Chris Ryan - Survival

Alex and Li grinned at one another, then eased out of the undergrowth. They joined Amber, Paulo and Hex behind the bamboo cage. Amber had already whispered the plan to Philippe while she loosened the twisted wire around his wrists and eased his hands free. Now all they had to do was wait.

'Are you sure those seeds were poisonous?' whispered Paulo an hour later.

'Yes,' snapped Li. 'The oil in them is a powerful purgative.'

'A what?'

'She means it comes out at both ends,' said Amber. 'Am I right?'

Li nodded. 'It's pretty violent.'

Paulo peered out through the bushes at the three pirates. They had finished their meal and were lounging around the fire, smoking cigarettes. 'If it ever gets going,' he muttered. 'Are you sure we used enough of them?'

'Well are you sure you crushed the seeds properly?' flashed Li, glaring at Paulo.

'Yes I did!'

'Calm down,' said Alex, from behind them. 'You should've seen the ingredients in that stew. They must have stomachs of steel. It'll probably take a bit longer than normal.'

The other three lapsed into silence, watching for any sign of the poison seeds taking effect. Alex leaned over Hex where he lay on the stretcher. He had some colour in his cheeks again, his fever was lessening and he was starting to come awake. Alex gripped Hex's shoulder and squeezed. 'You'll live,' he breathed.

'Here we go!' whispered Li excitedly.

Out on the beach, one of the pirates was standing up, clutching his stomach. He leaned forward and vomited onto the sand. The other two pirates staggered to their feet. One clutched the seat of his pants and sprinted for the rainforest. The other one threw up into the cookpot.

'Come on,' said Li. 'They're not going to be noticing anything much for quite a while. It's time to open the cage.'

Alex used his knife to saw through the vine lashings at the back of the cage, then he and Paulo lifted out a whole section of the bars. Paulo and Li dashed in, helped Philippe to his feet, then walked him quickly into the cover of the rainforest. Beatrice followed, carrying Robert. He clung to her neck and his legs were wrapped around her waist. Amber put out her hand to Emilie and smiled down at the little girl. 'Come with me, little one,' she said in French. 'It's time to go.'

They marched as fast as they could. Alex, Paulo, Li and Amber led the way, carrying Hex's stretcher. Beatrice was next, still carrying Robert and muttering 'Merci, merci, merci' over and over again in a dazed voice. Little Emilie marched along behind her mother and Philippe Larousse took up the rear. He was suffering from the beating he had taken, but the escape had given him new hope and energy and he held his head high as he stumbled along.

It was easy for them to find the way back through the rainforest. Alex's trail-markers dotted the route. The party made steady progress and soon they were struggling up the rising ground which led to the lower slopes of the mountain.

'We'll rest when we get out of the forest,' called Alex and the others nodded behind him, saving their breath for the climb. The leaf canopy became thinner and, gradually, the trees became smaller and more spaced out until finally, they left the dense green forest behind and came out onto the shoulder of the mountain. They found a shade tree and collapsed underneath it.

Paulo pulled three mangoes and the last of the water from the rucksack and shared them out. They chewed the juicy fruit and sipped the water slowly, letting the moisture ease their dry mouths. For a while, nobody spoke. The march through the forest had exhausted them all. They lay flat on their backs, staring up into the leaves of the tree. Robert fell asleep against his mother's side and Emilie came to sit beside Amber, gripping her hand and looking down into her face with solemn, brown eyes. Finally, Philippe sat up with his back against the tree and turned his bruised, swollen face towards them.

'I do not know how to thank you,' he said in accented but perfect English. 'I thought our lives were over. Then you appeared like – like a miracle! I wonder, where did you come from?'

'That's a long story,' began Amber.

'We fell asleep in a ship's tender. It came adrift. We washed up here,' said Alex simply.

'Yeah, OK,' laughed Amber. 'Not such a long story.'

'And what are your names?' asked Philippe.

'Right,' said Amber. 'The guy on the stretcher, that's Hex.'

'Ah, the boy with the blood poisoning. He is recovering now?'

'He's doing fine,' said Alex, looking down at Hex and swatting a fly away from his face.

'That's Alex,' said Amber. 'He's our survival expert. He showed us how to build our camp.' She turned to Emilie, speaking in French. 'Wait till you see our camp, Emilie! We have beds and shelters and even running water!' The little girl nodded seriously.

'OK,' continued Amber. 'That's Li over there. She fought a komodo dragon and won. And that's Paulo. He can build or fix anything. Back at the camp, he built us a bamboo aqueduct.'

Emilie tugged at Amber's fingers. 'He is very handsome,' she whispered in French.

'What did she say?' asked Paulo.

'She said you're ugly and you smell,' said Amber.

'No she didn't,' said Paulo, smugly. He grinned and waggled his eyebrows at Emilie and, for the first time, they saw her smile.

'And I'm Amber. Amber Middleton.'

'Middleton?' Philippe leaned forward, looking more closely at Amber. 'The software Middletons? I thought you looked familiar. I knew your mother and father.'

'You did? How?'

'I spend a month every year as a volunteer, working in refugee camps or in Third-World countries. Plastic surgery is not just about face-lifts, you know. I can help with burns, for instance, or injuries from land mines. A few years ago I was working in Africa. There had been another ethnic "cleansing" and I was working with children who had been scarred by machetes. That is where I met your parents.'

'They were – in Africa?'

'Yes. I admired what they did after they sold the company. They were very brave.'

'Were they?' said Amber.

'Yes. In their fight, they stood up against powerful business cartels and corrupt governments – that was brave.'

'Their fight?' said Amber, struggling to understand.

'They fought for all the little people. Exposing child labour in sweat shops, fighting for human rights. They knew they were putting themselves into danger. I was so sorry to hear of their deaths. Tell me, Amber, have they tracked down the people who did it?'

Amber's eyes grew big and a hand went up to her mouth as she stared at Philippe. 'I don't understand,' she whispered.

'Ah,' he said. 'You did not know. I am sorry.'

A rifle shot broke the silence, sending an explosion of birds winging out of the forest. Alex leapt to his feet as another shot rang out, then a third. He ran out into the open and stared down the side of the mountain towards the cove. He could just see the top of a wooden mast poking above the rainforest fringe. The pirates' ship had sailed into the cove and dropped anchor while they lazed under a tree as though they had all the time in the world.

'They're back!' he yelled, racing to pick up his rucksack. And I think they just executed your three guards. Come on! We need to move fast!'

They scrambled to their feet and set off round the shoulder of the mountain.

'Hurry,' panted Amber. 'Once we're round the other side, we'll be out of sight. We'll be safe.'

'We should have set a watch,' gasped Paulo.

'I know,' said Alex. He was getting very tired now and making basic mistakes. As he sweated and panted up the steepening slope he felt uneasy. He was sure there was something else he had forgotten – another basic mistake he had made – but his weary brain could not grasp what it was.