The Cloud Cat
- The fish Kate brought really does stink. It smells so much that Bruce, who is the one who unwrapped it and placed it on the ground, reeks of fish too no matter how many times he tries to wipe his hands.
- They back away and settle down in some dense bushes, waiting to get their shot.
- In the heat of the afternoon Matt almost dozes off, but wakes up suddenly because he thinks he hears propellers.
- The other two don't hear them—and then the cat appears.
- The creature really is gorgeous. The three kids silently admire her as she delicately makes her way down toward the fish.
- On the ground she isn't nearly as graceful as in the treetops, and Matt pities her for being forced to the ground.
- Then she digs into the fish—and that's when the kids realize what a horrible mistake they've made. The violence with which she devours their offering shows them exactly how wild she really is. And they're only twelve feet away. Gulp.
- As she finishes her meal, she looks up and sniffs. Matt is hoping that she can't smell Bruce.
- And then Kate takes her picture.
- The click of the shutter going off sounds like thunder in the silent forest, and the cat hones in on them immediately.
- Bruce makes a run for it. Before Matt and Kate can make a move to join him the creature is after him—and fast.
- It leaps and gets Bruce by the legs.
- Matt looks around for a weapon of any kind, and suddenly remembers that in his journal Kate's grandfather had noticed that the creatures scattered immediately when they saw his spyglass. He grabs the same spyglass from Kate and runs toward Bruce.
- He throws a rock at the creature to get her attention away from Bruce and then starts waving the spyglass and cursing up a blue streak. The cloud cat just watches him, bristling but still.
- Matt tells Bruce to run, and he does (as well as he can with a mangled leg, that is).
- Matt gets Kate behind him, and tells her to leave her darn camera—they're going to have to run for it.
- They start to slowly back away into the forest… and then Matt trips.
- He goes down hard, and when he gets his bearings, sees the cat flashing overhead in the trees.
- They start to run as fast as they can. Just as they're sure that the creature is about to get them they see a clearing up ahead. If they can make it to the field they might escape—the cat can't catch them on flat ground.