Chapter 9- Lost and Found
Meanwhile, Theodore had finally slowed down. Eleanor trudged her way over with Clyde close behind. Theodore's nose continued to wiggle as he sniffed.
"I smell wax. Like lipstick," Theodore said. He then spotted the piece of paper on the tree.
It was written in eyeliner and lipstick. He handed it over to Eleanor. Her green eyes moved back and forth across the paper as she read it. They then widened and she handed it up to Clyde who read it out loud to himself.
"So, they've decided to head east. Isn't that where our bespectacled friends, Simon and Jeanette, were going to search?"
"Yea!" Theodore exclaimed. "Maybe they've found them!"
"But what about those birds! Now I'm really worried. Maybe we should warn Jeanette and Simon," Eleanor said.
Clyde pulled out his walkie-talkie from his pocket and said, "Good idea." Clyde cleared his throat and began to radio in to Simon.
"Hello, Simon. Come in, Simon."
Meanwhile, as the two chipmunks continued to scurry for their lives, Simon could feel the sound vibrations through his pocket.
"Oh!" he moaned. He then made a sharp turn around a tree. A confused Jeanette tripped due to the unexpected turn and crawled over to behind the tree. The bird was going at such a speed that it struggled in stopping at the right moment. Simon hurriedly pulled the walkie-talkie out of his pocket. Jeanette wiped her forehead on her sleeve still trying to catch her breath. They didn't have much time before that hawk came circling back.
Simon pushed the button and breathed into the piece, "Simon's here! Yes! I'm here!"
Clyde replied, "Simon, we've found a note left by Brittany and Alvin. They said that they are headed east. Therefore, we are changing our course and will possibly meet up with you."
"Oh that's great!" Simon said still panting.
"Oh and by the way, they mentioned in their note to beware that there are large birds on this island."
"I think we've already figured that out," Jeanette said with sarcasm in her tone.
On the other end, Theodore and Eleanor gasped.
Eleanor climbed up Clyde's lab coat and across his arm to speak into the walkie-talkie.
"You two didn't come across any-"
A screech was heard on the other end.
"Uh- sorry, Ellie. We have to go! Talk to you soon! Over and out!" Jeanette's voice came in through the speaker.
"Jeanette! Is everything okay! Jeanette!" Eleanor cried into the device, but there was nothing but static. Eleanor climbed back down to join a panic-stricken Theodore.
"Let's get a move on then," Clyde said. He looked up at where the sun was for direction and began to march eastward.
Meanwhile, Alvin pushed back some gigantic leaved plant. His sweater was even more tattered than before and he was pretty sure he had some good scabs forming on his knees. Brittany came up behind him in the same state looking dreadful and miserable. Her hair was a wreck, but she didn't even bother to mess with it. There was sweat forming across her brow and small fruit flies buzzing around pestering her.
"I'm soooo hot!" Brittany whined.
Alvin answered back, "Well somebody thinks a lot of themselves." Brittany shot him a glare, but was too tired to reply to that.
Alvin's once hopeful hazel eyes were now glazed over with exhaustion and agony. He suddenly fell over backwards dramatically.
"We're doomed," he muttered. Brittany pulled him up a bit, sitting him up.
"No we're not." That was probably the first positive thing she had said the whole time they were on this island.
"C'mon, Alvie. We've gotta keep moving," she grunted trying to pull him back to his feet.
They both continued walking until Brittany suddenly stopped and tilted her head to listen.
"I hope those birds aren't coming back," she said quietly. Both Brittany and Alvin heard a bird screech. They had no idea which direction it was coming from. They began to change their pace. They sped up as they heard the screech again, but this time louder. Before they knew it, they were on all fours again running for dear life.
"Aw man! Seriously! Can't those loser birds give us a break!" Alvin cried as he ran.
They circled around trees and bushes not knowing where they were going whether it was away or towards the bird. The screeching had stopped, but they continued running. Their heart rate was rising. It was like several racehorses were galloping in their chests.
They both looked behind themselves in search of the bird. They were moving so fast that they couldn't even see what was behind them, so they continued running not willing to take the risk of slowing down. Brittany continued to look behind her while Alvin whipped his head around to the front to make sure they wouldn't run into anything, however he whipped around too late for he and Brittany collided into two other moving objects moving at a speedy pace yet no where near as fast as they were.
"AAAAHHHH!"
"OW!"
"Ooof!"
"Wahhh!"
Alvin somersaulted with the thing as soon as he made contact with it. He was curled into a ball with it. He and the other object formed a kind of yin-yang as they both tumbled across the ground. The rolling slowed down and then came to a sudden halt. Alvin was on top. He had his eyes closed the whole time and was a little afraid to open his eyes to see what it was that he had crashed into. Whatever it was, it was warm, slender, and fuzzy. He slowly cracked his eyes open.
The thing squinted up at him. Alvin's vision focused as he opened his eyes all the way.
"Jeanette!" he exclaimed. Jeanette blinked her lavender eyes several times. Her glasses had flown off during the collision and she could only tell by the sound of his voice that it was…
"Alvin?"
Brittany must have tumbled in the same way that Alvin did, for she was looming over Simon who was lying, pinned to the ground by her next to them.
"Simon!" Brittany cried. Simon's glasses didn't fly far. He felt around next to him and grabbed them and put them on. An image of Brittany's lit up face and blue eyes staring down at him came into view. She had her sparkle back seeing him and her sister.
Alvin moved off of Jeanette awkwardly and searched for her glasses for her. He found them a bit bent up next to a tree and handed them to her. She slipped them on and gave Alvin a huge hug.
Brittany helped Simon up and gave him a tight embrace just as her sister had done to Alvin. Once that little moment of relief was over the chipmunks each ran to their rightful sibling and embraced them tighter than ever. Even Simon, the non-hugger, hugged his dear brother back. He could've sworn he felt a small tear leave Alvin's eye.
No one spoke, they were just happy to see each other again. Once the sentimental moment was over, the four chipmunks had to stay alert still. They had no idea where the bird had gone.
"I can't believe you found us!" Brittany cried.
"We'll have to talk about this later. I have a feeling that we aren't the only ones that have found you," Simon said.
Just then, they saw the brown hawk zoom over them, swooping down. It's talons sweeping just over the hair on top of their heads. They threw themselves to the ground on their stomachs trying desperately not to get hit.
Simon spotted a Y-shaped twig. It was very strong and sturdy. It was kind of big, but it didn't matter. It gave him an idea. It would make a great sling shot. He picked it up and hid behind a tree. If only he had something to use as the sling part. He looked around. There weren't any leaves or plant ferns that would be strong enough or have the flexibility to fit the bill.
"You guys stay there and keep that bird distracted! Does anyone have a rubber band on them!" Simon cried.
"NO!" the other three shouted trying desperately to locate the hawk.
"Wait! I have a few hair ties!" Jeanette said pulling some out of her pocket.
"Excellent!" Simon said taking them from her and putting them on the twig. They had just about fit. The four stacked on top of each other made it thick wide enough to fit a small rock in it. He forced them to stretch out really far. He unfortunately had to cut them in half and then tie the ends to the two top parts of the Y. The bird swooped in again and continued to hover very low to the ground as the chipmunks scrambled around in circles.
Simon began gnawing on the elastic. He tied the clipped ends to the two sides. Perfect. This might just work.
Simon came out from behind the tree just in the knick of time. Alvin, Jeanette, and Brittany were rolling on their backs on the ground as the bird swooped down once again. Simon found a small rock and fit it in the slingshot. He waited for the bird to come down in low. He got ready, took aim, and tried to fire at just the right moment. He missed. He picked up another rock and tried again, he gritted his teeth nervously as he had just missed hitting Brittany in the head by a hair. He tried one more time, this time, it hit the bird in the wing, injuring its left side so it wouldn't be able to fly very well. The three chipmunks rushed out from under the injured bird and ran to Simon.
"It's not over yet," Simon said. The bird, furious now, stomped over to its prey.
Alvin scampered up the tree followed by Jeanette and Simon. Brittany hesitated. She stayed down at the bottom with the bird inching closer to her.
"Brittany! C'mon!" Alvin shouted down to her.
"But the climbing might mess up my manicure!" Brittany called back up. Alvin slapped his palm over his face at this.
"Oh just get up here! We can fix it after we get rescued!" Alvin said.
Brittany still stayed put until the bird screeched loudly in her face making her fur ripple all over her body. She then began to climb up. Though the paint on her nails was chipping the whole way up, her chipmunk claws were strong enough to get her to the top.
"If only we had some acorns to throw," Alvin mumbled looking around.
"How about coconuts?" Jeanette suggested yanking a coconut off of the tree.
"That'll work," Alvin said. The chipmunks began tossing the coconuts down. The discouraged bird finally gave up after being hit by several coconuts and dodging half a dozen more. It slinked away, dragging its weak wing.
Once it was gone the four chipmunks cheered and danced in victory.
"Oh yea! Team awesome! All the way! Whoo! No bird can mess with us chipmunks! Yeah!" Alvin sang. They all slid down the tree and high-fived one another twirling around victoriously.
Once they had all settled down a bit, Brittany asked, "So where's Eleanor and Theodore?"
"Ooh! Right! They don't know that you've been found!" Jeanette said. Simon took out the walkie-talkie and radioed in to the other search team.
"Clyde! Theodore! Eleanor! We've found Alvin and Brittany and we're all fine. Where are you? We can start heading back to the shore," Simon said.
On the other end, Theodore and Eleanor jumped up and down happily. "Yippee!" they both cried.
Clyde answered into the device, "Excellent. We'll be on our way. Unfortunately, I have no idea where we are, but we'll all reunite soon."
Finally, everything was going right, at least they had thought. Getting back to the shore wasn't going to be as easy as expected. They wouldn't just go backwards through the forest and automatically pop out onto the beach. All the observing that Simon and Jeanette had done meant nothing now. After that crazy chase by the hawk, they had completely lost track of what direction to move in.
"Okay," Alvin began, "We'll find our way. Let's just try our best not to split up again. That's the last thing we need."
"Alvin's right. So what direction should we go in?" Simon said. There were many trees and the clouds seemed to fill the whole sky making it difficult to see what location the sun was in.
Alvin spun around looking at all his surroundings. He then tapped his foot and put his finger to his chin in thought.
"Hmmm… Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm going this way," he said knowing that the other three had no choice, but to follow. They shrugged and walked along as Alvin led them down a path covered with numerous, colorful flowers of many sorts and enormous sizes.