Africa (Complete)

Chapter Thirty-Four

Resting his head against a tree, clutching his rifle, Kam eventually awoke to the loud squawk of some jungle bird. Sitting up quickly, he saw that he was alone. Tau had escaped. 

It was now morning. He had been there all night. Rising to his feet, he looked around to try to orient himself. In the daylight, the jungle looked the same in every direction. He was lost and had no idea which way led back to his tribe. He then checked to see if he had his rifle and machete, and to his surprise, he had both. Tau most likely didn't want to risk waking him by trying to remove either of them. Regardless, it was a blessing.

Taking a moment to settle his nerves so that he could think straight, he heard something in the distance. The distinct jingle of chains. Removing his machete, he charged forward in the direction of the sound. Hacking at the occasional branch, Kam made up considerable ground. As long as Tau kept moving, he could locate him so he needed to be quiet himself to avoid detection.

By the time Kam caught up to Tau, he heard something else, something much more troubling. It was the sound of men speaking in a foreign dialect he did not recognize. In these parts, that was usually a sign of trouble as people form tribes and see any outsider as a threat.

Watching from a discreet vantage point, crouching low on a ridge, Kam saw a group of men surrounding Tau ⁠— six in total. They looked threatening and were acting hostile toward the straggler in chains. Kam couldn't understand a word they were saying, but based on their posture and body language, they were clearly looking to harm Tau. Ordinarily, Kam may think to turn a blind eye and walk away, but whether he liked to admit it or not, he needed him. They had formed a small tribe and Kam felt duty bound to protect his tribe of two.

Assessing the situation, Kam sized up the group. The men were muscular, armed with assault rifles, and had crazed looks in their eyes. Even with his rifle, he was clearly outmatched and any attempt to intervene would surely not end well for him or Tau.

Before he could even think of a strategy to rescue Tau, he felt the cold, dull edge of a machete blade pressed firmly against his neck. He turned around slowly and saw one of the tribesmen standing over him, shouting commands in a language he did not understand.

Kam dropped his machete and held out his hands to show that he was willing to cooperate. Rising slowly, the man took a step back.

"Take it easy, let's work this out," Kam said. "I come in peace, I just want my friend back."

"Your friend?" the man said with a thick accent. "That man down there is in chains."

"You're right, he's not really a friend. He's more like my prisoner. He did some bad things and I need to see that he gets the punishment he deserves."

"What did he do?"

"It's a long story, but he tried to escape. My tribe is not too far away. There's over a hundred of us. We have guns, food, and medicine. We can give you some if you just let us go."

Kam awaited a response.

Thinking of plan B, Kam looked over the man's shoulder and made a face as if there were something dangerous behind him. The man fell for the trap and turned to look. In that moment, Kam lunged forward and tackled the man to the ground. A struggle ensued, but Kam easily overpowered him. Removing a knife from a sheath attached to his belt, Kam shoved the tip under the man's chin, but not enough to puncture the skin.

"I don't want to hurt you, but I will." Kam said.

The man stopped struggling.

"Get up," Kam said.

The man rose to his feet and turned around so that Kam was behind him. With the knife still pressed firmly against his throat, Kam positioned him so that he was visible from on top of the ridge.

"Hey!" Kam called out to the other men. They all turned to look and saw that Kam was about to slice the throat of one of their men. "One man's life for another. You let that man go, I will let this one go."

There was some discussion among the tribesmen and then they shoved Tau in Kam's direction as a gesture of good faith. Tau wasn't sure what to do, so he began walking slowly. Kam watched on, expecting there to be some kind of trap. With each step Tau took, Kam was ready to engage. His eyes darted back and forth, gripping the knife evermore tightly in his sweaty hand. 'That's it, nice and easy,' he thought to himself. 'Everybody be cool and we'll all get out of this alive.' In the distance, a snap of a branch startled everyone. Beads of sweat dripped down Kam's face.

When Tau was twenty feet away, Kam released the jungle warrior, shoving him forward while taking a few steps back. Kam re-sheathed his small blade and picked up his machete from the ground. Carefully, stepping backward, he disappeared into the dense forest.