As the darkness closed in, Wezi found herself being dragged deeper and deeper into the depths of her own subconscious, until she sunk through the back of her mind into an indescribable place. A featureless, directionless, timeless void that existed at the weakest point of life.
She could feel herself drifting away, surrendered to an almost imperceptible tide, carried slowly but inexorably from the world.
The rest of the night unfolded in fleeting snapshots.
She briefly felt her body lift up from the ground, gravity pulling at her limbs as she was conveyed through the forest.
An unknowable stretch of time later, Wezi felt a distinct burning sensation to her right. In the world she currently inhabited, only an echo of the pain reached her, but she could tell that it was once substantial. Unable to divine its purpose, she let the sensation fade away, before descending once more into the placid darkness.
When her eyes finally worked themselves open, the sun was beginning to rise. Without an ounce of strength left in her body, all Wezi could do was peer through her eyelashes, taking in the vague scene before her.
She was in the back of the Land Cruiser, propped up against a soft pillar of luggage. There was somebody kneeling beside her, tugging at her right shoulder. When she tried to address them, she discovered that her voice had withered to a spectral whisper, so frail that it hardly existed at all.
WEZI: "Y— Yange... "
Hearing her voice, the figure shuffled round and knelt before her, staring into her eyes as they slowly regained their focus.
YANGE: "You just lay back Ms. Mwelwa, I just finished patchin' you up but I gotta make sure it's good work."
WEZI: "Wh— what happened to you?"
YANGE: "Elizabeth had me at gunpoint, had to act like I was all but dead. When she went into the forest, I got free, took the med kit into the trees, fixed myself up a little. I was comin' to help when I heard this awful noise. Went to check it out— that's when I found you."
WEZI: "Is the engine running?"
YANGE: "I wanted to warm up the place for you. You were in shock, and since the battery didn't run down anymore I thought— "
WEZI: "No I mean— how? The key, it got— "
YANGE: "You think I'd risk gettin' out this far with only one copy of my car key?"
Yange seemed almost insulted, and thinking back to everything Wezi had learned about him over the course of this trip, she could see why he might have been. Even in her weakened state she couldn't help but laugh at herself; though it admittedly came out as stilted wheezing, diffusing quietly into the air.
WEZI: "No that's... that's actually a very 'you' thing to do. I think Elizabeth would've appreciated that information last night."
YANGE: "Yeah well, she didn't ask me nicely."
WEZI: "I'm glad you made it Yange, really, I am."
YANGE: "I'm glad you made it too. They build'em tough down in Central province."
Wezi rested her head back against the luggage.
WEZI: "I'm from the Copperbelt province, in Ndola."
YANGE: "Of course— yeah of course that's, my bad, sorry— "
Yange tried to recover his smile, but it slipped quickly from his grasp. In its absence, his features cringed into sudden, uncontrollable sadness.
YANGE: "Ms. Mwelwa— Wezi— I- I... I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"
YOU ARE READING
ROAD TO DAMBOLAMADZI- Muyange Nsefu
Misterio / SuspensoGreat journeys begin from a simple road.