Here's Chapter 12 everyone. I hope you enjoy it.
6.) San Lorenzo
Arnold, Helga and Phoebe continued through the thick vegetation and eventually, they heard the sound of running water. Going to the source, they discovered a large river.
"Check the map Arnold," Phoebe said. "A river is a landmark so the map should be able to tell us where we are."
Arnold looked at the map and saw that Phoebe was right. They were at the Rio Claro. Glancing over the map, he saw something that made him beam.
"There's a city on the other side of this river, past the forest preserve we're in right now," he said.
"If there's a city, then there's police. If we could reach it, we could lead authorities to where La Sombra is holding your family and Olga hostage and rescue them," Phoebe said.
"And lock up the pirates while they're at it," Helga added.
"Then let's do it! Let's go to the city." Arnold said.
"Hold on Arnoldo, we still have to find a way to cross the river first," Helga said.
"Oh yeah. Well, we obviously can't jump it and we don't have a boat."
"And we probably can't swim across either. That current looks very rough," Phoebe said.
"You think there's a bridge somewhere along the path we could use?" Helga suggested.
"I doubt it. This river curves and bends in a lot of places and besides, it's unlikely that architects would be sent out here to build a bridge," Phoebe said.
"What about using stones?" Arnold asked.
"What are you talking about?" Helga asked.
"A lot of smaller rivers have these big stones that you can jump across."
"But this isn't a small river and besides, it's not like those rocks just formed naturally. People put them there to make the river easier to cross."
"Helga's correct. We would have to find rocks big enough to impede the flow of the river and the chances of finding such rocks in this environment are quite slim," Phoebe said.
"We have to try," Arnold said.
The three set to work looking for stones and after about an hour, found three that looked to be large enough.
"We're going to have to place them in the river manually. Throwing them is too risky and haphazard," Phoebe said.
Arnold placed the first stone down, and then Phoebe stepped on it and placed the second stone down. Helga was carrying the heaviest stone and was having trouble keeping herself balanced. She managed to plop the third stone down, but lost her footing in the process. She slipped and fell into the water and the current quickly carried her downstream.
"Helga!" Arnold called out.
"We've got to cross the river and follow her," Phoebe said.
They jumped across the rocks as quickly as they could and then ran along the path Helga was carried down.
Helga tried to swim against the current but it was too powerful and the attempt was quickly sapping her energy.
All I can do is keep my head above water and hope that this current slows down at some point…
The river carried her through several curves before bending into a waterfall which she dropped down, landing in a plunge pool. The force of the impact took her underwater and once she surfaced, Helga found that the flow was much calmer. Using the last reserves of her strength, Helga swam to a small piece of land on the right side of the pool. She lifted herself out of the water and flopped on the outcropping. Helga crawled forward and flipped herself over on her back, laying there to catch her breath.
When Arnold and Phoebe found the waterfall, Arnold took his backpack off and searched inside until he found what he was looking for: a rope.
"Find something close by to tie this to," he said to Phoebe.
Phoebe looked around and found a large stick. She took it and stuck into the soil as deep as it could go near the edge of the drop.
"A little shaky, but it'll have to do," Arnold said.
He tied the rope around the bottom of the stick and fastened it securely. He grabbed the rope with both hands and slowly moved off the edge, making sure his feet never left the surface of the wall. Once Arnold was low enough, Phoebe started down. They eventually made it to the ground and it was then that Arnold spotted Helga, still lying on her back, exhausted.
"Oh thank God," he muttered as he ran over to her. Bending down, Arnold put his right hand on her back and lifted her head before placing his left arm around her waist and propping her up.
"Are you okay, Helga?" he asked, worry evident in his face and his voice.
Breathing hard, Helga nodded before answering, "Yeah…yeah, I'm alright…"
"We should let her rest for a little while before continuing," Phoebe said.
"No, we can keep going," Helga said suddenly. "I'm alright…really."
"Don't push yourself Helga. You're obviously drained, so we can take a rest," Arnold said.
"It's okay, I can walk. We should keep moving."
Helga slowly stood up, struggling to stray upright. She tried to walk but her legs were still too weak and she nearly fell over after just two steps. Arnold caught her before she could fall.
"We're not going anywhere until you've regained your strength," Arnold said firmly. "Now sit back down and rest."
"But we need to get to the city so we can rescue everyone," Helga protested.
"An hour or so won't slow us down that much," Phoebe said.
"And besides, I'm not gonna risk you spraining or breaking something because you're pushing your body too hard," Arnold said.
"Alright, alright," Helga said, giving in.
Once Helga resumed her rest, Phoebe called Arnold over so they would be out of earshot of Helga.
"I didn't know you were Judeo-Christian," she said.
"Huh? I'm not Jewish or Christian. My family doesn't really have a defined set of religious beliefs," Arnold said.
"Oh. Well then why did you say 'Thank God' earlier?"
"You'd be surprised how often people invoke a higher power in a desperate situation," he said, before looking back at Helga.
An hour later, Helga had recovered enough to walk on her own and the journey resumed. Using the map, Arnold found a straight path to the city and they were soon going through the jungle thickets again. About a fourth of the way through, they came upon a clearing and encountered Eduardo walking the opposite direction.
"Eduardo, you're alright," Phoebe said.
"Yes, and I'm glad to see that you all are okay as well," he said.
"How did you manage to avoid capture?" Arnold asked.
"When I saw things getting bad, I ran back to the village to get help, but it was too late by then, so I've been looking for you and the other kids."
"We're heading to the city on the outskirts of this preserve," Phoebe said.
"The city? Why?"
"Arnold's family and my sister were captured by La Sombra so we're trying to alert the police and rescue them," Helga said.
"I see. I'll travel with you."
The group continued along the path. When they came upon the next clearing, Eduardo stopped.
"What's wrong?" Arnold asked.
"I heard a rustling in the grass. Someone or something is here," Eduardo said.
Suddenly, one of La Sombra's henchmen rose up from the grass with a blowgun. He shot a dart aimed right at Arnold. Instinct taking over, Helga pushed him out of the way and caught the dart in her right arm.
"Well, it wasn't who I was aiming for, but at least I got one of the strong ones! Now, hand over La Corazon!" the pirate demanded.
"We don't have it!" Arnold said, glaring at the man.
"Well then, where is it?"
"I don't know and even if I did, I'd never tell you!"
"In that case, I think I'll just take you all as hostages for La Sombra, so that the person who does have it will be more willing to part with it."
The next moment, a maniacal laughter rang out from above the group. Curly appeared, swinging from a vine. He headed straight for the pirate, kicking him in the side of his head. The man fell to the ground, unconscious and Curly jumped off the vine. He picked up the pirate's blowgun and took his sword before running off, emitting that same maniacal laughter.
Everyone was stunned into silence for a few moments after the incident. Finally, Helga spoke.
"I guess the little psycho can be useful after all."
"Helga, what did that man shoot in your arm?" Phoebe asked.
"Let me take a look," Eduardo said.
He took out the projectile and looked at it for a few seconds. A very worried expression set in.
"This is a poison-tipped dart," he said softly.
"Helga's been poisoned?" Arnold asked.
"Yes, and unfortunately, I can't tell what type of poison she's been injected with."
"Well, what can we do to help her?" Arnold asked, raising his voice.
Helga looked at Arnold in curiosity, surprised by the panic in his tone.
"Arnold, calm down. We don't even know if the poison is lethal," Phoebe said.
"It's poison! What kind of poisons do you know that AREN'T lethal?" Arnold yelled.
"Arnold please, control yourself," Eduardo said.
Arnold took several deep breaths to try to calm down, but it didn't help much.
"Eduardo, what can we do?" he asked again.
"Since I don't know the type of poison Helga's suffering from, our best option is to reach the hospital in the city," Eduardo answered.
"How long of a window do we have?" Phoebe asked.
"Well, as you said, the toxin may not be lethal to humans, but most lethal toxins can kill a human within 24 hours, so to be on the safe side, we should get out of this forest before the next night."
"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Arnold said.
The group managed to cross half the preserve before night fell and they would've kept going if not for a rainstorm that started up.
"We need to take shelter," Eduardo said. "The last thing any of us want is to get sick."
They found a large canopy tree and climbed up on its branches, using the broad leaves to shield themselves from the rain. Arnold cursed Mother Nature for delaying Helga's recovery. He didn't sleep that night.
As soon as the sun rose in the morning, Arnold woke everyone up and the group continued their trek toward the hospital. Helga noticed that Arnold's eyes were slightly bloodshot and she grew concerned.
"Arnold, did you not sleep last night?" she asked.
He gave her a sheepish smile. "I couldn't sleep. I was too busy worrying about you."
"I'm okay, just a little stiff."
Arnold's smile immediately turned into a frown. "Helga, you have a poisonous substance coursing through your body as we speak so DO NOT tell me that you're okay because you're not."
Helga was taken aback by his gruff reply. "What's your problem, football head?"
Arnold sighed and looked at her apologetically. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so rough. It's just…I feel so useless. You're being attacked by some unknown toxin and there's nothing I can do to help you."
"Don't beat yourself up over it; it's not your fault."
"Yes it is! That dart was meant for me, not you! If you hadn't pushed me out of the way, you wouldn't have been poisoned. If I had quicker reaction time, this wouldn't have happened. I should be the one suffering right now, not you."
"Arnold, stop it. This isn't your fault, it's really La Sombra's fault. Let's just focus on getting out of this forest."
As they continued on, they began to hear voices screaming and the sound was getting closer by the second.
"Those voices sound familiar…" Phoebe said.
"Yeah…" Arnold agreed.
A few moments later, Harold, Sid and Stinky came bursting through the brush followed by a screeching monkey.
"Get this monkey away from me!" Harold yelled.
The three ran to a nearby tree and were cowering with the monkey still screeching angrily and advancing on them. Helga glared at the monkey and walked up behind it. She grabbed its tail and quickly swung the creature back before throwing it onto a hanging branch above the three cowering boys. The monkey was still screeching, now gesturing angrily at Helga. She picked up a small rock and threw it at the primate, hitting it square in the face, which made it start whimpering.
"Man, that was annoying!" she said.
Suddenly, Harold ran up to her and got on his knees. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! You saved us!"
"Get up, pink boy. I've got serious problems I'm dealing with right now."
"Like what?" he asked.
"Helga's been injected with a poison and we're trying to get her to a hospital," Phoebe said.
"How did you get poisoned?" Sid asked Helga.
"One of those pirates shot a poison dart at me with a blowgun," she said.
"No, he shot it at me. Helga pushed me out of the way and took the dart for me," Arnold said.
"Helga saved you?" Stinky asked, surprise evident in his voice.
"Helga likes Arnold! Helga likes Arnold!" Harold began to sing.
Helga clenched her fist and was about to sock him but Arnold beat her to it, punching Harold in the face.
"Shut it! I am far too stressed out right now to deal with your petty little jabs and the LAST thing Helga needs is to be teased!" Arnold shouted.
Everyone looked at Arnold in shock, including Helga. He had never shown this kind of short temper before.
"Let's go. We're losing time just standing here," Arnold said.
Harold, Stinky and Sid joined the group and as they started walking again, Helga glanced at Arnold anxiously. His behavior was not like that of the boy she fell in love with, even if it was motivated by worry for her.
"Arnold, are you okay?" she asked.
"Honestly Helga? No. I'm under a lot of pressure right now, and a lot of it is admittedly my own doing, but we have to get you to the hospital as quickly as possible. And come to think of it, that stunt you pulled by throwing the monkey, don't do something like that again. Exerting yourself like that just makes the poison spread through your body faster."
"Arnold's right Helga; you need to use as little energy as possible," Phoebe said.
"How did that monkey end up chasing you three anyway?" Helga asked.
"We were running from one of those pirates when we went under a tree branch and the pirate actually tripped over a rock. He hit his head on the trunk of the tree and was knocked unconscious but the force of the hit knocked that monkey out of his perch on that branch and then it started chasing us," Sid said.
Helga sighed in annoyance. Idiots, all of them.
As they continued on, Helga's stiffness got worse, particularly on her right arm and soon, it went completely numb. When she noticed that she couldn't feel anything on that arm, she stopped and so did the others.
"What's the matter?" Phoebe asked.
"I can't feel anything on my right arm," she said.
Both Eduardo and Arnold cast worried glances at Helga.
"Helga, if anything else goes numb, let us know. I think I have an idea of what kind of poison this is," Eduardo said.
The day wore on and as Helga's other limbs began to lose feeling, Phoebe became increasingly worried and Arnold found it almost impossible to keep his mounting fear under control. Even Harold, Stinky and Sid were beginning to worry about her. Eduardo said nothing but his expression was one of dread. When Helga noticed that it was becoming progressively difficult to move her arms and legs, Arnold couldn't hold his worry in any longer.
"Eduardo, what's wrong with her? If you know, then say something!"
"I think I already know what it is," Phoebe said. "Eduardo, is this a paralytic toxin?"
"Yes. Helga's symptoms are classic of a paralyzing poison," he said.
"So eventually, I won't be able to move?" Helga asked.
"Yes, but I'm afraid it may be worse than that," Eduardo said.
"Worse?" Helga asked, her voice carrying a hint of fear for the first time.
"Muscle paralysis doesn't just affect the limbs because muscle tissue is both external and internal. There's cardiac muscle and smooth muscle in several internal organs and passages."
"So what are you saying?" Arnold asked.
"I'm saying that we don't know how potent this toxin is and what muscles it will affect. Clearly, it's attacking her skeletal muscle, but it could spread to her internal muscle as well."
"And if that happens, what then?" Helga asked.
"It depends on the muscle that's affected."
"What's the worse-case-scenario?" Phoebe asked.
Eduardo paused before answering. "If the toxin spreads to her heart, it will cause cardiac arrest. If it spreads to her diaphragm, it will cause respiratory paralysis and she'll eventually stop breathing."
Phoebe glanced at Helga, looking more frightened than she ever had in her life. Arnold was wrestling with a mixture of different emotions. Panic, Anger, Frustration, Guilt and Sadness were all fighting it out inside him and fueling his desire to protect Helga. Without warning, he picked her up bridal style.
"Football head, what are you doing?" she asked, looking up at him.
"It's getting harder for you to move right? I'll carry you so you don't have to waste any more energy. Besides, we can move faster this way."
"I can still walk Arnold," she said.
"Don't argue with me Helga!" he snapped. His expression softened before he spoke again. "Please. It's my fault you're like this and I've been helpless to do anything about it until now. At least this way, I can do something for you. Let me have this, okay?"
Helga nodded and said nothing more.
Arnold started running and the others ran after him. Harold and Sid noticed Arnold's protective attitude toward Helga and it surprised them both.
"Man, Arnold really seems to be worried about Helga," Sid whispered to Harold.
"I know. I've never seen him act this way over anybody before," Harold said.
"You don't think he likes her, do you?"
"Nah. He probably just wants to make sure she doesn't kick the bucket. Even though she bullies him, you know how Arnold is about helping people."
"True."
They made it through seventy five percent of the preserve when Helga's breathing became audibly labored. At this point, she had lost the ability to move her arms and legs.
"What's wrong?" Arnold asked.
"It hurts to breathe," she said.
"The poison must be spreading to her diaphragm," Eduardo said.
"Oh no…" Phoebe whispered.
"How far are we from the end of the forest?" Arnold asked Phoebe, who was holding the map.
"A little less than a fourth of the way there," she answered.
Arnold looked down at Helga and gave what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "We're almost out. Hang in there okay?"
Helga nodded. Looking up at Arnold in that moment, she realized that he still didn't know her true feelings about him. She had told him she loved him once before, but had said afterward that it was a lie blurted out in a frenzy of emotion. Helga knew she didn't have long to live and she didn't want to die with regrets about her love for the boy.
He needs to know the truth…and so do I.
"Arnold?"
"Don't talk Helga. Save your strength," he said.
"I need to tell something…really important."
"Can't it wait?"
"No…I don't have much time left…"
"Don't say that! You're going to be okay."
"Arnold please…I need to say this while I have the chance."
"…Okay. What is it?"
"I want this to stay…between the two of us. I need to tell you…in private."
"But there's nowhere for us to go and we can't just stop and ask everyone to leave."
"I know. If I have to, I'll just whisper it in your ear, but…if we come across a temple or some kind of building…could we stop and go inside so I can tell you?"
"Alright."
They kept going and didn't spot any sort of building. Suddenly, the ground gave way underneath Arnold's feet and he fell into a hole, still holding Helga. Once he realized what had happened, Arnold involuntarily growled in anger and looked at the sky.
If there is some sort of higher power up there, he or she must love making my life difficult.
"Are you okay, Arnold?" Sid yelled down.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"What about Helga?" Phoebe asked.
"She's okay too. Do any of you have a rope?"
"Me, Harold and Sid lost our backpacks by throwing 'em at that monkey that was chasing us," Stinky said.
"What about you, Eduardo?" Arnold asked.
"I'm afraid I used my rope to cross the Rio Claro. Even if I had it, there's nothing around to tie it to."
"Then keep going to the city and get help. Helga needs treatment now."
"Alright," Phoebe said.
Once they were gone, Arnold looked down at Helga.
"Well, we're alone now, so I guess you can say what you wanted to earlier. Before you do though, there's something I want to say that I should've said earlier. You saved my life when you pushed me out of the way of that dart. Thanks."
Helga smiled at him. "You know, you just gave me the perfect segue into what I want to tell you."
She hesitated and cursed herself for feeling scared.
"You remember last summer when we saved the town from that creep who wanted to demolish it and build a mall over it?" she asked.
"Of course I remember."
"Do you remember…what I told you on the FTI building, about my feelings for you?"
Arnold paused, wondering why she would bring that incident up.
"Yeah…"
"What I said that day…it wasn't a lie. No matter what I said afterwards, every word I spoke to you was the truth. And the feelings that I revealed that day are the reason why I protected you. I love you Arnold. I did then and I do now."
Arnold didn't say anything initially because even though a part of him had expected this, he still didn't know how to respond. Before he could speak, Helga continued.
"If you don't love me back, I understand. I wouldn't expect you to. I just…didn't want to expire without telling you the truth."
"Helga…I —"
Suddenly, Helga's eyes rolled back in her head and then closed. Her head went limp.
"Helga? HELGA!"
Arnold shook her as hard as he could, but she didn't open her eyes.
"Helga, wake up. Come on, wake up."
He shook her again, trying desperately to stave off the feeling of panic that threatened to overtake him. She still didn't respond.
"Helga, come on, this isn't funny! We both know how strong you are. You can't let this poison beat you now."
When Helga continued to lay still and unresponsive, Arnold's eyes filled with tears. He looked at her chest and didn't see it rise or fall.
No…please no.
The tears started to roll down his face.
"Please…please wake up…" he whispered.
Choking back sobs, Arnold's despair slowly turned to anger.
"Damn it Helga, you can't die! Not now. I didn't even get a chance to tell you how I felt! You can't be gone!"
He hugged her body to him, now fully sobbing. Arnold's tears didn't last long before anger took over again, but this time, it fueled a desire to save her because he realized that there was something he could do to keep her alive. He looked at her face with a mixture of tenderness and fierce determination.
"You are not gonna die on me. Do you hear me Helga? I won't let you!"
He laid her down and positioned her body straight before leaning over her, looking at her face.
"I love you too damn much…"