Reaching Epena was anticlimactic. Realizing their need to evacuate the premises before anything else exciting were to occur, the men walked the rest of the way out of the jungle without stopping. Tired, hungry and afraid they walked for twenty hours straight. The good news is that no animal would frighten them now. Nothing really could. But they didn't want to stick around and find out if anything would dare. How fast would the Emela become hungry again? Had it seen them at all? Was it tracking them now? Were the Blackies really gone? They walked, for fear drove them forward.
They didn't come out of the jungle as much as they just suddenly appeared on the outskirts of the town, it was that much of a shock to them. Numbing. Here was their destination and here they were. It was a welcome slap in the face. They took off their bags, laid them in a pile and let the realization wash over them.
Epena wasn't so much a town as it was a district of small villages. Hezzy pulled out the Satellite phone from his bag and called their contact Aminata for the pickup. She was from Epena and worked for the government, doing odd jobs here and there. She was in the 2012 Olympics and was pretty cool about picking them up.
"Everything okay?" she asked, when she arrived.
"Yep." Hezzy said. The rest of the men were silent.
It took an hour to reach Impfondo in the van, a distance of a little more than fifty miles. Such a change in travel seemed almost like theft of life to Tugg. The value of something as common as a road seemed like a new privilege. Compared to the time it took them to travel one hundred miles, they could have driven it in two hours. He looked in the backseat. Everyone else was fast asleep, except Hezzy, who watched the forest go by silently.
At the airport, they said goodbye to their three traveling companions.
"Gonna miss ya boys." Hezzy said, a tear forming in his eye. "Y'all have my number so don't be a stranger." He hugged them each. They each cried the relief and happiness from coming through a trial. Christian held him tight.
"Ey will miss you friend." he said.
"C'est vrai." Hezzy said.
They all laughed.
Thirty six hours later, Tugg pulled off his clothes and turned the water all the way up. Getting into the tub wasn't hard. The hard part was relaxing. He needed to write all this down before he forgot about it. He had video to edit and a new spear to hang in his study… But right now, he figured, he had at least a little time to relax.
The first thing that Hezzy did when He got home was call Chaucer.
The phone rang but went to voicemail. Chaucer got the message the next day.
"Oooh boy, do I have a story for you!" was all Hezzy's voicemail had said. Chaucer bought a plane ticket that night. Something told him that he should hear this in person.
It was after some months that Tugg received an email from Moise. The three had arrived back in Brazzaville and had turned in their footage and their report to the Forestry Road Commission. They were all commended for their service and had secured full time work in the government. No word was mentioned about the things they had seen, but they had suggested not to build the road.