And I'm back with another chapter! I can't believe how many chapters I've churned out this month. This hasn't happened in over a year XD I hope you enjoy this chapter.
4 – A Disaster in the Making – 4
It didn't seem to take long for Maru to figure how she could be useful. Audra soon found herself up on one of the hangars, battling her fear of heights as the tug passed up the necessary tools and supplies. Audra gripped a baggy of rivets in her teeth as she found herself rushing to keep up with the flow of items being passed up by Maru.
One of the tools was a rivet gun designed to be used by forklifts. It was bigger than what she expected, and she soon realized that if she wanted to operate it, she'd need to use both hands. But she had never operated a rivet gun before, and she didn't know what to expect.
Her thoughts were quickly interrupted when Maru passed up a sheet of metal that was almost as big as she was. She had to stand to her feet and bend down to grab it. Vertigo nearly claimed her as she hoisted the metal sheet up and onto the roof. She stumbled back and fell into a sitting position in the snow in order to save herself from pitching over the edge.
"Alright, can you see the problem spot up there?" Maru called up from his position on the ground.
Audra glanced around as she rose to her knees, and it didn't take her very long to spot the area where the water was leaking into the hangar below. The snow there was almost completely gone, and was located near the chimney where the leakage was reported to be coming from inside. Crawling over to it, she cleared the remaining snow off of it and made sure there was enough surface-area exposed for the metal sheet to be placed upon it. She leaned down and took a look at the metal roof, seeking any weaknesses, and when she did, she said, "I think I see the problem! There's a crack in one of the seams up here." She sat back on her heels and turned to look in Maru's direction, even though she couldn't see him anymore. "I might not be an expert, but shouldn't the metal plate be welded to the roof instead of being fastened by rivets?"
"Don't worry, the rivets will make a water-tight seal," Maru assured her.
The young woman sighed. "Alright…" she said quietly before she got to work. Positioning the metal sheet over the problem area, she held it in place with her knees as she began to nail the rivets into the sheet and roof. She had never used a rivet gun before, so it took several tries before she got the hang of it and managed to place the rivets in a straight line.
Half an hour later, the sheet was fully riveted to the roof, and she couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. Her shoulders were sore from the effort, but it somehow managed to make her feel more alive in the process. She felt like she had purpose in her life once more, even if it was going to be for a short time. I'll make sure that I won't be a burden, so at least they'll remember me.
She held onto the rivet-gun's extension cord and let it slowly slip through her hand as she held it over the edge. When she saw that Maru had it in 'hand', she let go of the cord and gripped the baggy of leftover rivets in her teeth once more before she slipped down from the roof. She hit the ground heavily and sank to her knees because she didn't land correctly.
"Good work," Maru said once she recovered. "Hopefully it won't leak there again."
Audra nodded silently in agreement. Her mind was elsewhere, though. Death was always on her mind, and it wouldn't leave her until it claimed her. Nick, you better be taking care of Damion, she thought as Maru lead her to the next task. She couldn't help but admit to herself that her heart ached at the thought of never getting to see her brother again, something that hadn't really occurred to her before she sent the helicopter and her brother on their way. What if he somehow manages to figure out I came here too? What if he tracks me down and finds out I was buried here? Audra had to stop herself from thinking any farther down that train of thought, and was extremely grateful when Maru pulled her off to the side and began to explain what they next task was.
"Okay," he began in a hushed tone. "Cabbie has been avoiding me like the plague because he doesn't want to be roped into being shut up in my hanger for hours. There's a large branch jammed in his left propeller, you see."
Audra knew where this was going. With her eyebrows shooting halfway up her forehead in incredulity, she hissed, "Let me guess, you want me to yank it out for you? Are you crazy?!" She couldn't think of all the things that could go wrong in a situation such as that. For one, Cabbie didn't know her. Sure, he had seen her before—she had caught him watching as she worked on the hanger roof—but that didn't mean he'd let her stand on his back.
He waved his forks in what appeared to be a placating gesture. "I know, I know—but he won't let me drive on his back, and he doesn't know you, so you won't be very effective when it comes to distracting him so that the branch can be pulled out, huh? So that's why I'm having you walk on his back while I distract him."
Audra crinkled her nose in response before scoffing and rolling her eyes. "Alright!" she exclaimed softly. "But if something goes wrong and I die, I'm expecting to have my body buried, and the blood that will be spilled will be harder to clean up than any oil that you may have ever had to clean up before."
Maru gave her a sceptical look. "Cabbie isn't one to jump around, kid. Just make sure you grab onto something right after you get it out."
The human snorted once, showing her displeasure at the idea of having to do this. But she had made a promise, so she was going to do it. Though, she was going to pray before she found out how to get on the colossal plane's back.
Cabbie had parked himself by his hangar, under a little canopy, and was wearing what looked to be a pair of massive headphones. Audra gave them a curious glance, wondering why he was wearing them over his 'head' like he had ears under where the headphones were. But after a few seconds, she pushed the questions aside, and told herself that some things were just…different here.
She kept to the shadows and out of Cabbie's line of vision. Most of Cabbie's attention was on a little black box that hung on the side of the building he was sitting next to, so getting to the back of his hangar shouldn't take much effort at all. She crossed the tarmac at the fastest walk she could manage, and her heart was thundering by the time she had put a hangar between Cabbie and herself. She couldn't tell if her heart was galloping away because of exertion or nervousness/fear, but she stopped and allowed herself to take a deep breath before she continued on.
When she quietly stepped behind Cabbie's hangar, she noted the stacked crates and other items she'd be able to use in order to climb to the roof of the Quonset-hut-like hangar. She sent a small prayer heaven-ward, Dear God, please keep me safe in this hair-brained scheme of Maru's—especially while I climb onto this hangar and then jump onto a living plane's back! …Amen. And with that, she quietly climbed onto the smallest crate, going slowly in order to remain silent.
Her shaky breaths were the only things she heard as she made her way upwards. She climbed up all the available crates before she risked standing on a wide pole that stuck up from the ground. She then used the thick tread on her boots to stand on a thick seam in the metal that appeared to be from a sheet of metal that Maru must have overlapped and attached to the back wall of the hangar some time ago. She pushed herself up and gripped the edge of the roof as the seam gave her enough height for her to just roll onto the roof.
She was exhausted by the time she lay on the roof, so she gave herself a few minutes to recuperate before she quietly pushed herself to her feet once more. She brushed her bangs from her sweaty forehead as she took a deep breath of fresh mountain air. Maru is lucky I'm not having any problems breathing lately. I'm pretty sure I would give myself away if I starting coughing up a lung right now, Audra thought. For a second, she was confused as to why she wasn't suffering from the cancer at the moment, but then she pushed it aside, settling on being happy that she seemed okay for now. Maybe something happened when I was transported here, and that's why I'm breathing so good? She wasn't going to gather any hope, though. She wasn't 'out of the woods' yet.
Audra tore herself from her thoughts and slowly crept to the edge of the hangar Cabbie was near. She glanced down over the sloped edge warily and spied him under that canopy. Great, I can't jump through that, she told herself. It would wreck the canopy, and I severely doubt he'd like that. And it would announce my presence right as I land on his back! The young woman furrowed her eyebrows and thought hard as she examined the situation. How was she going to get on his back?
Audra looked up and looked in Maru's direction. She gave the tug The Look, and he seemed to get the picture. She crouched down as the tug rolled up to Cabbie and began to talk to him.
"Hey, Cabbie, what are you listening to this time? Be careful, your radio might break in this cold," Maru said, sarcasm riding his words.
Audra heard the plane sigh before something clattered to the ground. She watched as Cabbie backed up a bit and then turned to look at Maru. This action caused him to come almost all the way out from under the canopy while still managing to remain close to where she was on the hangar. His back was exposed, and it was practically underneath her.
She waited for Cabbie to get deep into conversation with Maru and drop his guard. Her stomach twisted a little, reminding her that all she had managed to eat since she arrived here was an apple Maru managed to scrounge up from the main hangar, as she waited for the right moment to jump.
When she saw it, she allowed herself to slide a bit down the sloped side of the hangar, using her hand to guide her as she got closer to Cabbie's back, all the while panicking on the inside because of her acrophobia. When she came to be about five feet above over the grey plane, she jumped.
She landed as lightly as she could, holding in her grunt to the best of her ability as her ankles ached from the impact. She bit her bottom lip in order to keep herself from groaning at the pain that seemed to encompass her ankles, feet, and halfway up her legs from the action. She let out a sigh of relief when the throbbing began to subside.
Audra stood from her crouch and tip-toed towards Cabbie's wings. She wondered about how sensitive a plane's wings were as she came up to his left wing. She refrained from looking to Maru as she willed herself to walk as lightly as she could towards the large engine mounted on the wing.
She crouched as she neared the engine, glancing over at Cabbie's 'head'. She knew she was in Cabbie's peripheral now, and she hoped against all hope that he was focused enough on Maru to not be paying any attention to his peripheral vision. She slowly sat down when she reached it and gently hooked her legs around the engine, relying on the skills she gained when she used to ride horses in order to grip the engine when she yanked out the branch and he reacted.
Audra examined the branch and noted how it had wedged itself into one of the air vents near the propellers. The young woman's heart began to thump harder as she eyed the propellers and noted how close her hands were going to be to them when she reached out to the branch. She prayed dearly that she wouldn't lose her hands when she removed the branch, and she broke out into a cold sweat when she couldn't help but think back to that one Indiana Jones movie where the bad guy was chopped up by the spinning propeller blades of a plane…
Sucking in a breath, she slowly reached out, leaning forward as far as she could go. She glanced in Cabbie's direction with wide eyes in order to make sure that he hadn't spotted her yet. He was still talking to Maru, but his interest in the conversation was quickly waning. She had to do this quickly now, she was running out of time.
She gripped the branch with both hands and focused on breathing in and out. Her heart was galloping like a heard of wild mustangs, and she thought she was going to be sick from nerves. She quickly counted down in her head, and with one small thought of I don't wanna die, she yanked up on the stick with all her might.
The branch came out easily, but it was apparent that Cabbie had felt it come out. The plane let out a yelp and lurched forward as the blades in front of her spun and knocked the branch out of her hand. Audra screeched as she lost her balance and slipped off the side of the engine. She desperately tried to use her hands to pull her around so that she fell feet-first, but she ended up landing wrong anyway, and she rolled to her back.
Audra lay there stunned, gazing up at Cabbie with hazy eyes. Her shoulderblades shouted at her because of how roughly she rolled onto them, and pain shot up and down her legs. She watched as Cabbie slowly backed up and looked down at her, before fixating Maru with a glare.
Audra knew her legs weren't broken or twisted, for which she was thankful—but she knew she was going to be sore for a while. She thought back to a video she watched when she was younger, and how a pilot dropped from a cotpit window of a passenger jet, falling twenty feet and then still managing to get to his feet and run away before the jet blew up, and figured she was all right. At least she hadn't banged her head too hard on the icy tarmac under her.
She felt really sleepy all of the sudden, as the adrenaline left her system and the pain faded somewhat. She hoped she hadn't got a concussion.
Maru rolled up to her and looked down at her worriedly. "Are you okay, Audra?" he asked.
She licked her lips. "Uh-um…I don't know," she confessed.
Maru glanced up at Cabbie before he picked her up in his forks and drove back to his hangar at a brisk pace. As he set her gently down on her 'bed' of sacks, she said wearily, "Keep an eye on me, Maru. If I fall asleep, wake me up in a bit to see how I'm doing. I might have gotten a concussion." A tired sigh escaped her and her eyes slid shut. She gingerly shifted to a more comfortable position and then was out like a light.
Maru's heart felt heavy. He watched as she slept for a few moments before he turned away and rolled to the door. He gazed outside and watched as life continued on outside. He watched as Blade rolled over to where Cabbie was, and they seemed to talk for a bit. Maru rolled back a bit when Blade turned to look in his direction, the guilt he felt increasing ten-fold.
It was all his fault. Audra could have died because he tried to make a job easier. But he learned a valuable lesson there: humans were significantly more delicate than any machine found on this Earth, and when one voiced how dangerous something was from their point of view, you better listen to them.
Knockouts Apprentice: Aw, thanks! ^^
quarsarsmom: Well, there was some action in this chapter pertaining to Cabbie. I don't know how much of an in-depth look of Dipper's view of Cabbie (at least) that was, lol. We'll be getting a better face-to-face meeting between Audra and him in the future, I promise :3 I'm glad you're liking this so far!
BulletTheF150: Thanks :) Dipper is a tricky character to write, and I guess I'll have to just learn how to write her. I think she's not as hyper when people (such as Dusty) aren't around, but she's still hyper. I'm trying to find her 'voice', so it's kind of touch-and-go. I'm glad you like how I wrote her though! :D