Toby turned on his heels and filled up his water bottle before stomping into the cold night.
Dominic sighed in exasperation. And yet, something bothered him. So he pulled on his coat
and pursued his assistant into the dark.
In the distance, he could see Toby’s head torch. It wasn’t moving. He must have found
something. Dominic quickened his pace. When he finally caught up with Toby, he found him quietly
observing a living specimen making a nest. Dominic smiled to himself. So much for the evidence!
Dominic opened his mouth to whisper something cutting when suddenly the ground shook
and both men were flung backwards. A warm glowing ring of sand began to surround the snake
that seemed to be frozen with fear. The sand ring started to rotate then rose vertically like a huge
fountain that reached towards the stars taking the snake with it. Then the hot whistling stopped
and the sand rained down on the men along with a completely clean snake skeleton.
There was a long silence. Both men crouched in the sand, not daring to move. Toby was the
first to shake the sand off his body and peek between his arms, with his heart still pounding in
his chest. After a few moments, he glanced across at his boss who was gaping open-mouthed at
the skeleton. Toby decided to break the silence.
“I think we just found our top predator.”
There was another long silence.
“I think we should keep this between ourselves for the time being,” Dominic muttered, “I don’t
think the world is ready for this subterranean predator quite yet.”
“Yes, I think we should go now,” agreed Toby, collecting the snake skeleton into his bag.
“Toby,” said Dominic slowly, “I’m sorry, especially about distrusting you.” This was a hard
thing for Dominic to say and Toby nodded understandingly.
As the two scientists returned to their camp, the sun rose in the east, casting long shadows
over the dunes and their mysterious secrets beneath.
