WILDly (8 page)

Initially I
didn’t mind them much. I switched on the radio and a Locnville CD
suddenly played very loudly. I was impressed with Alex’s taste. I
started to sing along but stopped almost immediately because my
head was pounding and my tongue was super-glued to my palate. Out
of shock I turned the music down a little.

When the second
song ended, the Mercs were still behind me, close behind me, in
spite of the two turns that I had taken. It was a little odd that
they were still there; it made me uncomfortable. The image of a
high speed chase danced in front of me for a moment, but it seemed
too reckless.

I remembered
that there was a small road café just a little further down the
road. It would be a safe option to test my growing suspicion that
they were following me, as it was a busy café.

My palms were
sweaty as I approached the turnoff. I’d have to do it so that they
either could not follow me or couldn’t get me alone if they did
follow me. At least I didn’t feel as uncertain behind the wheel now
as when I had left this morning.

The turn that I
took was sharp and sudden, without using my indicators. The wheels
left an impressive cloud of dust behind as they hit the gravel.
Then I had to step hard on the brakes to slow down as I quickly
approached an old Toyota Hilux in the parking lot. While all this
was happening I kept one eye on the Mercs. Luckily, they continued
at speed without turning off. I breathed a sigh of relief, writing
the whole incident off to an overactive imagination.

It was only
when I reached the till to pay for an aspirin and a litre of water
that I remembered that I had no money on me. I had walked out of my
parents’ home without taking my phone or my wallet. But it didn’t
really matter as I was close to home, so I apologised and left the
stuff on the counter. I walked out, got into Alex’s car again and
slowly drove on.

It was midday,
according to the clock in the car, when I turned into our familiar
driveway. The front door was locked and no one answered the bell.
After waiting a bit and peeking through the open windows, I walked
round to the back door, and tried that. But it was locked as well.
I called for a time or so, but there was no response. It wasn’t
like my parents to be away on a Sunday, except for church. But
church usually ended around eleven o’clock.

They used to
hide the spare key in the soil of the marigold flower bowl when I
was still in school. Sure enough, I found it easily and opened the
back door. As soon as I was in, I took off my shoes. My feet were
blistered and hurting from the long walk the other day. Then I went
to my bedroom to get my phone. It was still where I had left it, on
my bed pedestal.

My dad’s number
was on speed dial and I held the number three button in as I walked
to the front door to get my clothes from Alex’s car. I was about to
unlock the dead bolt when I stopped cold in my tracks: the two
black Mercs had just turned into the driveway.

They couldn’t
have seen me, they were still turning in but by this time I was
already flat on my stomach below the window sill and doing an
award-winning leopard crawl away from the front door. At least my
phone was in my hand and my dad’s number was already ringing on the
other side. With every ring, I prayed harder and harder for him to
answer, but it went onto the answering machine.

I slowly got up
on my haunches and peeked out through the window from behind the
curtain. I briefly made out four blonde men, dressed in black
army-looking clothes, climbing out of the Mercs.

I could never
challenge these intimidating army-looking guys! I would have to
hide or run. I picked run, as they would eventually find me if I
tried to hide. They had parked behind Alex’s car and probably knew
that I was in here somewhere.

There was the
sound of four car doors being shut. I counted very carefully as I
had to make sure what I was up against, but the sound urged me to
get away from the open window. At mach speed I ran to the back
door, which was still open, and motored out of the house.

By the time I
had reached the precast wall, they were already in the backyard.
With the suppleness of years of gymnastics, I climbed up against
the wall.

“Valerie!” one
of them called after me.

Their calling
was like a fillip, only causing me to panic more. I glanced back at
them quickly then launched myself over into the veldt at the back
of our house.

They were
catching up fast.

Something
happened when my bare feet hit the earth. At first, it looked as if
the wind was blowing, but only around me, stirring the grass, trees
and leaves. It was a subtle sound, almost a ‘pssst-here-I-am’
rustle. Then I noticed a pattern to the movement. The leaves would
blow a step or two ahead of me, as if the wind was giving me
direction and the grass was telling me where to put my feet.

Duncan’s voice
came to me. I remembered a little more of what he had told me the
very first day that I saw him.

“
Listen
carefully. She will speak to you when you need her... always trust
her, she is on your side more than anyone else in the
universe.”

There wasn’t
time to dwell on Duncan’s words; both the urge and instinct to obey
was very strong. It welled up inside me and took control of my legs
and feet, but I wasn’t scared. It was rather a feeling of
salvation, an answer to my cry of distress. I followed the
indicated path and the further I went, the more I gained an
advantage on the thugs behind me. And it certainly was not because
I was faster than them, but because the way simply opened up for
me.

It was a true
connection with nature; the earth was talking to me, responding to
my needs.

I continued
running until they were completely out of sight. I thought that I
had lost them, but the grass kept on shaking. It only stopped after
I had reached a small opening in the roots of a massive Baobab
tree. I crawled in as deep and as fast as I possibly could and then
waited.

I tried to get
out once. A red-hot poker right next to the entrance of the opening
caught my attention – it was shaking so violently that its long
slender leaves were flying about. I immediately recognised it as
the earth’s way of telling me to wait a little longer. Moments
later, I heard footsteps getting closer. I pulled my legs in
tightly and held my breath.

The footsteps
were now very close.

The last thing
that I thought about at that moment was my phone. I had completely
forgotten about it, otherwise I would have switched to silent
mode.

There was
simply no escape when it started to ring in my pocket, not even if
the earth swallowed me whole on that instant. It was my dad’s
ringtone. I pulled the phone out of my pocket and crawled out of
hiding. I slowly got up.

They awaited me
in a half-moon shape, so close to the opening that running wasn’t a
possibility. My heart was in my throat, my phone in my hand and my
hands in the air. They stared at me.

“Aren’t you
going to answer your phone?” one of them asked.

I figured it
was rather unusual for attackers to allow someone to answer their
phone. What if I cried for help? But I clutched the opportunity
with both hands and answered as fast as I could before the phone
stopped ringing.

“Valerie,
hallo!” I managed with a shaky voice, watching their reactions very
carefully. I didn’t want to reveal it was my dad.

“Hello dear.
How are you? We were worried sick about you!”

They didn’t
move and I grabbed the chance.

“Dad, I’m in
the veldt behind your house. I am being held by four men. Come and
get me, please,” I said as fast as I could, watching them with a
hawk’s eye.

Not one of them
moved a muscle; they just frowned a little harder.

My dad’s voice
suddenly sounded very serious. “What do they look like? Oh, let me
describe them and then you confirm. They look a lot like... uh...
like Alex, strongly built, blonde and tanned. Maybe a few years
older than Alex.”

“Yeah, they do
look like Alex!” I was surprised that my dad could describe them.
And surprised that he admitted that he knew Alex.

“They are on
your... on our side, dear. We sent the Reds to protect you,
especially with... I can’t really talk over the phone and I don’t
have much time either. Ask the Reds. I need to hurry, dear.”

I felt a blush
growing from my ankles up to cover my cheeks. It was so typical of
me, running away from the
good
guys!

“Why do I need
protection all of a sudden?”

“Just being
careful. And... and Alex phoned me last night after he found you.
He mentioned the attack on you while you were in hospital. But I
really need to go now, dear.”

Then I
remembered something. “Dad? Dad, wait. I’m sorry, Dad. For walking
out the other day, I mean. It ...was all just too much for me.”

“Valerie, it’s
understandable. As long as you are all right?”

“I guess I am,
I’m fine, for the moment,” I said, looking up at four pairs of
eyes. “Where are you and Mom? I went home this morning and you
weren’t there?”

“Ask the Reds.
Bye, Valerie. You take care of yourself.”

“Bye, Dad.”

I placed the
phone in my pocket and cleared my throat. The four men in front of
me didn’t look so intimidating anymore. They looked like regular
guys, although their looks weren’t simply regular. To me, they
would definitely pass as gorgeous.

Their grins
didn’t help my blush at all: nor did the fact that I was still
ridiculously dressed in Alex’s oversized shorts and shirt.

“Hi, I’m
Valerie, nice to meet you all,” I took control. I stuck out my hand
to introduce myself.

The shortest
one answered. “Sorry Valerie, we didn’t mean to scare you. I’m
Peter. We are the closest red dwarfs.”

I had no idea
what he meant, but felt too embarrassed to ask. “Oh,” I replied
simply.

The others
introduced themselves as well, “Benjamin,” “Wilfred,” “Leo,” they
said, but they completely ignored my out-stretched hand.

“Let’s go home
and get something to drink! All this running has made me thirsty!”
Leo complained, the tallest of the four.

No one argued
as the thick clouds were opening up again and the temperature was
rising.

We walked only
a few paces before my curiosity won the upper hand.

“Where are my
parents? My Dad said to ask you guys.”

“Your parents
were summoned to an emergency meeting, with Alex being in a coma
and all,” Benjamin answered. He was right next to me at that
moment.

“Alex... in a
coma?” I was astonished. He hadn’t looked very well last night, but
I never would have dreamt that his condition was that bad.

“But why? And
why would my parents go to a meeting because Alex is in a coma? I
don’t understand.” I was really puzzled.

“Well, isn’t it
obvious? We’re all trying to figure out where the attack...”

From the corner
of my eye I noticed Wilfred giving Benjamin a nudge.

“Uh...sorry, I
don’t think we’re supposed to tell you any of this. All I can tell
you is that we will be close behind you for the next few days.”

“And why on
earth can’t you tell me more?” I exclaimed, a little too
harshly.

“Well, for one,
the weather is finally clearing up,” he answered.

I wrongfully
interpreted his answer as a way of telling me that he was not going
to discuss the subject any further.

“Arrgh!! Fine!”
I gave up. “I need to get back to varsity, it’s getting late. And I
need to go to Lisa, to see if she is all right. What hospital is
Alex in? Or are you not allowed to say?”

“We’ll take you
there. It’s close to campus. Leo will take Alex’s car and you can
take your own,” Benjamin offered.

“Thanks.” I had
wondered how was going to drive two cars at once.

It was strange,
and I had to admit, kind-of awesome having an army of hunks looking
out for me. Jennifer would be so jealous if she was to find out
about it.

“Any of you
related to Alex? You all look alike, I have to say.”

“Not in the
sense that you mean. But we are close confidants,” Benjamin
said.

We walked a few
paces before I thought of another problem.

“So, are you
guys also studying?” If they were to follow me around on campus, it
would be less conspicuous if they blended in instead of sticking
together. At least if they were enrolled there, no one would make a
fuss about them. Except for Jennifer, of course.

“No, not
studying anymore. But we all know the campus very well,” Leo
answered.

I realised that
I was bombarding them with questions. Maybe that was the reason for
the staccato answers I got.

We walked
around the block this time so I didn’t have to jump any walls. I
was still tired from the escapades of the weekend, and I guess it
showed, because Benjamin again made me an offer, suggesting that I
drive with him and one of the others drive my car.

It was late
already and I hurried to get my things. We all agreed to get
something to eat from the drive-through. This time, I remembered my
wallet and phone and grabbed a pillow for the trip.

The combination
of the marathon earlier, wheels turning and a full tummy was potent
and I felt sleepy the moment Benjamin switched on the car. He
turned on the radio after we had finished our take-away. Out of
politeness I tried my best to stay awake at least until we had left
town.

“You go right
ahead, I don’t mind. I’ll wake you in time,” he said with his green
eyes smiling at me.

“Thanks,
Benjamin,” I said with my head already resting against my pillow.
“And thanks for looking out for me.” I trusted him completely;
after all, my Dad had sent them.