A Crocodile's Journey

Chapter 18

"The problem is I can't find where the hole is in mine." Makuu lamented. "Even if I did, I don't know how that hole makes this thing work."

"The two-legs insert a sort of stick in it and turn it." Kalere explained. "I've seen them do it a few times."

"You could have shared that little bit of info, you know!" Umoja growled at her.

The drongo defended herself. "I didn't know it also applied to those black collar things!"

Makuu rolled his eyes at the argument, and noticed Umoja's cage had a padlock keeping it shut. "Umoja, you have a padlock in your cage. Think your claw could fit in there?"

Umoja turned around in the little space, stretched his paw out of the cage and fit his claw in the tiny hole. "I think it does."

"See if you can manage to open it!"

As Umoja started turning his claw inside the padlock, the other animals (excluding Kiburi, who wasn't interested in the least) leaned in their heads and those that had ears prickled them in anticipation. Umoja winced, trying his best not to force his claw too much and risk breaking it.

After a few more endless seconds of struggling with the padlock, it clicked, and unlocked.

"It worked!" Umoja cried out in ecstasy, followed by the others.

"What are you waiting for?"Jafari said, stomping his hooves. "Get out of there and let us out!"

"Wait, not yet!" Makuu growled gently. "It's still daytime, the two-legs are still active at this time."

"Are you kidding? The sooner we get out of here, the better!" Usian stated.

"No, he's right." Julisha said with a snort. "If they come in and see us free, they'll lock us again, or worse. They don't come in here at night at all, so it'll be better to wait."

"I agree." Nurisha and Kalere said.

"They never make sure those things are properly locked, anyway, so I doubt they'll notice." Umoja stated.

Makuu thought he saw Kiburi moving his head slightly to glance at the cheetah's cage with the faintest bit of interest, but soon he went back to his self-pity.

XXXXX

Saying goodbye to Jiji was perhaps one of the saddest moments in his life. He would never forget the cat, and hoped they'd see each other again someday, even though it wasn't likely. He'd also miss Jiji's human if only slightly, it was thanks to her that his wing healed, and he developed his wing muscles properly.

After saying his goodbyes, Kitwana asked Zumberi to take him to that building he saw, and the older ibis carried him through the clear skies and towards the area he last saw the place. It was the first time Kitwana saw how it felt to fly, and something inside him awakened, but he had no time to get lost in the ecstasy. He needed to concentrate.

After what felt like hours of flying, they came to a part of the land where green ended, and turned into some badlands that died into a seemingly endless desert.

In the middle of those badlands, Kitwana spotted a structure similar to the one he had been kept in, except this one was in a state of ruin, the walls were a sickly gray green splattered with red (he hoped it wasn't what he thought it was), and aside of this structure was yet another one, even larger.

"Could you land there?" he said, pointing to the larger building.

"Aye." Zumberi said, and started to descend, making sure there were no evil humans around. He landed in the shade of the run-down building, placing Kitwana down gently. "I'm afraid this is as far as I go, my friend." He said, apologizing.