by Bear Grylls
But there wasn’t a finishing line. Just one of the leaders standing next to a table with two plastic tubs. in it to win it was painted on the side of each in large red letters.
There was something in the tub that Sophie needed to win the race. One last obstacle. She took a look inside her tub and paused just long enough for Charlie to catch up.
“Oh, gross!” he exclaimed.
It was full to the brim with maggots. Live, writhing maggots, like zombie rice trying to escape.
Charlie’s hand hovered over his tub for just a second. A second too long.
Sophie remembered Bear’s words.
“Don’t knock a maggot!” she said, and plunged her hand straight in. The maggots felt dry, and a bit tickly.
She felt the prize, and pulled it out. Behind her, the Yellows exploded into whoops and yells of victory.
It was just a laminated card that said WINNER, but Sophie was so pleased that it could have been made of solid gold. She hadn’t let the team down – and bugs didn’t scare her any more!
“Yellow wins!” the umpire announced. Everyone gathered around Sophie, all giving hugs and high fives.
Almost everyone.
Omar came over to Sophie.
“Well done on winning,” he grunted. “Only, we were twenty-two seconds off the record. We could have got that too, if you hadn’t fallen off. There’s a special prize for beating the record.”
“Oh, well,” Sophie said lightly. “We did our best, and we won the race.”
Omar glared at her.
“Not the point,” he muttered and stormed off.
The leaders then broke open a crate of snacks for everyone. People were chatting and laughing in the free time before the next activity, but Omar stayed away.
Eventually, Sophie took a juice carton over to him.
“Like a drink, Omar?” she asked.
“Thanks,” he muttered. His bad temper seemed to have gone.
“You know …” Sophie wasn’t sure what to say, but she wanted to say something. “You took the race pretty seriously, didn’t you?”
“I just …” he snapped, then stopped. Sophie was surprised to see tears in his eyes, before he quickly looked away. “I just like to win. Is that so bad? I just want to win – whatever the cost. So why am I always surrounded by slowcoaches?!”
He stormed away.
Sophie watched him go. Those tears. It obviously was more than simply wanting to win. Something was really upsetting him.
She took the compass out of her pocket and looked thoughtfully at it.
Her adventure in the desert had been real. She knew it. She had the shemagh to prove it. The compass had taken her to a guy who could help her get over the problem that was holding her back. And now she wasn’t afraid of bugs any more.
Maybe it could help someone else?
And if she was wrong, what was the worst that could happen? She might look stupid. But not as stupid as all the times she had screamed at an insect.
And so she followed after him.
“Hey, Omar?” she called softly.
She held the compass out to him.
“I just want to give you this,” she said.
He looked at it, confused.
Sophie said with a smile, “Just consider it a gift …”
The End
Bear Grylls got the taste for adventure at a young age from his father, a former Royal Marine. After school, Bear joined the Reserve SAS, then went on to become one of the youngest ever people to climb Mount Everest, just two years after breaking his back in three places during a parachute jump.
Amongst other adventures he has led expeditions to the Arctic and the Antarctic, crossed oceans and set world records in skydiving and paragliding.
Bear is also a bestselling author and the host of television programmes such as Survival School and The Island.
He has shared his survival skills with people all over the world, and has taken many famous movie stars and sports stars on adventures – and even President Barack Obama!
Bear Grylls is Chief Scout to the UK Scouting Association, encouraging young people to have great adventures, follow their dreams and to look after their friends.
When Bear’s not travelling the world, he lives with his wife and three sons on a barge in London, or on an island off the coast of Wales.
Find out more at www.beargrylls.com
DID YOU KNOW?
Fog-basking beetles collect dew
to drink by sticking their bottoms in
the air on frosty desert mornings!
An ancient army of 50,000 soldiers
is believed to have been buried alive
during a sandstorm 2,500 years ago
in Egypt’s Western Desert.
An adult desert tortoise can survive
for more than a year without water!
Antartica is the coldest place on Earth but
it is also the largest desert in the world.
Only 20% of deserts are covered in sand.
Discover more survival tips and tricks!
AVAILABLE NOW
First published in Great Britain in 2017 by
80-81 Wimpole Street, London, W1G 9RE
Text and illustrations copyright © Bear Grylls Ventures, 2017
Illustrations by Emma McCann
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication should be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
The right of Bear Grylls to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, events and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-1-7869-6019-1
Bear Grylls is an imprint of Bonnier Zaffre,
a Bonnier Publishing Company
www.bonnierpublishing.com