The Bone Snatcher Page #2

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- Now what?

Are you gonna tell me he ran

30 or 40 kliks then died,

then got eaten clean,

all in about nine hours?

- I'm not telling you anything.

- Maybe you're confused.

Maybe you just think these are footprints.

- Please, please.

It's impossible.

It's the wrong body, guys.

Harvey's back there somewhere.

- Didn't Harvey Slater

have a motorbike crash

a couple of years back?

- Yeah.

- Stuffed up his leg real bad?

- He had a limp.

(screaming)

He had a plate.

- How are you doing, Harvey?

- This cannot be Harvey f***ing Slater!

This is a dead end.

We have to retrace our steps.

- The guys at base just said

we've gotta stop playing detective.

We've got to get this fuel up to C camp.

- There's a killer out there, Magda.

If we move up north now,

we will never catch him.

- It's not our call, Karl.

- Well, you do what you want.

I'm going after him.

- You're going nowhere,

it'll be dark in an hour.

We're here for the night.

(ominous music)

- There's a site

call-out for a systems analyst.

You're it, Zack.

- I don't do fieldwork.

- I like the outfit, by the way.

It's natty.

Michaela, but everybody calls me Mikki.

- I don't understand.

When we started, there were two feet.

But now there's four here.

- Tokolosh.

- A religious thing?

- Not my religion.

It's just a warning.

It's just a warning.

- Woo!

(laughs)

(screams)

So cool.

- Hey, surfer boy!

- You almost gave me a heart attack.

Did you see me out there?

You should try that.

- Maybe some other time.

Like in the morning.

Oh, sh*t, I'm keeping everyone up!

- Well, you and Charlie.

Damn thing's been beeping all night.

- Yeah.

It still needs some work.

It's freezing!

- That's the desert for you.

Too hot during the day and...

Well, it's too cold at night.

Relax, townie.

Body warmth.

Stay close, stay warm.

First rule of survival out here.

- I think I could learn to like this

body warmth kind of thing.

In some countries we'd be

considered engaged by now.

- God.

People still get engaged?

Round here, we don't get much

beyond the screwing stage.

- I...

- Relax.

(calm music)

- Are you and Karl...

- We had a brief thing.

- Past tense, huh?

- And you?

- My work keeps me pretty busy.

I design extreme survival systems.

- Would you two shut up out there?

- I'm gonna head back in.

I think I'll stay out here for a while.

- Okay, well, don't freeze, all right?

(scuttling sound)

(growling)

(beeping)

(ominous music)

(screaming)

- Wake up!

Wake up, people!

There's something out there!

- What?

- Karl, I'm serious, man.

- There is something out there.

- Oh, come on!

We're in the middle of the desert, man.

Whatever it is you're smoking

or drinking, either stop it

or share it out, all right?

- Look, I'm not kidding.

It was as big as a goddamn grizzly bear!

- This is Africa.

There are no bears!

- I know that, Karl!

It wasn't a tiger or a

rhino or a gorilla either.

- What's your problem, then?

- My problem is that Bigfoot

nearly cashed my check!

That's my f***in' problem!

What?

Oh, great.

Sleep it off.

What are we supposed to do?

- The bones are gone.

- What are you talking about?

(ominous music)

Okay, what's the game?

You'd better tell me right now.

- You think this is a game?

- What did you do with the bones?

- You listen to me, pal.

There is some very weird

sh*t going on out here.

What I just saw,

you think it's impossible?

But I just f***ing saw it.

- You explain that, then.

- I'm a scientist.

I find facts, I collect data,

and I derive conclusions.

- So, start f***ing deriving!

What's going on?

- I have no idea, yet.

- That's great.

So much for science.

- It's a Tokolosh.

- What is that?

Tokolosh?

- You know sometimes

bad sh*t just happens?

Here it doesn't just happen.

A Tokolosh does it.

You walk into a door,

a Tokolosh caused it.

You bang your thumb

with a hammer, Tokolosh!

A f***ing asteroid wipes

out the planet, Tokolosh.

- Karl, you are starting to piss me off.

- It's bullshit, Titus.

With a capital bull!

- Have you ever heard of Esikhulu?

- What's that?

- The Sandmother.

She was the first.

And she will be the last.

She takes what belongs to her.

The animals.

The people.

And she drinks the life from their bones.

And this way she lives forever.

Brother fights against brother.

Father turns against son.

(swears in foreign language)

She breaks people apart.

- Come on, people.

Let's move it out.

- Over here.

Guys.

Got it.

Footprints go up the side of the dune.

- Karl?

Karl?

- What?

- Over here.

- Now we go and catch this son of a b*tch.

Let's go!

Come on, Magda, we're moving.

- 20 minutes then we can go.

- Now!

- It's dark, Karl.

- So bloody what?

- How are you gonna follow

footsteps in the dark?

With your torch?

- Jesus, Magda!

We're trying to catch a multiple murderer.

Give us a break, man!

- This isn't my call, Karl.

And when we can see what

we're following, then we go.

Until then, this baby stays put.

Do you want to radio it in?

Does anybody want to radio in

and tell the folks back home

how we've got it all under control?

(ominous music)

(truck engine revving)

- Just over the dune.

Magda, kill the engine.

Come on.

Mikki?

Titus.

- There!

Son of a...

What the f*** is that?

- We've got him.

(ominous music)

Give me that.

(machine beeping)

(music intensifies)

(gun firing)

- D'you hit him?

- Yeah.

- What happened?

I heard a gunshot.

- Nothing.

- Just a pile of bones.

Harvey.

- It's the same bones.

- What happened, Karl?

- I don't f***ing know, Titus, all right?

(engine revving)

- You catch him?

- What the hell is this place?

- Are you okay?

- Yeah.

Fine.

You?

- No, I'm not okay.

I'm about as far away

from okay as possible.

- Stop bloody whining.

- This is way beyond

my frame of reference.

- You should speak to ol' Titus, then.

To him it's all meat and potatoes.

- I'm warning you, man.

Don't push me.

- It can't have gone far.

- Get this bloody heap going.

Check the ammo.

- You know what it is, don't you?

- When I was a young man,

one of our shepherd boys wandered off.

And a few hours later, his skull was found

picked clean.

Bones that walk and flesh that disappears.

You call it whatever you want.

We call it Esikhulu.

- Come on, Magda.

Let's move.

He's running again.

- Everyone out!

- Clear!

(electricity buzzing)

- What was that all about?

Kurt, fix this crap!

- Well, the battery's okay.

But half the insulation's

gone from the wiring.

The whole bloody thing is shorting out.

- So, can you fix it?

- Give me a week and a

full workshop, no problem.

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