Nothing Left But Fear

by Russell, Adrian

  Carly decided to walk back for cover in the trees where she'd been before, as she felt even more vulnerable out in the open with all these wild creatures around.

  As she turned to walk back to the trees, she heard a huge crashing sound, almost like there was a bulldozer ploughing through the brush in front of her. Whatever it was, it was coming her way.

  The crashing sound was accompanied by the sounds of something that sounded familiar to her. Not knowing which way to turn and not knowing whether to try and run or to stand her ground again, she stood frozen to the spot with her heart pounding. She had nowhere to turn — to her right were hippos, crocodiles and a snake-infested river; to her left was an open plain of grassland; in front were trees and cover, but an obviously large creature coming right at her.

  The crashing sounds were getting ever closer and she couldn’t move. She daren’t go any further into the tree-covered area and found herself looking desperately around at the savannah behind her, too.

  Then she saw what was making the deafening noise, and it was coming straight at her.

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE

  Continuing to fumble around with his hands in the dark, Graham reached up to find a handhold on the slippery rock. As he was moving across the rock, his feet hit something hard below him. He kicked his legs and then his left ankle knocked against the same hard surface, which made him recoil in pain.

  He managed, though, to put his two feet on the hard rock below him, which brought him out of the water by less than half a metre or so. He then began to feel around in the pool with his left foot a bit further, to see if he could find a slightly higher point which he could use to push himself up and out.

  He found a slightly higher rock ledge, but this was further to his left and away from the direction of where the entrance was, but he had no choice. He put his left foot on the underwater ledge and pushed himself up still further, using his hands to stabilise himself. He was still waist deep in the pool and still had quite a distance to lift himself to get free.

  He then reached up higher to see if he could find purchase on any of the rocks, whilst he leant forward and pushed with his feet. His large stomach was crushed against the craggy rock face, which dug in to his skin, and he was sure that he’d be left with yet more scrapes. The adrenalin running through his veins seemed to null the pain to a degree, but he knew that he was being cut quite badly.

  Still leaning forward, he raised his left leg to try and push himself up, but it was difficult finding any small piece of rocky outcropping to leverage his heavy body with. As he fumbled with his hands trying to discover a viable pathway, he suddenly felt an above-water ledge that appeared to lead in the direction of the cave entrance.

  He couldn’t see how big the ledge was, and whether this would be wide enough for him to walk around and back out of the cave. Soon he had managed to pull himself out of the water and onto the flat surface, which was just about wide enough for him to lie on. Now that he was free of the pool, he crawled along the edge. Being careful not to fall back into the water, he moved towards the faint glimmer of light coming from the entrance.

  He then realised that, despite having fallen into a huge pool of water, he had not drunk a drop. As he lay there on the ledge, he reached down with his right arm to the water to try and quench his terrible thirst.

  He cupped his single hand to try and get a small amount of water, and brought it up to his lips. It was difficult to get much water into his single hand, but he didn’t want to fall back in again. The water tasted bitter and a little metallic, but it was refreshing and tasted much better than the water he’d drunk at the waterhole a few days ago.

  He cupped his hand again and again to get more water, to drink as much as he could. Most of the water in his hand dripped out before it got to his mouth, but at least he got some each time.

  When he had finally had enough, Graham continued his crawl over the rough rocks towards the light, staying low to avoid falling back into the water and to avoid hitting his head on the cave ceiling. The cave’s height increased again, as he moved closer to the entrance and back into the light once more.

  Finally, he could stand on his sore feet. He walked carefully to the light at the front of the cave and stood naked in the entrance, looking out across the wilderness. He wondered what to do next, knowing he must find some food somehow, somewhere. He welcomed the warm air from outside, as he was still feeling cold from his plunge into the pool. He moved out into the sun to warm up further. Despite the fact he knew the sun’s rays would burn his skin, the heat was needed right now.

  As he looked over the savannah, a light breeze hit his face, bringing with it the pure smell of nature, which helped to remind him exactly where he was — as if he needed reminding.

  He surveyed more closely the area around the cave. The entrance was surrounded by light, greyish rock, which was interspersed with plants that had managed to root in its small crevices. Looking up further, the rock disappeared behind more plant growth and small bushes and trees. He studied them for movement again, but all was still at the moment.

  The wild scene made Graham feel more lost and alone than ever, and he then felt tears rolling down his cheeks. All he knew was that all through his 32 years of life, he’d given up on everything and anything he had done. Would this be the last thing he’d give up on, or could he really survive the test?

  ‘Is this a test? Or did these men simply want to leave us out here until we are killed and eaten, perhaps even putting bets on us?’ he thought.

  He had never been as hungry as he was right now and there was no prospect of finding food for a while, and even if he did, what sort of food would it be?

  ‘Would it be like on the show “I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here,” where they eat grubs?’ he wondered.

  ‘But where am I going to begin looking? I haven’t had any training in survival and don’t know the first thing about what I can and can’t eat,’

  With these thoughts, he began considering where he might find these types of creatures here in Africa.

  ‘Would I have to dig a hole? Would I find bugs in the trees and, if so, would they be poisonous?’

  As he surveyed the landscape, wondering where he might find something that resembled food, he decided his only option was to begin moving. He knew he couldn’t stay where he was and hope to survive, although he did feel safer keeping near to the cave and its supply of clean water to drink.

  His tears had stopped, but his feelings of loss and fear were as high as they’d ever been. He felt like his life could be taken away from him at any moment. Gone was the feeling of security and comfort of his flat in Chelmsford and, although it was relatively small and not very tidy, it was home and it was safe. He knew that no matter what happened each week, he would get his social security money to buy food and stay in his council-paid residence.

  The worst dangers he’d ever come across or worried about at home were gangs on the street or getting run over by a bus. But out here, danger seemed to lurk in every direction. A shiver went down his spine, as he remembered his encounter with the lions and how he’d been saved by his kidnappers just seconds before he was about to be eaten alive.

  ‘Maybe I’d be better off dead. If I hadn’t been saved, my misery would be over.’

  He felt like a real mess, with cut feet and bruises all over, not only from his ordeal out here, but also from the bullying he’d received in the cage. He then looked down at the foot that he’d smashed when he was in the pool, which was cut and swollen. He could also see that his knees had been cut too, from when he hit the side of the pool, and that his stomach was also grazed from crawling along on the rocks. On top of all that he was also sun burnt.

  Despite his battered body and the danger he might face, he walked down the slope and away from the relative safety of the cave. He headed towards the plain in front of him and the distant trees. His thought was to see if he could find some food; there might be some bugs in the trees to eat. He could also
make out what he thought looked like the line of the river, which he assumed was the same river he had been next to before, although he was worried that by going there again he might encounter the lions once more.

  With his feet still sore, the going was tough on the hard ground, plus his left foot made it even more difficult with the cut and bruise it had received in his earlier ordeal.

  ‘It must be close to mid-day,’ he thought, as he looked up towards the sun, which was very high in the sky. It was extremely hot.

  He was on high alert — more focused than he’d ever been before or even thought possible.

  He suddenly realised he should also consider making a weapon. Although he had no knives or cutting tools, he thought at the very least he should be able to find a stick to help protect himself from an animal. So this would now be his priority — to find some form of weapon. He hoped that where he was heading there would be some sticks that he could use for this purpose.

  The African plain he was crossing was extremely open, and because of this, he felt even more vulnerable than before. He felt as if there were hundreds of evil eyes watching his every move, although right now he couldn’t see any animals. He was sure that there would be animals lurking in the bushes somewhere, though.

  The reality was that Graham knew what was out there, so it was only a question of time before something appeared.

  Still, he kept alert every second as he looked around from left to right, in front and behind, whilst at the same time trying to make headway towards the distant trees.

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX

  Druker was still in his office dealing with some paperwork relating to a new property deal he was working on in Cambridge.

  He paused for a break and got up to refill his wine glass with some more red wine, and as he did so, he took a moment to look at the tracking screen. He noticed right away that the tracking dot that represented Smith was no longer on the screen, leaving the one which represented Prow still showing.

  ‘That’s another one to bite the dust, then,’ he thought, as he opened up the program to see where Smith had been just before he’d vanished.

  When he opened the data screen, it looked like Smith was still inside the cave, just before his tracker dot had disappeared, which Druker found to be a bit strange.

  ‘What animal would go inside a cave?’ he wondered.

  He radioed Scott immediately to get his opinion on the situation.

  ‘What’s up, Druk?’ Scott questioned as he arrived in his office.

  ‘Smith has disappeared from the tracking screen.’

  ‘When did that happen?’

  ‘Well, he was there when I last looked, but then when I checked the data, it would appear that his last position showed him in the cave. He went missing about 15 minutes ago, meaning that he didn’t leave the cave.’

  ‘Interesting,’ Scott responded, as he looked at the screen to confirm what his boss had said.

  ‘What could have got him in the cave, though?’ Druker asked.

  ‘Well, when we went there the other day to track Lane, we found lion spoor around the cave entrance, but I must admit I didn’t check to see if they had ventured inside,’ Scott replied.

  ‘So do you think they might have gone in and got the poor bastard before he even ventured outside?’

  ‘It certainly looks that way, doesn’t it? So do you want me and Ken to take a look?’

  ‘Yes, I guess so, as we need to find out what has happened and to confirm whether he has been taken out by an animal, as opposed to a tracker unit malfunction.’

  As Druker spoke, the tracker dot representing Smith suddenly reappeared, showing his position was still inside the cave. They both stared at the screen and then looked at each other.

  ‘You don’t suppose Smith went so far inside the cave that the booster unit I put on the outside lost connection?’ Scott asked.

  ‘That’s possible, and I suggest you hold fire for now. Let’s wait and see what happens.’

  ‘No problem, Druk. I’ll be in the radio room with Ken. Just call me again if you need me.’

  ‘Thank you, Scott. I’ll keep an eye on things here, and I think you could be right,’ Druker said, as Scott left him in his office looking at the tracker screen and sipping his wine.

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN

  With a loud trumpeting sound, a huge, male elephant with enormous tusks broke out from the trees. Behind him were a number of other elephants of differing sizes. The massive creature stopped directly in front of Carly, rearing its head in an angry and threatening manner.

  Once again she found the inside of her legs warmed by her own urine, as her bladder released what little fluid it had left from earlier. She had never been so scared in all her life. Her heart was racing so fast that she thought it would explode.

  As she looked up at the grey monster that towered above her, she was frozen to the spot like a rabbit in the headlights of an on-coming car.

  The bull elephant aggressively asserted itself by raising and lowering its huge tusked head, as it moved towards her and sounded off. What she soon realised was that the elephants wanted to get to the water and she stood in their way. Her position on the riverbank made that difficult, and all that she could do was to raise her hands above her head and scream at the creature, like she had done earlier with the leopard.

  With this aggressive reaction from her, the elephant charged. With its huge head and trunk, it hit her squarely in the chest and knocked her back towards the river. She fell to the ground with the wind knocked out of her and was sure that the blow had probably cracked a few ribs.

  Horrified, she realised the elephant had not given up yet after this attack, but continued to push her towards the river. She felt the blows to her hands and legs, as she’d curled up into a foetus position, instinctively trying to protect herself. Pain ran through her body, as she was taking a real pounding.

  With each blow from this huge creature, she was being pushed closer and closer to the edge of the river. The elephant was using a combination of its trunk and its pillar-like legs to bulldoze her fragile body. The elephant was also showing its domination by letting out very loud trumpeting sounds.

  She had her eyes tightly closed and her arms and hands over her head and face, so she was not aware of exactly where she was in relation to the river. Then she suddenly felt herself rolling down the slope. As she gained momentum, her arms came away from her face and she opened her eyes just before she hit the water.

  The water was cooler than she thought it might be, and also deeper than she imagined, as she found herself getting completely submerged. As she surfaced, panic set in. She could see the male elephant and its family on the river bank watching as she floated away — triumphant at winning their ‘battle’ with this strange, white creature.

  The flow of the water caught her and Carly felt herself being carried along. She became submerged once more under the brown, flowing water, then came to the surface again and found herself floating towards where the hippos had been fighting. Strangely, this was not worrying her the most — what was going through her mind was whether the crocodiles had seen her fall into the water.

  She flailed around, trying to get herself back to the bank of the river, but to no avail. Her overweight body gave her the advantage of helping her float, but this was no comfort as she found herself carried away from the riverbank and into the centre of the river. She had no idea what lurked below her in the murky water, but she knew what was around her. She felt like one of the helpless wildebeest crossing the Mara River, easy prey for waiting crocodiles.

  She had to find a way of getting out of the water before she found herself a victim of an attack, but with that thought she was hit from below. The pain was excruciating as the hidden attacker plunged her under the surface once again and she found herself not in the grip of a voracious crocodile, but in the mouth of a huge hippo. Massive tusks scored her torso and cracked more of her ribs, as she was tossed around in the river like a rag
doll. Despite her own large size, the hippo made her look like a five-stone weakling.

  Desperately trying to get to the surface for air, she punched and kicked for her life and got a reprieve — the hippo let her go. She continued to float along the top of the river, then, with her head dipping in and out of the water, as she struggled to keep afloat, to catch her breath and stay conscious.

  But then Carly felt a hard thud to her back and again was pushed up and out of the water by another hippo. She disappeared below the surface once more, swallowing water as it went in her mouth and up her nose. It tasted fowl, with a muddy flavour combined with a taste of urine and faeces.

  She broke to the surface and managed to catch her breath before being pushed down again. By now she was quite a long way from where she’d been attacked by the elephant, but was quite close to the river’s edge.

  ‘Where are the crocodiles?’ she suddenly thought.

  Unbeknown to her, several of the deadly reptiles had already slipped into the water at the time she had been pushed off the riverbank by the elephant. As she had splashed around in the murky river water, their instincts had kicked in. Seeing the chance of an easy meal, they had headed towards the stranded ‘animal’ in the middle of the river.

  At first, the crocodiles held back, as the second hippo tossed Carly about, waiting patiently for their time to move in. Also, they had not wanted to get caught up in the earlier hippo fight.

  She had now passed through the hippos and their onslaught, which gave her the chance to swim to the bank, which she could see was not too far away. Lucky for her, none of the hippo rib wounds had punctured a lung or damaged any of her other internal organs.

  What she wasn’t aware of, though, as she drifted away from the hippopotamus clan, was that strange, dark lumps with eyes were silently closing in on her from all sides.