Steve and Jesse had been walking silently along the road for the last five minutes, keeping as concealed by the trees as possible. They had heard nothing suspicious and were beginning to feel safe.

"Steve," said Jesse breaking the silence. "Do you think its okay to have something to eat? I'm starving and thirsty."

"I'm not sure," said Steve. "After that water fiasco I am not sure I trust any of our food."

"Well maybe not the fresh stuff," admitted Jesse. "But what about all the tinned stuff we brought with us? We ate it last night and it didn't do us any harm."

Steve still looked sceptical. "Come on Steve," whined Jesse. "Let's just try."

"Well okay," said Steve giving in. "I'm hungry too. But let's chuck all our fresh stuff away." Jesse nodded and set down his bag and extracted all the unwanted food and flung it into the nearby bushes. Steve examined his food closely before doing the same. Then Jesse selected a tin of baked beans and opened the top.

"It's probably best just to eat and few and then wait for half an hour and see if we have any side effects," said Steve opening a tin himself. Jesse looked wistfully into the tin but knew it made sense. He ate a couple of mouthfuls and then strapped the open tin to the outside of his rucksack. Steve looked at his own tin and suddenly didn't feel at all hungry. His face was sore and his head was thumping and looking at the food made him feel sick. He felt like rolling up into a ball and going to sleep, but he knew they had to keep going. He also didn't want to alarm Jesse and so he kept quiet.

"You know," said Jesse once they started up again. "I've never had cold baked beans before."

"Really?" said Steve sounding bored. "How thrilling for you."

"I think they're nice."

"Do you?"

"Yes. Don't you like them?" asked Jesse slightly confused by Steve's irritated voice.

"Yes Jesse, I like cold baked beans."

"Well what's the matter then?"

"Hmm let me think? We are wondering in the wilderness with no water, no phone, no shelter and someone seems to be using us as target practice. But that's okay Jesse because I like cold baked beans." Steve threw his rucksack off his back and slumped down in the shade with his back against a tree and closed his eyes. Jesse knelt down beside Steve feeling very concerned. This kind of behaviour was so unlike Steve.

He's had a worse time of it than me, thought Jesse. He's had the stove explode in his face, been shot at, fallen down that hole and hit his head. He should really be hospital. Jesse fished in his bag and brought out a couple of paracetamol.

"Steve," he said tentively. "Here, take these paracetamol and sit quietly for a while. It should help." Steve remained in the same position. Jesse became even more concerned. If Steve had concussion he shouldn't go to sleep, Jesse might not be able to wake him up again. "Steve, come on wake up," said Jesse and gently slapped his face. Steve stirred.

"What? What is it?"

"I think you have concussion from where you hit your head. You need to stay awake. Here take these paracetamol, they should help. Sorry there's no water." Steve took them without a word and swallowed them. Then he closed his eyes again.

"You've got to keep talking to me so that I know you're not asleep," persisted Jesse.

"I'll be alright in a moment," mumbled Steve. "It's just as headache. Sorry I was short with you."

"Hey that's okay. I realise you must be feeling rough."

"Well this hasn't exactly been the relaxing holiday I had in mind."

"I know, me neither. I feel like this is all my fault. I never seem to be able to go away without getting into trouble. I think it would be safer if I just lived in the hospital."

Steve gave a small grin. "But our lives wouldn't be half so exciting without you getting us all into danger."

"Sometimes I would like a nice calm relaxing holiday though."

"I know, I know," said Steve.

X X X

Half an hour later Steve was feeling much better and so they decided to set off once more. Jesse too felt more alert after their rest. The walked on eating the baked beans from the can as they had felt no side effects from earlier. They decided to take a short cut across an open stretch of land in order to cut off a large corner of the track. They climbed over a fence and made their way through tall undergrowth that came up to their elbows. The ground was steep and littered with large boulders, making the going difficult. They hadn't gone far when a loud howl sounded across the field. They both stopped dead.

"What was that?" whispered Jesse and the noise came against followed by a screeching sound that seemed to come from all around.

"I'm not sure," said Steve. "Keep going."

They hadn't gone much further when a low growl followed by screaming split the air. It made the hairs on the back of Jesse's neck stand on end. They both stopped again and looked all around but the tall undergrowth prevented them from seeing anything. There was more growling and howling which seemed unusually loud.

"That sounds like wolves," said Jesse in a scared voice. "Do you think they were attracted by the smell of the baked beans?" Steve almost laughed.

"No Jess. I don't think wolves eat baked beans, they more likely smelt us. But I don't actually think they're real."

"You don't," said Jesse feeling relieved. "Then what's making the noises?"

"I'm not sure, but it's too loud to be made from an animal. I think we should keep moving anyway. I suspect it's those men again up to some sort of mischief."

They carried on as quickly as possible. Jesse still didn't like it. The sounds sounded so close and bloodthirsty. He kept glancing all around him half expecting to see a wolf rush out at him from the undergrowth, but nothing happened. The gradient of the slope increased and Steve realised they were climbing along the top of a V shaped valley. There was a small river running down the centre and he wondered if there was a way of climbing down to it. It might be all right to drink. Just then the howls, screaming and growls all stopped suddenly and it made everywhere feel eerily quiet. They both stood still again wondering what was coming next. Then Steve heard another growl from behind him and there was the sound of scrabbling bushes. Steve turned around fearfully; this one sounded real. He looked back and saw the undergrowth at the bottom of the valley, from where they had just come from, start to move, as if something was running through it. Jesse turned around and saw the swaying bushes moving closer.

"Oh my god," he muttered.

"Move!" yelled Steve. Jesse didn't need prompting. He turned and ran as fast as he could, closely followed by Steve. As they ran Jesse was sure he could now hear the snuffles and growls of something gaining on them. Just ahead of him he saw a thin wooden rope bridge stretching across the river valley. He made towards it and Steve followed. Jess put a foot on the bridge and it seemed to sag under his weight and he hesitated. Glancing back he saw the moving undergrowth was getting very close and decided to risk it. He ran across the small bridge using as a big a stride as possible. The bridge swung but he reached the other side.

Steve was only half away across when he felt the bridge begin to give way beneath him. One of the wooden slats broke and his foot fell through into mid air. He staggered and caught hold of the side rope. The bridge rocked and he knew it was about to collapse. Heaving his foot out of the gap Steve threw himself at the bank of the valley and managed to grab hold of the end post just as the wooden slats fell away. Jesse grabbed hold of his arm and hauled him to safety. They both sat on the ground and looked back over the fallen bridge. Three animals appeared at a run out of the surrounding undergrowth.

"Wolves," said Jesse in shock. "Thank goodness the bridge broke, now they can't get across to us."

"They're not wolves, they're Alsatians," panted Steve. "And I don't think that bridge breaking had anything to do with luck. They may not be able to get over to us, but we can't get back either. Also I noticed how they only started to chase us when we were near the bridge. I think we've been set up again. Someone planned for us to run across that bridge so we would be stuck here. Just like they planned for us to run down that steep slope while we were being shot at with arrows."

"But who?" asked Jesse looking concerned. "And why bother doing all this?"

"I don't know," said Steve gravely. "But whatever game they are playing, they seem to be winning."