and feet wide apart like a spider, I made ready for the sweep. With every metre he edged closer I could feel my muscles tightening, extra energy being sucked out ofstorage.Asweep.Hetumbled headlongdownthe dune and I close behind. As he stood up out of the sand he aimed a rounded kick towards my head. I ducked and sent the ball of my foot into his ribs. With a crack he stumbled backwards pulling himselfupright again.This was no man;this was a monster! As he came closer he jumped into the air, swivelled around and sent the flat ofhis feet onto my cheek bone. While my naked body trudged wearily backward through the sand and blood gushed from my face,I opened my eyesjustin time to see his rightfootlanding in mystom ach.Lying on the ground I waited for him tocomecloser and aimed for his groin,an easy target on a naked body. As he swayed in the air, trying to keep his balance I landed a last kick in his face. With a cry of agony he landed on the sand, his head dislocated from his verte brae,a severed spinal cord protruding from his neck. There was little time left, someone would have heard his scream. I took his body and carried it to the sea. I threw his body into the ocean, which devoured it with its white,foamy teeth. By the time I arrived at the meeting point agent'X'was nowhere to be seen. I crouched behind a bush and al lowed the parasite thorns to devour my body,exposing blood. In the little light there was I could see a human silhouette emerge from along the road.A turkey gobble andIknew I was safe.Slowly Iemergedfrom the bushes like an angel rising up from a tomb. Withoutcommuni cating Ilaid handsonfurtherinstructions,clothes,a deto nator and a gas mask. I followed the road wearily for the next five miles be fore turning offto follow the river bed.After a ten mile clamber overrocky terrain and a trudge through the rag ing riverI hauled my body over a cliffand started climb ing down,myfingersfeeling for cracks and ledges while my legs gripped onto the firm, smooth film of rock. Stuck.Alarge ledge was overhanging the bottom ofthe cliff and the only way down was to jump. With careful precision Ijumped,aiming for whatseemed a deep pool ofwater underneath the waterfall.Ilanded in the cavern of water next to the roaring waterfall and after calming myself creeped slowly up a pathway towards my final destination. When I arrived at the laboratory I put on my gas mask and climbed up a tree, my fingers stained by the resin ous bark.Isprayed the nitrate gas and watched the drunk guards stumble and stagger across the grass. Just at that moment one of them fell on the alarm button and the laboratory wasfilled with flashing lights.I used an over hanging branch tojump over the electric fence and fell onto the grass. As a panic of people ran outside the building I planted the detonator with five minutes to spare. Then I ran through the holocaust of figures towards the security gate. Ducking behind bushes I aimed my weapon at the guard and the poison dart hit him in the exposed flesh. As he staggered Iran towards the gate,pushed the open button and ranfrom the laboratory before it wasengulfed in a mushroom offire and smoke,spewing shrapnel on the floor around it. L GELDENHUYS,Form 4A Like a Sleepy blue ocean The buoyancy compensator seems lighttoday as I slip it onto my back. Maybe it's because of the fact that the water is so calm with the most gentle of swells effort lessly lifting and dropping the boat; or maybe it's be cause I know I am returning, returning to the place I love so much-the ocean floor.The calmness ofthe sea makes the task of putting on my fins as effortless as breathing.I waitfor the countdown. 1 ...2...3...go. I roll offthe boatand tumbleinto the azure warmth draw ing on my regulator for air; savouring that first breath underwater.As I let the air out ofmy B.C.and begin to sink I am awestruck by the conglomeration of colour about me;the fishes forming clouds ofdifferentcolours that make me feel I really am on cloud nine. As I near the bottom I let the air trickle back into my B.C. to obtain zero gravity and hover. The sea weeds waver back and forth, back and forth with the surge of the waves.Nextto them an anemone'stentaclestoosway with the surge. On my running my fingers through the tentacles they feel soft, with an ever so slight slimy feel ing included. Then out from the tentacles they appear; like centurions ofthe deep they advance to defend their ground.They attack butting their heads againstmy hand. The laughter seems to bubble out ofme as I watch these two tiny clownfish banging themselves into my hand.I withdraw my hand from the tentacls of the anemone and watch asthe clownfish proudly saunters its way back to its mate. I move to the overhangs ofcoral and while hovering on my back I play the beam ofmy torch across the ceiling. Like the Mexican wave,the cool polyps withdraw into their cavities when the light dances onto them.With the tips oftheir heads still showing the coraloverhang seems to turn into a Van Gogh original with the colours ofthe differentpolyps blending exactly toform a kaleidoscope of oranges,reds, yellow hues,blues and purples. AsI continue further under the overhang Irealize itfun nels into a coral chimney.Ienter and begin to rise up its centre.All around thefingers ofthe coralsseem to reach out to me. There are staghom, pipe, tree, brain, mush room and stone coral all deceptively coloured, and to the sight soft, yet to the touch, hard. As my head clears the tunnel my attention is stolen by a beast so royal and pristine. Her tail glides from left to right propelling her through the water. Her skin looks like a grey hide of sandpaper and it feels like it looks.Her teeth seem to all wantto run outofher mouth as they crowd the entrance to her menacingjaws.Hereyes,although evil and beadylooking,seem to have a hypnotic warm trance to them. As she swims through the water her gill slits gently rip ple under the pressure ofthe water.On approaching me she suddenly darts off,maybe because ofthe disturbance I am being to her, maybe because ofthe bubbles I pro duceon exhaling,but mostprobably because ofthe great threat ofdanger I pose to her. As I float my way to the surface I realize now more strongly than ever that nothing in the ocean is harmful. Maybe some are if provoked, but no fish would pur posely try to attack humans as we attack them. Once on the boat again a tiredness seems to engulf my limbs and body and my mind is filled with sleepy thoughts-thoughts that are like a sleepy blue ocean. M.MACHUTCHEN,Form 4K 48 Kearsney Chronicle 1994
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTc3MDU5Nw==