"Simba!" Nala complained, as she trudged up a steep hill. "How much farther is it?"

Simba, Nala and Haiba were on one of their many treks through the jungle. It had become a sort of home away from home for them. Plus, there was always an inordinate amount of adventures to be found. A lot of spooky things seemed to occur in the odd place…

However, their destination for this particular journey was actually home: the Pride Lands. After a horrific—and surprisingly musical—encounter with Hago, they just wanted to go back and collapse in the den for two days straight.

And the hot sun and endless hills weren't helping at all. The exhaustion was getting worse.

"It can't be much more," Simba assured her, looking tired himself. Having been awake for more than twenty hours straight, he felt like knocking himself over the head with a rock just to fall unconscious. He couldn't believe how tiring this was. "Just… a little… further…"

"You said that two hours ago," Haiba told them, opening his mouth wide and letting out a long yawn. "And so far, I haven't seen anything that looks remotely close to the Pride Lands. I think we're lost."

"We are not lost," Simba stated. "It's just a matter of… finding out where we are."

"In other words: we're lost," Nala said through half-closed eyes.

Simba paused. "Yeah…" he sheepishly admitted.

They were lost. So lost that he was just walking anywhere in the hope of getting back home. Besides, it wasn't like he could do anything else. As the leader of the group, it was his job to find the way home—right? "Okay, so we're a little lost—but it's not like we can't find our way back."

"And just how are we going to do that?" Haiba panted, his mouth dry from doing nothing but walking all day. What he'd give for a drink of water… "I haven't been awake for this long since that unfortunate incident where my eyelids got stuck open."

"How did that work?" Nala asked.

"Well, let's just say that you should never trust a spider to be your girlfriend," he replied mysteriously. "Kissing and webs… It just doesn't work out."

Reaching the top of the enormous hill, the three cubs found that they were overlooking most of the trees—and the millions that followed. Trees, trees, trees. Stretching out for ever. Did this jungle ever end? And worse—they could be going in completely the opposite direction!

"It all looks the same," Nala sighed, deflated. Couldn't they ever get a lucky break? Just once? That was all she was asking for! "I just don't get it. How on earth did we lose our way like this?"

"I blame Tama and her huge jumps," said Haiba. "She's completely messed with our minds, causing us to lose all sense of direction. Does anyone else think that up is down and left is right?"

"No," Simba and Nala both replied.

"Oh. Just me, then." Haiba started looking around. "The world can be really weird sometimes."

"And you can be weird all the time," Nala retorted. "Aren't there any Grand Lands tricks of yours that can suddenly take us back home?"

"Not really," Haiba replied, while scratching his head. "I can kill you with my tail, if that helps with anything."

"Yes, Haiba—it'll be a big help," Nala said sarcastically. She sighed. "It's hot, I'm tired, and feel like killing someone. Can things get any worse?"

Needless to say, she was mere moments away from collapsing due to exhaustion. They hadn't slept for just under a day, not to mention that they were completely lost with no idea as to where they were going. Home seemed like millions and millions of miles away; she started to wonder if they should just give up and live here for the rest of their lives.

Simba's eyes carefully scanned the surrounding area. "Trees," he concluded. "So many trees!"

"Well done, genius," said Nala. "Would you like a reward?"

"She's starting to get irritated," Haiba noticed. "You know, Simba, that you won't like her when she's angry."

"She's going to murder you if you don't keep your mouth shut!" Nala snapped angrily. "Simba, figure out a way to back to the Pride Lands. You have to."

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking," he said hurriedly. He really was trying—but there just seemed to be an absence of ideas in his head. This was turning out to be a lot more of a challenge than he'd expected. "Okay, so obviously, we can't get home by ourselves."

"Obviously," Haiba said.

"So, why don't we ask someone for directions?" Simba asked with a grin, as if he had suddenly come up with the greatest idea in the world.

"Yeah, that would work," Nala said. "If there was anyone around within a hundred million miles!"

"Aw, they're all just hiding," Simba assured her, waving a paw in the air. "There has to be someone around. Otherwise what's the point of having all this space?"

"Maybe so innocent cubs can get lost for ever?" Haiba jokingly guessed.

"And if you're talking about asking for directions, then why didn't you think to ask Tojo and Tama before we left yesterday?" Nala interjected.

"I didn't think we'd get lost at the time," Simba said with a shrug. "Why didn't any of you think to ask?"

"We didn't think we'd get lost at the time," both Nala and Haiba said.

Simba's face fell. "Of course you didn't. Now, come on. Let's start hunting around—see if there's anyone nearby. Someone has to know where the Pride Lands are."

Simba took a step forwards—and ended up tumbling down the hill.

"Ow! Oof! Eek! Ah!" he cried as he rolled over and over.

Nala and Haiba winced as Simba landed in a heap at the bottom. "That's gotta hurt," Nala said.

"I'm okay," Simba said, weakly raising a claw. "The rocks broke my fall."

Nala and Haiba exchanged an unsure look as they headed down the hill towards the fallen Prince.

Simba hauled himself to his paws. "Wow, that woke me up," he grunted, before looking around. "I can't see anyone—yet."

"It looks like the middle of nowhere," Haiba said, narrowing his eyes. "Unless there are little tree beasts living around here, I don't think we'll find anything that's living. Maybe a few skeletons—but that's it."

"It could be a graveyard of doom, for all we know," Nala said, peering through the darkness created by the trees beyond.

"There could be zombies waiting to devour us. You know—cousins to the Family of Blood."

"I have a cousin," Haiba blurted out, before frowning. "She doesn't speak to me anymore."

"I can't imagine why," Nala said with a sly smile. "Simba, answer me something: Do you see any kind of living creature nearby?"

Simba thought for a moment. "Uh… no. I guess not."

Nala's smile broadened. "Then that means that it's an evil, secret place that nobody ever comes out of. Now, what do you say we just turn around and go back in the complete opposite—?"

She was interrupted by a loud rustling in the trees. Like someone was watching them from above…

"What was that?" Nala suddenly asked, head snapping upwards.

But there was nothing to be seen.

"M-m-maybe it was just the wind," Simba stammered nervously. "You know—it is a little chilly around here."

"There's no wind," Haiba said. "It's been hot all day. No breeze."

Despite the heat, Nala felt chilled to the bone. There was something about that noise in the trees… She didn't like it. Not at all.

"Maybe we should just… go back," Simba suggested.

Haiba nodded. "Yeah. Good idea. What do you say, Nala?"

She too nodded. "Yep. Go back. Perfect plan. Let's get out of here—before something bad happens."

The three cubs turned around—and saw something rush past in the corner of their eyes.

"Did you see that?" Nala cried, eyes darting around the area. Something—or someone—was definitely stalking them.

Clearly it wasn't the wind causing this… "It looked like… a thing."

"I don't like things," Haiba said, starting to shake slightly. "Things scare me."

"But I'm a thing," Simba said worriedly. "You're a thing!"

"Yikes!" Haiba yelped in fear, jumping into Simba's forepaws and cradling him like he was his mother. "Save me, Simba! I don't wanna be a thing!"

Simba dropped him to the ground. "Just calm down, Haiba," he said, trying to be assertive. Leaders had to be brave. "I'm sure there's a perfectly rational explanation for—"

Whoosh!

The three cubs whipped round, and watched, as—not one—but three darkened figures leapt down from the trees.

Simba, Nala and Haiba huddled together, horrified at what they were seeing…