Chapter 14.
This is the fourteenth chapter. Hope you enjoy it. Please review.
Simba then dropped the stick and ran back into the woods, to the farmhouse. About two minutes later, he came out wearing a brown slouch hat, a water bottle held by a shoulder strap, a double-barrelled shotgun, bolt cutters, and a thin light brown cloak, for protection against the desert sun. He then went over to the stable and got ready his horse, walked it out of the stable, climbed into the saddle, placed the gun and bolt cutters each in a satchel and trotted the horse (meaning the horse is running) out of the woods. He rode onwards for several minutes, the sun rising to his right. He soon came to the edge of the Kalahari, and several minutes later, he caught up with a walking Nala, who wore her cloak and had the hood up, probably due to the sun. As he approached, her she stopped and turned around to face him, maybe from hearing the horse. Simba stopped the horse (by saying "Whoa") besides her, making her on his left. "Simba?" She asked, surprised/confused. "Come on up. What are you wait for? Let's go home!" Simba said, as he held his left hand down to Nala, his right hand holding the reins. Nala then grasped his hand with her right hand, and he pulled her up onto the back of the saddle. She then held onto his midsection with both arms and hands around his body, as Simba trotted the horse again. For pretty much the rest of the day, they rode across the desert, and as they came upon the familiar gorge, which brought back several memories to Simba, they rode up a steep but walkable slope to the top of the gorge. By now, the sun was going down. They rode towards the turn in the gorge and came upon a smooth rock pointing forwards, and the stopped in front of it. Simba dismounted, gave Nala the reins, and walked up to the top of the rock, and saw what have become of his home.
Simba took off his slouch hat with his right hand slowly, as he stared ahead. The Pridelands looked more like the droughtlands or the drylands now, and the capital, with its building in the distance, looked like the aftermath of something like a war, or even a nuclear accident; empty of people, cracked buildings, streets quiet. He now felt regret at not coming back sooner, but he was here now. "I didn't wanna believe you." Simba said, as Nala came up alongside him, to his left, having the horse to a dead tree. "So, what are you gonna do?" Nala asked, as she took her hood down. "My father one told me to protect everything the light touches. If I don't fight for it, then who will?" Simba answered. "I will." Nala said, taking a step closer to him. "It's going to be dangerous." Simba said back. "Danger? Ha! I laugh in the face of danger." Nala said, quoting Simba when he was a kid. Hearing that made him smile at her. They then heard the sounds of trotting, looked down and saw approaching rock was a horse and on it… was Zazu. When the oil ran dry, Zazu took up riding lessons to provide himself with a means of transportation, but compared to Simba and his friends, his riding was rather rubbish. "It can't be…" Zazu said, as he came up to them, his eyes wide with shock. "Hello, Zazu. Long time no see." Simba chuckled, and was very happy to see him. "Your Majesty. Welcome home." Zazu said, after dismounting his horse and bowed. Simba and Nala then heard the sound of trotting a third time, turned around, and saw Timon and Pumbaa on their horse coming up behind. They were both wearing darkish green slouch hats and sunglasses. "We're here!" Pumbaa declared as he stopped the horse besides Simba's horse, taking off his hat sunglasses. "All right, everyone, calm down. We're here." Timon said as he dismounted, and took off his hat and sunglasses. "The back up has arrived!" Pumbaa said from atop the horse, saluting with his right hand, his left hand holding the reins.
"What are you guys doing here?" Simba asked, stunned to see them here, offering to help him do this. Pumbaa dismounted as held the horse by the bridle. "Um... we weren't worried. No worries." Pumbaa said. "No, Hakuna Matata." Timon clarified. "We were concerned, because… you know, you're our friend, Simba. And friends look out one another. Help each other out." Pumbaa explained. "What about the meaningless line of indifference?" Simba asked, almost smirking, as his carefree friends were willing to face danger with him. "Well, we've been thinking, maybe it curves a little bit." Pumbaa answered. "Look, Simba, I'm happy to admit that maybe we were wrong. And we're Americans, and Americans don't abandon their friends, nor ignore a cause that's right." Timon said, Pumbaa nodding his head in agreement. Timon then walked in between Simba and Nala and looked at the land before him. "So… this is place we're fighting for?" Timon asked. "Yes, Timon. This is my home." Simba answered. "I like what they've done with place, though a bit heavy on the emptiness." Timon joked. "Zazu, these are my friends, Timon and Pumbaa." Simba said, looking at a confused Zazu. "Charming." Zazu replied. "Anyway, Simba, we are with you until the end." Zazu then added, starting at Simba. "At your service, my liege." Pumbaa said, before bowing on his feet again. "Pumbaa, you really don't have to do that." Simba said to him. Pumba then got back on his feet. He then looked at everyone with him, before untying and mounting his horse again. "Mount your horses and follow me." Simba order, and everyone present did as he wished.
The trio of horses with their riders mounted trotted into the empty, ruined city, heading straight for the palace, but as they came to a 3-way junction (T shaped) Simba had them all stop and dismount, the horses tied against a broken/rusty truck wreckage, and back against a wall of a building to the right. Simba and Timon jutted their heads out of the right corner side, seeing 5 Zulu warriors, each wearing green camouflage uniforms with a black army helmet, sitting around on the empty road, chatting or resting. Simba and Timon moved their heads back into the cover of the building side. "Soldiers in front of us." Timon whispered. "I hope it's a quick death. Ju-just not a lot of pain and shooting." Pumbaa whispered nervously. "The Armed Forces pretty much laze about in their barracks these days. Those will be Scar's private army. Their only armed with spears." Zazu corrected. "What's your plan to get us past the guards?" Timon asked Simba. "Live bait." Simba answered, turning his head to face Timon and Pumba. "Good plan. It would have to involve someone that looked like an easy kill." Pumbaa whispered, but Timon widened his eyes and his mouth gaped open. "Pumbaa, he means us!" Timon whispered, his head facing Pumbaa. Pumbaa then did a "you what?" face. "Please, guys. I need you to do it. We need you to." Simba pleaded. Timon and Pumbaa stared at him for a second, before looking at each other for a few more seconds, turned to Simba and both nodded.
A few seconds later, they were on their horse and rode quickly out into the street. The guards stopped what they we're doing when they heard Timon wolf whistling. "Bonjour, Madame's et messieurs. It is with deepest pride, and greatest pleasure, that we proudly present an offering… of blood." Timon said. The soldiers all stood up and started at them, picking up their Assegai's. "Be our… GUESTS!" Timon and Pumbaa then screamed as they trotted the horse down the opposite way of the junction (the left side), and the guards ran after them, but couldn't keep up with them one or two threw their Assegai's, but they missed the horse, and kept following them. Simba, Nala, and Zazu then got out of their hiding spots against the right-side buildings and got back on their horses and walked carefully to the palace. A few minutes later, they got the palace in their view, and dismounted their horses. Simba pulled his shotgun out of its satchel, and he then also pulled out the bolt cutters, and handed them to Nala (who'd taken off her cloak), who took them, though confused. "Nala, cut the telephone lines. I'll deal with Scar." Simba told her. Nala nodded and ran away from them to do our job. "Zazu, do you know where Scar is?" Simba then asked Zazu. "He spends most of his time in his office, which is the former balcony room." Zazu answered. "Good. You enter the palace after me, but keep out of sight." Simba ordered, Zazu nodded, before they both moved quietly towards the palace.
In his house, Rafiki opened a small cupboard and pulled out a long cylinder-shaped object that was wrapped in cloth, tied by a bit of string. He undid the string, unwrapped the cloth, and grasped the object with his right hand: A Lee Enfield bolt-action, magazine fed rifle, from WW2, with a bayonet and scabbard which he took out of the cupboard with his left hand. "Hello, old friend." He said to the rifle and bayonet/scabbard. He unsheathed the bayonet and placed it at the front of the barrel (sliding it a few millimetres from the tip of the barrel), the blade, old, but sharp. He was ready to join the fight.
And that's the fourteenth chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. Please review. The Lee Enfield Rifle was used a lot by the British Military in WW1 and WW2. I hope I got part right where he got the bayonet on. This will be the last chapter of 2020, since New Year's Eve is in forty-eight hours. So next time I'll be writing, it'll be 2021! What a year it's been! And I can only hope that things will be better next year! We'll just have to wait and see, as I always say. Like a character in "Back to the Future Part Three" said, "You'll never know what the future might bring." HAPPY NEW YEAR!