What follows is a preview of the prologue of my new story "Extinct!" (working title). I hope you enjoy it!

The eagles soar, gliding easily through the air in ever decreasing circles,

Like the ripples on the surface of a pond after a pebble’s been thrown.

The summer sun paints hazy, wavy lines on the rim of the horizon.

The eagles close in on their prey. My inadequate human eyes fail to spot any movement, except my own. But the huge birds do and they swoop, faster than my eye can follow they rise again with the prey held securely in razor sharp talons.

From the branches of an ancient sycomore fig tree, a leopard follows the eagles flight as he lounges lazily on a comfy branch, his belly rising and falling rhythmically as he pants to keep himself cool. At his side, the carcass of a fresh kill waits his ministrations.

Very little stirs in the heat. The long grass, so verdant a short time ago, is now the golden yellow of ripe wheat.

In the distance low thunderheads, the colour of battleship grey, levitate slowly in our direction, ready to disgorge their stormy payload.

Nothing else disturbs this long and lazy African afternoon.

My thoughts return suddenly to the instructions Yetunde gave me as he cradled Lisa‘s head in his arms: ‘keep the sun on your right until you reach the path, follow the path with the sun at your back and the village is about twenty kilometres further on.’

I’ve been gone for nearly three hours and still no sign of the path. If I don’t reach the village before night fall they’re as good as dead.

I reach for my water bottle to take another swig. In this heat the water tastes brackish and has a metallic after taste, but it’s the only thing keeping me going.