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the darkness.
Chris's light flashed off the trees as he scanned the undergrowth in panic. 'They're back,' he said. Anxiety made his voice high. 'Tessa, why did you do that? You've made the lions come back.'
Paulo and Hex could see nothing but Tessa's blood. Hex's face and T-shirt were splattered, the pad was sodden. He had all his weight on it, but Tessa's leg was jerking and the pad was in danger of slipping off.
Paulo went for the nearest thing that would make a tourniquet. Hex's eyes opened wide in surprise as his friend's hands lunged towards his waist. Paulo grabbed Hex's belt buckle, unfastened it and whipped the whole thing out of his shorts in two seconds flat. He wrapped it around the top of Tessa's thigh and pulled it tight.
Hex felt the throbbing under the dressings start to slow. 'It's working, Paulo,' he said. 'Keep it tight.'
Gradually, the flow of blood stopped. Tessa lay quietly. She looked exhausted.
'I'll secure the tourniquet,' said Paulo. 'Can you put another dressing on that?' He looked at his watch; every ten minutes he'd have to remember to loosen the tourniquet and retighten it, otherwise Tessa could get gangrene. He looked round to see Chris standing up in the pit, sweeping his torch around the undergrowth. Then he sat down again. He looked terrified.
Paulo stood up. 'Anything?'
Chris's teeth were bared in fear. 'I can't believe you let them take the bear banger.'
Paulo let the remark pass. An argument wouldn't do any good. It was far more important to see if there really was anything out there. 'Sit down,' he said. Chris did as he was told; he was too scared not to.
Paulo looked into the darkness. There was enough undergrowth to provide several lions with plenty of cover, even in broad daylight. Then, in the beam of his torch, a mere five metres away, he saw a lioness.
She was completely still, like a picture taken in mid stride, front paw lifted. She was gazing at the group intently. Paulo tried flicking the torch beam back and forth across her eyes. She didn't flinch, but stared back. Paulo could see the texture of her nose, the outline of her mouth like a rim of black leather, the way her sandy fur faded to white on her muzzle, the open jaws that revealed a red flash of tongue and the jagged outline of teeth.
Chris stood up. Paulo swiftly moved his torch away from the lioness so that Chris wouldn't see her - he was bound to panic. 'Sit down, Chris,' he said. 'There's nothing there. Come on, guys, let's make a bit of noise.'
Alex and Li were making good progress. They retraced their steps down to the path they had been following, and onto the track. Soon they were passing over the game trails they'd seen earlier.
'There's the rhino track,' said Li. She was talking partly to herself, to convince herself they didn't have much further to go. The torch on her head was creating a tunnel effect, making her feel sleepy again. The grassy track in front of her looked neverending, like a pattern designed to put you in a trance.
Alex caught the weariness in her voice. 'Take the torch off your head, then you don't get that weird effect,' he said. 'It was driving me mad too.'
Li slipped the headband off and wrapped it around her hand. Alex was right, that did feel better. 'Good thinking,' she said. 'That's--'
A sound exploded from the bush. Li grabbed Alex and gripped his arm hard, her nails digging in like claws. All he could hear was a frenzy of roaring, savage and purposeful, out there in the dark. And it was very close.
'It's lions hunting,' whispered Li. 'Over by the river.'
They heard scrabbling - a fight? There was a high-pitched sound like a howl; then its answer, a deep, forbidding roar. More voices joined in. How many of them were there?
'I'll get this thing ready,' said Alex. He prepared to light the bear banger.
'Don't use it yet,' said Li urgently. 'We might not need to. It sounds like they've made the kill and now they're all gathering to eat it. We should be able to get past without them bothering