The silence returned to the savanna, but it was no longer the silence of the hunt—it was the crushing silence of total defeat. Elias rolled onto his side, struggling to get his footing. His ribs ached with every movement, and his wrists were raw from the bindings.
He stared at the horizon where the truck had disappeared. Was it the drone? he wondered. Did it see them drop him off? Did it track the truck, or were they heading into a blind spot? His mind raced through every possible outcome, but all he heard was the sound of his own ragged, desperate breathing. He felt the cold of the evening setting in, a stark reminder that he was vulnerable.
He had been so confident, so sure of his ability to stall them, but he had underestimated their cruelty. Every second that ticked by felt like another nail in the calf’s coffin, and the weight of his failure was nearly impossible to bear.