“What about us?” I threw a small rock at the body, disturbing a few languid flies. “Haven’t we got enough to contend with, without wolves and wild cats roaming the forest?” I launched a handful of gravel at the keeper, and it spattered down onto the desiccated skin of her wax jacket.
“That’s not very nice, Mummy.” Charlie pulled at my arm. “The wolves would have died in there. Like the cows—you let them out.”
“Cows are not going to attack us in the night, Charlie! Have some sense.”
“Wolves aren’t actually nocturnal; they could attack us during the day, too.” He stopped when I thrust my hands into my hair. “Anyway, she just gave them a chance to survive.”
“What about giving us a chance?” I sounded like a petulant toddler.
Charlie walked over to read the information board. I joined him, looking over my shoulder into the surrounding stand of trees. They could be anywhere. Watching us. Some of the half-eaten carcasses we’d seen on the road—which I’d assumed were roadkill—were large animals, easily as big as a small child. As big as Billy. Billy! What if he wandered away from the zip wire into the trees?
“Come on, Charlie, we need to get back.”
“Just look at this, though.” Charlie was pointing at the board, where there was a map of the wolf enclosure. “There’s another building over here. It says ‘Research Station.’”
“I don’t think we’ll be doing much research. Let’s get back to the others before the wolves do.”
Charlie sprang into action and raced ahead of me up the path. I took the opportunity to throw another rock—hard—at the body of the treacherous keeper, but I missed, and it rattled the wire fence. Such a high fence: must be ten feet and topped with razor wire. Designed to keep wolves in and idiots out. And that gave me a new idea.
“Tell me again. Why are we planning to lock ourselves into the wolf enclosure?” Woody was not convinced.
“Because this shelter is completely open, so the wolves or lynx could get to us. But we’ll be safe from the animals inside the wire fence. And if the helicopters pass overhead, they’ll think our heat imprint is just the wolves.”
“There are nearly twenty of us. That’s a lot of wolves.” Woody held his ground.
“If we break into that building on the far side of the enclosure, then they can’t detect us at all,” Lola said. “If we have to sleep outside, the Cleaners think we’re wolves, and if we get inside, then the heat cameras can’t see us: full stop. Win-win.”
“We could also let a couple of the deer and sheep out of their enclosures.” This was Jack. “The wolves would surely take them before attacking us?”
“Good idea,” I said. “Do that, too.”
Jack strode off, full of purpose.
“And what if the Cleaners do spot us, and we’re stuck inside a wire enclosure? How would we get away?” Woody’s cronies were lingering within earshot. He had reinstated himself as their leader, and challenging me seemed to be his favored method of regaining lost status. He swaggered about, hiding his anxious restlessness with exaggerated movements.
“If we’re hidden, the Cleaners won’t find us, will they?” said someone from our side of the divide. “Unless you run off and bring them back again, Little Pecker.”
Woody’s gang stood behind him, but didn’t leap to his defense. Hedging their bets.
“The wolves could still be in there for all you know.” Woody was shouting now, losing it. “Then you’ll be shut inside with them. And you’ll be eaten like the meatheads you are.”
The meeting degenerated into yelling. Charlie held tight to my hand, rattled by the aggression. I squeezed his hand three times, our code. He squeezed back: I love you, too.
Woody was railing now. Jack was back in the fray. Lola held her head in her hands. The last thing we needed was for the group to splinter and break apart. What we needed was cohesion. Or failing that, compliance.
“Boys!” I shouted. They couldn’t even hear me. “Hey, boys!” Nothing.
A loud clanging broke through the hubbub. Everyone spun round. Joni had a massive saucepan in one hand and a wooden spoon in the other. She clanged again.
“Enough,” she said. Her thick hair had matted into a magnificent, frizzy aura that glowed like Aslan’s mane in the late sun. “There’s food here for one decent meal. It’ll be served in the building inside the enclosure.” She stomped inside the kitchen and slammed the door. The moment hung around us. I stepped into it.
“Right, let’s get ready for a slap-up dinner. Jack, can you let out some of the sheep like you said? Woody, could you and your boys raid the vending machines for drinks and snacks? Lola, take three boys and load as many hay bales into the back of the pickup as you can. You two”—I pointed at a couple of the younger boys—“go and ask if you can help Joni.”
They hesitated. For once, I realized with a degree of relish, I was not the scary one.
“She won’t bite you. Go on.” They moved toward the kitchen.
As I hoisted Billy onto my shoulders and got Charlie to put on his backpack and help Maggie with hers, there was a loud crash of glass and a whoop. Woody’s boys had smashed their way into the vending machine. The noise of industrious vandalism followed me down the path toward the high wire fence.
As we rounded the corner, there came a swinish cry behind us. The Lost Boy ran from the shelter, dashing a few steps in the wrong direction before Maggie called out, “Boy!” and he spotted us. His skinny legs blurred in his frantic rush to catch up, and he slammed right into me, his face buried in my hip. His body was too stiff even to shiver. Maggie took his arm and placed it round my waist, and he let it rest there. Charlie’s and Maggie’s wide eyes moved between the boy and my face.
“What happened?” said Charlie.
The Lost Boy, of course, said nothing.
“He thought he’d been left behind. Maybe he got left behind once before.” I waited in case there was a nod, but he was still rigid. “We promise we won’t leave anybody behind, especially this boy.” I gave his shoulder a jiggle. “Okay?” The slightest pressure against my hip could have been acknowledgment. “Now, let’s go and get settled down in the wolf enclosure for the night.”