Desert Danger

by Jan Burchett

  Ben mixed Uncle Stephen’s special powdered formula with water and tried to feed it to the cub.

  “He should be really hungry, but he’s hardly taking any,” Zoe said.

  “Maybe his leg’s hurting him,” said Ben.

  Zoe checked the wound. “I’m not a vet,” she said, “but it looks too deep to ignore.”

  “Let’s ask Uncle Stephen what to do,” said Ben. “We need to tell him what’s happened so far, anyway.”

  Ben took his BUG and hit the call key for WILD HQ.

  “Hello!” came their uncle’s voice. “Have you reunited the little cub with his mom yet?”

  Ben told him about their mission changing. “Quick thinking, you two,” said Uncle Stephen. “But don’t forget that leaving a scent trail can attract all sorts of predators. You’ll need to keep your eyes peeled at all times. I’ll let Erika know you’ve been delayed. You can contact her when you’re ready for a ride home.”

  “Before you go, we need some advice,” Zoe called into the speaker. “We think the cub’s cut needs stitches.”

  Ben held the BUG over the deep cut, took a photo, and sent it to Uncle Stephen.

  “Looks rather nasty,” said their uncle. “But you can glue that together.”

  Ben and Zoe gave each other confused looks. Then Zoe slapped her forehead. “Of course!” she said. “Medical glue for wounds. Mom showed me once on a horse that had a cut on its flank.”

  Ben searched through the vet kit and pulled out a small tube of ointment. “Wound-bond,” he read.

  “That’s it,” said Uncle Stephen. “Wash the cut, then close the wound with the bonding agent. Then give the little fella a dose of antibiotics. Over and out — oh, and make sure you don’t glue your fingers together. It’s powerful stuff!”

  Zoe chuckled. “Bye, Uncle,” she said.

  After filling a syringe with water and antiseptic, Ben squirted the wound until he was sure that it was clean. Then he applied the glue. Zoe carefully squeezed the cut’s edges together.

  Jossy barely moved.

  “That’s amazing!” exclaimed Zoe. “It’s stuck shut already. It’s like super glue.” She scratched the little cub gently between the ears as Ben gave him an antibiotic injection. “You’ll be back on your feet in no time, Jossy.”

  Ben looked out over the surrounding desert. “We should get going,” he said. “We don’t want his mom to catch up.”

  Zoe nodded. “I’ll keep checking her signal as we go,” she said.

  Soon the WASP was bumping along over the rough terrain. The sun was high in the sky now. The dunes stretched away to their right, a brilliant red in the glaring sunlight. Zoe rubbed another pebble on Jossy’s fur and threw it behind them.

  Ben wiped his forehead. “It’s so hot. Like being in an oven,” he said, taking a swig from his water bottle.

  Zoe peered through her goggles, adjusting the zoom. “It’s so hot there are hardly any animals around,” she said. “There are some giraffes way over there. I see a flock of birds hovering above the trees in the south.”

  “I suppose most creatures are waiting for it to cool down a bit,” said Ben.

  Zoe gasped suddenly. “Something’s following us,” she said.

  Zoe adjusted her goggles to zoom in on the view behind them, focusing on the bare land they’d just traveled over and frowned. “I can’t see it now,” she said, “but I swear there was an animal on our trail.”

  Ben grinned as he steered the WASP around a clump of elephant’s trunk plants. “You’re just nervous,” he said. “Or the heat’s playing tricks on your eyes.”

  “I hope so,” said Zoe, keeping watch over her shoulder. She peered into the distance. “No, I was right. Something’s definitely tracking us.”

  Ben brought the WASP to a halt and turned. The air shimmered with heat, but in the distance he could see the movement of a large animal. The creature was getting steadily nearer.

  “Can you tell what it is?” Ben asked.

  “It’s all so hazy that’s it’s hard to see,” said Zoe. “Some sort of big cat, I think.” She checked the BUG screen. The orange light pulsed in the same place as before. “It’s not Jossy’s mom — she’s still by the well.”

  Zoe refocused her goggles. Her eyes went wide behind the lenses. “I can see a dark mane, Ben,” she said, her voice shaking. “It’s a lion . . . and it’s big.”

  Ben let out a low whistle. “He’s big all right,” he said. “And he looks like he’s in rough shape and hasn’t eaten in a while. That only makes him more dangerous.”

  “Let’s get moving and hope he doesn’t see us,” said Zoe urgently. “Hopefully our scent dispersers will do their job.”

  Ben stiffened. “He’s raised his nose!” he said. “He may not be able to smell us, but I think he’s following Jossy’s scent.” Ben hit the accelerator. “Our little friend here would make a good meal for a hungry lion,” he said. “And we’d be his dessert!”

  Zoe looked back anxiously as the WASP accelerated. The lion was bounding toward them, closing the gap with every step. “Will the WASP be fast enough to outrun it?” Zoe asked.

  Ben floored the accelerator. “We’re about to find out,” he said.

  The WASP zoomed across the desert. The lion was galloping now, sand flying as his pads hit the ground. He was outpacing the WASP. It would only be a matter of time before he caught up to them.

  “Tranquilize him!” Ben yelled to Zoe. “It’s our only hope.”

  “I can’t!” Zoe yelled. She held the cub tight. “Jossy will fall if I let go of him.”

  They hit a small rock, sending a jolt through the WASP. Jossy yelped in pain.

  Zoe risked a look back. The cub’s cry had spurred the lion on. “Faster!” she screamed. “He’s catching up to us!”

  “We’re going as fast as we can,” Ben said through clenched teeth.

  He could see the start of the sand dunes rising up ahead. His heart sank. That would slow them down even more — and maybe the lion, too.

  Then the WASP hit the slopes. As it struggled to climb the sloping sand, Ben leaned forward, urging the machine up the hill.

  “The lion!” screamed Zoe.

  Ben glanced over his shoulder. The creature was in pouncing distance. He could see his sharp teeth as his lip curled into a snarl.

  As they reached the top of the hill, the lion leaped. His claws scraped across the back of the WASP. At that moment, they surged over the peak and began to accelerate down the steep slope, sand flying behind them.

  Zoe twisted in her seat. The lion was panting hard and trying in vain to stay on his feet. Laying in the sand, the creature looked scrawny and old.

  “You did it,” Zoe cried. “We outran him!”

  “I’m not slowing down yet,” Ben yelled back.

  They zoomed down the dune and up the next, hurtling to the bottom at high speed.

  “Watch out!” yelled Zoe.

  They were heading toward a stretch of small, sharp boulders. Ben tried to swing the WASP around to avoid them, but it was too late.

  CRACK! The WASP shuddered, lurched to one side, then flipped over. “Jossy!” yelled Zoe. She climbed out of the vehicle and scrambled to her feet. “Is he okay?”

  Ben got out and crouched down to examine the motionless cub. “I hope so,” he said. “I saw him roll out of your arms, so he didn’t fall far.”

  Zoe gently stroked Jossy’s head. The cub made a faint mewing sound. “He looks okay,” Zoe said, “but what about you?”

  Ben grinned. “Just a few bruises,” he said. He went to inspect the WASP. It was tipped on its side a short distance away from them.

  “Let’s see if we can get the WASP back on its wheels,” Ben said. As he walked around the other side of the vehicle, he let out a low whistle. “One of the wheels is broken. And the axle has s
napped. This isn’t going anywhere.”

  “Then we’re on foot,” said Zoe, hoping she sounded calmer than she felt.

  Ben looked back at the way they’d come. “We seem to have lost the lion, thankfully,” he said.

  “If we carry everything in your backpack,” said Zoe, “we can use mine to carry Jossy. No time to hang around here. We’ll update Erika after we’re absolutely sure the lion’s not around anymore.”

  “We need food and water,” Ben said. He picked up Zoe’s bag and began to empty it. “And the vet kit, of course.”

  Ben hurriedly unclipped the sail from the WASP. “This will make a good shelter,” he said. He folded it up and put it in his backpack with their sleeping bags and the rope. “Everything else has to stay.”

  Zoe carefully placed Jossy in her backpack. Then she went to help Ben unfasten the water tank.

  “In this heat, we’ll need all the water we can carry in this heat,” Zoe said. Then she noticed the dark wet patch on the ground beneath the WASP. She touched it with her fingers and gasped.

  “Ben!” she said. “The tank’s been punctured. Our water’s gone!”

  Ben gave the water tank a desperate shake. “There’s a little left in the bottom,” he said. “Quick, hand me a bottle.”

  “That’s not going to last us very long,” Zoe said as Ben collected the last of the water in his bottle.

  “Then the sooner we get Jossy home, the better,” said Ben.

  He helped Zoe hoist her backpack onto her shoulders. Zoe felt Jossy’s hot little breath on her neck.

  “We might get thirsty,” Zoe said, “but at least we’ve got some milk for you, Jossy.”

  Ben placed the flap of the pack over the cub’s head to protect him from the sun. Then he fired a tagging dart into the seat of the WASP and covered the buggy with sand as much as he could.

  “Erika should be able to find it when our mission’s over,” Ben said. “Hopefully no one else will.”

  Zoe checked the map on her BUG. “Escaping that lion has taken us way off course,” she said. “We need to head west now, over the dunes again.”

  Ben looked at his watch. “It’s two-thirty,” he said. “We have about four hours before nightfall. Plenty of time.”

  “We can’t leave any trails,” said Zoe. “We don’t want Jossy’s mom catching us. That last stone was pretty far back, so she shouldn’t be able to track us. We’ll just have to hope she’ll head to the pool.”

  “Check her signal,” suggested Ben.

  “She hasn’t moved yet,” said Zoe. “She must still be sleeping.”

  They set off toward the slope of the next dune. The hot sun beat down upon them. They could feel the heat of the earth through their boots.

  The ridge of the red hill stood out sharply against the blue sky. “I researched dunes when we were in the plane,” Ben said. “Very interesting stuff, although I didn’t think we’d be walking over them.”

  “What’s so interesting about piles of sand?” said Zoe.

  “There’s more to them than that,” said Ben. “The steep slope of a dune is called the slipface. It’s really hard to climb. We’re lucky because we’re going up the gentler side, where the sand’s firmer.”

  “Good!” said Zoe, taking the first step on to the dune. But her leg muscles soon began to ache as she trudged up the slope.

  “And the ripples are where the wind’s blown the sand,” Ben said.

  “Thank you, Mr. Encyclopedia,” said his sister. “I’ll tell you something — the sand’s so hot that my feet are burning!”

  Zoe stopped to shift the straps of the heavy backpack. Jossy snorted in his sleep, right next to her ear. A spider scampered across the sand. It stopped and began to dig, burying itself so it could wait for its prey.

  “I wish we could find cover like that,” said Zoe.

  Ben let out a little chuckle. He looked very tired.

  After a long climb, they reached the high ridge. Ahead, long and smooth dunes lay in waves across the landscape.

  “Amazing!” cried Zoe. “It looks like a huge red ocean.” She glanced at the steep slope in front of them. “But how do we get down that?”

  “Wanna race?” asked Ben, grinning.

  “Don’t be silly!” said Zoe. “I’d never be able to keep my balance with Jossy on my back.”

  “You won’t have to keep your balance,” Ben said. He sat down facing the steep slope. “This isn’t called the slipface for nothing. It’s like a slide.”

  Zoe sat beside him and put the backpack on her knees. “I’m ready,” she said.

  Ben let out a shout as they pushed off, sending sand tumbling after them as they went.

  “That’s the way to go!” said Zoe, shaking sand off her arms at the bottom of the slope.

  “Although I didn’t expect to travel across the Kalahari on my butt,” she added. She stood up and groaned. “Jossy’s feeling really heavy now that I’m on my feet again.”

  “I’ll take Jossy for a while,” Ben said.

  They continued swapping backpacks as they made the slow climb up each dune, then slid their way down the slipface. The sun beat down relentlessly the whole time. Each slope seemed harder than the last.

  Zoe flopped down onto the sand. “I don’t think I can go any farther,” she said. “This heat is draining my strength. We need to take a rest. And some water.”

  With the weight of Jossy dragging on his shoulders, Ben was feeling the strain too. “If we can make it out of the dunes, there might be some shade,” he said, trying to sound cheerful. “We can have a picnic!” He held out his hand and pulled his sister to her feet.

  Zoe crawled up the slope ahead, licking her dry lips.

  Zoe was trying hard to drive the image of cool, fresh water from her mind. At last she reached Ben at the top. “No more dunes!” she said in relief.

  They stared out over the vast stretch of flat land below. Sparse shrubs and grasses poked up from the red earth. With their goggles on full zoom, Ben and Zoe could make out the treeline in the far distance, surrounded by an area of vegetation.

  “That must be the pool,” said Ben.

  “But I can’t see any shade around here,” said Zoe. Her throat felt like sandpaper. “Maybe we can use the sail as shelter.”

  They slid down the last slope and pulled out the sail. Draping it over their heads, they made a makeshift tent and flopped down under its welcome shade.

  Ben eased his backpack off and laid it down. Jossy woke up and began to wriggle. Ben offered him some milk. The little cub drank thirstily.

  Ben grinned at Zoe. “That’s a good sign,” he said.

  “We’d better be careful so he doesn’t get too lively,” said Zoe. “We don’t want him escaping.”

  Zoe drank a mouthful of water. She had to force herself not to have any more, despite wanting to drain the bottle dry. She handed it to Ben.

  “We’d better update Erika,” said Ben. “She might not be able to land the plane here, but maybe she could drop us some supplies.”

  Zoe pressed the call key on her BUG.

  They waited to hear Erika’s voice come out from the BUG, but nothing happened. “That’s strange,” said Zoe. “The screen is blank.”

  “Maybe yours is malfunctioning,” said Ben. He tried his own BUG, then shook his head. “Mine’s dead, too. Even the tracking and satellite systems aren’t working. Maybe it’ll start working again after we move to a different position. Maybe the dunes are affecting it.”

  But Zoe wasn’t listening. She was staring in delight at the ground a few yards in front of them.

  Ben looked up to see a group of small, skinny brown creatures with big dark eyes scurrying around. “Meerkats!” he whispered.

  They watched the energetic group sniffing and digging as they tossed up the earth behind them. The babies
tumbled about, biting each other playfully. Two large adults stood bolt upright on a nearby rock. Their heads swiveled this way and that, checking the area for any signs of danger.

  Ben looked at his sister and grinned. “Cuteness overload,” he said with a groan.

  “But they’re so cute!” said Zoe. “Look at that little one playing with his friend’s tail.”

  Jossy gave a loud mew and tried to climb out of the backpack. Ben laughed. “No, Jossy, you can’t go and play with them!”

  Suddenly, one of the lookouts gave a shrill cry. In less than a second, every last meerkat had vanished into their burrows in the ground.

  “They’re frightened,” said Zoe, glancing around. “Did Jossy scare them away?”

  Ben shaded his eyes and looked up. “Might have been an eagle,” he said. “Sorry your little friends have scampered off, but at least we can get moving again.”

  Ben swung his backpack onto his shoulders. Jossy poked a paw out and batted at the flap of his hat.

  Zoe was pointing straight ahead. “That’s why the meerkats ran off,” she cried.

  Ben followed her finger. A swirling orange wall was eating up the land, slowly moving closer and closer. “A sandstorm,” he said. “And we’re right in its path.”

  “Remember our training in the WILD climate chamber,” said Zoe. She pulled out two cotton scarves. When they’d both covered their noses and mouths, she tightened her grasp on the WASP sail. “We have to face away from the storm.” The sail flapped wildly in the hot, dry wind that grew stronger every moment. As they pulled the sail over them, they felt the sand beating at the metallic fabric.

  Wide awake now, Jossy wriggled out of the backpack. Ben grabbed at him with one hand, but the little cub squirmed free.

  In the next instant, he disappeared into the storm.

  “Jossy, no!” Zoe cried.

  Zoe dived out into the swirling storm. She felt the sand beating against her skin, stinging her like sharp needles. Bent over, she stumbled around, calling out for Jossy. But her voice was muffled by the howling wind.