My worry that Shadrack is lost grows when, after half an hour, he’s still absent; however, his friends laugh and dismiss any possibility of his being lost when I mention it to them. The bush is his second home. I have no choice but to believe them, and they’re right because about forty minutes after they’d disappeared with the offal, I catch sight of the torch he carried bobbing in the distance and inhale a relieved breath. I’m totally out of my element here. Maybe we need to do some sort of survivalist bush training because this feeling of helplessness sucks.
They arrive, dragging a few large branches behind them and smiling, so I assume all was good. Meandering over to them, I note that Shadrack has his one hand cupping something in his shirt.
“What have you got?” I ask curiously.
He pulls his shirt away from his body, and I see what I, at first, thought was a leopard cub but then realise there are slight differences.
“What is it?” I want to know, reaching out to take it and grinning when it hisses at me.
“It’s a Serval kitten. We found its mother trapped in a snare back there, which is why we took so long. We had to dismantle it and then capture this guy. I know your wife runs a rescue, so we brought him back with us, hoping she’d take him.”
Removing the little guy from Shadrack, I hold it up and have a look underneath. “Oh, not a little guy, a little girl,” I murmur, ignoring the way she’s clawing at my gloves, glad I’ve still got them on to protect my hands. Bringing her in, I snuggle her into me, holding her tight, and instantly she settles down. “Josie is going to love you,” I murmur, rubbing gently at her head.
“She’s probably hungry. Her mother has been dead a while; I’m surprised she lasted as long as she did with the scavengers circling. She’s a survivor, that one,” Shadrack says, moving off towards the fire and picking up a small piece of meat that had been set aside for cooking. He cuts it up into tiny pieces on the back of a plastic container and puts it down onto the ground next to Josie, who is blinking sleepily at us until her eyes zero in on the little head peeking out of my hands. “What have you got?” she asks curiously as she sits up. Sitting down next to her, I pull the meat closer to Josie and me before I put the kitten down near the meat. I’m ready to jump up and give chase if I have to, but surprisingly, she doesn’t move from my leg.
“Oh wow, a Serval, how beautiful,” Josie croons softly, picking up a small piece of meat. She offers it to the kitten, who snatches it from her hand with a small growl. I chuckle and run my finger down its back. Now that she knows what the meat is, she attacks it with the ferocity of the wild animal that she is.
Josie looks up at Shadrack, who's been standing back watching the kitten, and asks him, “Where’s the mother?”
Shadrack goes on to tell her what they’d found and about the snare that was now lying in the back of the vehicle. Josie looks sad, but we both know that poaching is one of those things you would never get rid of. Unfortunately, poaching wasn’t a new thing, and it happened worldwide. It was a battle that was fought every day and likely always would be, especially when there were unscrupulous people willing to pay a lot of money for certain animals or parts of animals. It made me sick to my stomach, but I was realistic enough to know that we’d never stop it; but what we could do in the small corner of our world was to help aid against it and to rehabilitate the animals affected by it when we could.
Once Shadrack fills us in, he wanders off to check on his recruits. Josie snuggles up against me with the kitten, which is now finished and squished between our legs.
Tilting her head back on my shoulder, she asks, “How are you feeling?”
“My head is pounding,” I tell her. “My vision isn’t great, but other than Shadrack, I’m the only other person who’s fully trained in weapons. His guys are still fairly young, although they’ve done a pretty good job of getting everything squared away. We’ll be taking turns doing perimeter checks. Something isn’t sitting right with Shadrack, and I’ve offered to help.”
Josie looks concerned, but like me, she knows we can’t do much about the situation until sunrise. Hopefully, by then, Bull and the rest of our brotherhood will be on their way to us; if not, it’s safer to walk during the day to the main road and see if we can hitch a ride to help from there.
“Let me know if you need me to do anything,” yawns Josie, closing her eyes and leaning back against the seat, her hand resting on my thigh. “I may not have your and Shadrack’s training, but I can be another set of eyes.”
Turning to look at her, I’m once again taken aback by how beautiful she is, even after hours of being in the dust and the dirt of the bush, with sweat staining both of us from the day. With blood streaks down her shirt from where I’d rested my head while she stitched me up. She is my entire world, and the thought of anything happening to her fills me with fear, but our women are not unfamiliar with weapons and they all have self-defence training. None of that is going to be a help if a wild animal decides to attack us, though, and I have a feeling that is what Shadrack is worried about, even though he hasn’t said as much.
Cupping her cheek, I tilt her head slightly towards me. “I love you, Josie. I’m not sure what Shadrack’s worried about, but I know I won’t breathe easy until the sun rises. Whatever happens, you make sure you keep you and our baby safe.”
Josie rolls her lips, and her eyes get a little misty as she replies, “I will, I promise. I love you too, so don’t do anything stupid. I have my gun. I know it won’t do much against a big animal, but it’s better than nothing. I wish I’d thought to keep a dart gun with us. Next time, we know to be better prepared.”
“That’s for sure,” I agree wearily. I’d already made a list in my head of what to bring the next time we did this. Although I know that wouldn’t be for a little while, not with Josie expecting our first. Neither of us would be comfortable leaving our child until he or she was older.
Shadrack walks back over to us, and even in the dim light from the fire, I can see how exhausted he is. Squatting down next to us, he asks, “Can you take the next couple of hours? I’m going to catch a couple of hours’ sleep and then take the next shift.”
“Of course,” I instantly agree, shifting to sit up before pushing myself to my feet.
Shadrack stands with me and hands me the rifle before removing the belt that has the bullets in it. Taking both, I strap the belt on and check the rifle, making sure that it’s in good working order. Finding that it is, I turn back to Shadrack, “Is there anything I need to know?”
“Keep the fire burning high and bright. My guys have cut and stacked the firewood we found next to the fire. Wake me in a few hours and I, along with one of my guys, will take the next shift,” he waves his hand over to one of the older recruits who's making himself comfortable near the fire, already closing his eyes.
“Okay,” I agree as Josie walks up next to me, the kitten now tucked into her sweatshirt, its little head poking out of the neck as it looks around at everything. “We’ll be good. I’ll wake you if I’m worried about anything.”
“Thanks,” he responds, stifling a yawn before moving back to the fire and joining his recruit on the ground, their jackets folded and being used as pillows.
Turning to Josie, I kiss her cheek. “Stay by the fire, baby, and keep it going.”
Josie nods in agreement before backing slowly away. “Make sure you let me know if you need me to keep you company so that you stay awake. You’ve got a head injury; don’t be a hero.”
Laughing softly, I agree to her demands, “I’m not a hero, baby. You know that I’ll come and get you if I have to.”
Not that I had any intention of doing that, but I wasn’t an idiot, and if I needed help, I’d ask.
