The Extinct

CHAPTER
51

Eric and William had walked through the night and well into the day. They’d made their way past the valley, over a small hill, and into another valley.

Quick moving gazelles darted around in front of them, the small animals stopping to graze every so often. Roars of the big cats were constantly echoing in the distance and the trumpeting of elephants sometimes followed. There was a small river along their path and they rested for what seemed like hours, dousing themselves in the brown water. William made a fire and they boiled the water in William’s flask before drinking. It was warm and tasted like mud, but they drank two full flasks each before they felt sick and bloated from the dirt that was mixed with it.

Eric took off his shirt and lay in the wet dirt of the riverbank. His head was spinning and he wasn’t able to think clearly. His thirst satisfied, he now turned his attention to hunger. “Can we get anything to eat?”

William sat on the bank. “I saw some berries on a tree but I can’t be sure they’re not poisonous. I guess we could try and hunt something.”

“What? Like a gazelle?”

“They’re fast, but not impossibly fast.” He stood up, walking to the river and dousing himself with as much water as he could. He slicked his hair back with his hand and grabbed his rifle. “I’ll be back soon.”

Eric felt as if he should follow, but he couldn’t move. His muscles were so fatigued they had started to spasm and his back had seized up, causing him to lean to the side in pain. He covered his eyes with his hands, trying to keep out the blazing sun but it still slipped through his fingers in a glowing red.

Soon, he was alone with the sun above him, the wet dirt underneath him, and the flowing river in front of him. The rushing waters sounded hypnotic; making him doze off and fall into a dreamless sleep.

A low grumble woke Eric. It sounded like a diesel engine starting in water. Eric looked up and saw the cracked gray-green scales of a large crocodile.

The croc was watching him patiently from the water, slowly drifting his tail back and forth as he made his way to the riverbank. His eyes were sticking out above the surface but the rest of the animal was submerged.

Eric tried to stand, fighting the resistance of his back. The croc kept a slow pace. Eric was about to turn and run when he heard a loud hiss. Behind him was another croc, though smaller than the one in the river. It had soundlessly come out farther down the bank and crept behind him. It was standing motionless except for its open mouth.

Eric ran and the croc charged. The larger croc was now out of the water and giving chase. The smaller one lunged and bit down on Eric’s calf. He screamed and collapsed on the ground. His calf felt like it was being crushed, the pressure sending waves of pain up his leg. The larger croc was nearly to him, moving in a purposely lazy stride.

The smaller croc began to pull with a ferocious strength, trying to get his meal back into the water. Eric tried to hold himself steady by clawing at the sand but the croc was too strong and soon he was waist deep in water. The croc began to twist his body and Eric was violently spun in the water, slamming his head into the riverbank as the croc tried to tear off his leg. He screamed as the larger croc moved in, its jaws open as it now lunged at his head.

The larger croc snarled and then retreated quickly into the water behind him.

The smaller croc let out a screech. Blood sprayed over Eric and the pressure on his leg went slack.

Eric only saw darkness at first. He thought the croc had bit him in the face but when he didn’t feel pain, he recognized that the darkness was a shadow cast over him.

The creature was colossal. Muscles rippling under gray fur. It stood as large as a horse but twice as thick and with large, powerful legs. The animal had its head in the organs of the smaller croc, which had been bitten in half, and swallowed the entrails. It picked up half the creature in its mouth and trotted a few feet away before dropping it on the ground and beginning to feed again.

Eric watched it eat. It lapped at the blood first, staining its face a dark red. It didn’t seem to chew, just tear and swallow. Within seconds, that part of the croc was almost gone.

Eric moved as silently as he could, holding his breath. He pulled apart the limp jaws of the croc around his leg and slid up the soft dirt of the riverbank. Getting to his hands and knees, he began to crawl away from the creature and into the grass.

He froze. A growl had come from behind him. He slowly turned his head. The creature had finished half the croc and was eating the other half. The large croc was now on the other side of the river, silently watching the creature.

Eric got to his feet and ran. The grass whipped the bare skin on his torso and face and each step shot a surge of pain up his back. He ran until his lungs burned and he was out of breath, pain in his side making him nearly double over. The grass was thick and he didn’t feel like his arms had the strength to keep pushing it away from him. Eventually he just barreled his way through, the vegetation scratching and scraping his tender flesh.

Something grabbed him and he yelled and turned, hitting his foot on a rock and collapsing onto his back. William stood above him, surprise on his face as he leaned down to calm him.

“What is it?” William said. “What’s going on?”

Eric was out of breath and couldn’t speak. He just pointed to the riverbank and William glanced back toward it and stood up. He checked the chamber on his rifle. “Stay put,” he said. Eric grabbed his pant leg. “Guns won’t do anything.”