Chapter TWO things get INTENSE kind of
"Ellie?" asked Manny, "do you smell something?" "Other than you?" asked Eddie, appearing seemingly out of nowhere, followed by Crash. "Yes, other than me," the mammoth said, irritated. Ellie sniffed. "Smells like someone's having a campfire." "And they didn't invite me?" asked Crash. "Who would want to invite YOU?" asked Eddie. Manny ignored them, "But this early in the day?" Ellie shrugged. "Maybe they really, really like…campfires?" Manny shook his head. "I gotta bad feeling," he mumbled under his
breath (which stank).
-SOMEWHERE ELSE-
Buck, who was, you guessed it, SOMEWHERE ELSE, struggled as he tried (and failed) to untangle himself from the many vines that grew in the cavern which he was in. "I'm losing my touch," he muttered, at last freeing himself. I bet you're wondering what exactly was he doing in that un- described cavern. Well, it's kind of a long story, so I'll do my best to sum it up in one sentence. The herd had long since left; Buck had been thinking more and more about their offer for him to join the herd; Rudy died; Buck is sad but decides to find that oddball herd; knows of another way to the Winter Wonder Land; goes to it, it is a cave with a bunch of small dinosaurs and many, many, MANY vines; Buck is entangled in vines; Buck is angry and struggles to free himself; Buck frees himself; I begin a long sentence to sum all this up; I end the long sentence to sum it all up. Once he was free, he noticed it. Just a pinprick of light at the end of the tunnel. But, even after ten years, he hadn't forgotten what it was. The sun. A spark of hope lit up inside of him, and his jog turned into a run, and that run became a sprint. He tripped and fell but nothing was stopping him. Nothing was going to hold him back from feeling the warmth of actual sun of his back. Of feeling the snow on his feet. Of seeing them. And by "them", he didn't mean the herd.
Peaches coughed. She was lost. They had all been at recess when there had been a
light in the forest. Curious, she had followed it. It was a fire. She tried to turn back; tried to tell her teacher, but the smoke had become too thick. She couldn't see two feet in front of her. It was getting hotter. She tried to
scream, but the smoke and ash clogged her lungs and she started choking. She heard someone running above the roar of the fire. "Peaches!" it was Diego. "Follow me!" Dutifully, she followed her uncle through the maze of FLAMES!
Sid was distracted from his flower eating when he heard a crash. He turned around, only to find his home burning….burning…there it goes…going…going…oh *sigh*….it was gone.
As Buck drew closer to the exit, the air became thicker. He coughed. Stupid asthma, he thought (oh I bet you didn't know he had asthma did you?). He slowed down to a walk. His coughing became worse, racking, even. And when he put his hand to the wall of the cave to steady himself, it was gone. He wasn't in the cave anymore. He was in A forest fire.
Again.