“Just tap the red button," Diana instructed then hurried towards the protective roadside barrier. She smiled heartily like a model as Martin snapped away. It was a beautiful sight to behold as the breath taking moist green, hilly and vibrant scenery offered an amazing background to her photogenic, stunning beauty.
“Let’s take another one with Fred," she grabbed Fred by his arm then smiled and placed her head on his shoulder. Mike took another photo and followed Diana silently as she scouted the road for more suitable camera friendly backgrounds. The sun disappeared and left a silhouette of the Aberdare ranges in place of the bright golden horizon. A full moon rose in the cloudless dark sky and illuminated brightly.
“What’s the time?" Martin asked.
“Twenty minutes past seven," Fred replied.
“It’s getting late. Let's go back to the park," Jackie said.
“Why should we?" Diana asked defiantly.
Jackie had a difficult time keeping up with her liquored up colleagues as they took endless photos until Diana's Blackberry flashed “Low battery!" Martin's eyes were glued to her curvy waist and long brown legs. She reached into her fanny pack and took out a red lighter plus a couple of cigarettes.
“Here," she handed Martin a cigarette then flicked her lighter.
“What about me?" Fred waved his hands at her.
She smiled and reached for another cancer stick. Jackie cringed in disgust as she watched Fred exhale tobacco smoke and goof around with Diana. She shook her head and stomped off to her bicycle.
“I’m off," she announced and hopped on the bicycle's seat.
Diana waited until Jackie turned in the opposite direction and raised her middle finger towards the Iron lady. An intoxicated Martin burst into laughter but Fred quickly rushed towards his crush.
" Hey! We came here together and we will return the same way," he asserted while maintaining a firm grip on her bike's rubber coated handle bars.
“No. I'd rather cycle back by myself than ruin your fun. Don't mind about me Fred," she replied but she didn't mean it. She really wanted him to restrain her and assure her that he wanted her to stay.
“We better start moving. Martin, get your ass back on your bike," Fred ordered.
It was quite a unique and thrilling experience cycling under the bright moonlight. Small, bright clusters of incandescent yellow bulbs dotted the landscape on one side while the other was pitch dark save for the conspicuous silhouettes of tall forest trees.
A horrendous screech rent the air as they neared the forest.
“What is that?" Diana asked, terrified.
“Probably a predator that has caught up with its prey," Martin answered and chuckled nervously.
“Let’s turn back and use the main road. It's not safe out here," The Iron lady cautioned.
“No way! That will take forever. Have you forgotten how hilly it is?" Martin protested.
“He’s right. I would rather use a shortcut than spend the whole night cycling back to the park." Diana seconded Martin just to irk Jackie. They were only 3 Kilometers away from Aberdares National Park and so far they had covered two. Despite the brightness of the full moon, darkness dominated the forest and the wide dirt path they used when cycling from the park.
“Fred, we can't use the same path back. It's too risky," Jackie urged him.
“Yes we can!" Martin opposed her.
"Yes we can!" Diana chided in.
Fred looked up to the sky then turned his attention to the path that lay a stone throw away. Throughout the ride back to the park, he was pleasantly surprised when he realized he had no problem navigating on his bike while inebriated. Martin and Diana also cycled like a couple of power athletes despite their inebriation save for Diana's verbal diarrhea that drew unwanted attention from pedestrians. He turned to Jackie with an assuring smile and replied in a calm yet authoritative voice, “Yes we can."
“Fine. Go ahead," she shrugged.
Fred led the way and the rest followed suit. He was glad the whiskey in his system kept him warm as he forged on. Fortunately for them, each bike had a dynamo powered headlight hence they had a better view of their way.
“Yeah baby!" Diana yelled enthusiastically as they rode down a small and slightly steep descent. She enjoyed the warm night breeze rapidly blowing against her numb face as they descended faster and faster. Fred gently squeezed his brakes at the foot of the slope to reduce his escalating kinetic energy and so did Martin and Diana however, Jackie whizzed past them.
Bang!
“Jackie! Jackie, are you all right?" Fred called out.
He quickly pedaled ahead but Jackie was nowhere in sight. Worry invaded his buzzed mind as he glanced left and right hoping to spot her. “Jackie! Jackie! Where are you?"
A second high pitched, hair raising shriek rent the air about ten meters away from them.
Fred reached into his pocket, took out his phone and called Jackie. His attention was drawn by Jackie's ringtone to a thicket way down from the left side of the path. Panic quickly set in as he frantically looked around hoping to find a way down the edge of the path to the thicket.
“Jackie! I'm coming to get you right now! Don't panic okay?" Fred loudly assured her yet he had no idea how to get down to her.Suddenly, they heard heavy thudding of hooves moving towards them. What they saw sent chills of fear down their spines, and the alcohol in their brains quickly vaporized. A huge Buffalo that appeared as large as an SUV was running full speed towards them.
Bang! Bang! A couple of deafening gunshots.
The large horned, enraged beast suddenly collapsed right in front of their eyes.
A pair of bright headlights emerged from the darkness about ten meters from where they froze in fear. They grew brighter and brighter as the unseen vehicle approached. Diana desperately clutched onto Martin's arm and hid behind him as the vehicle stopped and four men wielding rifles hopped out. Fred shielded his eyes from the headlights using his hands and did his best to remain calm as the unknown men walked towards them with their guns aimed.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?" A tall burly man about 6 ft 2 inches wearing a jungle green combat cap with a deep voice demanded. He had a heavy Kikuyu accent and a white goatee.
“We don't want any trouble. We were cycling back to Aberdares National Park but one of my friends fell down off the path and into the thicket. We have to rescue her," Fred answered.
“Really? You think I'm stupid?" The man retorted cynically. “All cyclists use the main road!"
“We were just looking for a shortcut my friend," Fred replied.
The tall man walked towards Fred and landed a heavy slap on his face. “I am not your friend, you bloody fool!"
“Please...please don't kill us. You can take our money and phones but spare us!" Martin pleaded as the stone faced man approached him.
The man raised his AK-47 and forcefully thrust the muzzle inside trembling Martin's mouth.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?"
Beads of sweat rushed down Martin's face and his legs went from solid to a jelly like state.
“I swear...I swear... we...we… were just cycling back to the national park!" he cried.
“Lie down!" He ordered Martin and Diana. “Bring some rope and tie them up!"
Two men hurried towards Fred, Martin and Diana and followed their superior's order. They frog marched them towards the pickup and forced them into the back then carried the dead buffalo. It took tremendous effort from all four men to load the beefy bull into the back. Two men watched over the kill and unexpected trio of captives. They drove further up the wide ascending dirt path that snaked into the deeper, darker and terrifying bowels of the Aberdare forest. The man in charge received a phone call from one of his insiders, who happened to be a Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) game warden.
“The rangers are on patrol and they are heading this way. Make a U-turn and park somewhere where they won't see us," he instructed the driver.
“Yes sir."
The driver diverted off the dirt road and parked behind a tall, thick and thorny bush then switched off the headlights. It didn't take long before their ears picked up the sound of distant purring motor engines moving towards them. The game wardens made more patrols on this particular quadrant, the southern end of Aberdare National Park because of high poaching activity since there wasn't any electric fence to separate ruthless poachers from precious wildlife.
A heavy thudding of hooves coming from the driver's side instantly perked up their ears. A wave of fear coursed through Fred's limbs as the cluttering grew louder and louder. To make matters worse, he couldn't see because the bush they hid in was too thick for the bright moonlight to penetrate through. Suddenly, there was a loud bang and the unexpected impact almost tipped the old Toyota Hilux pick up belly up.
A series of blood chilling growls and small shiny pairs of eyes surrounded the pickup and commotion ensued as a pride of hungry lions clawed and sank their long, sharp and viscious canines into the stuck buffalo. The fleeing Buffalo accidentally ran into the driver's door so hard that one of its huge thick horns penetrated the metal and ruptured the poor man's ribcage. The boss watched in horror as his driver jerked back and forth agonizingly. Blood spurted out uncontrollably through his mouth. The seat became wet as his gruesomely punctured right lung oozed bright red blood.
Diana screamed frantically when a curious lioness jumped into the back of the Hilux. One of the poachers fired his rifle twice in the air and the blood thirsty pride scampered off into the trees. He then hopped out and dashed to co-driver's door.
“Mwaura! Mwaura are you okay?" He shouted while banging the door with his fist.
The boss swung his door open and said, “I’m fine but Peter wasn't lucky. Get rid of that damn buffalo fast before the wardens find us!"
The loyal poacher had no choice but to break the door off its hinges since the buffalo's horn had sunk all the way through. He hurled his dead comrade off the seat and took charge behind the wheel. They saw bright yellow headlights approaching them fast. The Toyota instantly roared to life and sprang out of the thick thorny bush as the poachers fled for their lives. Mwaura’s poacher sped off south west towards the spot where Jackie fell off into the thicket. A couple of combat green land cruisers with rifle wielding game wardens perched at the back appeared just a few feet behind, leaving thick clouds of dust up in the air as they engaged in hot pursuit.
Determined to shake off their tail, the other poacher guarding the captives and buffalo carcass faced the KWS land cruisers and fired twice. The vehicle slowed down then accelerated towards them but Mwaura's driver made a sharp left and followed the dusty path that lead towards the Eastern quadrant.
“Come on! Come on!" Mwaura barked at his driver.
Bang! Bang! The rangers fired at the poacher's vehicle.
Mwaura's poacher cautiously lifted his head, while crouched then sprang to his feet and sprayed his bullets ruthlessly at the KWS Land Cruiser. He managed to shoot one of the wardens perched at the Land Cruiser's back in the chest and killed two wardens seated next to the driver. Despite the manpower loss, the determined KWS driver floored the accelerator and rammed into the poacher's pick up so hard that the skinny, dark skinned poacher almost fell off from the fast moving vehicle. His G3 rifle fell into the bushes due to the high impact.
Still determined to arrest the fast moving band of poachers, the KWS driver floored the gas pedal, ready to bump the pick up a second time.
A devilish idea popped inside the tall, skinny poacher's brain and he grabbed a hysterical Diana then without warning, he flung her right in front of the game warden's vehicle.
The heavy rotating front tires of the KWS Land Cruiser ran over her beautiful, model like, long brown legs. She screamed and writhed desperately in unimaginable pain as her splintered left Fibula pierced through her shin and her right leg was totally deformed into an awkward J – shape like bloody limb. Her agonizing cries and screams were drowned by a loud bang as a result of the second KWS Cruiser colliding with the first vehicle. The determined KWS driver's unexpected halt in the middle of the hot pursuit led to his counterpart ramming his vehicle since there was hardly any braking distance between the two vehicles.
The poachers sped off in victory as the wardens hopped out of their vehicles to aid poor Diana who was already unconscious since her brain shut down due to the intense magnitude of unbearable pain.