Page 11 of Soul on Fire
He reached for her hand and turned it over in his rubber-gloved palm. Her fingers were broken, twisted and swollen. Bruises dotted her face, and there was a ring of black and blue around her neck as if she’d been choked. Her voice rasped. Her lip was split, a scab oozing pus and bright blood. Her eyes were flame red, the color of coals beneath a roaring fire. Heat radiated from her, burning him even through his layers. “What happened to you?”
“The rebels,” she breathed. “They came and destroyed our village. They killed all of the men. Most of the children they took away. The women—” She swallowed. Lifted her chin and stared into his eyes.
“I’m so sorry.” He closed his hand around hers gently. “How did you escape? And how were you infected? Did it happen in the forest?”
“It was the rebels,” she hissed. Anger threaded her frail voice, and she squeezed his hand hard. “They infected me.”
“They’re infected too? The rebels are spreading Ebola?”
“No, not the fighters. They stay back. They shoot anyone who is infected. They are careful.”
“Then—”
“They took from the dead. They cut off hands and feet. Arms. I saw a head, too.” She gasped, sucking in a wet breath, and shuddered, closing her eyes against a wave of pain wracking her body.
Peter grabbed her hand. “You saw ahead? The rebels are cutting body parts off the infected dead?”
She nodded. “They collected everything and put it all in a bucket, and then gave it to othermzungus.”
Fire ripped through Peter’s soul, burned down his spine. “What?” he whispered.
“They had a trade,” she rasped. “The leader, he was getting something from themzungus. And they were taking the bucket. They made me open it to prove the sickness was in there.”
Peter squeezed her hand, leaned in close. “Who? Who took the bucket?”
“Othermzungus. I don’t know who.”
“White? Like me? What color?”Mzunguwas light skin, but that was anyone not African, not brown skinned.
“Darker than you!” she said, ripping her hand free. “You’re hurting me!”
He backed off, his hands up, palms to her. “I’m sorry,” he said, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to. You scared me, that’s all. Buckets of dead body parts, all infected…”
She nodded, swallowing. A tear leaked from her eyes and slid down her ebony skin. It left a watercolor paint smear of blood down her temple. Peter exhaled. “What else did you see?”
“They were arguing. I crawled away and hid in the forest. But themzunguswanted the rebels to do something for them in exchange for the bucket. And if they did, they would get an even bigger payment.”
“What kind of payment?”
“I don’t know. But whatever it was, they wanted it badly.”
“What did they ask the rebels to do?”
“I don’t know. I had crawled away by then. I had to escape. They were going to kill me!”
He ran his gloved hand over her hair, smoothing back her dark curls. She’d trekked through the forest on foot, escaping a rebel attack and a forced infection. His throat wouldn’t work right, couldn’t fight past how he’d clenched, gone tight inside and out. “What’s your name?”
“Antoinette,” she whispered.
“Antoinette, you are a hero.” She couldn’t see his smile, but he hoped she could feel it.
She must have, because she smiled back, a tiny bit. “Will you tell someone what I saw? Will you stop them?”
“I definitely will.” He pulled his camera into his lap and fumbled with the buttons. He changed folders and pulled up a different set of pictures from the digital card. The heavy rubber over gloves got in the way, and he messed up, had to start again. Screwed up again, opening the wrong subfolder. “Fuck it,” he grumbled.
Peter tugged off the rubber top gloves. Double layers of latex should work. He slid his eyes to Dr. Ngondu, still assessing a patient down the line and talking to one of his nurses. He had time.
Quickly, he moved through the photos, stills captured from motion cameras buried in the forest and wirelessly transmitting to a receiver outside Goma. There had been a thousand useless images, bats and birds and monkeys. But on one camera, for a moment, there had been a convoy. He pulled those photos up and turned the screen to her. “Do you recognize any of these men?”
