cutting a flap large enough for them to fit through. Then he stuck his head inside and looked around.
‘All right Daisy, Ryan,’ he nodded. ‘Oh good, they used rope. Let’s get you out of those.’
He reached inside and within a minute he had freed them from their bonds.
‘Where did you get that?’ asked Ryan, ogling the large blade in his hands.
‘Nicked it, didn’t I? Got us a map too.’
‘You have been busy,’ smiled Daisy.
‘Yeah, I’ll tell you about it when we’re away. Come on, and keep down.’
Daisy and Ryan ducked under the flap and found themselves in a small wedge-shaped piece of ground between two tents, with the forest behind them. As a place to hide it certainly had its merits, but unfortunately the vegetation was so thick that there was absolutely no way they could beat a path through it without giving themselves away.
Ryan looked all around them, his face screwed up in confusion.
‘Okay genius. Either you flew in here or there’s something you’re not telling us,’ he whispered.
Billy rolled his eyes and looked at Daisy.
‘He doesn’t think, does he?’
He leaned to one side in the confined space and revealed a narrow gap between the tent and the greenery. It was just wide enough for them to fit down.
‘What? So we’re just going to walk out of here without anyone seeing?’ scoffed Ryan.
‘No. We’re going to get ourselves some transport.’
‘Yeah? Like what?’
Billy grabbed Ryan roughly by the T-shirt.
‘I don’t know yet,’ he hissed. ‘I’m making this up as I go. Feel free to chip in at any time, but only if you’ve got something useful to suggest.’
Ryan glared at him but refrained from escalating the argument.
‘Come on then,’ whispered Billy, edging into the gap. ‘And Butler, try not to be too fat.’
Ryan clenched his fist into a ball, but Daisy put a gentle hand on his arm and gave him a warm smile. Then she headed after Billy. Ryan followed, wondering whether it was worth asking Captain Nibbles about his preferred methods for torturing lanky, blond-haired boys.
The narrow trail Billy had found led them almost to the entrance to the encampment without being seen. At the corner of the last tent they stopped, and Billy took a quick peek to see how their chances of making a clean getaway were looking.
‘All right,’ he whispered. ‘The good news is that there’s no barrier, so we should be able to get a vehicle out of here no problem. The bad news is that there are two guards on the road and they’ve got big guns.’
‘Right-o,’ said Ryan. ‘What are we going to hijack?’
‘Well, there’s a golf buggy about three metres away. How’s that?’
Ryan and Daisy looked at him, bemused.
‘What the hell is a golf buggy doing here?’ asked Ryan.
‘I don’t know,’ snapped Billy, struggling to keep his voice to a whisper. ‘What the hell are hamsters doing with automatic weapons? Are we going then?’
‘Is there anything else?’ asked Daisy calmly.
‘No, that’s it.’
‘Then the buggy it is,’ she said simply.
The two boys glowered at one another for a moment, then the three of them made a dash for it.
A while later, when he had time to look back on it, Ryan still couldn’t believe how they managed to get so far without being noticed. Perhaps dreams were closer to films in nature than he realised, with the improbable becoming the norm and the most obvious solution rarely the correct one.
Whatever the case, there was no good reason for them getting to the golf buggy and starting it without anyone batting an eyelid. It was only once they had knocked out the guards at the entrance, using the conveniently placed golf clubs on board, that any hint of a commotion in the encampment could be heard. However, their good luck proved to be short-lived, for moments later their daring escape quickly began to unravel.
‘That’s got to be the easiest breakout in the history of the world,’ cried Ryan, who was occupying the rear-facing seats while the others sat up front. ‘So long, you furry-faced idiots! Floor it Billy!’
Billy gave Daisy a worried glance.
‘This is as fast as it goes.’
Ryan turned away from smirking at the hamsters, who were now rushing round the outpost in the desperate attempt to mount a pursuit.
‘You’re kidding me. That’s shocking! How the hell are we supposed to get away from them at this speed? Are you sure it won’t go any faster?’
‘My foot is buried. This is all it’s got.’
In truth, they really wouldn’t have wanted to be going much faster. The buggy was pitching wildly on the rutted track and it was all they could do to keep their backsides on their seats.
‘I need options,’ said Billy, furiously fighting the wayward steering, which seemed to have a mind of its own.
‘We could probably push it faster than this,’ grumbled Ryan.
‘Are you saying you want to stop?’
‘No,’ said Daisy. ‘Keep driving. Maybe it will level out soon.’
‘And then what?’ asked Billy. ‘I just open her up and we get away? We’re at full speed!’
‘I hate to say it, but they’re coming,’ said Ryan, staring grimly back down the track to where a pair of bright lights had joined them on the trail.
‘The easiest escape in history, and the shortest,’ said Daisy ruefully.
‘Junction ahead,’ called Billy. ‘Left or right?’
‘Dunno, you’ve got the map brainiac,’ said Ryan.
‘That’s not helpful, Ryan,’ scolded Daisy.
‘Left or right!?’ cried Billy again.
‘Right!’ shouted Daisy, so loudly that both boys jumped without the buggy’s assistance. ‘Sorry, just getting into it,’ she added, smiling sheepishly.
‘Right it is,’ said Billy, hurling the buggy onto the new track which, if anything, was even worse than the one they had just left. The deep furrows, worn by the many other vehicles that had passed along it, were too wide for the narrow golf buggy to straddle. They were forced to travel with one set of wheels in and the other out, listing uncomfortably to one side while Billy wrestled hard to keep it all together.
‘This is hopeless!’ he shouted in frustration, as the rut dipped, pitching the buggy so far from the horizontal it was a wonder that it didn’t roll over.
Ryan sat and watched as the pair of lights turned out onto the road behind them and began making easy work of the rutted track.
He had an idea.
‘Move over Richards, let me drive,’ he demanded.
‘What? No! You couldn’t do any better, Butler, trust me.’
‘Not in this heap of crap, no,’ said Ryan firmly.
Daisy turned to look at him and Ryan gave her a nod, sensing that she understood.
‘Do it Billy,’ she said, climbing into the back with Ryan.
‘What?’
‘Please?’ she added, leaning back through and giving him a peck on the cheek.
He cast a bemused glance over his shoulder, but was faced with steely resolve.
‘Fine,’ he said, sliding across into Daisy’s old spot. He did his best to maintain control as Ryan climbed through into the driver’s seat. ‘You know, when I said I needed options, I didn’t exactly mean letting this idiot drive.’
Ryan made a point of clouting him on the back of the head as he finally slipped into position.
‘You know Bill, I’m not as stupid as I look,’ he said. ‘Now shut up and let me concentrate.’
It was easier said than done. Ryan had never driven a golf buggy before and, despite the simplicity of the controls, nothing had prepared him for the tussle he was about to have with the steering. He wanted to close his eyes and concentrate, but though the cart was pretty much stuck in the rut there were still plenty of adjustments needed to ensure they didn’t come to a grinding halt.
He
tried to relax and just go with it, letting the buggy ride the terrain as it saw fit and keeping his control inputs to a minimum. It seemed to work. Like a rider on a horse he let his mount do the work and the ride began to mellow out. He relaxed some more, imagining a smooth stretch of asphalt beneath him and settling back happily as he cruised the open road, the wind whipping at his hair. The only thing before him was mile after mile of unbroken road. It was bliss. Smiling broadly, he gunned the engine to declare his freedom. And it roared.
Ryan opened his eyes, startled. He was still travelling down the rutted trail, but everything really had smoothed out. Had he just been driving with his eyes closed?
‘Wha… what happened?’ he stammered.
‘Ryan, you did it!’ cried Daisy, grabbing him so hard from behind that she almost strangled him.
‘What?’ choked Ryan.
‘Take a look,’ said Billy, who was giving Ryan a look of admiration that neither of them felt all that comfortable with.
Ryan peered out over the edge of the buggy and saw a pair of massive tyres churning away beneath him. He was sitting far off the ground in the same little golf buggy’s body, but it was now a full-blown monster truck. Ryan gaped in disbelief.
‘I don’t believe it,’ he said slowly.
‘Believe it mate,’ said Billy. ‘Perhaps I misjudged you, Butler. You do have skills.’
‘I… I…’ was all Ryan managed.
‘You’re disappearing!’ cried Daisy. ‘Billy look, he’s about to…’
And Ryan woke up.
17
‘Damn it!’ Ryan shouted, his mind cottoning on to events far quicker than his body. When it finally caught up, a crippling surge of hunger knocked him for six.
‘Oh God,’ he groaned, rolling his head to one side and seeing the bag of sweets he had stationed on