Survival (9 page)

'Sunstroke,' said Amber, flatly. 'He has sunstroke.'

'No, no! It will work!' said Paulo, excitedly jumping up from the bench and pushing Amber and Alex off onto the sand. He flipped the bench over and pointed to the underside of the seat. 'See?'

'Sunstroke,' repeated Amber, climbing to her feet.

Paulo tutted with frustration and began loosening the vine lashing which held the seat together.

'Hey!' protested Alex as Paulo pulled one of the split bamboo poles free, but Paulo ignored him.

'See?' he said, turning the hollow split pole over to show them what he meant. 'It is like guttering. If we cut and split enough of these, we can run them in an unbroken line all the way from the pool to the beach, using the undergrowth beside the trail to support them. The water will run down the guttering—'

'And we'll have water on tap,' finished Hex, looking at Paulo with a new respect.

Paulo beamed. 'Exactly,' he said. 'On tap.'

They worked along the fringe of the rainforest all morning, cutting down stands of bamboo with the flexible saw and splitting the stems vertically. Amber worked as hard as everyone else, insisting that she was completely back to normal and did not need to rest up for another day. Once they had cut enough bamboo, Alex and Paulo constructed four simple ladder-sledges, using springy boughs of wood as the runners and lashing cross-pieces to them. The cross-pieces gradually decreased in size so that the sledges were broad enough at the bottom end to take a good sized load, but the top was narrow enough for the two runners to be lashed together. Finally, they carefully loaded the razor-sharp split bamboo onto the sledges and tied it down with vines.

'Now, all we have to do is go back in there and rig the thing up,' said Hex, staring into the dark forest.

Over a meal of bananas, figs and coconut milk, everyone agreed that it was not fair to expect Li to brave the game trail again. She was left on Watch Duty next to the signal fire. The other four each grabbed the towing handle of a loaded sledge.

'Ready?' asked Paulo.

'Not really,' admitted Hex, staring into the undergrowth.

'Just one more time,' said Paulo. 'Then we shall have our water brought to us.'

'If it works,' said Amber.

'It will work,' said Paulo, calmly.

'OK,' said Alex, taking a deep breath. 'Let's get it over with.'

They started construction at the beach-end of the trail. Paulo set up a system where two people scouted to the front and the rear and the other two worked on a section of aqueduct. Paulo was right; it was easy to find supporting vines or branches for the bamboo gutters in the dense vegetation of the rainforest and they moved quickly along, slotting the split stems into place and tying them with vines where necessary. They worked feverishly and silently, jumping every time a twig snapped. Every few minutes they would stop and listen, but the rainforest engine hummed along quietly.

'It must be too early for them,' whispered Alex. 'Don't lizards need to warm up in the sun before they can—'

'Shhh . . .' hissed Amber. 'It's moving.' She pointed her stick at a bush just ahead and they all froze in place. The bush was quivering. The leaves shook as something moved under the branches.

'Oh no,' breathed Hex, feeling a cold sweat break out on his forehead.

'Back off,' murmured Alex, gripping his stick. 'If it comes for us, get up into a tree.'

Slowly, hardly daring to breathe, they backed away from the bush. Paulo brought his heel down on a dry twig and it broke with a loud crack in the silence. The leaves of the bush began to shake more violently and Alex lost his nerve.

'Climb!' he yelled.

They all jumped for a branch but Amber misjudged. She missed and fell screaming to the ground. The bush exploded like a firework as a whole flock of parrots flew out and squawked away into the canopy.

'Well, you did say they hid in bushes,' muttered Amber defensively, as the other three dropped back onto the trail. 'And that bush was moving—'

'You were right to warn us,' said Paulo. 'And do not let that stop you from warning us again. Next time it might be a komodo.'

They forced themselves onwards, moving deeper into the shadows of the rainforest. The sledges became progressively easier to pull as the load lightened and, sooner than anyone had dared to hope, they reached the pool.

Paulo knocked a supporting line of cleft sticks into the open ground which rose to the edge of the pool, and they slotted the last two sections of bamboo into place. Paulo adjusted the position of the final piece of guttering so that it was under the lip of the pool where the overspill water ran down into the rainforest. Then he stood back.

For a few seconds, nothing happened, then a tiny stream of crystal clear water diverted from the overspill and trickled along the guttering. Paulo ran along beside the trickle, watching as it picked up speed and volume, flowing down the bamboo guttering all the way into the forest.

'We did it!' he yelled, running back to the other three. 'It is flowing!'

They danced in a clumsy, sweaty, exhausted circle, then stumbled to a halt and stood there, grinning at one another.

'Tell you what,' said Amber, turning her head to sniff at Paulo's armpit. 'You should get in touch with the military. They could use you as a biological weapon.'

'Bathtime!' yelled Paulo, picking Amber up and running into the pool with her. Alex and Hex dived in too and they splashed and swam in the cool water, washing away all the sweat and tension of the morning.

'Time to go,' said Alex, a few minutes later, turning to wade out of the pool. 'We can check the aqueduct as we walk back,' he said, looking back over his shoulder. 'Sort out any breaks or leaks . . .'

Alex came to a halt as he saw the looks of horror on Amber and Paulo's faces. They were staring past him to the place where the game trail came out of the forest. He turned and felt his mouth go dry with fear. A komodo dragon, even bigger than the first one, was coming out of the forest towards them.

Alex froze in place. He could have kicked himself for making such a basic mistake. It was so stupid, letting down his guard like that, even for a few minutes. He looked for his stick and spotted it lying next to the sledges on the bank. They had no way of defending themselves. He stayed absolutely still as the huge lizard ambled slowly up to the edge of the pool and dipped its scaly head to drink. Alex saw that the beast's belly was so distended it was dragging along the ground. The komodo had eaten recently, and eaten well. Perhaps, if they stayed very still and did not pose any kind of threat, it would leave them alone.

The dragon lifted its head and gazed across the pool to Alex. He felt a terrible urge to run as the flat, reptilian eyes fixed on him, but he forced himself to stay still. The beast lost interest and turned away, lumbering towards the flat rock outside the cave on the other side of the pool. Alex guessed that it was heading for its favourite sunning spot to sleep off the meal. He felt the tension lessen slightly in his shoulders. There was a good chance of simply walking away from this as long as they did nothing to anger the sleepy lizard. Slowly, he turned his head to whisper instructions to the others and his heart clenched in shock.

Amber and Paulo were there, in the pool behind him – but Hex had disappeared.

Hex stood in the cave beside the pool, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the gloom. The object he had seen poking from the bottom of the rock fall earlier that morning was still on his mind. It raised a question. It posed a puzzle. And if there was one thing Hex could not leave alone, it was a puzzle.

He had left the pool quietly, to avoid a confrontation, but now Alex and the others were forgotten as the rock fall came into focus. Hex's eyes were sharp and hungry as he moved forward, preparing to solve the puzzle. The object was still there, poking out of the rubble, and Hex levered it loose. He studied it for a moment, then slipped it into his pocket. Carefully he grasped the rock that had wedged the object and eased it away from the rock fall. A few small pebbles and some sandy earth showered into the gap, but the fall held. Hex swept the pebbles away and nodded with satisfaction at what was revealed. He stood back and examined the rock fall, choosing the best place to start. He picked a spot at shoulder height, on the far right-hand edge of the fall. Slowly, carefully, he began to clear a way through.

Soon there was a hole big enough for him to squeeze through. Hex boosted himself up onto the rock fall, sending stones and pebbles showering down, and eased himself into the gap. His head poked through into the stale, dry air beyond and he hung, suspended in the darkness, trying to see what lay behind the rock fall. It was too dark and Hex swore with frustration, then a slow smile spread across his face as he remembered that Alex always carried his survival tin with him. One match. That was all he needed. Surely Alex would let him have one match? Hex clambered back down the rock fall and hurried out of the cave.

'Hey, Alex!' he called, squinting in the bright sunshine. 'I need a—'

Hex came to a stop as the huge komodo reared up on its hind legs with a hissing roar. For a split second he stood frozen as it towered over him, then he turned and ran back into the cave. The ground shook as the komodo slammed back down onto its forelegs and charged into the cave after Hex.

'Oh my God!' shrieked Amber. 'It'll kill him!'

Alex powered out of the water and grabbed a stick. Paulo was not far behind. Together they raced around the edge of the pool towards the cave. They could hear Hex screaming. It sounded thin and high over the terrible, booming roars of the dragon. Then another sound rumbled out of the cave mouth; the sound of a great weight of rocks and earth shifting and tumbling.

Alex and Paulo stumbled to a halt as a cloud of choking dust blasted from the mouth of the cave. They stood there dripping and panting, their sticks at the ready as the dust gradually cleared. The rumbling died away into silence and the cave mouth remained empty. There was no sign of Hex or the giant lizard. Amber stumbled from the pool to join them. She was sobbing loudly and the tears were streaming down her face.

'Stay here, Amber,' said Alex grimly as he and Paulo moved towards the cave entrance.

'N-no w-way,' stuttered Amber. 'I'm coming with you.'

The first thing they saw was the tail of the komodo dragon, threshing back and forth just inside the cave entrance. Alex closed his eyes, imagining the lizard pulling Hex's body into bloody chunks and gulping them down. Paulo retched beside him, then swallowed hard and edged further into the cave with Amber close on his heels. The komodo's tail was swinging less now and the movements were spasmodic. Alex frowned down at the twitching tail then steeled himself to lift his head and look into the cave. The tail of the komodo was all he could see. The rest of the giant lizard was buried under a pile of rocks.

Amber gave a yelp as the tail twitched again, scraping against her shin. 'Is it alive still?' she quavered.

'I think it's dead,' replied Alex, nudging the twitching tail with his foot. 'Those are just nerve impulses. They take a while to stop.'

'Where is Hex?' asked Paulo.

Alex said nothing. He stared grimly at the chest-high pile of rocks and wondered where to start digging.

Suddenly there was a scrambling from the other side of the rock pile and Hex poked his head over the top.

'Game over,' he said, smiling at Alex.

'Hex! Are you OK?'

'Never better.'

'But we heard you screaming,' stuttered Paulo.

Hex pulled a comic face. 'Wouldn't you be screaming with one of those things coming after you?'

'How did you get away?' asked Alex.

'It was a bit dodgy for a while,' admitted Hex. 'I was climbing backwards up the rock fall, kicking rocks and stuff down on its head. But it kept climbing up after me. Its jaws were snapping right at my heels. One of its teeth actually took a slice out of my leg – that's how close it was. Then, the rock fall started to move. I fell back into this bit, and the rocks fell the other way, onto him.'

'Wow!' breathed Amber. 'You were so lucky!'

Hex looked at Amber. He spotted the tears streaking her face and his smile broadened. 'Crying for me?' he asked.

'Eat your heart out, code boy,' she snapped back. 'I'm crying for Godzilla here.'

'What on earth were you doing in the cave, Hex?' demanded Alex.

'Solving a puzzle,' said Hex. 'Come and see.'

They clambered over the rock pile into the dimness of the cave beyond.

'It's a dark hole,' said Amber. 'What's to see?'

Hex pointed to the cave floor behind them. Amber turned, then yelped with shock. A human skeleton was sprawled against the cave wall. The skull was thrown back and the jaw hung open. The pelvis was broken into three pieces and one of the legs was buried under the rock pile.

'It's a Japanese soldier,' said Hex. 'He's been trapped in here since World War Two.'

'How do you know?'

Hex reached into his pocket and pulled out a rusted bayonet. 'This is what I saw earlier today. It was poking out of the bottom of the rock fall. There's a rifle under those rocks somewhere.'

Paulo studied the skeleton. A few scraps of what once could have been a uniform clung to the bones. 'OK, so it is a soldier,' he said. 'But how do you know he is Japanese?'

Hex reached into his pocket again and then held his hand out to them. A collection of tarnished metal buttons, a belt buckle and a cap badge nestled in his palm.

'But the best is over here,' he said, letting the buttons drop and pointing to a metal frame which was propped against the wall beside the dead soldier. Inside the frame sat a metal box, the front covered with knobs and dials. There were sheaves of wires, their rubber covering long rotted away, and a metal crank handle protruded from the side.

'A back-pack radio!' Paulo dropped to his knees beside the box, his fingers exploring the dials and wires. 'We have one very like this on the ranch. It is in one of the most remote bunk houses, where we stay when we are checking the boundaries. It is very old but it still works perfectly.'

Hex kneeled beside Paulo. 'What do you think?' he said, his voice full of a controlled excitement.

'The batteries will be long dead, but we do not need batteries to transmit, only the generator. It is hand-cranked, see?' Paulo pointed to the handle on the side. 'If I can get the generator working just long enough to send a message—'

'There's a morse code key,' said Hex. 'I know morse code. I could send an SOS . . .'

They all shared a look of excitement. Then Hex sat back and winced at the pain in his leg. The gash was deep and still bleeding freely.

'Come on, then,' said Alex. 'Let's get you and this radio back to the beach and get you both fixed up.'

They hauled the heavy radio over the rock pile and strapped it to one of the sledges. Then Paulo and Alex went back into the cave and cut the tail from the komodo dragon with the flexible saw.

'Our next meal,' Paulo explained to Hex and Amber as they slammed the bleeding tail down onto a second sledge and tied it on. 'Trust me. It'll be delicious.'