Gustave: The Secret of Burundi

A man in a business suit walks swiftly to his lab, as he enters a man in a lab coat approaches him.

”Sir, we’ve found him,” the man in the lab coat says.

The man in the business suit smirks. “Excellent. Give me the details.”

“He resides close to a small village in Burundi, Africa. The locals call him Gustave.”
****
“Come on… just a little closer… NOW!! “I think to myself as I lunge out of the water and snatch the neck of an adult female hippo in my powerful jaws. I hiss in victory as I hear the satisfying snap of bone.

Another hippo charges at me from the bushes, “Why you overgrown gecko… I’ll kill you!”

I turn to face him flashing the scars on my side and my blade-like teeth “Don’t pick a fight you can’t win. I suggest you leave before I want dessert,” I hiss threateningly snapping my jaws. I notice my name precedes me as I see his eyes widen in recognition as he sees the bullet hole on my face he stops charging at me and starts backing away.

“You…you’re that crocodile. You’re Gustave. I thought you were a myth, a story the elders of the herd told the calves to keep them from straying too far from home.” he stammers fearfully. I snort, amused by his confusion and fear.

“So, even young calves have heard of me now. I’ll make you a deal, calf. You leave now and I won’t kill you, or you can stick around for dinner,” I chuckle sadistically. He turns and runs back through the bushes. I return to my meal and start eating.
****

The man in the business suit is flying to Burundi on a private jet - flipping through a file on Gustave and sipping a drink - when one of his employees comes in and says, “Victor, sir, you might want to take a look at this.” The employee turns on the TV to a news’ reporter talking about Gustave.

“Welcome to W.I.D.F.  News. I’m Audrey Timmons coming to you from Burundi, Africa. The people here are telling us about witnessing the infamous man-eating crocodile known as Gustave killing and eating an adult hippopotamus. This is an extremely rare occurrence since crocodiles usually don’t threaten hippos. This demonstrates how strong Gustave really is. With us here is Maria Hayward, a world-renowned Herpetologist who has been tracking Gustave for over a year now. Ms Hayward, could you tell us what you have learned?” Ms. Timmons asks as she turns toward Maria.

“As you can see, he is extremely strong and capable of snapping an adult hippopotamus’ neck with a single bite. You can see from all of his scars that many people have tried to kill him, but have failed,” Maria says.

“What do you think should be done with Gustave?” Ms. Timmons inquires.

“He needs to be taken to a larger river system somewhere far away from humans,” Maria replies

“But how could you move something that big?” Ms. Timmons asks.

“That is what I am working on now. I’ll let you know when I get the plans worked out,” Maria answers. Before the reporter is done Victor turns off the TV and grips the glass in his hand so tight it shatters.
 
Vic arrives in Burundi, Africa to the river where Gustave resides.  He goes up to Maria, whom he knew from college and tells her that he saw the story of Gustave on TV.  Vic tells her that he wanted to come out here to check it out.  Maria asks him what he wants to know.  He says that he has done some studied crocodiles a bit and is curious about this large croc.

“I know some people who could catch him so that we could get closer to him and do some tests on him,” Victor says

“What kind of tests are you talking about?” Maria asks.

“Just a few simple tests to see why he is so large and find out how he has survived for such a long time,” Victor says.

“Okay, as long as you aren’t planning on hurting him,” Maria says.

“He’ll be fine,” Victor reassures her.

Victor makes some phone calls and gets a large wooden box to trap Gustave.

“I want to be in the lab when you do the tests.  You are going to need a large animal for bait since he is used to eating hippos and humans. Maybe a large goat would work,” Maria suggests.

Later that night, the goat is placed in the trap; Gustave appears and swims back and forth in front of the cage as if mocking them.
****
“I’ll just grab the goat and get out. These humans have tried this trick before and didn’t succeed. What makes them think that it will work this time?” I hiss as I enter the cage. My meal backs up, frightened. I snap its neck instantly, but before I can drag my kill to the water the door behind me slams shut. “Stupid humans, I’ll kill you all!” I roar in anger, starting to thrash my body around to try and break the cage.
****
“Hurry up and tranquilize him before he breaks the cage!” Victor orders Maria

Maria shoots a gas-releasing pellet into the cage that knocks Gustave out. Then Victor’s team loads the box onto a semi-truck and takes Gustave to Victor’s makeshift lab a few miles away. Once they got there, his team unloaded the giant crocodile into another cage that could be submerged into a large pool of water. Before they lower the cage into the water, Maria took blood and skin samples. Maria then left to go get something to eat.

When Maria returned, the lab assistant called her over to his table. He showed her the results from the tests.

“Incredible! This certainly explains his large size and how he survived the poachers. His cells are healing and multiplying at an accelerated rate!” Maria says in awe.

“What does that mean, Dr. Hayward?” the assistant asks.

“It means this crocodile can heal itself a lot faster than normal,” Maria replies. An idea pops into Maria’s head, so she goes over to the cage with a Geiger counter; the device goes crazy.

Victor comes into the room and asks Maria what she’s doing.

“I’m checking Gustave for radiation,” Maria states as if it’s obvious. Then she goes on to tell Victor about the healing ability.

With a confused look on his face Victor says, “I don’t see what this has got to do with radiation.”

“Around 60 years ago, when Gustave was young, he lived in a river near Johannesburg, South Africa. There was an explosion in their nuclear power plant. The radiation from the explosion must have mutated his cells causing his large size and healing ability,” Maria explains.

“Maybe we could come up with some kind of nuclear test to do on some other kind of animal,” Victor says.

“What do you want to find?” Maria asks

“Maybe we could find out how nuclear energy can help heal wounds faster. Maybe we could even save lives. I could be rich! Maybe we could test a different kind of animal and see if it heals as fast as Gustave,” Victor says as he thinks about all the money he could make.

“You aren’t going to hurt another animal just to watch it heal!” Maria says outraged.

“We could be famous,” Victor says, trying to get Maria to see his point of view.

“I don’t care about fame or fortune! You’re not going to hurt Gustave!” Maria yells.

“That crocodile is my property and I will do what I want with it!” Victor shouts.

“Not if I have anything to say about it!” Maria declares as she turns and runs toward the lever that will release Gustave. She pulls it and Gustave swims out of the cage.

“No!” Victor yells as he runs toward Maria, tripping and falling into the water.
****
I chuckle wickedly as I come face to face with the human who imprisoned me.”You humans are more stupid than I thought,” I hiss at him. Then I lunge at him before he has time to react, grabbing him around his waist and spinning rapidly in the water. I kill him instantly. I ascend to the surface of the water to look at the female human who released me from the cage. The others scattered after I killed the leader, but this one stayed.
****
Maria knows Gustave could easily kill her like he did Victor. Maria slowly raises her arms to show she doesn’t have a weapon, then raises her head to show throat to him. She slowly inches closer to another lever that will open a door to let Gustave outside.
****
“Hmm… this human is slightly smarter than the others I’ve encountered. She knows she’s weaker than me so she submits by showing her throat. Impressive… for a human,” I growl lightly. I turn as I hear a noise and see a door opening behind me. Looking through the door I see a new river larger than the one I currently call my home. I turn back to the human and I give my thanks the only way I know she’ll understand; I expose my throat to her.
****
Maria’s eyes widen in disbelief as Gustave shows his throat to her. She nods her head at the large animal as if to say, “You’re welcome.” Gustave swims out of the lab, free at last.