Читать книгу Desert Prisoner - Andrea Abbott - Страница 3

Leo didn’t see the scorpion until he was almost upon it. Longer than his hand and burnt-orange like the desert sand all round, it squatted in the measly shade of a shrivelled-up shrub. When Leo jumped down from a nearby rock, it wheeled round, startled, the sudden movement giving it away. With its tail arched high over its body, it fixed him with a sinister stare. The warning was clear: Come closer at your peril!

Leo stood dead still. The scorpion’s tail was thick with a hook-like sting at the tip. In contrast, its pincers were thin and weak-looking.

It was not a scorpion to mess with.

Thick tail and weak pincers mean strong venom. Get stung by that kind of scorpion and it’s curtains for you. This was the advice Dawie had given Leo when they arrived in Namibia a week ago at the start of ABSO: the Annual Big Sky Odyssey.

At twelve and a half, Leo was no fool. He backed away. “Okay. You can drop that tail. I’m out of here.” He climbed onto a rock and watched the deadly creature drop its tail then skim across the sand and disappear down a burrow.

Directly overhead, the noon sun beat down from a cloudless sky. It burned the back of Leo’s neck, his arms and legs, and smothered the land with its savage fire power. Nothing moved; no sound, save for Leo’s own breathing, interrupted the silence. The air had given up too. As still as stone, it might have died. Alone in that great silence at the bottom of that red-hot hill in the middle of the Namib Desert, Leo felt like he was the last living thing on Earth.

It gave him the creeps.

He started back to join the others. They were on the other side of the hill, eating their lunch. When he’d left them a little while ago, they were slumped against the Land Rovers in a thin strip of shade. It was the sensible thing to do, he knew, but also as boring as watching paint dry. And so he had decided to explore the high and rocky hill. The heat hadn’t bothered him at first but now, as he climbed back up to the top, the burning rocks scorched his hands and seared his bare legs, and his head pounded under that relentless sun.

Near the top, there was relief. A breeze had come up. It danced over the ridge to fan Leo, tugging at his peaked cap and blowing sand into his face. He pulled his cap down tight and tucked his head in. Cresting the hill a minute later, he looked down.

Far below, to his right, he saw the others packing the lunch things into the two Land Rovers. He made out the well-built form and blonde hair of Dawie who was picking up the cool box. And there, waving her arms about, was Treasure. She was probably signalling up to Leo, making sure he was okay which she’d been doing a lot all week. It drove him crazy. What does she think could happen to me? he thought.

As he was about to start down the hill, he noticed a rust-brown haze to the south of the picnic spot. It was a long way off and at first sight could have been a bank of clouds, or fog. But it seemed to rise up from the ground. It was moving too, like dust behind a car on a dirt road. Yet it was bigger than that, stretching all the way across the plain and coming his way.

While Leo stood puzzling over the strange sight, the breeze suddenly grew stronger. He felt the sting of sand and grit on his arms and legs. Only then did he understand what he was looking at.

A sand storm!

“I’d better get back down fast,” he said and began scrambling down the rocks.

He was still a long way from the bottom when the whisper of the wind changed to a whistle. Above it came another, very different sound: a throaty, mechanical noise. The noise of engines.

The Land Rovers were driving away!

* * *

Treasure, the vice president of the Astronomy Club, was the first to notice the wind. She stood up to stretch and felt it whipping over the bonnet of the Land Rover. “Sand storm!” she said, waving her arms in dismay when she saw an ominous, rusty-brown cloud on the southern horizon. “It’s coming this way!”

The others scrambled to their feet. “Jeepers!” said Victor, shielding his eyes and looking toward the skyline. “It’s a big one.”

“Let’s get out of here fast!” shouted Dawie, the president of the club. He picked up a cool box and threw it into the back of the Land Rover he’d been driving. “If we get caught up in it, we’ll miss our plane.”

Water bottles, another cool box, oranges, towels and rugs they’d been sitting on, a pair of flip-flops Cass had kicked off, a magazine, a hat, a pillow – all were hurled any old how into the two vehicles. In the same frenzied way, everyone threw themselves in too, except for Humphrey who was going after his cap . . . without much luck. The wind, gusting ever stronger, was carrying it away faster than even the athletic Humphrey could run.

“Forget it, Humph,” yelled Dawie through his window. He revved the engine. “Let’s go!” He slammed the vehicle into gear and set off along the narrow track back to the road.

Next to him, Treasure looked in the wing mirror. She saw Eva, the driver of the second Land Rover, leaning out of the window and beckoning to Humphrey.

Throwing his hands up in defeat, Humphrey turned and sprinted back. He dived in beside Eva just as she gunned the motor and sped off behind the others.

* * *

“Hey!” yelled Leo. “Wait for me.” Slipping and sliding, dislodging loose stones, grazing his knees and shins against the rocks, he stumbled down the hill. By the time he reached the bottom, the others were a long way down the track.

Leo was left in a cloud of dust. “Wait!” he shouted again and raced after them.

It had to be a big joke. Any minute now, they would stop.

“It’s not funny!” he yelled when they didn’t.

He ran faster, taking giant strides, but the gap between him and the Land Rovers kept widening. All too soon, they were two green specks in the shimmering heat haze that hovered above the desert.

It was no joke. The Astronomy Club had forgotten him. So much for Treasure’s concern for him all week! Where was that now? He stopped and leapt into the air, waving his arms. Someone might be looking out of the back window and would see him.

The vehicles vanished.

Breathing heavily, sweat pouring down his face, he started after them again. They’ll come back. Someone will see I’m not there. At any moment, there would be a glint of metal that would be the Land Rovers returning.

He ran on, his eyes focussed on the far distance, watching for that glint. They must have noticed by now, he kept telling himself.

But even if they had noticed, it was soon too late, for the pandemonium of sand and grit was suddenly upon him. It overtook him, blasting him, choking him, blinding him.

* * *

Arriving at the road at last, Dawie floored the accelerator. Treasure gripped the dashboard as they hurtled along at a dangerous speed. She glanced back. Through a gap in the heap of luggage and astronomy equipment, she saw the second Land Rover reach the road. Behind, the storm billowed. It curtained the sun, turning day into night, gathering the desert in its stride as it surged northwards.

“We can’t outrun it,” Treasure said, her voice rising in panic.

“We’ve got to,” said Dawie. He switched on the headlights and hunched over the steering wheel, concentrating on the straight black ribbon of tar in front.

* * *

Coughing and spluttering, gasping for air, Leo stumbled on through the swirling sand. With his eyes nearly closed for protection, he couldn’t see a thing. He held his arms close to his chest and bent over them. Still, there was nothing he could do to stop the stinging onslaught on his bare legs.

He’d given up hope that the others would return; the storm would have overtaken them by now. They’d be parked somewhere along the track, waiting for the worst to be over. If he could just keep walking, he’d catch up. They couldn’t have gone all that far.

* * *

“We’ll have to pull over,” said Treasure. Sand blasted the windows. It worked its way through the air vents and every microscopic gap into everyone’s eyes, ears and lungs. Visibility was down to almost zero, and Dawie was forced to drive at tortoise pace. Treasure couldn’t see the white lines in the middle of the road, and she could only just make out the headlights of the Land Rover behind.

Victor leaned forward from the back seat. “It’s dangerous to drive in this,” he said.

“We’re not stopping,” said Dawie. “This could go on for hours. If we wait for it to blow over, we’ll definitely miss our plane.”

“At this rate, we’ll miss it anyway,” said Julia.

“Not if we can make up some time later,” said Dawie.

* * *

Leo felt like he was trapped in a wind tunnel filled with sand that poured into his lungs every time he breathed in. He held his cap in front of his nose and mouth, like a dust mask. It didn’t help. The sand still found its way in.

He forced himself to go on. I’ll catch up with them soon.

Without a watch, he had no idea what the time was. Nor could he tell how long he’d been struggling down the track. He couldn’t even see it or the tyre marks anymore because they’d been covered in sand.

* * *

They’d been inching along for what seemed like hours when Treasure saw a sign swim out of the dust-thick air next to her window. AUS 10 km. “Great! Not far to the highway now,” she said.

Aus was a village at the junction of the east-west desert highway and the minor road they were travelling along. The highway started on the coast at the port of Lüderitz and ran east for nearly three hundred kilometres to the town of Keetmanshoop.

The astronomers had passed through Aus a week ago on their journey south to their isolated camp site. It was there, beneath a dazzling sky, that they’d spent the previous seven nights studying the stars and planets, and the myriad of other celestial bodies.

Now, at the end of ABSO, they were approaching Aus again on their way home to South Africa. The sleepy settlement was about halfway between the campsite and Keetmanshoop where they would return the Land Rovers to the car-hire firm. After that, they would take the short flight to the capital city, Windhoek, then board the plane that would take them back to Durban, thousands of kilometres to the east.

“Do you think we’ll make it to the airport in time?” Julia asked from the back seat. Their plane was scheduled to leave at seven o’clock.

Dawie shrugged. “There’s still about two hundred kilometres to go. And it’s nearly four o’clock. At this speed we won’t get there. But if the storm drops soon, we might make it.”

* * *

Exhausted and struggling to breathe, Leo sank to his knees and rolled himself into a tight ball. Curled up, his back taking the worst of the wind’s punishment, he waited for the end.

* * *

East of Aus, things started to get better. The wind grew lighter and before long, dropped altogether. Gradually, the dust began to settle and the air to clear. The Land Rovers picked up speed.

“Thank goodness that’s over,” said Treasure, settling back in her seat. “You did really well to keep going, Dawie.”

“Yeah! Great driving,” said Victor. “Sorry I doubted you back there.”

They sped on, past tiny railway sidings with names like Asbospan, Schakalskuppe, Guibes and Buchholz-Brunn. Ten minutes after driving through Goageb, Dawie slowed down. “I’m really tired,” he said and pulled over to the side. “Will you take over, Treasure?”

“Sure.” She checked the time. Twenty to five. Keetmanshoop was only about a hundred kilometres away. Bar any other disasters, they’d definitely make the flight to Windhoek.

Behind, Eva pulled over too. Doors were flung open and everyone climbed out to stretch their legs and shake the sand from their clothes and hair.

“What a journey!” said Humphrey, taking off his T-shirt and flicking it like a whip. “One thing I can’t stand is sand between my skin and shirt. It’s torture every time you move. Like being excoriated.”

“Excoriated?” said Yunus.

“Having your skin stripped off,” Cass explained.

“Why didn’t you just say so, Humphrey?” said Yunus.

Dawie opened the back of the Land Rover. “Who’s for a cold drink?” he said.

“Yes, please,” chorused the others.

* * *

Calm settled over Leo. It snuffed out the roar of wind in his ears, and soothed the sting of sand against his flesh. He looked up and saw pale sunlight filtering through the dust-laden air.

It was all over!

Spitting out sand, and blinking it out of the corners of his eyes, he pulled himself to his feet. I’ll find the others now. They won’t be far. He looked around to get his bearings. The air was thick with dust so he couldn’t see much in front. There was little else to help him; the ground bore no tyre marks or other clues to show him the way. The desert had been swept smooth, except for the indent his rolled-up form had left in the sand.

He stood very still. The road had to be close. The track was about five kilometres long, he remembered, and he must have walked at least half that distance before he’d given up. Expecting to hear an engine, or the crunch of tyres on the gritty surface, he waited and listened.

Not a rustle, a murmur, or distant whisper sounded. Only a solid silence as immense as the desert.

They’ve got to be nearby, he thought and looked round for the hill he’d climbed. Treasure had called it an inselberg. When they’d stopped, it had been a short way ahead of them and to the right. It wasn’t there now and that was probably because the dust in the air hid most things. Or perhaps he’d trudged a lot further than he’d first thought. I’ll just have to keep going in a straight line.

He plodded on. Gradually, the air grew clearer and the sun burnt through once more. As the visibility improved, the horizon rolled back and Leo saw that he was in the middle of a wide plain. Nothing – not a hill, a shrub, rock, or narrow track, no other human being – broke the monotony of that huge, open space.

“Where am I?” he said out loud, his voice sounding flat and feeble in the vast emptiness.

A memory came to him in answer. The worst thing to do if you’re lost in the desert, someone – Leo can’t remember who – once told him, is to try to find your way out. You’ll end up going in ever-widening circles. Best to stay put.

But it was too late. Leo had already lost his way.