For quite a while, Jo, Dick and Anne walked through the densely overgrown jungle. The midday heat broke in and made the air unpleasantly humid and muggy. The three young people quickly worked up a sweat just by walking. So far, they had not found any signs of this aforementioned Khwām Tāy. No signs or other objects that would establish a border came into their sight. All the while, they walked in the direction shown to them by Lewis and the compass. Before Jo had given up on the compass and Cassi had snatched it up, she took a quick look at it, which gave her a rough idea of which direction they had to go.
"My goodness. I respect you and your people that you can stand living here like this every day," snorted Dick, who was the worst hit by the heat. Jo smirked and casually patted him on the shoulder. "All force of habit." she said, grinning. "I'll never get used to it," Dick returned, shaking his head. "Shouldn't there be signs or something somewhere? I don't see anything for miles around here except trees and wild brush," Anne said, steering the conversation in another direction. "Maybe we've just been fooled and this Khwām Tāy doesn't exist," Dick surmised. "Rather unlikely. Lewis and Cassi both talked about it. And Nick seemed to know about it too. So I think this mythical part of the jungle must definitely exist," Jo replied, leading the small group. "I hope it's not as dangerous as everyone thinks, though," Anne interjected. She still hoped it was all made up to scare the teens away. She didn't want to accuse Lewis of lying to them so that he could get the treasure himself. Besides, he wanted to save his brother and was not after it at all. However, she had often been wrong about people. Only with Lewis it was different. She felt it deep in her heart that this young Australian was definitely not a bad person.
While Anne was deep in thought about Lewis, Jo suddenly stopped abruptly. The youngest of the Famous Five didn't notice and crashed into Jo, completely absent-minded. "Oh dear, I'm sorry," she stammered, shaking her head. She slapped herself in thought for thinking of a boy she barely knew in their current situation. "What's wrong Jo?" asked Dick in confusion. "That's what's wrong.", Jo pressed out, pointing to something that seemed to be causing her great concern. As Dick followed her gaze, he immediately understood her worries. Fluttering in front of them was a large giant white bedsheet, fixed between two trees and serving as a makeshift shield. A gigantic drawing of a skull, which gave a frightening impression, served as a warning. Above it a handwriting written in English "DANGER!" and below it, something else in two scripts unknown to the youths coming from Europe. Dick nevertheless realized that the second of the scripts must be Chinese.
"That's...", stuttered Anne, who stared at the "sign" as if rooted to the spot, her face as white as a sheet. "H̄̂ām p̄h̀ān. It's one of those signs Lewis warned us about," Jo said, taking a deep breath. "Then I guess we've arrived at our destination," Dick added, looking around cautiously. The youngsters had to admit that the area of the jungle that was behind the sign did indeed give a very creepy impression. "Is it my imagination or is that pitch-black back there?" asked Dick, confused. "No, you're not," replied Jo, who also noticed that everything behind the sign was shrouded in a strange, frightening darkness. This just couldn't be natural? Was their mind playing an evil trick on them?
"We should go in there, look for the berries and then get right back out," said Dick, who had his eyes fixed on the Khwām Tāy. "We have no choice.", Jo confirmed him quietly and ventured a few steps forward. Dick and Anne followed her cautiously. Right in front of the creepy, makeshift sign, they stopped. "I wonder if I'll be beamed to another galaxy the moment I cross the line," Dick joked, which only cheered Jo up a little. Anne, on the other hand, was pale as snow and completely silent. She gave Dick a stunned look, as if to ask him how he could joke in this situation.
Jo was the first to venture into the "forest of death". The supposed "border crossing" was much less spectacular than Dick had expected. Because instead of Jo being beamed to another galaxy, as he said, or being shot on the spot, simply... nothing happened. Yet Jo noticed something that plunged her into confusion. The temperature had changed. Suddenly it was much cooler than before. Her strange discovery became even more apparent when Anne, who after a while had also dared to cross the imaginary boundary, complained about the sudden jump in air temperature. Jo, however, was only slightly put off by this. She had sworn to find the berries for Julian and would not let such a conceit stop her. Without a word, she walked further into the jungle. Dick and Anne followed her silently.
###
While Jo, Dick and Anne went further and further into what was supposed to be the most dangerous area in the world, George looked after Julian as best she could. She laid him carefully on his sleeping bag and silently provided him with enough water. Throughout, he fainted and woke up again after a while for a few minutes. George asked him each time how he was. Her worries about her cousin were colossal. So great that she was already worried about the worry herself.
Timmy lay quietly beside her and looked down at George and Julian in turn. He seemed to sense his mistress's worries and tried to reassure her by placing his head on her left leg, while George sat cross-legged next to Julian. Lost in thought, George stroked her dog's head. She fervently hoped that the others would succeed in their search for Julian's cure and that nothing bad would happen to them.
Coughing, Julian awoke once more from a half-hour of unconsciousness. "Everything will be all right, Julian. Jo and the others will find those berries," she spoke to him as she squeezed his hand supportively. "If I can even make it this long. I feel so weak." groaned her cousin, who seemed to be slowly giving up hope. "You will get through this. I have every faith in it." replied George, who, unlike him, simply refused to give up hope.
###
"Do you see the same thing I see?" asked Dick, staring wide-eyed at something breathtaking in front of him. "Yes. We do," Anne confirmed him. After wandering deeper and deeper into the supposedly chaotic and lawless Khwām Tāy, something they had never expected was revealed to them. Untouched nature stretched for miles in front of them. Gigantic trees, with huge trunks, beautiful plants and bushes that made you feel like you were in paradise. Was the Khwām Tāy just a lie after all? Were these signs just an attempt to keep tourists and superstitious inhabitants away from this area? It definitely did not radiate a dangerous atmosphere, which had a great effect on the three teenagers. They felt safe and automatically let their guard down.
Dick stopped in front of a gigantic tree with a huge crown, impressed. "What is that?" he asked. "T̂nmị̂ lîncī̀," Jo replied with a smile. "It is also called a lychee tree. The lychee fruits of the same name grow on it. In China, where this tree also grows, wine is made from these fruits. They taste incredibly sweet, but only when they are really ripe," she explained. "But these fruits aren't able to cure the bite of a black forest killer by pure chance, are they?" asked Anne. "No, they aren't. They just taste exquisite. That's all they've got," Jo replied, shaking her head. "Then we should keep looking. I don't think Julian will last much longer," Dick said, turning away from the big tree.
Deeper and deeper the three youths went into the "forest of death". They still could not explain why this area was so named. Not a soul was to be seen here and there was a pleasant, reassuring silence. But as they used to say: Appearances spoil things. And that is exactly what happened.
Gunshots made all three youths flinch violently. Jo immediately knelt down behind a fallen tree trunk and pulled Dick down with her. Anne did the same and looked at the others fearfully, but also confused. "What's wrong?" she asked, stammering slightly. "There are some people up ahead. They have guns, and they were just shooting at something," Jo replied, peering cautiously over the boot that provided good cover for the teens. Sure enough, about two hundred yards from them, were several heavily armed men. They looked alarmed and were aiming their weapons at something the youngsters couldn't make out.
"Xxk mā cāk thī̀ s̀xn k̄hxng khuṇ txn nī̂! Mị̀mī xarị ca ch̀wy khuṇ dị̂!" one of the men shouted, holding his machine gun up in the air in a presentable manner. He was most likely the leader of the troop. Dick and Anne then looked up at Jo in confusion. They wanted to know from her what the man had just ordered. "Whoever they were fighting should surrender and come out of hiding," she said quietly, not taking her eyes off the leader of the armed group.
After no one responded or reacted to the leader's order, the men began to search their nearby surroundings. They held their weapons at the ready throughout, ready to pump anyone they could get in their sights full of lead. One of the men came very close to Jo, Dick and Anne. By a hair's breadth they managed to prevent him from spotting them by lying flat behind the tree trunk and squeezing very close to it. All three breathed an audible sigh of relief as the stranger trotted off again.
###
Although her fear for her cousin's survival was immense, George nevertheless sat quite relaxed next to Julian, who was still permanently alternating between consciousness and unconsciousness. She had hope. She believed in Jo, Dick and Anne. No one has ever been able to defeat the Famous Five so easily and this incident will also end well for them. George told herself that over and over again, which allowed her to breathe a little easier.
Her gaze fell on her hand, which was in her cousin's. She knew that she and Julian had something special between them. Something stronger than their friendship or their kinship. No, it had to be something much more powerful than that. Only what exactly that something was, George did not know and was far from finally finding out.
Although she wasn't sure and would probably never admit it, she had often admitted or asked herself if she had minimal romantic feelings for Julian. In the past, when her "I'm a boy!" feeling was a lot more violently present than it is now, she couldn't admit to being in love with anyone. For her, as a child, it was a sign of weakness or giving up independence. When she thought about it today, she could only shake her head in response. Her way of thinking had changed. Although she never gave up the desire to be a boy, and probably never will, she had increasingly dialled down her "masculine extremism", as Dick sometimes called it, and more or less accepted that she couldn't just be a boy because her body was changing in ways she didn't want at all. The first signs of gender dysphoria, which worsened considerably from year to year. No one but herself knows about it.
Rustling interrupted George's train of thought and abruptly caught her attention. When this rustling and cracking of branches did not subside, she slowly but surely became a little uneasy. Out of reflex, she reached for her waistband, but was horrified to find that the pistol that was supposed to be resting there was not present. Delayed by the shock, she only remembered after quite a while that she had given the gun to Anne, who had gone to the forest of death. She turned chalky pale as she admitted to herself that she was
Rustling interrupted George's train of thought and abruptly caught her attention. When this rustling and cracking of branches did not subside, she slowly but surely became a little uneasy. Out of reflex, she reached for her waistband, but was horrified to find that the pistol that was supposed to be resting there was not present. Delayed by the shock, she only remembered after quite a while that she had given the gun to Anne, who had gone to the forest of death. She turned white as a sheet when she admitted to herself that she, Julian and Timmy were defenceless against the danger that lurked in the depths of the vegetation. She could not stand up to a predator or an armed person.
When Timmy, who was still with Julian and faithfully watching over him, suddenly jumped up and ran in the direction of the sounds, George's stomach clenched painfully. "Timmy! Get away!" she commanded, trying to remain as quiet as possible. The dog didn't hear, however, which almost made George lose her composure. Almost mortal fear for Julian, her dog and herself tugged at her whole body and paralysed her. With her eyes wide open, she stared alternately at her dog and at the bushes from which the stressful rustling sounded. Completely motionless, she leaned against the stone and could not bring herself to say or do anything.
Just as she could free herself from her stupor and take a big leap towards her dog, the rustling got a lot louder. Then within a split second, a figure stood next to Timmy and stroked his head. A gigantic stone fell from her heart when she realized who this person was.
It was Lewis.
###
After what felt like an eternity, the unknown heavily armed people had finally disappeared and Jo, Dick and Anne dared to leave their hiding place behind the fallen tree. "My goodness. I feel like we've been crouched behind this log for at least an hour. My back is shot," Dick complained, stretching in a way that seemed a little excessive to the others. "Oh come on, don't be like that. You're always saying you love to be lazy," Anne countered with an innocent smile. "Who said that? Me, lazy? Tzz, never.", Dick immediately denied, to prevent himself from being humiliated in front of Jo. The latter, however, found Dick's reaction far too amusing and simply could not think of him in a malicious way. For her, he was different from the others in his own way and that was exactly what impressed her so much.
"Well, who used to start nagging straight away that they were starving, even though they had eaten almost everyone else's food two hours before, eh?" asked Anne teasingly. "Not me. Definitely not me," Dick muttered, looking down at the ground. He scratched the back of his head sheepishly, clearly not conforming to the situation Anne had put him in. "Absolutely not you, Dick Kirrin. No way in hell.", Anne continued to tease and walked past him, grinning and shaking her head.
Dick was puzzled by Anne's sudden rebelliousness. He knew she was only joking and for heaven's sake did not want to attack him personally, but still, she behaved differently. Almost more mature and a lot more confident than he knew the usually reserved Anne to be. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Jo, who could not suppress an amused laugh. "I must say Dick, you are adorable sometimes," she giggled and hurriedly scurried past him following Anne. This confused him even more. Had Jo really just called him "cute" or was he going completely crazy now? Did the forest of death have a hallucinogenic side effect? Shaking his head, he tried to get his thoughts under control. He had certainly misunderstood Jo and standing here stupidly, alone and rooted to the spot in what was supposed to be the most dangerous area in the world probably wouldn't have been so smart. So, he turned around and hurried after the two girls with a hasty "Hey, wait for me!"
###
"You gave me such a scare, dude. If you do that again, I'll punch that gun you love so much so hard in your..."
"Wow, George, take it easy," Lewis laughed in amusement. "I'm really sorry to have startled you so, but I'm afraid I can't announce myself because I didn't know if you were still here, and it's pretty dangerous to be yelling wildly in the deep jungle," he apologized, raising his hands slightly. Again he had the carbine with him, which this time he did not carry in his hand but swung loosely behind his back.
George did not answer him. Instead, she looked him grimly in the eye, as if she were turning him to stone. "Don't you want to tell me where the rest of your clique is and why he's lying there like he's smoked all the weed that's being dealt here in one go?" asked Lewis with a grin, pointing over at Julian.
Immediately, George's demeanour changed, and she looked over at her cousin in hurt. Lewis noticed this and his mischievous grin also disappeared immediately. He knew that look George had. She was afraid and distressed about the boy who only looked bad at second glance.
"I don't think weed would help him one bit. He was bitten. By the black forest killer or whatever the critter is called. I'm beginning to lose hope that he'll survive," George explained, shaking her head aggressively several times in a vain attempt to fight back a few tears that were so urgently trying to escape her eyes.
"That stupid woman Cassi said that only some red, cherry-like berries could alleviate the poisoning, so that the body could defeat it on its own. She also said something about some kind of medicine, something with chaldo or something, which is supposed to help directly but is probably impossible to get," she stammered on, totally ignoring her previous concerns that Lewis might not be to be trusted.
"Chaloditrophrine?" asked Lewis with interest. George just nodded, but fixed her eyes on Julian's chest, which was moving up and down very slowly and at times unevenly. "Chalod, is one of the strongest drugs that is not only smuggled and sold around here, but also produced. The stuff wouldn't cure him, but it would destroy his body so hard that the killer's bite would only be a mosquito bite for him.
"That's why the others went to get those berries," George muttered, still looking down at Julian and not seeming fully present. "But they're only in the Tāy," Lewis said quietly. "I know." she countered unabashedly. "And it's life-threatening.", Lewis continued still in a completely calm and composed tone. Either this guy didn't care at all what could possibly happen to the teens or he really has a fierce talent for hiding fear, panic and worry.
"You already told us this, but we are the Famous Five. No one can stand up to our combined stubbornness. Especially not mine," George said. "And yet you sit here and let the others risk their lives?" asked Lewis with a slight grin.
George had to admit, that hurt! She knew it was selfish to send the others off and stay behind to mourn Julian's deteriorating condition. Still silent, she looked weakly at Julian's face and felt an uncanny urge to touch it with her fingers. But Lewis' presence stopped her.
"He seems to be important to you," Lewis observed. George did not answer him literally, but in her mind she agreed with him. Yes, he was important to her. As important as she would ever admit. Lewis sighed and turned his gaze to the floor. He seemed to be thinking, but George didn't care at this point. The thought that she might lose Julian forever tugged at her heart. He had placed his hands one over the other on his stomach, which was rising and falling agonisingly slowly. Exhausted, George squeezed her eyes shut, let out a sad sigh and placed her right hand on the boy's.
Shadowy movements, which she only saw in the corner of her eye, made her look up again. Lewis held out an elongated pen-like object to her and without words asked her to take it from his hand. Slowly she raised her right hand and carefully took the unfamiliar thing from his grasp as if it were a highly explosive object. "This is some kind of medicinal awakener. More specifically, it's an auto-injector that you'll jam into his leg. It won't weaken the poison, but it will give him new strength to at least stay awake and, with luck, maybe even walk around a bit," the Australian explained to her.
For a while, George held the injector in her hand and examined it, lost in thought. "We can't give him too many of these, though. Otherwise he might have a heart attack or stroke. It's pretty strong stuff.", Lewis added quietly, causing George's gaze to immediately flick up to him. "As long as we have a controlled response, though, we should be okay. We just can't overdo it, he needs an antidote as soon as possible," he reassured them, to which he got a slight, weak nod from George in response.
As she decided to administer the stimulant to Julian, she suddenly stopped. "Do I..." she stammered, looking at Lewis a little sheepishly. Lewis apparently knew immediately what she was thinking of and started laughing softly. "An auto-injector is used with quite a bit of force. Knocks through the fabric of his trousers like that," he said, grinning broadly. George nodded in relief that she didn't have to put herself in a rather embarrassing situation. She berated herself for thinking that way. Julian was, if she had to pick one, her best friend. Sure, they often have disagreements, but for George, that's what their friendship is all about. Somehow, despite their views of certain situations, they can always find compromises satisfactory to both of them. She didn't want to destroy her friendship with Julian with some stupid feelings that she couldn't even really justify and Julian probably didn't reciprocate.
"Do you want to do it or shall I?", Lewis offered her. George replied in the negative. "I can handle it," she said quietly. Taking a deep breath, she prepared to administer the drug to Julian. There was one small advantage to the boy's fainting. Having such a thing rammed into his leg would have to hurt enormously. Once more she took a deep breath, removing the protective cap that protected the needle of the injector from contamination or the wearer from injury. Mentally counting to three, she clenched her right hand, in which she held the injector, and jabbed it hard into Julian's right leg.
When Lewis had given her the injector, George had shortly afterwards read through the quick application instructions printed on it in small letters. On the top of the pen was a rubber button which, when pressed, forced the drug into the recipient's body. She pressed this and held it down for a short moment. Then she removed the pen from Julian's leg again and watched the boy in front of her.
She remained silent, but inside she was screaming for Julian to wake up. "It works pretty fast, you can give that thing to me in the meantime," Lewis said and held out his hand to her. Briefly she looked up at the Australian and handed him the now useless injector. Her gaze quickly dropped back to her cousin, whose breathing was now much stronger.
Lewis straightened up and disappeared behind her, probably to dispose of the injector. Julian stirred a little, which visibly stirred George. "Julian?" she breathed weakly. At the sound of George's voice and hearing his name, he finally woke up and slowly opened his eyes. "George.", he groaned in an enormously hoarse voice. "How are you?" she asked softly. Julian grabbed his right leg convulsively. "Everything hurts," Julian grumbled, trying sluggishly to sit up. With George's help, he managed to do so and she hugged him tightly, a gesture that took Julian completely by surprise but did him good.
At the same time, Lewis had gone to a stone in the clearing to destroy the needle of the auto-injector so that no one would get hurt by it. After hitting the tip three times against the stone, it came loose and fell at his feet. He unabashedly threw the rest of the injector into the forest after burying the needle of the pen.
When he turned around, he could just see George and Julian hugging each other. Grinning, he shook his head as they broke away from each other and acted as if nothing had happened. He immediately understood that neither of them obviously wanted to show that they felt much more for each other than a simple strong friendship.
Lewis let a few more seconds pass, then he rejoined the other two. Julian was the first to notice him and looked at him in surprise. He probably hadn't expected to see the Australian again so soon, or at all. "How are you?" asked Lewis casually, kneeling down beside him. "I'm dizzy and my head feels like it's about to explode," Julian replied, a little woozy. "I'm afraid the poison isn't out, but thanks to the adrenaline you should feel a little better for a while. You still need to get an antidote as soon as possible though," Lewis explained. "Are Anne and the others still in the forest of death?", Julian asked George worriedly. She just nodded silently and looked depressed at the ground.
"I don't like this at all. They can't even fight back," Lewis spoke, straightening up again. "I gave Anne the pistol you left me," George told him. "Better than nothing but against several hundred men armed with machine guns it won't make much difference either," the Australian doubted. "Sooner or later they will come across rebels or gangsters who will stop at nothing. Not even murder," he added worriedly.
"What should we do now?" asked Julian, looking up at him. "We should go after them. They might already be in trouble or need help," Lewis replied. Julian nodded in agreement and turned his gaze to George, who was also looking at him with concern for the others. She nodded slightly and thus also agreed with the idea of the other two boys.
"We'll help you to your feet first. Expect to get really dizzy," Lewis warned him and grabbed his right arm. George immediately assisted, stood up as well and did the same with her cousin's left arm. "Ready?" the Australian asked and Julian nodded in confirmation. "All right, careful then." he said curtly to George. Joining forces, they carefully pulled Julian to his feet, who immediately tried to hold on to both of them. As Lewis had said, he was immediately plagued by enormous vertigo. "The adrenaline is only now getting into all the corners of your body. You're about to feel like nothing ever happened to you, but you have to stop yourself from that. Your body is severely weakened and won't be able to take much," Lewis warned. "I can tell," Julian retorted with a grin. And indeed the Australian was right. More and more he regained his strength, but deep inside he felt that this strength was only a kind of illusion.
After a few seconds, Lewis and George released their grip from Julian's arms and let him keep his balance on his power, which worked pretty well. " Looking good so far. Let's take it slow and focused then," Lewis said. "Let's go.", Julian whispered and took his first step which gave him another kick of energy.
Slowly and carefully, they made their way towards Khwām Tāy. Lewis went first and, with his favourite weapon in his hand, led the small group. Julian followed him at a little distance. George stayed by his side, feeling a strange desire to hold her cousin's arm throughout.
