Italicized sections of text are only marginal information to clarify what happens in passing, as the beginning of this chapter happens in parallel with the end of the last one.
###
Deep in the forest of death, even before Lewis had reached Julian and George...
"We really should have thought of that before. We have no idea where exactly we are and how we're going to get back once we find these stupid berries," grumbled Anne, who was feeling a little fatigued. The sultry heat was hitting her hard and making her sluggish. Dick was also sweating profusely and exhausted. The only one who didn't mind the heat was Jo, who unflinchingly led the group of three. "Don't worry Anne. I'm a local. I always find a way back. When I was a bit younger I often wandered off into the deep jungle without a compass or other navigational tools," smiled Jo, trying as best she could to put herself in the others' shoes and put them at ease. "So you used to be pretty naughty, huh?" asked Dick, unintentionally sounding a little too suggestive. Jo, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind, probably even liked it. "Not only in the past. I don't let anyone tell me anything nowadays either. Unless I have a lot of respect for the person. Like you, for example." she replied, grinning mischievously. "Are we that respectable?", Dick teased, returning her grin. "Yeah, if you ask me, you are.", Jo replied, winking at the second youngest of the Famous Five.
Anne was getting a bit fed up with the flirting. She was a fanatical fan of love stories, but this moment and the current situation they were in was not conducive to sweet-talking. They were in a war zone and after encountering that armed group they had narrowly avoided a few hours ago, they should be ready for anything at any time and keep their eyes open.
"As far as I know, we have two possibilities to increase our chances of finding the berries," said Jo. "And what are those?" Dick asked. "We look for canyons or bodies of water. Both are guaranteed to have these berries," Jo replied. "So you know these berries we're looking for?" asked Anne, looking up at Jo expectantly. "Not really I've never seen them but heard of them. Being the only natural means of rendering a Black Forest Killer bite harmless, they are naturally highly sought after and a lifesaver here where the beetle is most prevalent," Jo answered her question. "So we're also in danger of not finding any at all if we're unlucky," doubted Dick, who just wanted his brother back in good health. "That's not quite right. These berries are growing like crap. They practically form colonies where hundreds of bushes grow at once. It's almost impossible to eradicate this plant," Jo told them. "But they grow on steep cliffs or rivers with strong currents, which of course makes them much more difficult to access," she added, a little worried.
Her concern was justified. In her village, dozens of rumours were circulating that people who had been searching for the berries had tragically perished. Since, as Jo had already explained, these berries grow in extremely dangerous places, many had already fallen to their certain deaths in the past while gathering them, or had been caught by the strong current of a wild river and drowned. Anne hoped that if they found the bushes by a river, they would grow on their side of the bank so that they would not have to put themselves in great danger of an agonizing drowning.
For a while, the three young people continued to roam silently through the jungle and had to realize again and again how beautiful nature was in it. It was hard to believe that this area of untouched, breathtaking beauty was a place of lawlessness and violence. Jo, Anne and Dick were convinced that the peaceful glow of the jungle was only dim and that something was indeed really very wrong here.
In the meantime, Lewis had arrived at George and Julian in the clearing.
Jo unexpectedly stopped abruptly and listened intently to the sounds of the jungle. "What's going on?" asked Anne, confused, but was interrupted by Jo with a simple gesture of holding her finger in front of her mouth. "Do you hear that?" she asked the others, pointing slightly to the right. "Water!", Dick suddenly gave out. Indeed, if everyone was quiet for a while, they could hear the lapping of a river in the distance. Anne was hugely pleased, but at the same time struck with fear. Did they really have to cross a wild river with deadly currents now? She hoped not, but at the same time felt deep in her subconscious a certain dedication to doing everything she could to save her brother.
"I hope we find something quickly," Anne murmured and followed the other two teenagers. Quickly the natural sound of water grew louder and after a short while they could dimly make out a wide river filled with crystal clear blue water. Only a few minutes later, Jo, Dick and Anne were finally standing at this said river, looking around in both directions. "Do you know what these berries are supposed to look like, or at least their bushes?" asked Dick who didn't know what exactly to look for. "Well the berries are supposed to be red and grow in groups of four on their bushes. The bushes themselves are not supposed to be really high and grow in a circular formation with other bushes. Together they then form these so-called colonies," Jo explained, who didn't see anything promising at first glance either.
"I'd say we just follow this river. It's better than marching blindly through the jungle," Dick suggested, to which Jo agreed. Anne had no other ideas, so she agreed too. Before they set off, however, Jo knelt down on the bank of the river and reached out her right hand to dip it in the water. As soon as she did so, she was surprised by an incredible force. She almost fell down if she hadn't quickly pulled her hand out of the water again. "Okay, so the myth that the water currents here are incredibly strong is definitely true," she said and tried to put her hand into the water again. Again, her hand was pulled along by an incredible force from the water. She had to bend over and rest her other hand on the ground to build up enough strength to keep her hand from being pulled into the water.
"If you are thirsty, this water is drinkable," Jo said to the other two, which immediately drew their full attention. "Are you certain? I really don't want to get poisoned." doubted Anne who didn't much like the idea of consuming water from some river just like that. "You won't, don't worry. We all get our drinking water from the rivers and ponds near our village," Jo reassured her. Dick didn't need to be told twice and knelt down right next to Jo. "I feel so dehydrated you wouldn't believe it," he laughed and began to quench his brutal thirst. Anne joined them after a short while. She, too, had a murderous thirst and simply could not resist it.
Meanwhile, Lewis, Julian, George and Timmy are also on their way to the forest of death.
After they had taken a short break on the banks of the river and had drunk enough, the three young people went on in search of the much sought-after berries that were Julian's remedy.
"That's them!" exclaimed Jo enthusiastically when they had followed the innocently calm river for a while. "Where?" asked Anne and Dick at the same time. "Well, up ahead." replied Jo, pointing a little to the left where there were indeed several bushes with bright red berries growing on them. "Is it really them? Have we finally made it?" asked Dick hopefully. "Let's go and have a closer look at them," Jo suggested, to which Dick and Anne immediately agreed.
Hastily, they made their way to the long-awaited bushes and stopped in front of them with shining eyes. The bushes in front of them were adorned with bright red berries that actually looked like a strange exotic mix of strawberries and cherries. "Thank heaven! We made it!" exclaimed Dick euphorically, dashing inexorably towards the bushes. "Give me a break. We still have to get these to Julian. Whatever way we get back," said Anne, putting a damper on her brother's euphoria. However, Dick did not let this fact drag him down completely. The fact that they finally found the berries after several hours of searching was a reason to celebrate at least a little. "Let's grab a few and get back to the others quickly," Jo said. "Nothing easier than that," Dick smirked, simply tearing off an entire branch of a bush. "That should be enough, right?" he asked with a grin.
Before Jo and Anne could say anything in reply, they were all silenced by a frightening noise of growling. "What was that?" asked Anne, intimidated. Jo turned around in shock and stared stunned into the depths of the jungle. She already had an idea what that sound was, she just didn't dare say it. As it turned out, she didn't have to because the source of the sound, which was life-threatening, revealed itself shortly afterwards.
"Get lost, you beast. Get out of here, leave me alone!" someone suddenly shouted in an extremely panicked voice. Only fractions of a second later, the teens were presented with a frightening picture. A slightly smaller, lanky man dressed in similar clothes as Lewis was running as fast as he could through the jungle. At first Dick and Anne were completely confused. "What's the matter with him?" asked Dick, a little anxiously but still rather perplexed. "Panther!" blurted out Jo, whose body immediately tensed as soon as she caught sight of the predator. " That's that guys last run of his life," Dick gave out, standing there just as petrified as Jo. Anne slapped him lightly on the arm for this inappropriate "joke", however her brother was absolutely right. It wasn't long before the guy fell down and was caught by the huge feline predator.
Wildly, the animal began to tug, scratch and bite at the completely defenceless man. The pain-filled screams made the teens feel queasy in the stomach area. After a while, the panther's victim became quiet as a mouse. Anne was horrified at what had happened to the man. Was he killed by the animal or did he faint? Her thoughts of the man's possible brutal demise were abruptly interrupted by several gunshots. The panther, which was still tampering with its victim's supposed corpse, yelped loudly and leapt away from the man. It quickly tried to run away, but was hit by several bullets and toppled over a few steps later.
A few seconds later, the gunman who had taken out the panther showed himself. It was a much taller man, who was also quite a bit slimmer than the man who had been the panther's victim. Shaking his head, the slender man sighed and touched his right ear. "Laoghaire here, Tolkien got it bad. He's been torn to shreds by a panther, what do you want me to do with him?" he spoke. On his ear was very likely a radio, through which he was communicating with whoever. "Confirm, no signs of life." he spoke curtly after kneeling down briefly to the badly battered fellow, his presumed colleague, to check his pulse. "Roger that, taking care of it right away," he finished his radio conversation and slipped a black backpack off his back. He set it down on the ground and took out a white tarpaulin. He unfolded it and unabashedly laid it over his colleague... or at least what was left of it.
"I think the water from before is coming up again," stammered Dick, who could only now speak quietly again. "I've seen enough, let's get out of here," whined Anne, who had become completely dizzy after the experience. She was surprised that her body had not reacted differently. Normally, even harmless film scenes made her feel very nauseous, but what she had just seen was real. It was a miracle that she didn't throw up and instead stood there with a loudly complaining stomach. "Yeah, let's get out of here before that guy sees us," Jo murmured and started walking.
Dick and Anne looked over again at the man who had just finished "burying" his colleague. As he did so, he showed no emotion whatsoever, which really got to Anne. What a heartless person. Watching someone being brutally killed without the chance to fight back and not even showing a hint of emotion or dejection. On the contrary, the man did his job drearily and professionally, completely covering up his deceased colleague with just a few moves. When he was done, he grabbed his backpack, zipped it up and swung it back on his back.
Unfortunately, that was not all the teens had to go through. Shortly after they had started their return journey, Dick accidentally stepped on a piece of wood hidden under undergrowth, which cracked loudly due to the pressure. Startled, all three youths stopped abruptly and looked at each other in panic. The guy will definitely have heard that, that was clear. Now they had only two options. Hide or run away. Both were life-threatening and could very well go badly wrong. But what choice did they have?
Unfortunately, the kids took a little too long to decide and the man from before was already on their heels. "Stop!" he shouted loudly, causing the youths to flinch violently. "What is that in your hand?" he asked Dick with a commanding undertone. He came closer and closer to the children, keeping his machine gun, with which he had also shot the panther earlier, at the ready. "That guy wouldn't shoot children, would he?" flashed it through Anne's mind, who instinctively let her hand go to her waistband and grasped the handle of the pistol that rested there. She dreaded firing the thing, but prepared herself to do just that if necessary.
Dick showed the unfriendly man what he was holding, whereupon he began to grin nastily. "Kids messing with the local animals. Typical tourists," he laughed. "Like your colleague earlier who ran away from the panther?", Jo hissed, which immediately wiped the ugly grin off the stranger's face. Instead of saying anything, he pointed the machine gun in his hand towards Jo and fired a shot. Fortunately, it only hit the ground, but did not miss in terms of intimidation. Jo's face immediately turned white as a sheet and Dick had moved close to her side. Instinctively, she leaned slightly against him. No one had ever shot at her with a sharp weapon before, no matter whether the shot should have hit her or not.
Anne's fright had caused her to pull the pistol out of its hiding place and hide it behind her right leg so that the guy wouldn't see it. "Watch how you talk about my men, you hear?" the lean man threatened, fingering his earpiece with a piercing look at Jo. "Laoghaire here again. Get a squad going, I've got some problems here with some idiots who think they can get in my way," he said into it, completely ignoring the fact that these "idiots" were defenceless children, apart from Anne, who was indeed armed. "Sure we'll stand in your way so bad. Can't even scare a few kids away," Jo scoffed. She was only slightly frightened by the guy. The shock of the deliberately missed shot had already passed. However, Jo's comments didn't seem to please the guy and he did the same thing again. This time Jo and Dick didn't flinch as much as the last time. "Cut the crap and leave us alone. My brother needs help." demanded Dick, to which, of course, the lean one paid little heed. "Oh how cute, your brother needs help.", the guy sneered in an extremely provocative manner. "Your brother won't be the only one in urgent need of a doctor in a minute.", he began to threaten and now pointed the rifle directly at Jo and Dick.
That was the sign for Anne. The guy completely blanked her out. She no longer existed for him. His wild gibberish and threats gave her enough time to gather enough courage to raise the gun and point it at the man threatening her friends. Unfortunately, he saw what Anne was doing out of the corner of his eye and immediately turned his head towards her. With his eyes wide open, he stared at her and shouted loudly: "Fuck! She's got a gun!
It had been a pure knee-jerk reaction. Anne aimed the pistol at the right leg of the supposed gangster, who was in the process of pulling the gun off Dick and Jo and pointing it at her. Without even thinking for a second, Anne pulled the trigger of the gun and shot the guy in the right thigh. The slender man immediately froze and started screaming in pain. He knelt down and held his shot leg, from which blood was already flowing. "You stupid brat!" he murmured threateningly and tried to hold his rifle upright with one hand to spite Anne. But the latter reacted swiftly and gave him another shot right in the upper-right arm, very close to the shoulder in which he held the gun. "Ah, bloody hell. I've been shot, get medical backup to my GPS position now!" the guy blathered into his radio and dropped to the ground in pain.
"Quick, get out of here!" hissed Jo, urging the others to follow her. After a few seconds of confusion as to what exactly had just happened, Dick and Anne did so. "Stop! Stay here, you filthy brats!" the injured man roared, picking up his gun from the floor. He switched it to full automatic and held it in the rough direction in which the children had fled. He pressed the gun's trigger fully and emptied the entire magazine blindly into the woods, with no regard for who, what or how he might hit something. Countless bullets whizzed past the children or hit tree trunks or the arid ground near them. The deafening muzzle flash almost deafened them.
They hadn't got far from the guy when they hear him shouting. "These idiots have fled in an easterly direction from my current position. Get them, but leave them alive, especially that blonde snotty brat!" he ordered loudly. "Keep going. Keep running, don't look behind. They won't be that fast," Jo shouted to the others in the heat of the moment. "Ha! You might think so," a voice in front of her suddenly laughed. A man, almost as tall as the other, only a lot wider, stepped into her way. Jo crashed into him full on and was caught right by him. Anne's pistol was taken from her shortly afterwards, and she was also caught by the people, who they still had no idea who they were. "Jo, Anne!" panicked Dick, who had built up a little distance and was watching the debacle from a short distance. He watched in horror as Jo was seized and Anne disarmed and thus brutally seized by the strangers. "Run, Dick! Julian needs those damn berries!" ordered Jo who tried to fight back as bested she could with scratching, kicking and pinching. Dick wanted to deny it at first, but the situation was hopeless. He had to return with Julian and George and of course Timmy as soon as possible. As he was about to turn around to save his brother, another of the strangers suddenly stood in front of him. "Well, where are you off to in such a hurry?" asked the broad-shouldered man looming menacingly over him. "Eh, to my brother." replied Dick, completely under the influence of adrenalin and in a shaky voice. "So, so, to your brother then. Sorry, but you're not going anywhere today, kid." the guy laughed and knocked Dick out with a huge punch.
"Dick!", Anne and Jo shouted at the same time. The latter was now getting really aggressive. "I'm going to get you, you sack of shit," Jo threatened and became increasingly grumpier. "Don't talk so much and stop bitching. Otherwise, you'll be sorry," ordered the guy who had pulled Jo firmly into a headlock. "You'll be sorry for this fucking shit. Beating up defenceless children, how cowardly are you?", Jo raged on, who could not do much physically, but could also win wars excellently with her cheeky tongue. The only problem was that the men were not at all afraid of Jo's threats, but rather made fun of them.
After a short while, the man Anne had shot down came limping up to them. A woman was walking next to him with a red cross symbol on her jacket. A paramedic who had tended to the man. "Take them to the temporary camp. I'll inform Haynes that we could grab at least three of those pesky kids who are getting in his way," he ordered, grinning nastily at Anne and Jo. The two girls threw shocked looks at each other. They didn't know that all these guys, belonged to Haynes. They already knew they were in trouble, but this would complicate things a little more.
###
"Soon we'll be there, we're only a few hundred metres away from the "border"," Lewis announced when he had walked through the jungle with George and Julian after quite a while. Julian was doing pretty well, even if he often needed a short breather and was frequently plagued by a violent throbbing headache or sudden attacks of dizziness. The latter always made him reach for George's arm to keep from falling over. At first George was perplexed and almost annoyed by this behaviour, but she quickly understood that Julian couldn't help it and that the touching was purely a knee-jerk reaction. She herself would also reach for something in the immediate vicinity if she suddenly felt dizzy.
George struggled for a while with her subconscious, which would tell her that she liked Julian's touch. But she immediately denied it. She had no time for such childish banter. They were in the supposedly most dangerous place in the world and she had to stay on her guard. The ever brave, courageous and selfless George, could not be distracted by any one-sided, silly and completely unfounded feelings. She didn't even know what to make of these feelings that were completely foreign to her. She had to stay focused and that's exactly what she did. Even if it meant bringing the old George from earlier back to the fore a little and becoming a little cooler. Her general exaggerated concern for Julian, had never been her style anyway.
"Are you OK?" Julian asked quietly when he noticed that something was wrong with George. In their internal conflict, she had been staring at the floor in front of her throughout, which confused Julian slightly. "Yeah, everything's fine," she lied. "I'm just worried about your siblings," she added quietly, a half white lie to avoid drawing attention to herself. "They'll be fine, Jo knows her way around the jungle," he said, smiling weakly at her. Instinctively, George smiled back, but she felt a little strange that Julian was talking about Jo. She accused herself of being childish, of being jealous now, and reminded herself not to think about it any further or in any way along those lines.
"What's that?" George blurted as she looked up briefly to check on Lewis, who was walking ahead. The large white sheet, which Dick, Anne and Jo had also encountered, now fluttered in front of them. The gigantic, hastily drawn skull intimidated even George a little, who didn't really mind such things. "This is one of the many temporary warning signs meant to represent the imaginary border. Local residents are tired of losing their kids here, so they painted these skulls on them to scare the kids and make them turn around," Lewis explained. "And does it work?" asked Julian with a weak grin. Lewis grinned widely back. "Well the number of dead or abused kids has definitely gone down," the Australian replied which immediately knocked the grin off Julian's face. He had thought Lewis was only joking.
"Well, off to hell, then," Lewis said shortly before he started moving again. George went after him, but stopped when she noticed that Julian was not following. He was still a little shocked by what Lewis had just indirectly told him. Are children really being arbitrarily killed or abused here? If the latter happened to the girls because of his failure, he would never forgive himself. "Julian?" he heard George's voice speak. At that he looked up and straight into her eyes, from which he could not break away for what felt like an eternity. George, who reacted a little startled to Julian's gaze, also seemed unwilling or unable to break eye contact. The eldest of the Five Friends felt a tremendous urge to approach George, but he managed to restrain himself somewhat agonisingly.
Lewis noticed what was going on between George and Julian and decided to just wait and leave them alone. He turned his back to them and dug a tobacco pouch out of a pocket of his waistcoat. With a few quick swift moves, he rolled a cigarette and pulled a lighter from his pocket.
"Are you all right?" George urged anxiously and walked a little towards her cousin. That was exactly what made Julian that much more uneasy. He knew exactly what he was up against and was dreading it. Not really of the feelings, but more for the reaction of George or even the others if they were ever brought to light. "Yeah, it's all good. The wound is just starting to hurt a lot," he lied, rubbing the arm he had been bitten on by the black forest killer. As he lifted his arm a little, something startling caught George's eye. Hastily she hurried over to Julian and grabbed his arm. Confused and with his heart beating wildly in his chest, he looked at George and wondered what she was up to. Only by chance did he see the very same thing George was so worried about just now. A deep blood-red line had formed from the black ranger's wound, scrambling up his arm. George and Julian looked at each other piercingly for a moment, as if they had just seen a ghost.
"Lewis? Can you come here a minute?" called George without taking her eyes off Julian's. Lewis looked confused in their direction, but then came back to them without saying a word. However, he didn't walk straight towards them, but first a little to their left. Only after he had passed the bedsheet again did his gaze fall on the two of them, and he corrected his walking direction. If Julian hadn't been completely distracted by two other things at the moment, this behaviour of the Australian would have puzzled him greatly. George did not notice its behaviour at all. She stood there completely petrified, letting her eyes wander alternately to Julian's eyes and his arm. "What's up?" asked Lewis. He switched to stereotypical Australian slang, which would have been very funny to the two British teenagers in normal situations. But they were, more or less understandably, in no mood to laugh.
"What's that?" asked George, showing him Julian's arm and looking anxiously at Lewis. "May I?" he asked, clamping his cigarette between his lips. George gave him a little room, so he could look more closely at that scary red line. "That's from the beetle's venom. Once the red line reaches its heart, there will be no way out," he explained to the two, who then got wide-eyed. Lewis pointed to the collar of Julian's shirt. "Let me see how far the poison has worked its way, if that's okay," he said. "Yeah, no problem." groaned Julian. Lewis let go of Julian's arm and pulled the front collar of Julian's t-shirt slightly down and to the left. "Holy crap.", George gasped out in shock when she saw her cousin's left shoulder covered in red lines. "How much longer will he have?" asked George with a thick lump in her throat. She was reluctant to ask the question. The fear of hearing miserable news was too much for her, but she still needed to know. "Three hours. If we're really lucky six," Lewis replied. George and Julian looked at each other in horror. George raised her hand and, lost in thought, touched the spot where the red line from his arm extended, root-like, over his shoulder. Julian tensed abruptly and sheepishly turned his head away from George. The latter was too deep in thought about whatever it was she was thinking about. Lewis, on the other hand, who had put a little distance between them again, noticed Julian's behaviour and couldn't help grinning.
If he had to choose one thing he was perfect at, it was reading other people. Even before his father had passed away, he had been very interested in psychology and additionally in general non-verbal communication, i.e. gestures and facial expressions and their meanings. He took part in short seminars in both fields, which aroused his interest even more, so that the young Australian continued his education on his own. Exactly this knowledge, indicated to him that in front of him stood two people who meant much more to each other than two best friends. This was about true feelings, against which both were fighting fiercely. A fight they would never win and would only harm themselves. Nothing stood in their way. Only themselves, and Lewis found that rather saddening.
