A/N: This is my first published 'Wild Thornberrys' story, and it's based on the movie. To be specific, it's just after Eliza has the dream about Tally, in which Shaman Mnyambo tells her the cheetah cub is alive. I hope you enjoy it!

Nightmare Breaking

I woke from my dream with a start; that is, if gasping for breath and sweating heavily was categorized as a 'start'. Whatever state I was in didn't matter now; the only thing that was on my mind was doing exactly as I had been told: I was going to find Tally.

I uttered those same words breathlessly as I jumped from my bed and frantically gathered my things, turning on the lamp to the right of my bed as I did so, trying not to wake Sarah, yet in such a state of near hysteria that I didn't care if I did.

Speak of the poachers, Sarah woke up.

"What are you doing?" Sarah's nasally voice completely broke the silence that had laced the room just seconds earlier, as it had only been partially shattered by my disconnected breathing.

"I have to leave." I couldn't help but pray she wouldn't ruin this for me; I couldn't get in trouble now, not when Tally needed me like he did. He was alive, and I was dead set on finding him.

"I'm calling Mrs. Fairgood." Sarah glared at me, also crawling from her bed at a good speed at grabbing the phone, beginning to dial. I panicked and jumped on my bed, crawling over to face her with one arm hardly even fitted through my dark blue striped jacket.

"No! Please! You have to keep this a secret!" I grabbed the phone, which had formerly been nearly pressed to her ear, and returned it to its cradle.

She looked at me strangely, but I ignored it and grabbed her purse, which had been lying on the nightstand between us. I held it out to her, speaking quickly, and I was pretty sure I sounded even more insane than before.

"Do you have a credit card? I need two tickets to Africa."

"Africa?! I am not taking part in this." She snatched the purse from my hands and held it to her chest, sounding absolutely appalled at the idea, the expression on her face portraying exactly that guess.

"My parents will pay you back, I promise. And no one will know you helped me until it's all over!" I ranted again, trying to make her see my point…well, as best she could.

"Until what's all over?! You're acting so odd…I'm reporting you at once." She reached for the phone again, but when she came into contact with it, I swiftly caught it in my own grip and held it to me. I listened as the tears that began to gather in my eyes affected my voice as I spoke again.

"Sarah, please, it's a matter of life and death! I have to go now, and I really need your help. Please!"

I prayed she could hear the sincere desperation in those words and see it on my face; it was there, plain and clear for all to see and hear. I knew she thought I was incapable of being considered 'normal' even more than before by now, but I still needed her answer. I was of no use to Tally without her help.

Another thought crossed my mind before she had time to answer, one that was, frankly and honestly, my last hope of enlisting her aid.

"And just think—you'll get the room all to yourself again!" I was trying to make the proposition sink in by adding the cheerfulness and optimism I currently didn't have in me at the moment; if this didn't work…I didn't even want to imagine hat might happen to Tally.

I held the phone out to her, giving my best hopeful smile, and she smirk-smiled triumphantly, taking the phone and immediately dialing numbers; apparently, she liked the idea I had offered on both of our behalves.

"Would you prefer aisle or window?" She asked politely, a new thing for her, no matter if she was trying to get rid of me faster.

As soon as I was out of that room, I hightailed it as cautiously as I could to the stable where Darwin was being housed, crouching down at the fence of the stall he shared with Thunder as quickly as possible.

"Darwin, wake up!" I shouted to him quietly, startling him as he awoke immediately, and then I got to work on opening the stall's chain-link gate between us. Darwin stood from the hay and gripped said gate as he smiled at me in immense relief.

"Oh, I've tried to keep track of the days, but they've bled into months!" He cried dramatically, swinging toward and past me along with the gate as it swung open, and I blandly replied as he hopped down.

"Dar, it's only been four hours." I grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the stable, beginning to speak of my plan once outside in the quite loud, yet helpful cover of the pouring rain as we escaped from school.

It had been a long day.

As soon as Darwin and I were sure we'd escaped from Lady Beatrice's, we'd caught a bus, arrived just in time to make the subway's evening train, took a long flight to Nairobi, rode in a chicken wagon, and, finally, came to rest here on this train in the navy night.

Our destination: Tembo Valley, Africa.

I looked out the train's tinted window to the gently light-bathed landscape the other passengers and I elapsed as we rolled along; the animals and scenery were easier to see from inside the train, but seeing them made my heart sink at the thought of Tally.

I turned when Darwin, whose head was lying against my shoulder, whimpered and thrashed about in his sleep, causing the red Lady Beatrice's uniform jacket to fall further from his shoulders than it previously had.

I smiled and reached over, careful not to wake him as I returned the makeshift blanket securely to his shoulders, after which he settled down and sucked his thumb.

I grinned gently, tiredly, worriedly, stroking from his head down to his cheek before placing my hand on his shoulder and gazing out the window again.

I drew support from him, as I sensed he did from me; yet, I couldn't help but suffer from temporary insomnia due to what I would next have to face.

I had a slight clue of what I was dealing with from my first run-in with the poachers, the ones who'd taken Tally, but I was without knowledge of their resources, weapons to which I hadn't been introduced, methods of attack, how many of them there actually were… It was not until now that I truly understood what my business was out here, particularly on my own as I was.

I stared out into the night, thunderclouds and lightning chasing giraffes across the plains; such was an almost hammer-on-the-nail interpretation of my feelings. Everything was so…artificial, it seemed, with the disappearance of Tally weighing on my shoulders.

I made a silent pledge, then, to both myself and the little cub for whom I was searching; putting my hand on the glass barrier separating me from the outside world, as though to make the vow stand out amongst all the others that had been made, I yearned for him to hear me.

"I'll find you, Tally. I promise."

Shaman Mnyambo had sent me the dream, or rather, nightmare as a warning. It had been meant to help me, yes, but its underlying message was simply 'be careful', and I knew it.

However, I would succumb to the message that had gotten me this far, no matter what happened because of my potential stupidity. It was my fault Tally had been taken in the first place, and I would not let him slip out of my grasp for a second time.

Not when I had been given this chance to fix everything.

And fix everything I would.