Ginie paused at the edge. She shouted Jongy’s name and heard her own voice echoing back. She waited, then called a second time and a third. After some time, there was a different sound. She listened closely, for she could not identify it. It came again. The noise was quite close and it wasn’t a bird’s cry, or water splashing from one of the underground streams. It was a howl of pain, sounding again and again; a gasping howl, as if whatever it was had no strength left to call out.

Ginie walked forward, past Jessica’s grave. Fear was coursing through her, making her tremble so badly she could barely will her legs to walk. She blundered into a spider’s web and dashed the tacky threads from her face and neck in horror, watching a large black and yellow spider fall to the ground, its legs waving. She peered into the dense shade cast by the trees, for coming from bright sunlight, it was hard to see. She kept walking, but more slowly and looking all around. Then, suddenly, she wavered and came to a stop.

What greeted her was a vision from a nightmare. Propped against a tree trunk sat a creature that had legs and a long tail, but was unlike anything recognizable. It looked like a small monkey, covered in mangy tufts of fur, mingled with bits of raw, sticky flesh. The limbs were covered by shifting waves of blackness, which pulsed over and over in different places, and all the while the beast shuddered and thrashed and cried out breathlessly. Suddenly Ginie understood. Shock slammed through her chest and she retched. It wasn’t a monkey.

It was Jongy.

She became aware that the grass around her was seething and slithering to and fro. Looking down, she saw the ground was thick with ants – large soldier ants that rushed towards the struggling shape. A dark army, intent on feasting. Jongy toppled over and the howling ceased. There was no sound except for her own ragged breathing. Ginie screamed and stamped her feet, trying to crush as many ants as she could. She looked around frantically for stones to throw, wondering how to get the creatures off Jongy, but there were too many. However many she killed, more took their place, keeping up their relentless march. She could feel them getting inside her sandals, biting her feet. The thought that they might turn on her scared her, so she gave up and watched Jongy in despair as he was gripped by violent spasms.

Perhaps she could get Stephen to shoot him and put him out of his misery. She began to run towards the house, but stopped and turned back. Her pet was gone and no longer in pain, his movements were nothing but muscle reflexes. She wept at the agony he must have endured.