GATHERING MATERIALS

The silence was killing me and it even made my head hurt. The quietness was not the tranquil type you would love but rather the kind that you witnessed at a time of reflection or realization of a huge problem.

I sat on a beanbag with my hands clamped together and supporting my chin as I looked at Eva and Danny. They were really stunned to hear the news, our reason why we felt we had to run.

Eva was definitely freaked out more than Danny, or maybe he was just being strong for her as she held on to his hand tightly with her face blank and her eyes wide open.

She looked more like a reflection of Casper while Danny just sat still and looked down to the floor for answers.

My best guess of what was going on in their head was;

"how did we get mixed up with all of this?"

"how did Mr Monroe even get us hooked up with poachers?"

"when did these guys plan to use us for their illicit affairs?"

Even if I didn't know what they were thinking about for sure, I knew that they were definitely scrambled and it wasn't their fault.

"so, you are telling me..." Eva started as she struggled to get back her composure.

"that right now, we are in the middle of nowhere but also in the care of some fucking poachers"

"that …..would seem to be.... correct" I said as I got up. All this time, jayjay was just looking through the window of the cabin at the party outside. A look of pity engraved on her face.

"look we don't know for sure, but we need to get the heck out of here" I said as calmly as I could just staring at jayjay even though I intended that message for Eva.

She wiped her tears and straightened up her body and personality.

"does Mr Monroe know?" Danny asked as he finally looked up at me.

"no he doesn't" I replied

"or at least I am not sure, for all we know Mr Monroe might be an accomplice with them" my hand pointed at the door.

"then we have to find a way and time to run away from here" jayjay said. Her gaze was still fixed on the window as though she was keeping watch.

" I agree with her" Danny said nodding.

"but one question though. How do we move over almost a hundred student without being suspected"

That was a fair question and one that I had no idea how to answer. It would have been a much easy task if it were just the four of us but then, we have to move all the students.

"we might have to tell them what's going on" Eva said still sniffling once in a while. I really didn't enjoy seeing her in this state.

" WE CAN'T" jayjay replied as she finally left the window and turned towards us.

" why not?" Eva challenged. Her voice was more of a surprised voice

"let's say we did..." jayjay said as she sat on the beanbag that I had vacated.

"...we will always have those who do not enjoy the idea of running, those who would make a fuss about it and cause us to waste time, those who would breakdown and start crying probably drawing the attention of the poachers, those who would agree but would end up slowing us down along the way, those who would either turn back after we have started or those who would turn us in to them eventually if they get tired."

This actually required a lot of thought. I had never thought that far before. They would always be those who would make a fuss out of the whole matter if they were to get the full scope of the problem we had at hand.

The likes of Wendy would be a brilliant example of those who would slow us down and that would be bad for us.

"we need to think and to plan carefully."I said now realizing the gravity of the matter at hand.

"i think I have an idea" Eva said. Just the words I was itching to hear.

"what of if we only told like a few people so that they can grab supplies that would be sufficient for the trip and then..."

"it wont work" Danny said as he stood up sharply, he seemed even more confused that the rest of us.

" what makes you think that those knuckle-heads would listen to us in the first place." he pointed out

"we have no way to ensure that they listen and who else do we know is working with the venators"

If this were a chess game, these guys already had our king at a corner and backed against the ropes, they were just waiting for the chance to check mate us.

"i still believe our best bet is to find and inform Mr Monroe." I guess that was actually the best thing we could do at that moment.

"alright lets go out there and find him" I said as I tapped his back and marched to wards the door

" I'm coming with you" jayjay said as she walked towards the entrance as well.

" no"

"what? why?" she asked

"i want you to stay here with Eva and you guys are going to do something for me"

"okay?!"

"get me a map of Botswana and a pair of compasses , then back our backpacks in prep for our escape" I said as I held her shoulders softly between my palms.

She looked up at me and just kept quiet for a moment, disapproval written all over her face.

"can you please do that for me?"

She nodded her head quietly and finally restrained from going out. I kissed her forehead softly and then headed for the door where Danny stood waiting for me.

We opened the door and were hit by the loud sound of music coming from the party. The DJ had resumed his regular fast paced music and was unrelenting.

"lord, please help me to find this man fast and to save everyone tonight" I prayed within myself before looking at Danny. We closed the door of the cabin and went into the crowd in search of our principal.

Exhaustion, fatigue or tiredness, call it whatever you want to call it but I know for sure that this what what I was feeling.

We had searched all night for Mr Monroe and we had no luck in finding him. We rested at the fruit punch stand and eventually took a glass each from the woman that was serving.

"this is yielding no fruit" Danny said before taking his drink in one gulp.

"don't you think we should call it a night?" he asked as we finally walked away from the the stand

"nope, not yet" I said

"we actually need him for the plan I have in mind to work"

"so what is this master plan that you have in mind by the way" Danny asked as we maneuvered through the crowd.

The party had come to an end and the students were finally retiring to their chambers and for good reasons too. They were definitely jaded from all the dancing that they had done that night.

I was pretty exhausted myself and I'm sure that the rest of the gang was too but I couldn't stop searching for Mr Monroe. He was a very vital cog in the plan that I was making up in my mind.

"hello....I'm talking to you" Danny said waving his hand in my face

I must have drifted too far in thought and forgotten to answer his question.

"oh sorry....what did you say" I asked.

"whats the plan, genius?"

"oh that, the plan isn't actually that simple" I explained

"hold on" Danny interrupted

"what?"

"i think I found him" Danny said as he looked right over my shoulder

I turned around and I saw Mr Monroe sitting on a chair with his hands clamped and his body in a position similar to the one I was in sometime ago.

We looked at each other and then we approached the man slowly and cautiously. We weren't entirely sure of what could get someone like him to sit straight for this long.

Mr Monroe looked up at us from afar, a look of awe on his face.

"Mr Monroe, are you okay?" Danny asked with concern in his voice. I could tell that he was concerned but his body language did little to hide the fact that he was battle ready if the need be.

"wow" Mr Monroe said in a low tone

"they are good"

"who are?" I asked him as we finally reached arm's length of him.

"i finally get why you were asking me what the word "VENATORS" stood for"

"these guys ARE THE VENATORS and I never knew it" it seemed like the realization came as a rude shock to him. He was still speaking on a low tone.

"sir" Danny said as he slowly sat down beside him

"we know that the situation is dire, but we have a plan and we will need your help to carry it out" Danny said in a reassuring voice

Mr Monroe turned and looked at him slowly and looked down again. He took in one long breath and finally got to his feet.

"what's the plan?" he asked