It was getting dark fast. Faster than she knew she could drive back to base camp.

“Oh! Why did I come out this far?” Stephanie chided herself quietly as she steadied her hands on the steering wheel, fighting back a panic attack, at the same time gently easing the 4x4 truck into fourth gear as she hit a smooth patch on the trail.

The wild landscape of the Chalbi desert in northern Kenya, untouched and barren, was raw in its beauty. Here, a few hundred kilometres inland from Lake Turkana, you get to experience and understand what it is to be alone.

Stephanie, busy tracking a rare desert ant, had lost herself in the silence of the wilderness. She had left the camp early that morning, following the rising sun and a trail of soil dug up by the ants, and now daylight was fading and a chill in the air announced the beginning of a cold desert night.

She wasn’t too sure, but she guessed she had an hour of driving, and in the dark at that, before reaching anywhere near civilisation.

“Well, at least I got what I came for,” she said to herself, a slight hint of pride in her voice. She settled in the driver’s seat and tried to reassure herself by carrying on a monologue in a murmur, when an unusual sound broke the silence of the desert.

It was like a low hum in the distance, punctuated from time to time by short louder bursts of sound. Without slowing down, she rolled down her window and cocked her head to hear better. It was coming from behind her. And, it was getting louder.

She looked up into the rearview mirror, just in time to see a motorbike with two men on it approaching her.

As they pulled up alongside her, one of the men pulled out a gun and shot twice. Once in the air and once directly at the back door of her vehicle.

The effect was exactly what the shooter had hoped for. The sound unnerved Stephanie and she lost control of the vehicle and swerved wildly. In that moment of panic, she slammed on the brakes, grinding to a complete halt in a cloud of dust and gravel. The bike skidded to a stop a few metres ahead.

Stephanie didn’t waste a moment, unbuckling her belt and clambering over into the passenger seat. Using the dust swirling around her as a cover, she opened the door, slid out and started to run. A few metres away, was a large boulder. It would provide some sort of a hiding place for her.

“Hey! Hey you! Stop!” shouted one of the men as the dust cloud cleared and they saw her. “Stop!” he roared again. Stephanie stumbled, fear rising in her chest, and forced herself to continue moving. The sound of feet pounding the ground behind her grew louder and she was tackled hard from behind and knocked to the ground.

Sharp stones and the dry ground grazed her skin as her assailant held her down, and pointed a gun at her.

“Where you run to?” he asked her in broken English, a cruel but triumphant smile distorting his face. He grabbed her by the hair and yanked her to her feet, “You much trouble, and you pay.” Stephanie winced with pain as he led her back to the vehicle where his companion was waiting.

“Look, Dan,” he said, pulling her hair again to expose her face to his friend, “Big money,” he continued gleefully as he pointed his gun at her face.

“Well, be careful Mus. She won’t be much use if you kill her,” replied Dan in fluent English, as he stepped forward and pushed his friend away. He moved to take her hands and she cringed, afraid of more physical aggression, but was surprised at how gentle his touch was.

In a low voice, as he begun to bind her hands, he said, “We just want money. We won’t hurt you, don’t be afraid, okay?” then moved away quickly as his companion turned back from inspecting the car.

“What you do lady? Huh? What’s this?” Mus asked her, as he shoved her bag of instruments and research in her face.

“I’m a scientist,” her voice was barely a whisper, she was shaking so hard she looked like she was shivering, “I study insects…ants.”

“Ants!” he burst out into laughter, “we have many here. You are welcome. But we want money, now! Where is your bag?” Sneering, he roughly grabbed her and pushed her towards the car. “You people always have money, give it to us now.”

“I’m a scientist, I don’t have much. I only have a little…” A hard slap cut her sentence off, stinging her cheek and making her eyes water.

“Hey! Be careful,” said Dan as he pulled Mus away, “there’s no need to do that. Go get the bike and load it into the car, it’s getting dark and we better get going.” Mus spat on the ground and gave Stephanie a look of loathing before walking off.

“Miss, please. My friend is not a reasonable guy, you need to stop playing games and give…” “But, but I swear,” interjected Stephanie, her eyes wild with fear, “I don’t have much on me, only what’s in my wallet. You can look, search everything…” her words trailed off as Mus returned.

“So where is it?” he reiterated his question, rounding on her, “Where!?” Dan moved quickly, standing in front of her, blocking Mus’s advance.

“Mus, she’s not hiding anything, she cannot be. Let’s take everything, her equipment, the car, whatever money she has… let’s take it and go.” Dan reached forward to clasp Mus’s shoulder, to try to calm him down, when Mus swung at him and caught him hard on the side of the head.

Stephanie yelped as Dan lost his balance and fell, and Mus kicked him viciously as he hit the ground. Dan groaned and curled up, trying to protect himself, as Mus flew into a rage.

Turning from his friend who lay whimpering in the dust, Mus turned and advanced menacingly towards Stephanie. His upper lip was curled, making him look like he had fangs.

“Now, you are going to give me money. Do you hear! Now!” Mus’s fist connected with her face and pain exploded like fireworks in her head. She could taste blood in her mouth and she struggled to keep from passing out.

“It’s all in my wallet… all of it,” Stephanie choked out. Her mind was going numb, stretches of coherent thought interspersed with moments of sheer confusion. The desert at night really did sound like a lone wolf, howling and wailing.

“Leave her alone,” Dan was standing, albeit shakily, pointing his gun at Mus, “we are here for the money, not her.”

Mus turned around slowly, letting go of Stephanie, who sank slowly to her knees. “You’re weak Dan, you can’t do anything. I don’t need you,” Mus said, every syllable dripping with contempt, “I don’t need you!” he suddenly yelled again, raising his gun in the same breath.

They both fired and fell to the ground. It was deathly quiet. “Deathly quiet,” how appropriate Stephanie thought, as she knelt on the ground and absorbed the shock of what had happened. Then a groan, one of pain, startled her.

In the dim light, she could see that Dan was moving whereas Mus lay still and silent. Stephanie stood still, as her mind raced to resolve the situation, although she knew what she was going to do already. Shuddering as she stepped over Mus’s body, she went over to Dan, who had been shot in the leg and was writhing in pain.

“Untie me,” she said as she knelt over him, “I cannot help you with my hands tied.” He looked up at her incredulously even as he fumbled with a pocket knife as he cut her free.

“Why? Why are you doing this?” Dan asked in between grunts of pain as she helped him to his feet.

“You were wrong for doing what you did,” she said as she strapped him into the passenger seat, “but if it wasn’t for you, I’d probably be dead. One good turn deserves another.”