The Extinct

CHAPTER
56

They rode in silence for a couple of hours, just absorbing the scenery. They had to stop and wait for a herd of kiang, a type of Asian ass, to cross their path, the large females circling the younger ones to protect them from the strange mechanical beast in their midst. Douglas climbed out and walked a few paces before urinating on a bush. “Did she come to you to kill him or did you go to her?” Eric said, looking off in the distance at a glimmering river. “Pardon?” “When you killed William, was it more for you or her?” “Stop talking nonsense boy. I’m sorry, he was a good man. But I had-” “I saw you together in the tent last night.”

Thomas looked back at him in the rearview and then turned forward again. “They had a loveless marriage. She’s wasn’t that heartbroken and she didn’t need to be.”

Douglas came back and they started off. A red Volkswagen bus crossed their path and Thomas stopped and chatted awhile. They were Canadian tourists looking to film a pride of Asian lions and he recommended the best spots.

Another hour into the drive and Douglas was already drunk, telling longwinded stories about his adventures. Eric surmised that he had him figured out. He didn’t actually care about adventure; he cared about telling others about his adventures. He lived through what others saw of him. He lived only in their eyes. At that moment, Douglas made him sick.

The grass became taller-at least chest high-and the path turned into a decent dirt road and became narrower. Eric should have felt some trepidation but he didn’t. He didn’t feel anything.

There was an object ahead in the road but it was too far off to make out exactly what it was. It looked like a large animal but it wasn’t moving. As they approached, Eric made out the sharp contours of the other jeep. It was flipped upside down.

Thomas pulled to the side. There were blood stains across the wheels and on the dirt around the vehicle. The engine was smoking and supplies were scattered across the road.

Eric felt sick. Jalani.

Eric jumped out of the jeep and ran over, getting on his hands and knees and looking into the wreckage. Douglas and Thomas were out and tried to help. They managed to tip the jeep to one side and saw that there was nothing underneath.

“Sandra!” Thomas yelled out over the grass. “Sandra!”

Douglas went back to the jeep and started blaring the horn. They stopped a few seconds to listen and then started again. Thomas took out his rifle.

“Where are you going?” Douglas said.

“To find them.”

“This is fresh,” Douglas said. “Those tourists we passed didn’t say anything so this must have just recently happened. Maybe they’ve walked up the road a bit?”

Thomas hung the rifle strap over his shoulder. “Take the boy and look up the road a few kilometers. Then come back here and wait for me.”

Eric climbed into the jeep and rode with Douglas up the road. Douglas would honk the horn every half a minute and then wait to see if he could hear a response. They managed to attract the attention of a pride of lions that stood under the shade of a tree watching the curious visitors, but nothing else.

“They probably had an accident,” Douglas said, more to himself than Eric. “Jalani must’ve been drunk.”

They drove for five kilometers and spotted nothing. Just animals and grass and trees and the blue open sky. Douglas turned around and headed back.

“What’s the matter?” Douglas said. “You used to be quite talkative

… I’m sure they’re fine, we’ll find them. I suppose you’re still upset about Will’s death too, eh? It was an honest mistake, Eric. It could’ve happened to anyone.”

“Suppose so,” Eric said flatly.

They came back to the sight of the overturned jeep and Douglas shut off the engine. Birds were high up in a nearby tree singing but there was no breeze and the heat sat on you and cooked.

“You know, that creature,” Douglas said. “I think I know what it was.”

“It wasn’t a hyena?”

“No, it was. But it was obviously far too large to be the spotted hyena it appeared. I’d read about something once called Hyaenodon. It’s the ancestor of the hyena only much larger. I wonder if it could still exist out here?”

“The villagers think it’s punishment from God.”

“Yes.” Douglas pulled out a flask and took a drink, “that it might be.”

Douglas pressed the horn but no one came so he stopped. Noon turned into afternoon and afternoon into evening as they sat in the jeep, drinking water and eating snack chips and dried meat. The sun went down and darkness descended, sparkling stars covering the tar-black sky. “How long do you think we should wait?” Douglas said, obviously losing his nerve. “I don’t like sitting out here in the dark.” “You want to leave?” Eric said, amused. “I thought Thomas was your friend?” “He is, of course,” Douglas said, offended. “I’m just saying there’s not much we can do just sitting out here like bait.”

Their heads turned simultaneously. Out past a small tree came a sound that had burned itself into Eric’s mind. Something that would appear in his sleep like a ghost; the sound of maniacal laughter.