Free Tracks of the Tiger by Bear Grylls

they taught me or I see some difference they made in my life. I always feel Mum around me. I bet you, in time, Nakula’s family will find that too. I mean, hearing someone you love has died is the worst thing ever, and that never goes away, but think of the difference he made. Think of the sanctuary.’
    â€˜I’m so sorry about your mum and dad, Beck. I never really said that properly before.’
    Beck smiled at Peter warmly. Until someone close to you actually died it was impossible to know what it was like. Beck prayed his friend wouldn’t have to find out for many years.
    â€˜Hey, Peter, your parents are going to be so proud of us,’ he told him, lightening the tone. ‘They’ll realize we had no option but to head into the jungle. And we are going to get through this. Sure, it’s not going to be like a walk in the park back home, but if we stick together and work together, we’ll survive. Just like in the Sahara. What’s important is that we focus on getting through this alive .’
    Peter’s smile in the firelight was warm and genuine. ‘Yeah, we’ll do that,’ he said confidently.
    Beck felt his own heart lift as well. ‘But we should get some sleep,’ he added.
    Climbing onto the sleeping frame took some careful manoeuvring. It creaked and groaned with their weight, but it held together. The boys lay head to toe and back to back on a thin mattress of palm leaves.
    â€˜Beck?’ Peter murmured after a few minutes.
    â€˜Uh-huh?’
    â€˜What about tigers? This thing isn’t exactly a cage, is it?’
    Beck had mentioned earlier that they were in tiger territory. They hadn’t discussed this since. There hadn’t seemed much point. It wouldn’t change anything.
    â€˜Tigers are very solitary,’ Beck told his friend. ‘The chances of one wandering past us in the night are pretty slim.’
    â€˜Oh.’ Peter was quiet for a moment or two. ‘And anyway, I guess they’ll be asleep soon, like us?’
    â€˜They’re nocturnal—’ Beck started to correct him, but stopped when he realized what he was saying.
    Peter sighed. ‘You know, that’s really not comforting!’

CHAPTER SIX
    Despite his worries (and the fact that the creepers did dig in, leaves or no leaves), Peter had dropped off almost immediately. He was worn out in body and mind, and he had a good meal of lizard inside him to digest. Beck lay awake for a little while longer, listening to the jungle. It was like a living creature all around them. Crackles and crunches, whoops and whistles – a million life forms getting on with the business of living and dying. But at some point sleep took him too.
    It was a rumble of thunder that woke him up, briefly. The fire had gone out and it was pitch dark. Rain drummed down relentlessly all around them. It pattered on the roof of palm leaves above, and he could hear streams of water pouring into his bamboo water collectors. Drops of it inevitably got through and landed on him, but he could live with that. Beyond the roof of the A-frame he could hear it hammering down. It washed the air clean, and made it fresh and cool once more. It was like being surrounded by an invisible waterfall.
    The sound of the rain finally sent him back to sleep again.
    They woke up early the next day, their second day in the jungle. The moment he was awake, Beck felt an extra layer of slick sweat clinging to his body. The freshness of the night’s rain was already a memory. The sun had come up as quickly as it went down, and the moisture left by the rain was now turning to steam.
    Beck swung his legs down and reached for his shoes beneath the sleeping frame. They had left their shoes propped upside down on sticks, to keep them dry. He gave each one a shake and looked carefully inside before putting it on. When he shook the second one, a scorpion as long as his middle finger fell out. Beck watched it