Chapter 10 Lost

28th of July

As we set off this day the mood that hung over our party (now consisting of Taylor, The Colonel, two Askaris & three Bearers & myself) was very grim, if this day is to bring my death then I will welcome it.

The Colonel is now leading the way & while he is very confident that we'll find away through I'm less sure, Taylor seem to have falling into a black pit of despair blaming himself for all that has happened, as we trod along the words of Akmid Khan repeat themselves over & over again in my head, Africa is a very dangerous place.

The Colonel did manage to hunt some food today so at least we'll all eat, but I do so out of necessity more then anything else.

29th of July
More of those frightful drums in the night, our situation has still not changed & we're still lost, Taylor's mood has lifted a little & he tries to offer me words of comfort, but while it pleases me to see an improvement in his spirits I can find little comfort in his words.

Again The Colonel was successful in hunting more food & tells me he is 100% sure we shall leave the mountains in the morn.

31st of July
True to his word The Colonel has lead us out of these God forsaking mountains & the mood of the whole party has lifted, but it was not to be-lifted for long as once more we came under attack.

This time they came upon us silently & the first we knew of it was when two of our Bearers fell.

Again we split trying to get them in a cross-fire, but to your dismay they also split attacking both groups.

Our first volley of fire seen a Askaris cut one of them down.

Just as they reach my group another one went down under your fire,

but then they were on us forcing us to fight them at close quarters.

The on-sloth was brutal &

an Askaris lost his life leaving the Colonel to stand alone..

Over confident one of the assailants turn for our group; leaving two of his chumps to fight The Colonel

 This was to prove their undoing, as The Colonel cut down one,

while the Askaris with us did for the one as he rush toward us,

thankfully this was enough to make them turn & flee.
After the burial for our comrade's we headed on till we came to the banks of a river where we set up camp for the night, while The Colonel went to hunt returning with a couple of rabbits, we bed down once again at the end of a day that has seen yet more bloodshed & lost of life.

30th of July
We wake to see the land covered in a heavy fog that covered the ground about us in a blanket of white & persisted to last most of the day, late into the afternoon the last of the fog cleared but as it was so late in the day we stayed put, our hunt for food was unsuccessful.

31st of July
Alas once again our numbers are depleted with the passing of our last remain Askaris in the night & one of our Bearers missing, once more we buried another member of our party before heading off in a Northerly direction, we now number just four.

1st of August
My hopes that a change in months would bring a change in our fortune were soon dashed, we came under attack once more but this time not by natives but by a group lead by the heartless Akmid Khan, who must have been trailing us waiting for his moment to strike.

We ran for cover as they peppered us with shots,

on reaching cover we turned to face them as they advanced towards us.

Unbeknownst to us there was a Leopard in the undergrowth,

quick as lightning he was on our Bearer, out gunned & with the Leopard close at hand we made to run.

It was then that The Colonel lost his life, shot in the back by the cowards who we turned to face, I can still hear Khan's voice now as he called out" Send over Miss Feeney, Taylor & I'll have one of my men lead you to safety.
"Never" came Taylor's reply" I intend to see you hang for the murder of Colonel Fairweather"
Khan"Come now Taylor, we both know that with no one to guide you that you'll will both die out here"
Whispering Taylor" Run Connie I'll put a shoot at then before following"
"No" was my reply
Taylor"Connie please now it's the only hope we have to escape"

As I turned & ran Taylor let off one last shoot before following me, we soon disappeared into the welcoming arms of the jungle, running as fast as we could.

Lost & alone & with no food we lay down that night with nothing but the jungle for cover.

3rd of August
With little hope we press on still heading North, but weary from lack of food our progress is slow.
If these are to be my last days on earth I couldn't think of anyone I want to be with more then Taylor, at some time in the afternoon we came across 3 Bearers & though unable to communicate with them beyond a few simple signs it gives us hope that they might know which way to go.

4th of August
We are heading yet into another mountain range I can only hope that we can make our way through easier then the last ones, there was once again more drums in the night & one of the three Bearers that joined us is gone.With out food we have not the strength to travel more then a few hours a day.

5th of August
Entry by Taylor Davies
I make this entry in the hope that someone will find it.
I can not but feel myself to blame for all that has befalling us, if only I'd been stronger & refused to let my beloved Connie come along, but alas I could never refuse her.
We awoke to find that one of the Bearers was dead, it seems lack of food & fatigue had done for the poor follow,  after covering up his body as best we could  pushed on, how far we have traveled or how close we are to the Way-station I've no way of knowing, I know only that I cling to this book as I cling to the last of my life.

We'd not gone far when once more we were attacked, to weak to run both Connie & myself turned to face our attackers While the Bearer took off at what could only be called a slow trot.

All to quickly they closed the ground & were on us.

In no fit state to fight we were overwhelm in no time, a spear stabbing though both my side  & left leg be-felled me.

With me lying on the ground & unable to put up anymore resistance & the Bearer having fled the savages gadder around Connie, but they seemed not to want to harm her, but instead started grabbing at her (it is at this point Connie dropped her diary) & then  bound her hands

before taking off with her.

My dying hope is that my remains are found along with this dairy before to long & that Connie can be saved from a faith that I dare not imaging.

                                                                     THE END

Cut
Designer's note, For theses last three chapters instead of me just telling the tale I played out an adventure in Jimland & have to say it took the story in a direction I don't think I could ever had imagined, but one thing I decided way back dear readers was that if I play out a game I tell the tale on how the dice fall regardless of the outcome, I might change some of the facts of what happen to try to improve the story, someone dying of hunger after one day is not very realistic.

So after a prelude & ten chapters the story comes to an end, I'll finish by saying this is the first time I've ever done a story like this & have really enjoyed doing so & hope that those of you who have read it enjoyed it.

As always my thanks for dropping in & if you'd care to be a film critic your comments would be welcomed :)