‘On!’ he shouted again. He had reached the peak of his jump and was starting to fall. The jets fired up. Now facing the cliff, Zak was immediately propelled towards it. Gravity pulled him down faster, and the jets accelerated him forward. He approached the edge of the cliff at increasing speed, all too quick for him to judge what was going to happen.
Zak suddenly feared he wasn’t going to make it and stretched out his hands to grab on to something. There was an impact, but it was his skis hitting the top side of the lip. He landed heavily, but slid forward to safety.
Before he had a chance to catch his breath, he spotted two tree-mounted gun turrets locking onto him. He whipped the rifle out of its holder and despatched them in an instant. He glanced around again, and judged the immediate danger to be over.
An overwhelming sense of excitement erupted within him.
‘Off!’ he shouted. The jets shut off and he turned back towards the cliff edge, stopping to survey the scene. He had a towering view of the forest below and the frozen lake and mountains in the distance. Far below him, and to either side, he could see red and blue stars moving slowly along the shallower routes up the mountain.
‘Look at me!’ he roared with delight.
‘Uh?’ came two replies.
‘I don’t believe it!’ said Tom, seriously.
Zak smiled at the thought of them looking around for his yellow star, and then finding it high above them.
‘You said it couldn’t be done,’ he jeered in triumph. ‘I’m right! You’re wrong!’
‘Okay Zak. Well done,’ said Van, with typical irritation.
‘Y’know, I think you guys are losing your nerve. Maybe I should look for some new team-mates,’ said Zak, silently laughing.
‘Right,’ said Tom, sounding shaken. ‘Well, let’s get to the top first yeah.’
Zak was about to rub it in even more when he heard movement behind him. He jumped in the air and swivelled 180 degrees to face back toward the mountain. He saw wolves. Four of them were sprinting towards him, close together, teeth bared. Was there time?
