Disclaimer: I do not own Lost or any of it's characters, the events that I write are purely fictional and are not to be mistaken with the actual Lost timeline.
It was almost comical to watch Kaleb bounce through the ankle deep mud like a very young child playing in the rain just to feel the strange texture that could only exist on such miserable days."Wish I could have that much fun, but I suppose i'd look a little foolish and Kaleb doesn't really have that aspect to lose" Richard thought. The group looked very unorganized with half the group just wearing their normal clothes and the other half wearing very large, difficult raincoats. The people wearing the raincoats were: Ryan, Tom, Kaleb, Goodwin and himself. Collen and Danny said they were only good for the rain and with all the trouble they caused getting snaged on things they ought to be bullet proof too, Ben just had a personal vendetta since his trip to The Flame. He looked ahead to see what Ben was up to and could see that Ben probably wanted nothing more than to smack Kaleb into next week. They had only started walking ten minutes ago and already Ben was muddy up to his knees pulling himself through the mud and looking at Kaleb as if he were openly mocking him. Richard snorted from trying so hard not to laugh after looking around the group though Richard noticed that Ben wasn't the only one and Tom seemed to be both scared and tired, that was never a good combination.'Should have just left him' Richard thought, not out of resentment but out of pity 'The poor guy is going to get himself killed or kill one of us'.
Forgetting his thoughts on Tom, Richard looked ahead and noticed that Kaleb and Ben, who were at the front of the group, had stopped. He walked up behind Ben and peered over his head 'Lovely, now the stream just reroutes itself' he thought bitterly seeing just that. It hadn't just broke of from its regular path but turned into a river and in doing that it had grown in width and height. Everyone came together and after examining the situation they all realised that there were options, then following tradition they all stared at Ben. He seemed to be watching the river as if thinking that if he stared at it long enough it would bend to his will and dissapear, Ben always seemed to want what he couldn't have but in this situation everyone else probably wanted the same thing.
"We could always test the depth and current" Ben suggested.
"Or we could walk around" Tom threw in. This suggestion earned him one of Ben's icy glares and a reponse to compliment it.
"Tom we can't walk around Every obstacle we encounter and it isn't as if we arn't all eventually going to be soaked anyway".
Nobody supported or shot down either of the men, Tom was just staring at the ground and shuffling his feet. Ben on the other hand, was trying to pick the best candidate to test his plan. His eyes finally rested on Goodwin, Goodwin shook his head and put up both hands which basically translated meant "Not a chance in hell".
Ben just turned while mumbling under his breath and was just on the edge of the bank to test it himself when it melted under him. The whole part that was supporting Ben slid into the river. Ben had just enough time to pull one foot out of the mud holding him and right as he sunk under grabbed at anything solid on the bank that just wasn't there. The water rushed over his hand and when it passed Ben's hand was gone with it.
"And that's exactly why I didn't want to". Goodwin commented plainly.
"Richard?" Danny asked. Richard took his eyes of the stream for a moment to look at Danny."Yes" he replied.
"Since this stream grew isn't it possible that it merged with the other one that has the waterfall?".
Richard didn't have a moment to be stunned and was racing down stream neck in neck with Colleen. Both were very closely followed by Goodwin and the rest were either just putting it together or were already snagged on the branches.'Don't let him be over the falls, please don't let him be over the falls...' Richard couldn't help but think as they came closer. No, the fall wouldn't kill him, well maybe if he fell on his head, but on the other hand breaking something was almost inevitable. So all in all they would have to drag him back to the Barracks and get him fixed up only to hear hours of argueing of why he still coming with them. Richard leapt through the last mask of leaves and trees to find the opening of the waterfall. Colleen and him couldn't believe what they were seeing and were quickly knocked over by the rest of the upcoming crew who also couldn't help but stare. Ben was stuck right at the crest of the waterfall and was clinging on by only a boulder, amazingly his glasses were still in place on his nose.
"By all means stand there gawping at me all day, in fact take a picture you can show it to Ethan as a before picture for reference on how to reset my broken limbs". Ben screamed over the rushing water.
"I thought that only happened in movies" Goodwin said with the slightest hint of a smile.
"Well apparently not" Colleen said taking command immediatly "Here is what we do, we make a chain the lightest people go in to grab Ben while the heaviest stay on ground to pull the rest of us back in". While talking she was pulling a rope from her bag and wrapping it around herself with the speed and precision only a proffesional could posses."The best part is Ben is only about three meters into the river so we can easily pull him out with only two people. Richard your coming with me" She said handing him the rope she had finished lacing around her waist and shoulders.
"How did I know that was coming" he muttered applying the rope in the same style she used."Wait, who's holding him?"
"You are Richard, your bigger, it only makes sense that the bigger one-"
"I'm going to drown if you don't hurry" Ben called. Looking over they could see he wasn't overacting he was losing his grip and was slipping deeper into the violent current. Colleen grabbed Richard by the shoulder and spun him around quickly to face her.
"Look" she said "here's the rope you get Ben to hang on to for dear life, watch your step and don't you dare even think of falling". With that said she gave him a quick shove to get him to the edge of the bank, this was like an instant replay of what had happened to Ben. Richard felt his bare feet sucked into wet warm mud and turned with one hand outstretched as he went under so he could claw at the mud that only slipped through his fingers. His raincoat had slipped off over his head and was already over the falls by now and Richard currently didn't know up from down. Suddenly he felt a sharp pull around his shoulders and waist as he was wrenched back to the surface and could suddenly breath again. Richard pulled in a deep breath and searched for Ben, he wanted to ask Colleen for her reasoning behind shoving him into a rushing river but that would have to wait. He found Ben within seconds and began taking slow and careful steps alongside the bank where the water was calmest, he was trying to get directly across from Ben. In about ten very long seconds he was across from the leader and ready to go through with his plan.
"Colleen I'm going under, all I need you to do is stay standing".
"Easier said th-"
Richard didn't hear the end of it because he had already taken his last breath and sunk under. Going on all fours towards the center was more challenging than he assumed it would be but it still had his vote against walking, the river was more violent on the surface. Richard could hardly see where he was going because of all the unsettled dirt and was constantly being pelted with rocks and anything else that had recently fallen in. Not being able to see anything worried him because he could at any moment fall off the edge that Ben was slowly slipping down. Richard continued walking in a very straight line in the direction he had last seen Ben on the surface so he could avoid falling off the edge to the best of his abilities, he was running out of air. Just as he assumed would eventually happen Richard bumped his head on something very smooth and solid, he smiled knowing he had just found Ben's rock. Richard put himself between the current and the rock then stood up. Rising out of the water he was nearly deafened by the roar of the waves all around him. he quickly opened his eyes and saw Ben's hands, now white from strain, still clutching the rock and he could even make out nail marks where he had slid. Richard tapped Ben's hand which losened slightly then Richard continued to push the thick rope into his hand which Ben grabbed hold of instantly.
"Ben can you hear me?" Richard shouted hoping Ben could hear him.
"Look down" Ben screamed back.
Risking shuffling up the rock slightly Richard saw that Ben was now dangling over the edge."Damnit!" he cursed outloud, no one could hear him anyway. Richard looked back over to the rest of the group that were all awaiting his signal. Danny was now in the water too, probably weighing down Colleen so that they weren't put in the same position as the person they were trying to save. Richard held his arm up high and gave the thumbs up as he slid off the rock and dove again to crawl back. This time it was a very different experience, he was feeling a very heavy strain that was pulling him along back to the bank and a very jerky strain coming from behind him where they were still pulling up Ben. Suddenly Richard felt the strain dissapear from the back of him and he stopped to look around to see just what had happened. It didn't work so well though because he was only getting pulled harder from the other side and he couldn't see anything. He felt something bump into the back of his thigh, then he felt a very strong shove and knew it was Ben so he continued moving while getting shoved all the while to pick up his pace. Richard moved quickly but Ben was right behind him and moving at an incredible speed for someone that had kept a firm grip on a large boulder for almost ten minutes. Also considering that for about two of them he was holding his body weight on his wrists and fingers, it was a very impressive feat.
Richard bumped into the bank, head first again, and stood up out of the water and succeded in getting himself shoved over by the current. He didn't stay under for more than a few seconds because everyone just started reeling him in at twice the speed as before. The instant Richard felt his head break the surface arms slipped under his and pulled him up straight then turned and dropped him back on the muddy ground. Richard once again was gasping for breath not only from being caught off guard and drug under water but also from being very roughly dropped on the ground. His nose ears and mouth were full of water and his sight was also bleary from the water. He suddenly sneezed and the force of it had him sitting up straight and cleared his nose and mouth now his ears were just plugged. Danny hovered over him offering a hand which Richard quickly accepted and used as a support to stand again.
"Sorry for dropping you" Danny said snickering "I'm seriously not laughing at you I just thought it was a weird scenario and all".
"No harm done" Richard replied smiling a little himself He could also see the humurous point and it wasn't really as though they were laughing at something horrible like a broken limb and if both could find it funny there was no harm. Richard looked through the group and found Ben sitting at the foot of a large tree his shirt and pants covered in mud from dangling on the ledge. Ben was examining his fingers which were still white as bone. First Richard thought about leaving him alone and letting the leader get himself back together but then he had a reasonably good idea and walked over. Ben didn't notice him for a matter of minutes until Richard's display gathered an audience and people started giggling at the leaders lack of awareness, that's when he looked up.
"Yes" Ben asked in a normal tone to Richard's suprise, he expected him to be angry.
"You owe me one for pulling you out of your near free-fall" Richard answered crouching down to be on level with Ben, it was so hard to keep a straight face.
"I would argue that point but i'm not currently in the mood so if it's reasonable go ahead" Ben stated in a slight threatening tone.
"Okay my terms are simple, I, want, you, to lighten up!" Richard chirped. At this everyone burst out laughing and even Ben cracked a smile.
"Deal" Ben agreed still with the hint of a smile. Richard nodded and stood back up to adress the whole group.
"Who votes we have a little snack now and relax for around twenty minutes say 'Aye'"
"We only left twenty minutes ago" Ben protested.
"Vote's still on" Richard shouted.
"Aye" everyone yelled in unision.
Ben rolled his eyes but said nothing.
Authors Note: The long awaited chapter 12, it was fun writing and I hope that people are still interested in reading after it's year long stall. So anyway this will be grammar and spell checked a few more times for thoroughness like all my stories Thanks For Reading.
This Chapter Is Dedicated To: White Stone, Lissie66, YaoiFan44, Got Scots?, Vincent, SuZaKu-07, hannahjap, MoMo-Lost addict and everyone who has ever even bothered to read chapter one. I have read every review from every story I have written and am forever grateful for the kind comments and suggestions I recieve.
