"How far is it to the compound?" Drew asked.

"I think it's about the same distance as our hike to the boat," I said. "Everyone ready?"

Everyone looked tired and anxious, but they all nodded.

"Okay," I said. "Let's go."

Calem held up his machete. "I'll take the lead."

We all followed him back into the jungle. Insects continued to flare off my skin in bright blue flashes. Ten minutes into our hike Calem stopped.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Look."

A Jaguar was standing in our path, about fifty feet ahead of us, its green eyes pale in the distance.

""Zeus," I said. Zeus quickly stepped up. "We might need you. Just in case it decides to hunt one of us."

  "Nobody run," Clemont said. "We should be okay."

  "Why are we okay?" Serena asked.

  "We don't look like what they usually eat. But if you run, it triggers the chase instinct."

  "Good to know," Drew said.

   The cat looked more bored than hungry. After a few minutes it turned away and lumbered off into the thick foliage.

   We breathed a collective sigh of relief, then continued hiking.

   Clemont said to Serena, "I hope we don't have to deal with those rats. Even without electricity they're bad."

   Serena sighed. "You're going to tell me everything you know about rats, aren't you?"

  "Rats," Clemont said, "are the most successful survivor of any mammals on earth. They can live almost three weeks without sleep, keep themselves afloat in the water for three days, and fall fifty feet without getting hurt. That's the equivalent of us falling off a twenty-six-story building.

  "They're also breeding machines. In ideal conditions a single pair of rats could produce, in three years, three and a half million offspring. That's why nearly ninety percent of the world's islands have been overrun by rats. They cause about half the extinctions of reptile and bird species."

  "You're not making this any easier," Serena said.

  "Did you know that rats are ticklish and actually giggle?"

  "No."

  "And they have belly buttons but no thumbs?"

  "Why would I want to know that?"

  "Did you know that a group of rats is called a mischief?"

  "No. Really?"

  "Did you know that rats regulate their temperatures through their tails because they can't sweat?"

  "Nope. Didn't know that either."

  "Did you know that there's a temple in India where rats are worshipped?"

  "No," Serena said. "Maybe you should go there."

  "Did you know that rats can't vomit?"

  "Okay, enough. No more rat trivia."

  "I'm just passing time."

  "Then talk about something besides rats."

   Clemont thought about it. "How about snakes? These jungles are slithering with them."

  "Ash, your turn," Serena said, pulling me next to Clemont.

Clemont continued telling me about the different kinds of snakes in the jungle.

Eventually, I asked Clemont, "Hey Clemont."

"Yeah?"

"What is the difference between a tuna, a piano, and a bowl of glue?"

Clemont just looked at me for a while before saying, "Well there's lots that are different between them. First, a tuna is a living animal while a piano is just a bunch of wood and strings. Glue is made from the remains of—."

"Clemont." I said, sighing. "You can tuna piano, but you cannot piano a tuna."

Clemont looked down for several minutes trying to figure it out. The rest of us were enjoying this pause from him. I heard a snicker from up front, probably by Drew.

"But what about the glue? How does that fit in?"

I smiled and looked back. "I knew you would get stuck on that."

Everyone erupted in laughter at the punchline except Clemont who was trying to understand.

"I don't get it."

Everyone laughed even harder. Zeus had his hands on his knees trying to support himself and Serena was wiping tears from her eyes. It felt good to have the big laugh, relieving some of the anxiety of what's before us. Although, I felt like it will be the last time we would laugh for a long time.

   We hiked another forty minutes before we saw light ahead of us—the edge of the forest. I stopped everyone. "All right, everyone, stay alert."

   We cautiously approached the forest perimeter. The Galactic fence was only thirty feet from the clearing, and could see dozens of bulls on the other side. The fence was about twenty feet high with DANGER: HIGH VOLTAGE signs in both English and Spanish.

  "It looks like a ranch," Korrina said.

  "It is a ranch," I said. "Clemont, how far do you think we are from the gate?"

  "It's about three miles southwest."

   I stared ahead at the animals. "Can you see the compound?" I asked Brock.

  "Barely. There's a lot of electrical interference. There are also a lot of security cameras between here and the compound."

  "A lot?"

  "More than a hundred."

   I shook my head. "Galactic and their cameras."

  "What now?" Serena asked. "How do we get in?"

  "I think I could lift the wires high enough that everyone could climb under, but then what do we do?" I asked. "With all those cameras, we'd be surrounded by Galactic guards before we got within two miles of the place."

   Zeus said, "Brock could spot the cameras and I could blow them out."

  "Yeah, like they're not going to notice that?" Calem said snidely.

  "Shut up," Zeus said. "I don't hear you coming up with anything."

  "C'mon, guys," Brock said. "Quit fighting all the time."

  "Maybe if he'd quit being such a jerk," Zeus said.

  "You watch your back," Calem said.

  "Is that a threat?" Zeus asked.

  "Please, stop it," I said. "We've got enough to worry about." I sat down to think.

  "We need them to come get us," Clemont said.

  "Sure," Drew said. "Why don't we just call them and ask for a ride."

  "Clemont, tell us your idea," I said.

  "If we can somehow damage the fence, they'll have to send out a repair crew. While they're trying to repair the gate we'll jump them, take their uniforms and vehicle, and drive to the compound."

  "How do we damage the fence?" Serena asked.

   Korrina was looking at the top of the fence. "We could drop a tree branch on it," she said.

  "Brilliant," Clemont said. "We find a tree that hangs over the fence, then one of us climbs up with a machete and hack a branch off so it falls on the fence."

  "I could do that," Calem said.

  "It's worth a shot," I said. "Let's find ourselves a branch."

   We walked about a half mile along the fence line concealed in the shadow of the jungle until we found a tree with a large branch that hung over the fence. The branch provided enough shade that six large bulls were grazing beneath it.

   Calem shimmied about forty feet up the tree, his machete slung through the back of his belt. He climbed out on the overhanging branch, then, straddling it, began hacking away.

  "Be careful up there," Shauna said.

   Calem smiled and pounded harder.

  "That's a really big branch," Clemont said.

  "It will have to be big to damage that wire," I said.

  "Yeah. I'm just saying, it looks really heavy. I just hope when it breaks off, the tree doesn't flip back and catapult Calem through the jungle."

  "We should be so lucky," Zeus said.

   It took Calem almost fifteen minutes to hack through the branch, and he was soaked with sweat. With each slash of the machete he rained down perspiration.

   When the branch began to crack Calem shouted, "Watch out. Here it goes." He gave the branch a few more whacks, then jumped onto another tree limb as the branch fell out from under him, directly onto the fence. Sparks shot out in a bright cascade but the branch just flipped off the top wire, doing no damage. We stood there speechless.

  "Crap," Clemont said.

   I looked up at Calem. He was shaking his head. "That fence is a lot stronger than it looks."

  "And it looks pretty strong," Serena said. "Any other ideas?"

  "Watch out," Calem shouted. He let the machete fall. It stuck blade first into the marshy ground about ten feet from Clemont, who wasn't paying attention and jumped when it hit. Then Calem slid down the tree's trunk and joined us. "Didn't work," he said.

"You need a shower, dude," Zeus said.

Calem wiped his forehead. "Yeah, I'm starting to smell like you."

The two glared at each other.

"What we need," Clemont said, "is a car to drive through the fence."

I looked over at the fence and the bulls behind it. "How much does a car weigh?"

"That depends," Clemont said. "Are you talking about a Volkswagen or a six-wheeler?"

"Something big enough to break through that fence."

"A ton should do," Calem said.

Clemont nodded. "A ton. At least. The problem is, how do you get a bull to charge an electric fence?"

"Easy," Drew said.

We all looked at him.

"Oh yeah, my uncle had bulls on his farm. Those things are crazy. I've seen videos of them charging a train head-on. You just have to get them mad enough."

"How do you do that?" Serena asked.

"Call them names," Clemont said.

Everyone looked at him.

"You're kidding, right?" Serena said.

   Clemont blushed. "Yeah, of course."

  "Actually, it's easy," Drew said. "Those things are born mean. You just have to throw things at them. It always worked for us. Once we were throwing apples at them and one of my uncle's bulls got so mad it broke through the fence. He had us up a tree for almost an hour."

  "Let's try it," I said.

   We all went into the jungle looking for things to throw. Korrina found some softball-size seed pods on the ground. We loaded up with them, then picked out the largest of the bulls and started throwing things at him. We managed to pelt him a few times—I even knocked him once in the head—but he was pretty tranquil as far as bulls go. He didn't even look at us.

   Finally Zeus got impatient. "I'll do it," he said. He walked up to the fence and began waving and shouting at the bull. "Hey, want a piece of me? Come and get me, you ugly cow." The bull looked at him, then suddenly began hoofing the dirt, like it was preparing to charge.

  "I told you they don't like to be called names," Clemont said.

   Then Zeus stuck out his hand and shot a bolt of lightning at the bull. The bull stiffened, then fell to its side, rolling all the way to its back, then onto its side again, it's legs sticking straight out the whole time.

  "I think you killed it," Clemont said.

  "Way to go, genius," Calem said.

   Suddenly the bull climbed to its feet and charged at us.

  "Run!" I shouted.

   The bull hit the fence with the force of a car crash. There was an electric snap, like the sound of a moth on a bug zapper, except a hundred times louder. The bull didn't break through the wire, but had lodged itself halfway through the fence, and sparks continued to fly all around it. Suddenly the sparks stopped. I looked at the top of the fence. The orange flashing lights affixed to the posts had gone dim.

"He shorted out the fence," Clemont said.

I walked over and touched the fence to make sure the power was really out. It was.

"Perfect," I said. "They'll have to come out to free the bull."

"Which will take at least a half dozen men," Clemont said.

"All right!" I shouted. "Everyone back to the jungle!"

As everyone walked back, Clemont grinned at me.

"What?"

"I don't know," he said. "That 'everyone back to the jungle' just sounded kind of funny."

"Glad you liked it."

"I'm going to use that sometime."

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