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us if we stay well away. If we upset them, though, we'll be in more trouble. They're really hyped up when they've made a kill.'
'Are you sure?' said Alex. He flashed his torch around. He could see nothing but darkness and foliage. It made the noises all the more horrible.
'Sort of,' said Li. 'Just keep that bear banger ready.'
They marched on. Behind them, the roaring gave way to fighting and snarling. 'Now they'll start to squabble over who eats what,' said Li.
It was a chilling sound, vicious and primeval.
Gradually, the noise of the lions faded into the distance. Adrenaline stopped pumping through Alex's veins and he felt a wave of fatigue. It was extreme, like having a blanket dropped over his head. Not now, he said to himself. He gripped the handle of the bear banger hard, feeling its ridged handle dig into his palm. Maybe that would keep him awake. But he had been on the move for more than two days and nights. He had to try not to think about it. He couldn't believe that his body was craving sleep here, among all these hunting lions. Do it for the others, he told himself. They were depending on him to bring help.
'Paulo, don't fall asleep,' said Hex. He caught Paulo by the shoulders and shook him urgently. 'We mustn't fall asleep.'
Paulo was sitting next to Tessa. His head had nodded onto his chest for a moment. He came to with a jolt. ' Dios,' he muttered to himself. He hadn't realized he was dozing. A shiver turned his spine to ice. A lion could so easily have crept up on them.
Hex checked Tessa. 'The tourniquet seems all right. Where's Chris?'
Paulo shone his torch around. Chris was slumped in a corner, his head burrowed into the side of the pit like a hibernating creature. Paulo turned to Hex and said quietly, 'I reckon he's better like that.'
As Paulo swung the torch back, he caught sight of a pair of eyes up on the rim of the pit. 'Lion,' he said simply. A huge face, surrounded by a mane, was staring back at him.
Hex's foot touched something. It was the bait the poachers had left. Hex picked it up by its hoof. 'Mind out,' he said to Paulo and hurled it at the lion. The lion whirled round and trotted after it.
'Nice one,' said Paulo. The lion stopped a few metres away. He sniffed the meat and settled to gnaw it.
'That won't keep it amused for very long,' said Hex.
Suddenly they heard a noise. Relief flooded through Hex's veins like a ray of light. 'Hey, that's a vehicle.'
A powerful set of headlights swung through the trees. Hex and Paulo stood on tiptoe in the pit and waved. They saw the solid front of a Range Rover. Its bonnet bore the red cross of the medics. With a squeal of brakes it pulled up beside the pit.
Alex and Li jumped out, along with three paramedics.
'She's over there,' said Li.
One paramedic ran past her and dropped down into the pit beside Tessa. He took one look at her and called up to his colleague: 'Get the stretcher.'
Chris woke and stood up, rubbing his eyes as he made his way to the edge of the pit.
Paulo and Hex climbed wearily out. 'You made it,' said Paulo to Alex.
Alex nodded over at the undergrowth. Just beyond where their torches had been able to reach were three more lions, only twelve metres away, sitting on their haunches and staring at the group.
'Looks like we were just in time,' said Li.

4
TO THE BITTER END
The transition point was bustling with horses, riders and helpers. Competitors were starting to come back from the mounted orienteering phase of the race.
Paulo, Hex, Li and Alex walked their horses in and jumped off. It was mid-morning the next day. They had completed another section in good time and it was all change again.
Tessa had been taken to hospital and Team Alpha Force had voted unanimously to continue despite the detour. There was still a race to complete. So Li, Alex, Hex and Paulo had hiked to the next checkpoint, taken a two-hour break for sleep, and met Amber for the next phase - the thirty-kilometre orienteering ride. Now they were back, having successfully