Endangered

The next morning, Sophie wakes and prepares to leave the bonobos again, needing to travel quickly. As she departs, Songololo follows her and disturbs Ikwa, who makes a high-pitched call. Sophie hears a rifle shot and hides behind a tree. She realizes that the shooter is one of the soldiers from the sanctuary driveway days before the massacre. He begins to fire rapidly at Ikwa and Anastasia, but the height and angle of their nests protect them. Sophie watches as Pweto, the lone male, drops from a tree and scares the soldier away. Anastasia jumps down and body-slams Pweto, who disappears into the bush. When the excitement settles, Sophie again prepares to leave, but Songololo and Ikwa follow her. She walks quickly, hoping that the bonobos will eventually stop. When Sophie and Otto break for lunch, she thinks they are finally alone, but the rest of the apes appear and join them. Sophie realizes that she is now their leader.

Sophie and the bonobos continue their journey to an overgrown manioc field. The apes are suspicious of this new terrain and look to Sophie for reassurance. Sophie pulls up some manioc bushes, knowing that the leaves and roots will keep them alive. They pass through the field and find an abandoned village. Sophie thinks that this will be a great place to leave the bonobos for her to find later, so she gives Songololo one of the sleeping pills from her duffle bag. The young ape soon falls asleep, perplexing the adults. Sophie uses this distraction to slip away with Otto. That night, Sophie misses her new family. They wake in the morning and continue their journey to Kinshasa. A few hours later, Sophie comes to another manioc field, though this one is well-tended. She hopes to find a farmer to get news about the war, but instead, she finds a young boy, along with an old woman who thinks that Sophie is a witch and wants her to leave. Sophie asks the boy what happened to his family, and he explains that the rebels killed his parents and his sister. The woman will not let Sophie stay but says that she can take some manioc plants. The woman and boy hide in their hut, so Sophie drinks from their well and returns to the field, where she finds a trail leading to the capital’s main road.

The road makes a sharp turn, and Sophie sees a man in uniform ahead of her. He approaches her, but she walks down another road. He follows, but Sophie goes past a roadblock with a sign warning that AIDS is present in the area ahead. The man stops at the sign, but Sophie continues until she sees a run-down, two-story colonial house. She approaches it, and a man invites her in, saying he placed the sign on the road to deter the rebels from finding the house, which is a boys’ boarding school. The schoolmaster tells Sophie that the rebels have looted the capital and thousands more are coming into the city. He also says the rebels are targeting all foreigners, along with anyone who supported the dead president. Sophie then tells the man how she came to be here, and Otto wanders into the schoolyard and plays with two young boys on the porch. Sophie asks the schoolmaster for advice, and he tells her to avoid Kinshasa because the violence is worse there. Sophie decides to find her mother, who is 400 miles away. Sophie stays at the school for four days and helps the boys gather manioc plants from the abandoned field. Sophie’s and Otto’s health and energy revive with better food, water, and sleep. The schoolmaster helps her pack food and water, sad to see her go. When the man sees Sophie struggle under the duffle bag’s weight, he gives her his motorized bike, saying that it is repayment because she showed them the manioc field. Sophie promises to send help when she can and rides away.

Sophie travels down the road toward the Kinshasa airport and sees a train of refugees walking in the same direction. She considers joining them but decides against it, feeling that the risk to Otto is too great. Sophie waits for a break in the train and darts across. Refugees immediately surround her, and someone pulls her backward off the bike. The bike disappears into the crowd, as does Otto. Sophie follows Otto, and a woman tells the boy who took Otto to give him back. A woman and her daughters protect Sophie and Otto from the men in line, and they move outside it to the same place Sophie started. The woman tells Sophie that helicopters can take her out of the country and offers to show her where they are. The woman asks a group of men to escort them to the location, her protective and assertive behavior reminding Sophie of the matriarchal bonobos. Three men walk with Sophie, the woman, and her three daughters to a clearing created for the helicopters. As Sophie prepares to part with the group, she gives the woman her duffle bag in gratitude for her help.

Sophie continues down a path alone to a chain-link fence and tells a guard she needs to be evacuated. He tells her the evacuation was weeks ago and that he can do nothing for her. Sophie sits in shock, but a second guard arrives and waves her through the gate, allowing her to bring Otto. Sophie walks with the guard to an office where a man named Hector sits behind a desk. Hector gives Sophie a message from Florence, which assures Sophie that her mother is safe. Hector promises to get word to Florence that Sophie is also alive and well. He then asks about Otto, saying that a man on a bike arrived a few days ago with two baby bonobos, hoping to sell them. When Sophie asks what happened to them, he tells her that they took the apes from the trafficker and released them into the nearby jungle. He then says that the helicopter will take Sophie to Brazzaville, where she can get to an embassy and arrange a flight home to Miami. When Sophie asks if Otto can go with her, he says no. Hector leaves the office, so Sophie searches for the two bonobos outside. She finds them dead, knowing that their fate is her fault. Sophie resolves not to leave Otto, so she returns to the office and ransacks it for supplies, placing all the rations and iodine (for water purification) into a garbage bag. She leaves Hector a note with her father’s email address and phone number and walks past the guards back into the jungle.

Sophie heads to the Congo River through ankle- and knee-deep marshlands as Otto travels in the trees overhead. She reaches the river at sunset and collapses into sleep. When Sophie wakes, her wrists and ankles have a rash, and she has a leech on one calf. She finds some leeches on Otto and waits for them to fill with blood and fall off. Sophie watches boats pass, waiting for one heading upstream. Eventually, she sees one piloted by a white-haired old man singing a song from her childhood. Sophie calls out to the man, Wello, and asks him to help her. Wello agrees to take Sophie as far as Mbandaka in exchange for $50, which she promises to deliver to his village when she finds her mother. Sophie also offers her silver necklace as collateral. Sophie and Otto board the 20-foot boat, and Sophie helps paddle against the current. They continue moving upriver as night falls.

Wello eventually takes the boat ashore for them to sleep. In the morning, they set out again. Wello is very quiet and talks little, but a few hours into the day, he talks about the war. As the trio moves upriver, they pause at villages to trade for food, always conducting business from the boat.

The following day, Sophie sees the first signs of Mbandaka. Wello gives her directions to get safely through the city and to her mother at the bonobo reserve. The pair says goodbye, and Sophie and Otto continue alone.