The thick blood sprayed over the remaining cubs' faces. Their mouths were wide open with shock. Aibu screamed at the top of his lungs as the monster devoured what remained of Wafu.

Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! In just a matter of seconds, all that was left of Wafu was the blood on the monster's muzzle— and even then he licked that clean off. Swallowing the bloody remnants. the monster opened its mouth wide and let out an almighty belch.

A mixture of horror and disgust crossed the cubs' faces. They couldn't believe how deadly these things were. In just a few seconds Wafu had been horribly digested. One little bite and his head had been taken clean off. For Simba, Nala and Haiba, they'd never seen something so destructive.

Simba tasted something salty on his mouth, and realised that it was some of Wafu's blood. Spluttering and coughing it out, he managed to say, "Run!"

No one else wanted to argue. The five cubs pushed past the hungry monsters and bolted away from them as fast as their legs could carry them.

"Where are we going?" Nala yelled as they ran in a random direction.

"Anywhere!" Simba replied over his shoulder. "So long as we get away from those… those things!"

"I can't believe it!" Binamu cried, her cheek spattered with blood. It looked like she was going to cry. Haiba was surprised at that. "They just ate him! They just… they bit his head off—like they didn't even care!"

It was so unexpected. Wafu was an innocent cub—he'd done nothing wrong—and they'd swallowed him up without mercy. Why? What were these monsters? And why were they so bent on killing them?

Looking over his shoulder, Simba could see the monsters pounding after them. Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! He had never seen such fast creatures before. Just a few more seconds and they'd catch up…

"We have to go faster!" Simba urged.

"You don't need to tell us that!" Binamu cried.

"L-look!" Aibu shakily gestured to something up ahead. "Maybe we can hide in that grass over there!"

There was a large clearing in front of them, covered with nothing but tall, thick grass. It looked like an opportune place to hide—that is, if the creatures didn't see them running inside.

"Good idea!" Simba quickened his pace, breathing heavily. His chest was aching. He'd never run so fast in his life!

The monsters were quickly gaining on them. Their speed didn't falter in the slightest. They were focused on one thing only: their dinner, and they would do anything—whatever it took—to get it.

The five cubs all leapt for the tall grass—just as the monsters leapt at them.

Collapsing in the grass, Simba watched in amazement as something very strange happened to the monsters.

As they leapt towards the grass, the monsters began to shrivel up into some sort of black mist. Wailing at the top of their voices, the black mist soon dissolved into nothingness.

They were gone.

Nala breathed a sigh of relief. "They're gone," she gasped. "They're gone…"

"But I don't get it," Haiba said, getting to his paws. "How?"

"I guess… I guess they can't leave that part of the jungle," Simba concluded. "If they try, then they just… disappear."

"So is that it?" Nala asked. "Are we free?"

"I don't know," Simba said honestly. "Maybe it's just—"

Nala yelped in surprise as something snagged around her foreleg. "Wha—what?"

A part of the thick grass had coiled its way around her foreleg, grabbing her tightly. She struggled to escape, but it had her trapped. "What the heck's happening?"

"This isn't grass," Aibu said worriedly. "They're weeds."

"The Weeds of Wrath…" Binamu whispered, remembering Wafu's previous words. She noticed that the thick weeds were beginning to come to life, swaying back and forth. She cried out in alarm as one snagged her hind leg, yanking her upwards. "Help me!"

One weed wrapped itself around Simba's midsection, sending him reeling backwards. "Yikes! What's up with these weeds?"

"Um… they're showing us their wrath?" Nala guessed, as more weeds secured themselves around her remaining legs.

"Agh! These things are tight!"

"Mmm—mmm—mmm!" Simba cried.

"What?" Haiba yelled.

One of the weeds was covering Simba's mouth. "Mmm! Mmm! Mmm—mmm—mmm!"

"Simba, this isn't the time to talk about how cute you are," Haiba said. "Can't you see there are weeds trying to kill us?"

Simba rolled his eyes.

The weeds around Nala's hind legs began to pull in one direction, while the ones around her forelegs pulled in another.

She screamed. "They're trying to pull me apart!"

"You think you've got problems," Binamu said, as the weeds tried to enter her mouth. Nala presumed they were trying to choke her.

Haiba dodged out of the way of some weeds that were trying to snag him in their trap. "Oh, no! You're not getting me!"

The last thing he wanted was for his to death to be that of a bone-crunching hug from some weeds.

"Haiba, please help me!" Nala cried, as the weeds continued their attempt to pull her apart. "I don't think my body is going to be able to take much more of this!"

"Mmm—mmm!" Simba cried.

"You said it, sister," Haiba replied.

"Haib a!"

"All right, I'm coming!" Haiba hopped over a deadly weed, rushing over to where Nala was. He began to tug at one of the weeds, but they remained a tight hold over her leg. "Man, these are tight!"

"I think I know that!" Nala yelled. Her body had gone numb with pain. She was going to snap like a twig!

Haiba pulled and pulled, but couldn't break the hold they had over her. "Uh…" He looked around, trying to find something that could help.

Deciding on the first thing that popped into his head, Haiba bit down on one of the weeds as hard as he could.

Snap!

The weeds went limp, and turned a dull grey colour, loosening their hold instantly. Nala gasped as she regained control of her body. She was still aching all over, though. "Thank you."

Simba pulled the weeds away from his mouth. "How did you stop it?"

"I bit them," Haiba said with a shrug. "I guess they don't like that. It must have killed them."

"I see why they call it the Path of Death," Nala mumbled as she got to her paws. "That was too close."

"You gonna say something?" Haiba asked, noticing that Binamu had said nothing to him. Not even so much as a 'thank you'. "I did just save your life."

"So?" Binamu snorted, walking past him without so much as a second thought.

Just as Haiba suspected. She didn't care.

"We'd better leave," Aibu suggested, shaking off a few weeds. "In case they decide to suddenly come back to life."

The cubs nodded in approval, and headed away from the clearing, towards another section of the jungle.

"What were those other things that Wafu mentioned?" Simba asked, trying to recall as he walked along. "There were the Weeds of Wrath, and—"

"—the Pit of Despair, and the Mountain of Utter Evil and Nasty Things," Binamu finished for him. "It's far from over."

"The Pit of Despair?" Haiba said, striding past them all. "And just how the heck are we supposed to—?"

Haiba didn't get to finish his sentence.

Simba, Nala, Binamu and Aibu stood at the edge of the biggest pit they'd ever seen in their lives. The gap looked impossible to cross. And down, down, down below was… nothing. Just blackness. A bleak abyss.

Haiba was dangling from the edge, his claws digging into the dirt. "Aren't any of you going to help me?"

"Oh." Simba and Nala helped to pull him up. He stood back safely, surveying the gap that he had almost fallen from. His mind boggled at how wide the pit was. "So… how are we going to cross this one?"

Nala smiled nervously. "Anyone want to jump?"