welled up in his eyes again, only this time he was not able to hold them back. They flooded down his face and he sobbed uncontrollably as he began to fully comprehend just how serious his predicament was.

  He thought of the safety of home and how he wished that he would suddenly wake up from this nightmare and be free of the hell hole in which he found himself.

  Wiping the tears from his face at last, and being careful not to hit his head, he decided to get up and walk towards the light again. Very slowly, he approached the cave’s entrance. As he stepped cautiously outside and peered around, he couldn’t see any of the lions. Nor could he see any of the wildebeest, which were obviously long gone.

  The sun seemed even higher in the sky now and it was starting to get even hotter, as he felt its insidious rays hitting his face and body.

  Looking around, he wondered which way to head and where he might find some help.

  ‘There must be other people around; there must be a park keeper or someone, surely,’ he thought, trying to take a more positive stance.

  All he could see ahead of him was an expanse of scrubland and the trees beyond. Maybe if he could get to the trees and take cover there, as he walked for help, he would be a bit more protected.

  But as he surveyed the ground ahead, David heard something behind him. As he spun around he caught something in the corner of his eye, moving on the hill above the cave. His heart began pounding yet again, although he knew it hadn’t yet properly recovered from the earlier lion episode.