“Where’s that?”
“Northern Transvaal. They call it ‘Northern Province’ these days.” Nobody looked any the wiser. “South Africa.” She looked at them, clearly embarrassed. Particularly, she looked at Lamont. “I never asked to get born there. And it is a democratic country these days.”
Jerry suddenly understood why she insulted everybody except Lamont. He hadn’t really been aware of how she pussyfooted around him—until this moment. Lamont was an even worse punster than he was, but Jerry always took the rap from her.
“Look. I can’t help where I come from. I’ve got several black friends from university. I don’t have a problem with it.”
“Never said you did,” said Lamont easily. “Come on. We’ve got to get moving.” He pushed forward into a mass of dogwood.
And found he was sharing it with a large animal. A large animal that hadn’t liked having its slumber disturbed. Broad-spaced, angry little eyes peered shortsightedly at the intruder. The black snout wrinkled and a short, angry grunt emerged. Liz was just behind Lamont. She grabbed his shoulder and yelled: “RUUUN!”
The boar was a monster. Not quite the black beast of Thessaly. Not quite—but still very damn big. Cruz and McKenna and their makeshift spears looked very small. Those tusks would gut a man in a single jerk. Fortunately, the beast was obviously shortsighted. It paused. Sniffed and then pawed earth.
“Don’t be idiots!” yelled Liz, now trying to help the frantically hobbling Jerry. “Climb a tree!”
The boar decided on McKenna. A toothpick would have had more effect than the spear. It was ripped out of his hands. Only luck and fast reflexes saved his life. Cruz’s attempt to throw his makeshift spear was not successful either. It stuck, briefly, in the flank of the boar before the pig turned again. Cruz pulled McKenna to his feet and they ran. Behind them the boar nosed the air, foam on its muzzle.
Cruz, moving like a quarterback on the charge, grabbed Jerry and continued to run. McKenna tried to do the same with Liz. She fended him off, nearly sending him to ground in front of the snorting piggy from hell.
Somehow, they scrambled up the oak tree just in time.
* * *
“You know,” said Cruz, from the branch where he sat looking down at the boar, “you were right, Ms. South Africa. There is plenty of game here.” The monster pig was rooting angrily around the dropped jackets, spears and M16s, but had as yet not found Lamont’s precious boombox, thrust in a fork of the tree a few yards up.
Jerry felt his ankle. It had not enjoyed the walk up to here, and it had enjoyed the last run even less. “Yeah. Only trouble is that no one explained to the ‘game’ that we aren’t the ‘game.’ ”
Smoke was almost curling out of Liz’s ears. She was nearly incandescently angry. “Listen to me, you two. You. Sergeant. And especially you, Corporal. If I say run, I mean fucking run.”
“Sorry, sir,” growled McKenna. “We make our own decisions.” He inspected the slashed fabric of his trousers. The tusk had been that sharp and that close.
Her voice would have cut glass. “Listen, Corporal. I was dealing with meathead he-man parabats—those are our paratroopers—when you were still sitting on your mummy’s knee. Get this straight. You’re a soldier in the service of your country. Your job is to protect its interests and its citizens. And to do that, shit-for-brains, you have to stay alive. Wasting your life stupidly is not going to help anyone. We need you to keep Jerry and . . . and Lamont and even keep me alive.”
She shook her head angrily. “I grew up on a farm adjoining one of the largest wildlife reserves in Africa. I don’t think I’m the great African hunter, but I know a fuck of a lot more about it than you could have learned on a couple of weeks’ worth of survival course. I am not inclined to panic. I’m not going to tell you to do something just for fun. I’m not going to tell you how to fight men. That’s your call. You say ‘jump’ then, and we’ll jump. But when it comes down to dealing with wildlife or ships you’re nothing but a goddamn boot. And I don’t care how many ‘training’ sessions they sent you on. They were still training. This, just in case you hadn’t noticed, isn’t. We’ve got to work together or we’ll all die.”