Africa (Complete)

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Kam spent the morning hacking and slashing his way through the dense jungle. He and Tau now had food in their stomachs and had been making good progress.

Tau was chuckling to himself.

"What's so funny?" Kam asked.

"Congratulations, on getting the food," Tau said, trying to contain his amusement. "You only had to threaten to shoot a small child to get it."

"There's a difference between threatening and actually do it," Kam shot back, not in the mood to have this discussion.

"The difference is moving your finger one inch. What happens if they called your bluff and forced you to make a move? Then what? You or her? These moments are decided by fractions of a second — how badly do you want to live, how strong is your desire to persevere? I'm telling you, morality is a slippery slope, once you cross certain lines, there's no going back. It's not one day you're good and the next you are evil. It happens so gradually that you don't even see the change. It sneaks up on you. Then before you know it, you're in too deep and you have crossed so many lines that there's no point in trying to fight it. You become your choices."

Kam didn't answer.

"To the left."

"What's to the left?" Kam said, not in the mood to play a guessing game.

"A surprise."

"If this is a trap, I swear I will lop your head off with this thing and... did you hear something?" Kam said.

Tau started to laugh again. "It's the jungle. It has a way of playing tricks on your mind. Now, you are becoming paranoid."

With no choice but to trust his enemy's directions, Kam and Tau pressed on. Approaching a cliff, Kam could hear the sound of running water. He turned to look at Tau. Tau nodded with a slight smile. "Just around this bend," Tau said.

Sheathing his machete and pulling out his assault rifle, Kam took cautious steps, placing one foot slowly in front of the other. Around the bend, he now had a visual on the small waterfall, which poured off a twenty-foot-high cliff. It formed a small pool of water that overflowed and ran down the mountain. Before diving in, Kam took one last look around. Tau stood back allowing Kam to go first.

"You know the drill," Kam said. "On your knees, face the other way. If I see you get up, or even turn your head, I will shoot you. Understand?"

"Yes, boss."

Tau followed his instructions. Even though Tau's hands and feet were bound, he was still a threat. Kam set down his rifle and removed the rest of his gear. He stepped inside the waterfall, closed his eyes, and was immediately transformed to another place. The cool waterfall pounded down on his face, which felt more refreshing than he had imagined. He opened his mouth and drank as much as he could. The rushing water blocked out all other sounds. After a moment, Kam opened his eyes. That's when he noticed Tau was gone.

Kam immediately looked for the gun and it was missing as well. Panic set in. Soaking wet, he climbed out of the pool and searched all around for Tau. He picked up his pace, searching behind a bush. That's when something grabbed him from behind.

With his hand cupping Kam's mouth, Tau whispered in his ear to be quiet. "We are not alone."

Kam could now hear it too — rustling in the bushes. There was something out there, many of them, and they were coming toward Kam and Tau from all directions. Kam took the gun back from Tau, and remained still, listening and waiting. Crouching with his enemy, Kam looked all around. There were a million things in the jungle that could potentially want to kill and eat him.