Into the Jungle: A Novella

Chapter 8

Ruby ducked under the giant branch, but she could see through the tiny holes in the leaves, and so could the lion. Its watchful eye scanned hers.

Iris tapped her and giggled. "You need to find that juice."

"What juice?"

"The medicine juice."

Ruby exhaled to disguise her fearful panting. "Where's the blowgun?"

"I don't know."

Then Ruby grabbed her sister's shoulders and shook her in a panic. "Iris, this is crazy! There's a black lion looking us in the eyes." Then she squinted through the gaps again.

Iris moved closer, crunching the leaves. "Does he want to play?"

Ruby didn't answer. A tear slipped down her cheek. If this lion killed them, she wouldn't be able to save her father. Her best hope was to stay still and quiet. "Leave," she mouthed at the animal.

The lion seemed scared and ready to defend. Ruby guessed it was a male because of his size, and he was probably the father of the one she'd seen earlier. No doubt, he was here because Iris had mentioned Jesus.

He stepped closer.

Ruby held her breath, her fingers looped around the spear handle. Then the lion eased to the side of the branch where there was a bigger gap. Their eyes locked, and he lowered his neck with one expression. Easy target.

Ruby briefly clutched Iris' hand as a false token they would survive. Her father told her to remain still, but if the creature attacked, she would make loud noises to scare him away.

"Hi, lion!" Iris declared.

Ruby tapped her to shut up. "Don't you understand his posture? He's tense; he thinks we're a threat."

"Can we beat him up?"

Ruby didn't answer for a while. Time dragged on until the lion turned and slowly walked away, now eyeing something swinging through the plants. Ruby waited until he was far and then cautiously stepped through the foliage. "Let's hide behind a tree until he gets out of here," she whispered, but her voice was so soft that she could barely hear herself. "Then we can find the medicine."

Iris screamed, a racket echoing through the woods.

Ruby shot a look over her shoulder and then at the lion. Her sister was covering her mouth with two hands, eyeing a creeper (tarantula) crawling under a plant. But the spooked lion stared at the girls from afar. Ruby knelt and motioned for Iris to do the same.

Iris pointed at the spider and commanded, "Go away!" Then she spat at it.

Ruby frowned. "How can you be like this when we're in the middle of . . .?" Then she crawled toward a tree, stealing a peek at the lion.

He turned his body to face them.

But Ruby kept crawling until she and Iris made it behind the tree. All she had to do was wait out this creature.

Out of nowhere, two beetles clumsily flew from the ground and whacked her face. They were big with a curved sharp-looking point on their heads. (She saw rhinoceros beetles.) Ruby screamed twice as they hit just below her eye, so she dropped her spear and whacked them away. Her sister screamed, too, probably spooked more by Ruby than the beetles.

However, when Ruby peeked around the tree, she saw the black lion stepping closer . . . then charging. There was no more hiding. She stepped out, raised her arms, and screamed, "HEY! HEY! HEY!" Then she whacked her spear against the tree and stomped her foot. "Iris, throw a rock or something!"