HAUNTED PARK

CHAPTER 7

SAM

The mysterious creatures loiter around our damaged camp for about an hour as I can see them in the clear moonlight. They make eery noises as they kick around our equipment, with some items being thrown into the bushes and undergrowth around the camp. We will certainly spend a lot time looking for them once they are gone.

Nelson keeps on cursing them atop his tree and they don't seem to listen or if they do they show little interest.

“Stay away from us you bloodsucking motherfuckers." I hear him clearly as his voice is echoed in the surrounding cliffs and ravines.

I find a comfortable position in the tree and perch myself in strong branches because it is now clear that we will be spending the night up the trees. I shout an advisory to my nearest partner to look for a good perching position too but I am a bit late.

There's a commotion in the tree he climbed and all of a sudden he screams in awe.

“Snake! There's a snake up here and its coming for me. Please shoot it." He calls to me.

“Jump out of the tree, if I shoot I may hit you, besides I cannot see it from here.” I advice him but the branch he's standing on gives way, cracking as it breaks and sending him more than six feet to the ground.

He screams even more wildly as he gets up and runs towards my tree. I am glad that he is not hurt but afraid that his screams may attract the creatures.

It does.

They come down the slope, baying for his blood as he dashes towards the tree. My heart skips several beats as I pray for him to get to my tree before they get him and for the first time in years I find myself praying.

He is lucky enough to get up the tree just as they get to the bottom, their mouths dripping of a viscous bloody liquid, obviously from the remains of our colleague.

Their eyes are a luminous yellow colour, like bulbs as they look up the tree, salivating over us. My colleague is a nervous wreck as he continues screaming. My only solace is that should the creatures decide to come up the tree, I wouldn't be the first to go.

Nelson is hysterically screaming up the slope, cursing the creatures.

“f**k the demons. Kill them Sam. Shoot the hell out of them. Don't be a f*****g coward."

I find myself laughing at his advisory even as our lives are in danger. I heard him earlier saying that shooting at the creatures was a waste of ammunition, what changed now?

My colleague finally makes it to my position and it's now clear the creatures can't climb trees. That's our redeeming grace. They look up the tree for some minutes then stagger down the slope into the trees and all goes silent except for normal animals and insects making their ordinary noises as they go about their business.

The episode of the past two hours is now forgotten and normal park life is back, but my colleague is devastated. He is still screaming and shaking.

“Sorry, but I can't remember your name." I break the silence.

“Joseph Worubu. Just call me Jose." He stammers.

“Congolese?" I ask.

“Yes. But I left Congo years ago. I do game hunting for the Chinese." He is slowly regaining his composure.

“Is this the typical day of your work?" I pester him.

“No. I have never seen anything like this all my days as a hunter. I'm quitting tomorrow. We are going to die here if we don't get out." He is almost shouting, his voice going up the slope far enough for Nelson to hear.

“Shut up coward." Nelson roars back. “Go back alone you good for nothing creep. Nobody should talk about surrender here and this line of conversation should stop now."

Silence reigns again as the moon sets over the hills, sending the park into pitch darkness. I try to get some sleep atop the tree.

Around three am in the morning I wake up abruptly from the state of half sleep and I have a feeling that something or someone is looking at me. Jose is dead asleep, his hands holding tightly to branches and his head covered by his jacket's hood.

It is so cold, a sharp contrast with the temperatures during the day that get so unbearably hot sometimes in this country. My hands are about to freeze, having forgotten to wear my gloves which are now in my bags up the slope in the camp.

I rub them together to keep them warm and for blood to circulate but nothing changes. But something I see below us in the undergrowth rattles my blood to high temperatures and I find myself sweating.

There's a woman under the tree and despite the darkness I can see her clearly. She is wearing bright clothing that can be seen in the darkness, or maybe she radiates light. Now this scares me stiff and my heart starts beating itself crazy.

I hold onto the branches tightly as I watch the unusual occurrence. The woman is looking straight at me and I try looking away but I can't avoid looking back.

Our eyes lock and she extends her hand, inviting me to come down from the tree.

I have made stupid decisions before but going down this tree to meet a ghost or apparition or whatever this is would be the stupidest decision of my life, maybe the last. I indicate that I won't be coming down with my hand to which she replies with a thumbs-up sign.

She makes as if to go away but in the cold silent night she looks up again and says in a very guttural voice which is almost a whisper, “go away and never come back." Then she disappears.

Her disappearance leaves more questions than answers in my mind. I later dismiss the whole episode as a dream caused by the trauma we have been through and I go back to sleep. The incident served to warm me up and I sleep uneventfully till morning when I am jolted to wakefulness by birds chirping in the same tree. It takes a few minutes to orient myself to the surroundings and remember the events of the past night.

Jose is still asleep and I wake him up then we go down the tree.

Everything is so nice and the environment so peaceful no one can believe the chaos that took place last night.

The sun has risen,giving us a welcome warmth as dew is slowly falling from the grass. Birds around us are celebrating the new morning with songs and we make our way up towards the camp.

Nelson and his companion are already there and he stands with one hand on his waist as the other one holds a smouldering cigarette.

“Good morning Nelson.” I greet him, shocking him from his reverie. He looks at me and a feeling of relaxation registers on his face.

“Morning Sam." He says. “Come, let's see what those demons did. I would call it damage assessment.” He leads the way towards the point where the creatures feasted on our man.

Except for his shredded clothes, there is nothing left. They ate up everything including his bones and licked the grass dry of any drop of blood.

“Bloody savages." Nelson retorts.

“What do we do about it?" I ask.

He looks at me for a while then takes a puff from his diminishing cigarette.

“Nothing." He says, expelling a small cloud of smoke. “We will continue with our mission as if nothing happened. Today we must do some hunting. Prepare the men." He walks away from me, to signal end of conversation.

I join the others in the tent and everything has been scattered away, others damaged.

“Will we continue with the mission or what does the boss say?" Asks Jose, scooping out some canned beans.

“He says that the mission continues. He actually asked me to prepare all of you for hunting tonight." I answer.

“I am going away." He says. “I have hunted for a long time and I can smell a doomed mission from miles away. You will die, all of you. Let me go and confront this Nelson guy." He dumps the empty can and walks out.

After he's gone I take out my own can of beans and sit down.

This is going to be an interesting day.