13
“Malik? What is it?”
“Itlooks like a warthog.” Malik didn’t sound afraid, but she heard aclickas he checked his pistol. He wasn’t taking chances.
Kristi leaned forward and looked out the driver’s side door, but it was so dark she couldn’t see anything. “Be careful. They can be aggressive.”
A sleepy grunt.
“Hey, dude. Don’t make me turn you into bacon, okay? I’m just going to get back into the vehicle and drive away.” Malik backed into the driver’s seat, both hands gripping his pistol. “Good warthog.”
He pivoted into his seat, closed the door, and let out a breath, grinning, goggles covering his eyes. “Good thing it wasn’t a lion.”
“I’ve only seen warthogs from a distance.” She’d always thought the mothers looked cute, running through the grass with their tails sticking straight up, babies scrambling after them. “Now that we’re on the outskirts of a game preserve, we need to watch for animals, too. I don’t think there are any big cats here, though.”
She took Malik’s phone, googled. “I stand corrected. Lions. A small population of leopards. Hippos. Elephants. Remind me not to need to pee.”
He chuckled. “Just stay close to the vehicle. I’ll cover you.”
He locked the doors, started the engine, then removed his helmet and the goggles, which seemed to be fastened together.
“You look like a cyborg when you wear those.”
He handed them to her, a grin on his face. “Try them out if you want. Just don’t drop them. They cost about thirty grand.”
“Wow.” She took the helmet, settled it on her head. “It’s so heavy. I think my head is too small. It wobbles.”
Malik reached over, tightened the strap beneath her chin. “How’s that?”
“Better.”
He flipped the goggles down and turned them on.
She laughed, a new world before her eyes. “You’re green. Everything is green.”
“Why don’t you keep a watch on the sides of the road? If you see anything moving, let me know. Hitting an elephant would bring our escape to a sudden and dramatic end.”
“Got it.” Kristi found she needed to move her head back and forth, her vision limited to a circle right in front of the goggles. “This is so strange—and a little creepy.”
Malik drove slowly over rutted roads, Kristi looking out at a world that would otherwise be hidden to her. As the miles crept by, they talked about everything and nothing. What it was like to be the youngest in the family. Past girlfriends and boyfriends. Their favorite holidays growing up.
“I loved Christmas,” Malik said. “Waking up early in the morning, sneaking out to the Christmas tree, knowing I couldn’t touch anything until my parents woke up. It was magical.”
“We celebratedsomany holidays. My mom was raised Presbyterian, but my father’s influences were Buddhist and cultural more than religious. So, we celebrated Easter, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, but we also celebrated Chinese New Year, Ancestors’ Day, Dragon Boat Festival, and Mid-Autumn—”
A green shape moved among the trees.
“Stop!”
Malik hit the brakes. “What do you see?”
Kristi pointed. “There’s something big moving toward the… Oh, my God! Look!”
A male lion stepped out of the trees.
She flipped up the goggles to see him clearly. Huge and tawny-colored with a dark mane, he stopped to sniff and bite at a bush. Then he sprayed.
“He’s marking his territory, leaving his scent. There must be a female around.”