Chapter 2

A crowd of people had gathered around Fast Tony as he told about his revolutionary invention, guaranteed to save them from the flood. Fast Tony was a somewhat short individual, with a skinny build and somewhat crazy salesman look in his eye. He wore a purple suit and a purple peddler's hat.

"Folks!" he shouted, holding up a thin plastic cylinder that looked like a straw. "Here in my hands is a device that will help all people breathe underwater!" he walked up to a lady.

"Pardon me, ma'am, but do you have gills?" the lady shook her head. "No." she replied. "So you can't breathe underwater?" Fast Tony asked her. She told him the same reply. "Uh-huh!" Fast Tony grunted. He walked over to where his assistant, Stu, was waiting with the straw stuffed up his nose. Stu was a small, fat guy with no hair on his head and even less on his face. He wore a green suit and a green fedora. "My Assistant here will demonstrate."

Stu sniffed the air. "Hey, I can smell the ocean." He smiled. Fast Tony yelled in anger and pulled the straw out of his nose. "You idiot!" he shouted. "I can't sell this now!" he stuffed the straw into Stu's mouth. "You suck air through your mouth, you moron!" he dunked Stu's face into a pool of water.

"With it revolutionary design and flexibility," said Fast Tony, trying to hold Stu down, who was trying to pull his face out. "You'll be able to live underwater for years!" He finally let go and Stu pulled his head out quickly, gasping for air. "Also, side-effects may occur." Fast Tony muttered. Suddenly, he found himself staring eye to eye with Manny, who held him the air by his jacket. "Why are you frightening the people with this doomsday stuff?" Manny asked grumpily.

"Look, Pal." Fast Tony spoke quietly. "I'm trying to make a living, and telling that everyone's gonna be fine, doesn't exactly bring in the big bucks." He slipped out of his jacket and back onto his makeshift pedestal made out of rocks. "It's all part of my five day forecast with really high percentage chance of..." he threw his arms up in the air and shouted. "THE END OF THE WORLD!" people gasped in fear.

"Come on, do you really believe this guy?" Manny glared at the crowd. "Fast Tony would sell his own mother for a nickel." Fast Tony sprinted over to him. "Are you willing to make an offer?" he asked quietly. He then looked back at the crowd, who were watching him. "Uh… No, I would not!" he announced loudly.

"Haven't you heard?" shouted one of the citizens. "The Ice is melting!" Everyone started mumbling among the selves about their situation. "Hey!" Manny shouted. The crowd stopped and looked at him. "Look at the ground." They all looked at it. "It's covered in ice, thousand years ago, covered it, thousand years from now, it will still be ICE!"

"Hey, uh, dude," a homeless guy walked up to Manny. He wore torn clothing and a baseball cap, had an orange and black shoulder bag slung around his shoulder, and he was missing a tooth. He clutched a walking stick in his hands. "Not to admit that you're wrong or anything, but where are the all giants at?"

"What do you mean?" asked Manny.

"I mean, why aren't there any giants around here?" the homeless guy replied. "Where are they, are they extinct or something?"

Manny figured this guy was trying to change the subject. "Ahh, your breath smells like garbage." He taunted, trying to make the homeless forget what he was talking about. The Homeless guy cupped his hands around his mouth, breathed, and then sniffed into his hands. He pulled back his face in disgust.

"Well, you're right about that," said the homeless guy. "But my point is, what if you are the last giant on earth?"

Manny didn't know what to think. This guy could have a good point. What if he was the last Giant on the face on the earth? Diego walked over to him and patted his shoulder. "Come on, Manny, don't listen to him. He's just trying to hide the fact that he's scared."

But Manny was not backing down. "Giants can't go extinct. We're one of the biggest creatures on the earth."

"Well, what about the dinosaurs?" asked a nice looking lady. "The dinosaurs got cocky!" replied Manny. "They made enemies!"

"EVERYONE!" everyone turned around and saw a young man running towards them. "Some idiot's trying to jump off the Eviscerator!" The crowd of people muttered and mumbled about who was the chump that was asking for a death sentence.

Manny's head began to fill with thoughts about who could be pulling a stunt like that, but then it hit him like a ton of bricks. "Oh, please don't let it be our idiot!" Manny hoped that a young friend of his wasn't about to do something stupid and life threatening. But unfortunately, that's exactly who was gonna try the stunt.

…

Sid stood on the top of the cliff of ice, right beside the Eviscerator. The Eviscerator was a slide that dropped down for about 2 miles and then turned into a ramp, right over the deep end of the pool. Sid knew that if he was going to get some respect, he would have to pull a wild stunt. "ALRIGHT!" he shouted down to the crowd, stripping off his blazer and flip flops. "I'm gonna jump on the count of three!" He started walking towards the edge. "One," he counted slowly. "Two…"

…

"SID!" shouted Manny, heading towards the ladder that lead up to the slide. "Don't move a muscle! I'm coming up for you!" The crowd of people had other ideas, however, and all started chanting "JUMP!" Manny looked over at Diego, who was also chanting along with them. "Sorry." Diego muttered. "Yeah. I hope so." said Manny. He started climbing, with Diego climbing right behind him.

….

"Two and 3/4's," Sid counted quietly. "Two and 5/6's," "Sid!" shouted Manny, running up to him with Diego following behind. "Don't do it!" "Oh, No!" shouted Sid. "I'm gonna be the first one to survive The Eviscerator, and then you guys are gonna have to show me some respect!"

"Sid, you jump down that, and the only respect you'll get is respect for the dead!" Manny inquired. "Come on Manny, he's not that stupid." said Diego. Sid nodded; he had made up his mind. He took a running start. "Well, I have been wrong before." Diego muttered. "Geronimo!" shouted Sid as he leapt off the cliff. Manny sprinted forward and grabbed Sid by his trunks, right before he plummeted into the icy waters below. He threw Sid over his shoulder and he collided with Diego, sending him flying over the frozen sea of ice.

"I think I broke something." Sid groaned, sitting up. Manny walked over to Sid, carrying his blazer and flip flops. "Put your clothes on." said Manny. Sid got up, flipped on his blazer, and slipped on his flip flops. "Don't try that again." Manny told him. Sid muttered something under his breath about never getting respect as he got up.

Diego, on the other hand, got up and started walking back to Manny and Sid. Suddenly, he heard a cracking noise, and he looked down. The ice was cracking. Diego yelped and started running across the ice. The ice broke and he was left jumping on fragments of ice. He leapt through the air and into Manny's arms.

"Diego," said Manny, who was holding him like a child. "Can you please get out of my arms?" "Sorry." Diego apologized, clambering out of Manny's arms. "If I didn't know you better Diego," Sid chuckled. "I'd say you're afraid of water." He started laughing at this, but Diego grabbed him by the throat. "Okay," Sid choked, trying to pull Diego's hand off his throat. "Okay, good thing I know you better."

"Guys." Sid and Diego looked over at Manny, who was watching the frozen sea with a look of terror on his face. Diego let go of Sid and walked over. "Fast Tony was right." Manny's voice was so hoarse it was almost like a whisper. "Everything's melting." The three of them looked out across the not-so-frozen sea and saw what he meant. If the ice melted anymore, the water would overflow its banks and everyone would drown. Manny swallowed. "It's all gonna flood." He said in a normal voice. "Come on, let's warn the others."

"Maybe we could evolve into water creatures." Sid rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "That's genius, Sid." grumbled Diego. "Call me 'Squid.'" Sid replied. They followed Manny across a bridge over the Eviscerator.

"Man, this place is a piece of junk." Sid kicked a rotten plank. "I can't believe I live here." Suddenly they heard a cracking noise, Manny, Diego, and Sid looked down and saw the planks begin to crack. "Oh Cr-" Manny didn't even have time to finish his sentence. The bridge broke and they began their plummet down the Eviscerator.