Fault Line Read Online Free PDF Page B

face and the feeling that he was constantly squeezing through a gap that was a bit too small.
    ‘What on earth was that thing screaming last night?’ said Paulo. ‘I’ve never heard anything like it.’
    ‘Sounded vicious, whatever it was,’ grumbled Hex. ‘Li, how big is a jaguar?’
    ‘Not very big,’ replied Li. ‘About the size of a dog.’
    ‘What kind of dog?’ said Amber. ‘A poodle or a St Bernard?’
    Alex looked thoughtful. ‘Dad said some of the Indians talk about a creature that hunts the jaguar but I think it’s a myth. Dad never saw it.’
    ‘Well, did your dad ever hear anything like that screaming thing?’ rejoined Paulo.
    The others laughed nervously.
    ‘Hey,’ said Hex, ‘did anyone ever see that film Predator, where there’s an alien hunting people in the jungle?’
    Paulo stopped. He’d seen something. ‘Guys, look at this – it’s been cleared.’
    ‘It’s a camp,’ said Alex.
    ‘A camp?’ repeated Amber. ‘Who else would be out here?’
    An area about ten metres wide had been cleared, the foliage trodden down, and the ashy remains of a fire smouldered in the middle. One A-frame bed, made from local wood and lashed together with vines, stood in front of the fire area.
    ‘It’s a wrecked camp, to be precise,’ said Hex. He pointed to the bed. One of its legs was shattered. The whole structure was tipped onto the floor. A cooking pot lay upside down near the fire. On the other side of the hearth was a frame of dampened woven branches, built to reflect heat like the back plate of a fireplace. One half had disintegrated entirely, its pieces scattered across the area.
    The five friends looked at the destruction and the sweat running down their backs turned icy cold. Was this what they’d heard the previous night?
    Amber’s voice was a hoarse whisper. ‘We were just lying in our hammocks, totally vulnerable. What if it had come for us too?’
    ‘It was quite a long way away,’ said Li. But she sounded worried, not comforted.
    Hex looked at the upturned cooking pot, the smashed bed. ‘I thought things kept away if you had a fire.’
    ‘So did I,’ said Li quietly.
    Paulo made a notch in a tree so they could deviate off course and investigate.
    Alex and Hex squatted down to get a closer look at the debris in the fire area. On the ground was a fresh skin from a tapir. A couple of older animal skins lay stiff as cardboard in the leaf litter. Cigarette butts were sprinkled everywhere. And the whole lot looked like something had been dragged through it. ‘Looks like someone was here for quite a while,’ said Hex.
    ‘Who’d be living out here?’ asked Amber.
    Alex replied, ‘I suppose you always get someone living off the land, wherever you are.’ With his finger he traced the tracks on the ground.
    Hex stood up and dusted down his hands. ‘But he had a visitor. What on earth did this? A jaguar?’
    Li was inspecting the bed frame. ‘I don’t see any blood. It doesn’t look like he was dragged away. I think if it was a big cat there would have been some injuries – and claw marks on the wood.’
    ‘Anyway, think of the noises we heard,’ said Amber. ‘Big cats sound like – well – big cats. Growling and stuff.’
    Paulo was looking at the smashed fire screen. Nearby there were long marks raked through the leaf litter into the dark earth. It was like looking at a fence after a bull had broken out. ‘Whatever it was, it was strong.’
    The tracks went from the fire screen, past the bed frame and into the uncleared jungle, leaving a swathe of broken saplings and flattened vegetation.
    ‘We’ve got ourselves a trail,’ said Alex.
    He and Paulo stepped into the undergrowth.
    ‘How far are you going to go?’ said Li.
    Alex called back to her, ‘We’ll just take a quick look.’
    Amber turned to Hex as she watched them follow the trail of wreckage. ‘What if they find a body?’
    Hex grimaced. ‘What if they don’t? There might not be anything