It's been at least a few hours since we got on this stupid rock. Melvin and I were tossing a small pebble back and forth. Mindy was laying her head in Nancy's lap while trying to calm her down. Val, Earl, Rhonda, and Miguel were just sitting there. We were all in a small group, huddled together, but not Burt and Heather.
Everything was silent until we heard Burt talking. "If it comes to starvation, I know what I'm doing. Take one of these," he says, gesturing to a bomb, "walk right out there with the fuse lit and let 'em take me down. Boom."
"Good lord, honey." Heather says, fearfully.
"You know, that's not a bad idea." Earl comments. That gets me and Val chuckling. "No no, it gives me an idea. Goin fishin like."
Soon Val and Rhonda were tossing out a few rocks, out in the open. Burt and Earl were loading up a bomb. They spotted one, taking the bait. Earl tied up the bomb to a long rope and started swinging it.
"Oh man, you're not goin to do that lasso thing, are ya?" Val complains.
"Just cause your no good with a rope." Earl shoots back.
Val lights the bomb and yells for us to get back. Earl tosses it and we all stand back. I felt a pebble hit me on the head so I look up. I see Melvin sitting on top of the highest rock, trying to tell me to come up with him. I smile and join him as silently and as quickly as I could.
We were both lying on top, side by side, waiting for the bomb to explode. The graboid took the bomb, thinking it was food. We waited a few seconds until…BOOM! We all started cheering but stopped when the insides of the monster started flying at us. A giant spot hit Melvin in the face but just barely missed me. I got some on my hands but that's all.
I looked over and saw Melvin wiping his face and hands and I couldn't help but laugh. He just gave me a childish glare while I stuck my tongue out at him.
We started to throw rocks out in the open again, waiting for the right time. But nothing came. This started to worry all of us. Val sorta spoke our minds. "Damn, where the hell is he? Hope he didn't wise up." Just after he said that, we saw the snake things come up. We all started to get a little excited again.
Val took the bomb and Rhonda lit it. Val threw it and said, "Alright, lunch time, slime head."
I cracked a smile and the graboid took it. But after a second, it came flying back at us. Burt started yelling at us all to get back. We all ran in different directions. The force of the bomb threw me far from the safety of the rock. I started breathing hard and looked around; noticing Val, Earl, and Rhonda were about the same distance as me. We all got back up and started running like we've never ran before. Suddenly, a graboid came right in front of Val and Earl which caused then to halt, Rhonda did a slide stop, and I nearly fell on my face, I stopped so quickly.
The others, who were still on the rock, quickly started to make some noise to distract the graboid and for us to get away. After a while, it soon went back under the ground. I didn't want to make the first step so I waited until someone else did. Earl started to take a step but Val stopped him.
"Wait, wait, wait!" he whispered. He grabbed Earls arm to stop him and slowly let go. "This one ain't falling for it. This one ain't dumb. He's trying to trick us."
"Use your bomb." Earl suggested.
Val slowly looked over at him like he was insane. "It's our last one!"
"Well, what else are you going to use it for?!"
"Well, so what if we make it to the rocks. We'll be dead in three days, anyway."
"Well I wanna live for the three days!"
Burt saw us hesitating, waiting for us. "What the hell?! What's the matter?! Use the bomb for God's sake!"
"Throw that bomb man! Scare them away!" Miguel joined in.
"Throw the bomb!" Rhonda yelled in a whisper.
"Come on, Val. Please!" I whispered to my big brother.
Val had this determined look on his face. "This bastard ain't smarter than us."
Earl looked confused as hell. "For Christ's sake, Val."
"I'm gonna go for it." Val said as he acted like he never heard him.
"Go for what!?" Earl almost said in a normal voice.
Val stood there for a minute longer and then suddenly he just started running. The graboid came right back up, like it never left and scared the shit out of Earl. "SHIT! What the hell are you doing?!"
"I got a god damn PLAAAANNN!"
I couldn't sit there and watch my brother be killed so I ran after them. They couldn't find the lighter but soon found out Rhonda had it as she joined our little run. As we were getting closer and closer to the cliff I heard Earl yell, "This better be one hell of a great plan." We soon got to the edge of the cliff so we stopped and turned around. We saw the graboid was coming closer.
"Get ready!" Val yelled as he broke off part of the fuse.
"Light it man, light it!" Earl encouraged.
"Not yet! Not yet!" Val waited.
"Val this ain't a time for waiting!" I yelled
"Come on. What are you waiting for!?" Rhonda yelled, scared.
He saw the right time and said, "Go!" as Rhonda lit it. He threw it at the graboid but he threw it too far.
"Too far! You threw it behind him!" Earl blamed Val.
He just stood there, waiting. Rhonda and Earl ran off to the side. I would've but I couldn't. I couldn't just leave him there. He's my brother. The bomb went off and scared the graboid, as it charged for us. Val tried to grab a hold of me as he jumped but sadly part of my foot got caught and I went down, off the cliff.
Val was too happy that his plan worked and yelled, "Can you fly, you sucker!? Can you fly?"
As I went down, I screamed and my arms and hands got caught on a branch, not very far from the top of the cliff. I could barely hold myself up but I managed it. I didn't hear much, but I soon heard Val, Rhonda, and Earl yelling my name. As someone looked down, they saw me just dangling there. "Charlie!"
"Val!" I yelled back up, scared to let go.
Earl came next to Val and yelled my name, just like Val had. "Man, grab hold of my foot. I'm gonna get her." Val instructed.
As they did so, Earl lowered Val down, gently and slowly. He had his hand out to me and I had mine out too. Just as we were about to grab hold of one another, the branch I was on, started to break. It lowered even more, and almost made me lose my grip.
"No!" Val screamed.
"I'm alright. Don't worry." I yelled up to him.
We did the same thing we just did and tried it once more. We both had our hands stretched out, trying to reach the other sibling. I thought of this for a minute and realized that my big brother is trying his best to save his little sister from death, even if it meant death for himself. We were less than a centimeter apart. The branch broke off completely. I screamed, waiting for the impact my body made with the rocks.
But it never came. I looked up and there was Val, smiling down at me, holding tightly to my hand. "I gotcha. I gotcha, sweetheart. I ain't lettin go. Never again."
I wanted to cry then and there, hearing that from my brother. I held on just as tightly as I was being dragged to the top. Earl was making his best efforts and soon Rhonda joined in, trying to get us back on surface. Once we finally made it, Val landed on his back, breathing heavy as was I, and I landed on his chest.
We both looked at each other and chuckled a bit. Val sat up and pulled me onto his lap, hugging me as tightly as he could, and I did the same to him. He started rocking me back and forth as I had hot tears, streaming down my rosy cheeks. He started to stroke my hair, just like he had not too long ago to comfort me, and started to whisper in my ear. "It's ok. Everything's ok now. We're safe. Nothing's going to hurt us now. It's all over."
He helped me stand up and threw his arm over my shoulder. Earl smiled at me, and stared at me brother. Val just shrugged and said, "Well, it just suddenly hit me, you know? Stampede." He hit Val in the shoulder, in a brotherly way, laughing. As we were walking back, I heard everyone cheering. My family and I survived.
