Saturday 4th April 2015 dawned brightly in Cristelee as the townsfolk went about their daily business, unaware that by sunset Cristelee would change and a chain of events would begin – a chain that would expand until it threatened the existence of not only the town, but planet Earth and the whole of the Universe too.
In Cristelee Safari Park, Sam and Holly Waterhouse squealed with laughter as they watched the monkeys running all over the cars and making off with anything that was loose. Both children were out to enjoy themselves, completely oblivious to the part that their family was about to play in sparking the aforementioned events into life.
“Aren’t they cute?” asked Holly. “Especially that little one. He’s trying to do what the others are doing, but he’s too small to carry anything.”
“I bet the family in the car in front don’t think they’re cute,” said Mr Waterhouse, “and neither will I if they climb all over my car and take bits off it!”
“Oh Dad, you are a spoilsport,” Holly complained. “I hope they do get on our car and then we can see them really close up.”
Mr and Mrs Waterhouse had taken their two children to the safari park for a special treat. The family didn’t go out much together these days as they didn’t have a lot of money. Mr Waterhouse had recently lost his job, so things had changed quite a bit financially. He had also lost the use of his new company car – however, he had managed to buy a much older, and well used, model with part of the money he had received when he left work. He needed a car so he could look for other jobs and besides, his family weren’t that keen on using buses.
He knew it would be hard to find work in the current climate. He was also aware that money would get even tighter with every day he was out of work. So when a friend offered him a free family ticket for a day out in the safari park, Mr Waterhouse had jumped at the chance – and now here they all were driving around the park and enjoying themselves as they looked at all of the animals that roamed wild. Well, as wild as was possible in the various enclosures that had been designed to try to replicate their natural habitat.
To be honest, Mr Waterhouse was quite worried by the monkey’s antics as he watched the thieving creatures taking bits from the vehicles in front. A roll of coiled electrical cable and a box of tools quickly disappeared from the back of an open pickup truck, taken away swiftly by four large primates.
Serves him right for leaving them in there when he’s driving through here, Mr Waterhouse thought, rather uncharitably.
As he continued to watch the monkeys, he saw wheel hubcaps, windscreen wipers and anything that could be prised loose, wrenched away from the car ahead. Mr Waterhouse sighed inwardly as his mind quickly began to imagine the damage the marauding beasts could feasibly inflict on his outdated vehicle. Gingerly he put the car into first gear as he inched forward in the queue, already dreading what might be about to unfold during the next few minutes.
“It’s hot in here,” said a voice alongside him as Mrs Waterhouse began her complaint. “At least we had air conditioning in your company car. We’ve got nothing in this one.”
“I’ll open the window, Mum,” said Sam helpfully, winding down the old-fashioned handle as he spoke.
“NO! Don’t do that, you’ll… ” Mr Waterhouse’s half-shouted warning tailed off rapidly as a monkey leapt onto his shoulder. Within seconds, the car was full of small furry creatures, climbing over seats and pulling at the steering wheel and dashboard.
“Close the window!” He yelled. Sam did as he was told, but it was far too late. Outside, monkeys were swarming all over the car, pulling at anything that looked as if it would come loose.
Inside the vehicle, there was panic as the humans tried to evade the leaping, scrambling and shrieking primates. Holly and her mother covered their faces and heads with their hands as they cowered down in their seats. Sam and Mr Waterhouse flailed their arms wildly in an effort to disperse the hopping, vaulting and clambering animals – who certainly weren’t averse to giving the odd bite if someone happened to get in the way. Most of them were now seemingly focused and fixated on the buttons and fittings on the dashboard facia.
“Shall I open the window to let them out, Dad?” asked Sam.
“No!” snapped his father. “You’ll let even more in. You should have had more sense than to open it in the first place.”
He thought for a moment then added, “Listen, I’m going to open the door in a minute and go outside. So when I give the word, I want you all to try and shove the monkeys towards the door while I try to stop the others from coming in.” Mr Waterhouse’s voice was cracked and shaky as he spoke. He stopped the car and opened the door, and soon found out that his idea was most definitely not among the best he’d ever had.
The quartet watched helplessly as the monkeys ran riot inside and outside of their car. The roof rack was removed, as was the radio aerial – one of the creatures had even managed to locate and somehow press the button that opened the car bonnet, which now rose into the air like a miniature suspension bridge.
Mr Waterhouse groaned and shook his head, quickly becoming animated as he grabbed at two monkeys that were trying to pull his car radio from its fittings in the dashboard cavity. The monkeys dodged his grasping hands and with a couple of twists and tugs succeeded in removing their desired and treasured object from its secure setting.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, two of the larger apes had somehow managed to disconnect the car battery and haul it from its cradle, along with a handful of wiring and one of the headlights. They were now hightailing it towards a small copse of trees on the far side of their enclosure, triumphantly dragging their booty behind them.
Mr Waterhouse, seeing the creatures depart with the most precious and essential parts for ensuring his vehicle’s mobility, was furious. He leapt from the car without warning and began to chase after the fleeing animals, yelling loudly for them to bring the vital components back.
With the car door now fully open and no other unsecured items left for them to take, the monkeys inside the vehicle seized the chance to escape and quickly followed their fellow simians in the direction of the trees, each one hauling their own bits of contraband as they scampered away.
Mr Waterhouse was still chasing the monkeys and by now was some way from the car. His wife called out to him, “Bob, Bob, come back! There are wild animals out there.”
As Mrs Waterhouse yelled at him, she realised that all of the other vehicles had gone from the compound. She and her children were now all alone in the open safari park and her husband was running around outside, where heaven only knows which creatures might be lurking in the undergrowth and wooded sectors.
Even as the thought struck her, she saw a movement from the corner of her eye. Focusing her full gaze on the area where she’d seen the motion, her heart sank as she caught sight of a large tawny beast complete with a huge mane of dark hair. It was a lion and it was heading straight for her husband!
Bob Waterhouse saw the lion at about the same time as his wife did. He stopped dead in his tracks, scared to breathe, as he surreptitiously surveyed the scene around him. The lion had slowed now, and it seemed to be circling and stalking him. Bob glanced back at the car, where he could see his spouse frantically waving at him. In his head, he was trying to calculate the distance between them and work out whether he could get back to the vehicle before the lion got to him.
Bob desperately searched his memory bank in an attempt to recall the wildlife programmes he had watched on TV, as he sought to remember how lions caught their prey. He knew that if he ran, then the beast would outrun him and would probably tear him from limb to limb. His mind suddenly threw up a picture from a programme he had seen recently in which a lion had been stalking a wildebeest. The large antelope had slowed to a walk unaware that it was on the big cat’s dinner menu. The lion had been very patient, flattening itself to the ground and inching slowly forward as it approached the ambling animal. It was only when the wildebeest realised that the lion was lining it up for dinner and panicked itself into a gallop that the jungle king sprang into action – chasing and quickly overhauling the fleeing gnu, before bringing it crashing to the ground and overpowering it.
Bob Waterhouse decided he would do the same as the wildebeest and stroll back towards the car. He would act in a nonchalant, casual manner as if he hadn’t seen the big cat, but he would hold an advantage as he did know it was there and he had a plan. He began walking very slowly to where his wife was gesticulating, all the time keeping a wary eye on the now crouching lion that was sidling stealthily along close to the ground about 70 metres behind him.
Pamela Waterhouse of course knew nothing of her husband’s plan. She was certain that he was going to be eaten. She was now screaming and waving wildly at Bob, who wasn’t sure if this was helpful or not. A part of him thought she might distract the lion with her behaviour, while another part firmly believed it could cause the beast to make an early move on him to prevent its prey from reaching safety.
A third thought briefly entered his head as he had a vision of the creature changing tack and heading for his wife instead, in which case not only her, but his children too, would be in danger. Bob quickly cleared his head of that idea and focused on his first line of thought.
Continuing to edge slowly forward, he glanced slyly over his shoulder at regular intervals. The lion was still behind him, crouching, creeping, shadowing and biding its time as it kept Bob within its sights and waited for the right moment to strike.
Bob fought the impulse to run. To do so before he got close enough to the car to give himself a sporting chance of beating the lion would mean certain death. He could feel his heart thumping away beneath his shirt. The noise was so loud he thought that the stalking feline must surely hear it too. A momentary frivolous thought entered his head in this darkest of moments. For a second or two, he imagined he was the ticking crocodile in a book he had read as a child and it was he who was doing the stalking. The thought made him smile briefly. But this was no time for levity and whimsy. He had to get to his car before the animal attacked.
Bob looked up again, only about 50 metres to go. He calculated that he could break into a run when he was down to the last 20 metres and hopefully he’d be inside the safety of the car before the great beast made its killer leap.
Stopping suddenly in his tracks, Bob looked towards his near hysterical wife and, while also keeping the lion closely in his vision, he spoke. His voice was loud, clear and as calm as he could make it in the circumstances.
“Pamela,” he said. “I’m going to make a run for the car in a few minutes time, so please get inside with the children. You need to get in the back seat with them and make sure all of the windows and doors are closed, but leave the driver’s door open. Do you hear me?”
“Yes,” Pamela yelled, “but be careful!”
She turned and ushered the children into the back seat before climbing in too. The three of them watched Bob from the window, peeping through the fingers of hands that were now covering faces – knuckles white, except for small patches of redness from where they had been bitten in anxiety – and eyes wide open with fear.
When he was about 20 metres from the car, Bob Waterhouse ran as if he were an Olympic sprinter. He dare not look behind him in case such an action slowed his speed, but he could hear the thudding of the great beast’s paws on the ground and the rushing sound made by its body as it cut through the long grass in the compound. From the nearness of the noise and clamour behind his thrusting body, Bob guessed the creature was almost upon him. It was as if it had heard and interpreted the words he had called out to his wife.
Bob thought that his chest was about to burst with the combination of the fear he felt and the colossal effort he had made to get to safety. Arriving at the car, he dived for the driver’s seat and scrambled to pull the door shut behind him. He glimpsed the lion in mid-leap as he did so, and despite tugging hard on the door handle, Bob feared he had left it too late. He felt the animal’s hot breath on his face, saw its massive jaws open wide with saliva dripping from them like juice from a squeezed lemon. Bob closed his eyes and waited for the huge teeth to sink into his soft, vulnerable and quivering flesh. Then he heard two dull thudding noises in swift succession followed by the sound of metal ricocheting off the roof of the car.