by Jack Heath
Your friends are all knocked down by the blast. The bike slides out from under Harrison. He hits the ground and rolls over and over. The bike shrieks as it hits a tree and folds in half, shooting metal splinters all over the clearing. Gas spills out of the cracked fuel tank.
You stand up, ears ringing. Distant parts of the forest are ablaze. Sparks rain down from the sky. It looks like the end of the world.
The others stumble towards you. They look like extras in a zombie film, their clothes ripped from when they fell and stained by the ash blowing in the wind.
“…” Shelley says.
You wiggle a finger in your ear. “What?”
“… you all right?” Shelley asks again. Her voice seems to come from a long way away.
“I’m OK, I think,” you say. “But look!”
The falling sparks have ignited the puddle of fuel under the smashed dirt bike. You’re standing downwind of the flames — the fire is spreading through the trees towards the lookout, fast.
“This way!” Pigeon starts running for the nearest trail, but the flames get there first. A curtain of fire sweeps across the entrance and Pigeon stumbles back. You’re surrounded.
“There’s no way out!” she cries.
It’s true. All the trails are blocked, and the fire is crackling and spitting louder and louder, closer and closer, as if it’s trying to herd you off the cliff. Everyone backs up to the wooden rail. The heat bakes your dry skin.
You have an idea. You lean over the rail and look down. The cliffs aren’t sheer. There might just be enough hand- and footholds to climb down to the ocean.
“We’ll never make it,” Neil says.
“We have to try,” you say.
“What about Harrison?” Shelley demands.
You’d forgotten all about him. He’s still sprawled on the dirt near the burning bike. The flames are creeping closer to his outstretched hand.
If you try to save him, both of you might be burned alive. And you’re ninety percent sure he knew about the bomb. But can you really leave him to die?
Every second counts.
If you climb down the cliffs, click here.
If you try to save Harrison, click here.
03:01
You emerge from your shelter. The sight of the beach takes your breath away. Even through the coiling steam and the sizzling rain, you can see that the shoreline looks like a war zone. A great chunk of the beach is missing, and the ocean has flooded in to fill the gap.
Crack. Roots snap behind you and the oak tree comes crashing down. You step out of the way just in time, and it hits the dirt with an epic boom.
You look around. Nothing else seems to be plotting to kill you. No more bombs, giants, treacherous camp leaders or homicidal trees. The rain makes you uncomfortable, but no more so than a slightly-too-hot shower. You seem to be OK.
A glimmer catches your eye on the horizon. Atop the distant lookout a police car has parked, lights swirling. It looks like Agent Stacey managed to contact the authorities after all. Hopefully they’re arresting Harrison.
But you’d better make sure. You sigh heavily and begin the long walk up the hill.
00:00
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03:55
You spin around to face the big croc. It looks like a dinosaur — something from millions of years ago, designed to crush and kill.
The croc’s eyes pull in and its jaw pops open as it launches itself forwards, wet claws churning up the dirt.
You throw yourself sideways into the bushes.
The crocodile shoots past you like a freight train. As you crash down into the foliage the croc slams into a nearby tree. It snorts and snuffles like an enraged bull.
It turns, sees you in the bushes and charges again.
But now you know what to do. With its eyes rolled back like that — for protection, you guess — it can’t see while it’s running at you. You just have to find a place to hide.
You crawl out of the way as the croc hurtles past again, jaws snapping as it plunges through the bushes. You scramble to your feet and run deeper into the forest, looking for a hiding place.
But the croc is learning just as fast as you are. It has already turned around and is running after you. And it knows this forest better than you do — as you run up a slight slope, the croc goes in a slightly different direction. Soon you realize why. The trail dead-ends here. The croc is blocking the only escape route.
You can’t outsmart this thing. It has a lifetime of experience hunting down squishier animals. This time, when it charges, its eyes don’t roll back.
You try to dive out of the way as the crocodile lunges at you, jaws first—
Boom!
The explosion illuminates the forest like a lightning bolt. A hot flash of energy zips outwards from the horizon, frying leaves and blackening rocks. The airborne crocodile is between you and the distant bomb, but even shielded by its leathery weight, the blast still knocks you off your feet.
You hit the ground and roll out of the way just in time. The croc slams down to the forest floor, its charred hide smoking. It hisses, blinded by the light.
You lie still, too stunned to move. If the croc attacks you, you’re done for.
But it doesn’t. It bares some yellow teeth, hisses again and stumbles away into the trees, one leg dragging behind it.
Without the crocodile, the bomb would have fried you. And without the bomb, the crocodile would have eaten you. It’s almost too much to process.
You climb to your feet. The trees have reverse shadows — pale outlines beneath them where they blocked the flying ash. You walk across the dirty ground, your feet slowly becoming black. It’s time to find Harrison and the others.
You wonder what happened to Agent Stacey …
00:00
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03:55
A nearby tree has many stiff branches, each about as thick as a baseball bat. Plenty of handholds. You run to the tree, leap up to the lowest branch and haul yourself out of the croc’s reach.
It can outswim you, and maybe outrun you, but you’re betting it can’t out-climb you. Humans are primates. You come from a long line of climbers. You share DNA with monkeys and apes. You must be safe up here.
The crocodile reaches the bottom of the tree and stops dead. It looks up at you with evil, hungry eyes.
It circles around the tree once, twice. Your heart sinks. You had hoped the croc would give up and go away. There’s no sign of Harrison. How long will you have to wait? If it doesn’t leave, how will you get down?
The croc has its own ideas about that.
It rears up like a startled horse and grips the tree trunk with its forelegs. You gasp. No. Surely it can’t climb up here?
But it doesn’t need to. It shakes the tree vigorously, using all its weight — a tonne of strong lizard muscle. Twigs scratch your face. A knot of wood painfully pinches your shoulder. You cling desperately to the branches like a frightened koala, but it’s almost impossible to hang on.
“Help!” you scream. “Somebody! Help!”
But it’s too late. The branches slip out of your grip and you fall, breaking sticks and bouncing off boughs as you fall towards the crocodile’s waiting mouth …
Snap!
THE END.
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28:43
“OK, Leah,” the woman says. “I’m Federal Agent Stacey. I would show you my ID, but I’ve left it in my other pants.”
You laugh, but she doesn’t appear to be kidding.
“Everyone at that camp is in danger,” she repeats. “My GPS is busted — I can’t get there by myself. I need you to show me the way, right now.”
“What’s going on?”
She spits on the sand. “Listen, kid,”
she says. “Either you take me to the camp, or I’ll arrest you for obstruction of justice.”
The campsite isn’t far away, but she hasn’t shown you any proof that she’s really an agent. She could be dangerous. Maybe you should lead her up the hill to the lookout. There are always lots of tourists up there around sunset — she won’t try anything with so many people around.
Do you lead her to the camp, or the lookout? Make your choice and click here.
05:50
“She didn’t tell me much,” you say. “No names. I didn’t even see any proof that she was a real government agent.”
Shelley is staring at you as if you’re a crazy person. You wonder if she thinks Stacey is an agent — or if she thinks you’re making the whole thing up.
Hunt sounds satisfied. “OK. What about these kidnappers? Would you recognize them if you saw them again?”
Probably not. They disappeared with Stacey pretty quickly.
“Well,” you say. “They were wearing—”
Boom!
The explosion hits you from behind, throwing you against the man whose phone you borrowed. A wall of heat and light sweeps over you and the other campers.
You can’t see anything, but you can hear Pigeon screaming. The guy you smashed into is underneath you, not moving. Maybe he hit his head when he fell.
You stand on shaking legs, rubbing your eyes. You’re still blinded by the light and the grit in the air. “Is everyone OK?” you shout.
“What was that?” Neil yells.
“I guess there really was a bomb,” you say, blinking furiously. “Shelley? Pigeon? Are you all right?” Your vision returns in time for you to see that half the forest is still hanging in the air. The explosion has kicked trees and rocks and dirt up into the sky, and now they’re starting to come back down.
Thump! A tremendous lump of dirt hits the ground next to you.
Crack! A lump of rock smashes the wooden handrail to splinters.
“Run!” you yell, but it’s too late. The enormous bough of a gum tree plummets out of the sky, trailing smoke, headed right for you—
THE END.
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22:11
The silence is marred only by the grinding of crickets. You breathe through your nose, making the fallen leaves dance around your face.
Stacey releases your mouth. “Sorry,” she says. “The mining company hired mercenaries to plant the explosives. They might still be—”
Two men charge out of the bushes. Both are huge, with massive shoulders and thick necks. Their camouflage uniforms made them invisible until they moved.
You scramble back across the dirt. Stacey reaches behind her for some kind of weapon, but she’s too slow. The two giants grab her wrists before she can get to it.
“I’m a federal agent,” she yells. “You’re breaking the law!”
Neither of the behemoths respond. They drag Stacey into the trees and disappear, leaving you alone on the path. They must not consider you important — maybe they think you’ll be blown up at sunset.
You stand up shakily. Suddenly this has all become very real, and you believe everything Stacey has told you.
If you follow the two giants, you might be able to save Stacey somehow. Then she can find and disarm the bomb. But those guys seemed ruthless and highly trained. Maybe you’d be better off running to the camp and warning everyone about the bomb instead.
If you chase after Stacey and her abductors, click here.
If you head for the camp, click here.
07:51
You crouch down beside the explosive like a vet next to a sick-but-dangerous animal. You have no cutting tools. It won’t be like in the movies, where the hero snips one of the wires, and somehow gets it right. You’re going to have to just rip the wires out and hope for the best.
Fortunately, there seem to be only two real options. You can either pull the wires out of the timer, or out of the lump of explosive.
Your trembling hands hover over the bomb.
If you rip the wires out of the timer, click here.
If you pull them out of the lump of T4, click here.
05:12
You duck behind the rock and scan the horizon. Still no one in sight. The forest is dark and quiet. Insects buzz in the foliage and the trees sway like zombies.
You wait. The bomb doesn’t go off. Perhaps it was a dud. It feels like enough time must have passed for the counter to reach zero.
You clench your teeth so hard that they hurt. Maybe you did have time to reach a safe distance. Maybe you still do.
You decide to stay put. After all, what if—
BOOM!
The explosion rips through the forest like a tornado, tearing up the dirt and flinging trees like matchsticks. The sound pierces your eardrums. You can’t even hear yourself screaming. The sky goes black with dust.
By the time you realize the big rock is shifting, it’s too late. Your foot is already caught under its crushing weight.
Fortunately you’re not in pain for very long. The rock rolls right over the top of you, and then the whole world disappears.
THE END.
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04:07
You flop on the dry sand and start digging like a crazy dog. For every two handfuls of sand you pull out, one handful slides back in. But you dig with such desperation you’re soon hunched over a very shallow ditch.
You’re still digging when the bomb goes off.
At first the explosion is silent — just a sudden flare of blinding light. Then the wall of energy hits you like a train, shoving you into the ditch. The world turns upside down, the ocean replacing the sky.
The noise reaches you then. It’s the sound of a swimming pool’s worth of water suddenly becoming steam. But you don’t hear it for long, because an avalanche of wet sand thunders down on top of you, plugging your ears and pressing your face into the ground.
Silence.
Too late, you realize that you can’t move. The mountain of sand is crushing your chest, squeezing the air out of your lungs. When you thought you were making shelter, you were actually digging your own grave.
You scream, and sand fills up your mouth.
THE END.
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07:01
You exhale shakily. You wrap your fingers around the wire. It’s warm, even through the plastic insulation. Current is definitely running through the copper within.
You wonder if this will be your last act. You wonder if anyone will ever know what happened to you.
“One,” you whisper. “Two. Three!”
You yank the wires out.
There’s a brilliant flash—
THE END.
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01:01
You sail over the dark gap, feet kicking the air, an involuntary battle cry escaping your throat.
But the gap is still getting wider. The heavy earth shifts, cracking and moaning. The chasm looks hundreds of metres deep, lined with rocks as sharp as knives. You’re not going to make it …
But you do! You hit the ground on the other side and flip over immediately, landing on your back in the hot dust.
“You OK?” Shelley calls.
But it’s suddenly too loud to reply. With a sound like rolling thunder, the cliff collapses behind you. You turn your head in time to see the lookout fall away, smashing down into the black ocean below.
00:00
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08:04
You lean overboard and paddle with your hands. The hovercraft drifts slowly behind one of the concrete pilings. Now if anyone opens the hatch, they won’t be able to see you. They would have to climb down the harpoon cable to get to you.
You sit on the floor of the hovercraft, suddenly exhausted, wondering what’s happening
on dry land. Hopefully the cops managed to evacuate the camp. Will they know where you are? Stacey didn’t tell the cops over the phone that you were with her. Hopefully no one goes back to look for you. When the bomb goes off, will you hear it from this distance?
The motor whirs, keeping the hovercraft floating on a cushion of air. The only other sound is the choppy water lapping against the rubber skirt …
And the hissing, which is suddenly louder.
You peer over the edge. The syringe that was stuck into the rubber is now gone. The air pressure beneath must have popped it out, leaving a tear about the size of a pea. Now the skirt is deflating.
The hovercraft tilts to one side. Water spills over the edge onto the floor. You look around for something to bail with, but there are no buckets.
You cup your hands in the water and throw it overboard, but it’s like trying to serve rice with tweezers. The hovercraft sinks deeper and deeper—
Then the motor gets waterlogged and dies.
Without the air pressure holding it up, the craft drops like a stone. It disappears under the water and sinks into the grey ocean, leaving you treading water alone between the pilings. The harpoon gun dangles in the air, out of reach.
Your teeth chatter. It’s getting dark, and the water is very cold this far away from the beach.
Now what? You could swim to shore — you’re a good swimmer, so it would probably only take six or seven minutes. But someone might shoot you with a tranquilizer dart on the way, and you’d drown. Even if you made it to the beach, you might get blown up if the cops don’t get to the bomb in time.
You can’t stay here. Eventually the bad guys will come looking for you, or you’ll get too tired to swim, and …