"ugh.... I am exhausted" said curry faintly. On a normal day, I, being a person who treks a lot would have asked him his reason for that statement but at this point in time I felt the statement was well deserved.
The sun was burning so hot that mirages were visible throughout the front of our view. The eat made our lips dry and our limbs weak. I was pretty convinced at a point that the only thing that was pushing me was the want to live.
Curry however, deserved that statement for more than just the fact that we were literally parboiling and had been walking for more than 3 hours non stop. He deserved it because at a point in the journey, Lisa, his date had gotten tired and was almost fainting and so he took upon himself to carry her all through till they reached a stopping point.
Crazy, right?
Whatever motivated him to take that action hadn't run out yet and so he was still carrying her even after about 2 hours of walking.
Let me mind my business at this point.
Leading the way for our walk was Mr Monroe. Much as he tried to hide it, we all could see that he was exhausted too, though maybe not as much as we were.
His shirt had darker spots on his armpit and chest region that was caused by sweat. He even had sweat all over his forearms as he walked on but he didn't show any sign that he was stopping anytime soon.
It was all part of the plan. The first journey wasn't necessarily the escape from the get go, especially since the rest of the students have no idea that we were escaping from something or even escaping at all.
The plan was to cover at least 5 miles before setting up camp and having one last lecture. I know, sounds pretty awkward to be having a class when you are running away from people who are into bad things and would possibly be looking for you anytime soon.
I could bet you are probably thinking that we should use the time for the lecture to involve the guys in the plan instead or to start setting some crazy booby traps like home alone.
Sounds nice but that isn't the plan. We know that among all the students there are those who would not be able to handle the information that we are in danger and once they do find out then they start thinking and behaving irrationally. It is that kind of irrationality that will put the rest of the school in danger of getting captured.
We also know that when we let them know what is going on, there are those who would want to hijack leadership and that will cause a spilt of the school into groups.
We don't have the time to start trying to reunite us, they would have been on to us by then.
The strategy was simply to let them realize it themselves so that they would be more willing to follow instructions and so that we could escape successfully.
It was a long shot but we were willing to take it. The danger was too much to just pass up.
Whenr Monroe had come back from his meeting with the cabin town owner, Mr Ahmed. He had told us about all that he had found in the office of the man.
The skins and the heads and based on the way that he had described it. It seemed that These were actual animal heads and they just had some kind of chemical to keep them from rotting.
The Venators were truly poachers, otherwise why will an institution that was majorly concerned with housing visitors of the Serengeti have all it's workers tattoo an initial unto their arms. The idea alone sounded diabolical.
The trip was getting too tiresome to possibly explain on paper or in writing. We actually didn't know the full extent of the fatigue that the guys were going through until there was a short shout from far back.
"What happened?" I asked as I rushed to the scene. I got there to meet a girl on the floor and unconscious. She probably slumped due to fatigue and thirst.
"She just fell as she was walking" a girl that was standing to my right replied.
I turned to see the person that answered me. She had on a purple t-shirt that read "save the planet from global warming" and a bumshort.
I stood there a but perturbed as I didn't really have any medical experience or understand how to deal with such situations.
As I stood there wondering what the best course of action was, a gust of wind blew on my face as someone ran passed me to the girl that was on the floor.
"Everyone give her room, she needs some air!" Commanded jasmine as she took charge of the situation swiftly.
I didn't know for sure but just from the tone of her voice I could tell that she knew what she was doing for sure, so I decided to leave her to it.
" Does anyone have a bottle of water?" She asked hurriedly as she got on her knees beside her.
Before I could whisper London bridge, a bootle of water had been provided and space had been made the victim in question.
Jasmine made for the girl's buttons as she worked them open and checked for a pulse to be sure that she was still alive.
The way that she moved with so much precision in her actions showed that this wasn't her first time being in such a situation. Red cross, I would assume was probably the source of such knowledge.
She administered CPR to her and within three minutes of the operation she was back to life.
It looked like a miracle in the eyes of all of us present.
"Let her rest up about and then we can get going again" Jasmine said as she stepped back from the girl. The girl was sweating profusely and thanking her in the same manner.
The thanks atartes pouring in, the scene was a beautiful one. The clouds of the savannah gathered and obstructed the sun's rays from hitting us as much as it did before.
"A great relief to our skins at last" curry commented loudly as he visibly relished the moment.
I smiled at the comment as I threw an arm over Jasmine's shoulder and walked with her.
"How does it feel to be known as a hero, Doctor Jasmine?" I asked teasingly.
"To be frank I just feel exhausted and it seems they are even more exhausted than I am" she said with care in her voice.
We walked through the crowd of students to try and get back to my brother and the others. The students seemed to Instinctively make a path for us as we walked through with some applauding Jasmine's efforts.
"Where did you learn to do that though?" I asked. At this point in time, I was riddled with curiosity and I was eager to hear her answer to my question because I was certain that it wasn't red cross.
Now that I think of it... maybe it was red cross. My main reason for doubting the Red cross the first time was because I was also a member of the red cross at a very young age, I'm talking since I was 6, but I never actually stayed long though.
I was in the red cross while I was still living in Nigeria and so when my family moved out, I was no longer a member.
Just in case you are wondering, I left Nigeria when I clocked 7.... I know, pretty short membership uhn?
Anyways, while I was there, I didn't learn anything of that nature and so I felt like asking majorly because I wanted to know if this was part if all the knowledge that I had missed out on.
"I actually learned it from my mum" she explained.
"Oh... is she a nurse?"
"Yeah she is"
"...but the way you swooped in and handles the whole situation suggests to me that you have done something of this nature before" I pointed out
"That observation is correct" she replied as she looked back at me with a smile on her face. By this time, we were getting pretty close to the place where my brother awaited our arrival.
I don't know why but I feel we would have gotten there by now if only we were even walking at a normal pace.
"How many times now?"
"This should be my fourth time" she said with a kind of aura that spelt achievement.
"Bravo, doctor!!" I said with a clap.
"Stop" she replied as she forced my hands down while visibly blushing.
"Who was your first though?" I was seriously curious to know.
Fir some strange reason, the question shut her down. It was almost like I had reached into a memory she didn't wish to recall.
"What could it have been that I said wrong." I wondered to myself.
As the mighty cloud receded from sky, it allowed for the sun's full scorch to fire down on us, I guess it was from knowing this that she paused for a minute under an acacia tree that we were walking by.
She used a hand to put back some strands of hair that had found their way unto her face before letting out some air and staring into the tree.
"It was my mum"....