Katie: Sr is now kicked out for not being here at all! Boots Sr off the set
Sr: lands in a trashcan by the exit
Mackentosh: Hehe. Spot's now out for rent!
Sarah: And why is that?! We already have enough weirdoes as it is…!!
Momo: Yeah! I agree! Turns around for a moment and then comes back
Katie: Momo…Why do you have black licorice on your upper lip? o.O
Momo: I thought it would give my arguments more credibility!!
Sarah: Oh, it does! Really.
Mackentosh: In honor of your stupidity, I award you this beautifully carved…rock.
Katie: o.O
Sarah: O.o
Momo: I don't get what the looks are for, but I accept your carved rock.
All: fall over anime-style
Katie: It gets uber-sad for a while starting in this chapter! It wasn't fun writing it. TT.TT
All the pressure that had been sucked into the flaming body seemed to have been blown out all at once, which took me totally by surprise. I felt Jakob and Geoffrey's bodies torn from my own and cried out in worry as I flew though the air. I felt something hard strike my head and suddenly felt drowsy. I thought I saw Mackenzie fly by me, but that was the last I remember before I was thrown into a wall and passed out. The last thing I heard was the sound of crumbling rock and knew my nightmare had come true: the cave was collapsing.
When I next awoke, it was to immense pain. It was centered mainly along my lower back and right leg. It felt as if I had broken my back and leg, but I knew that was not possible, for before long, all feeling returned to both regions, but I still lay unmoving. There was a gash in my thigh. I reached down and pulled away; blood partially covered my fingers. I felt nauseous. I couldn't see anything but billowing clouds of dust. I forgot where I was for the longest of times and just lay there, transfixed at the swirling clouds surrounding me.
By the time the dust had cleared, my mind had as well. I struggled to sit upright. I clenched my arm; I thought I might've fractured my left elbow. Damn. Now I was fully incapable of swinging my blade around and would have to rely on my chi alone; sooo not good.
I looked around me, trying to see if I could distinguish my comrades moving…or still bodies among the rubble and rocks which lay in large and small chunks all around me. I suddenly felt more alone and helpless than I had in a long while. I didn't know what to do, and soon, panic set in. I jumped up and called out, my voice hoarse with the dust which I had inhaled. I launched myself into a hacking fit.
"A-hehe-my! Mack-ack-enzie! Ghe-frahk-ey! Ja-HAKE-ob! Sa-RUH! Hack-na! Ni-ickhak! Mor-gahk-an!" I called out desperately. I fell to my knees and fought for control. I took deep, calming breaths and stood up again.
"Kaa-aatie…!"
"Who's there?!" I called out, using my uninjured hand to cup my mouth.
"It's me, Amy! Where are you?"
And that's when I finally realized something: there was an enormous rock wall blocking the way between me and my BFF. None the less, I began to feel tears ride down my face at just knowing that she was alive.
"Katie?" she called.
"Amy! Amy! I'm behind the rock wall! Do you see it?" I bellowed.
"Yea, anyone alive over there?"
"I...I don't know! Give me a second!"
"OK! But hurry! I'm going to try moving some of this rock!" There were the sounds at the other side base of the rock mountain of Amy scrabbling fruitlessly.
I swallowed a lump in my throat. 'Anyone alive 'over there?'' I wished Amy had not said anything like that. It made me wonder if she was alone or if she had found a body. Please, dear God, don't let it happen!
I groped my way along the walls, my hands grabbing something hairy. It was white.
"Hanna!" I moaned. I reached down and grabbed the hairs in my arms. But it wasn't Hanna, I realized thankfully, taking a closer look. It was only the body of one of the horses; the front half which lay flat underneath a humongeous stone. The wagon, attached near the back of it, was shattered. I went back to it and miraculously found the lantern unharmed. I lit it and called out for survivors. I heard a groan.
"Hello? Whoever you are, state your name! It's Katie!" I called out, limping my way toward the noise.
"Kuh-hadie…," the low voice croaked desperately. I swallowed another lump.
"Morgan?!" I cried. I hurried as fast as I could go toward the voice, which I soon found belonged to the raspy voice of the demon-midget; Morgan. She was leaning against a stone. Her entire body was covered in dust and there was a nasty gash on her forehead, but it was already congealing. I leaned down beside her.
"You look horrible…!" Morgan smiled at me, and I breathed a sigh of relief; atleast Amy and I were not going to be alone.
"Speak for yourself," I told her, brushing a hand gently across her head wound. She pulled back, hissing. "Ha, told you. Can you stand?" I asked, reaching out my good arm.
Morgan nodded and reached for my left arm, but I pushed my right arm closer into her line of vision.
"Think I pulled this," I pointed at my weak arm. She nodded and I helped her stand. She wobbled and then nearly fell on me, making us both almost topple over. But we got righted and resumed the search for our fellows.
"You find anyone else?" she asked me between calls.
"Just Amy," I responded. "You?"
"Nope. Just the other caravan. Nothing of value left. All crushed," Morgan told me morosely.
"A body!" I shrieked, pointing. Morgan helped me, and we got to a side of the cave where it branched off into another opening, and out of this opening came a nearly over-powering surge of evil so forceful that it nearly made me fall backwards and recoil in fright. The feeling made my feet feel leaden. When we got to the body, Morgan and I figured out it was Geoffrey who lay on the ground beneath a great rock.
"Geoff!!" I howled, draping my body across him and sobbing out loud. Morgan watched nearby where she sat staring wide-eyed into the distance at something I could not see. But for now, all my attention was focused on the body of the bandit leader. "No! Please! Don't die!" I moaned. I didn't want to believe it.
I tilted Geoff's head back and plugged his nose, then placed my mouth on his. I breathed hard breaths into his mouth then pushed on his stomach, trying to prove to myself that he could pull through. I put my mouth on his again, my tears dripping into Geoffrey's eyes. He blinked tiredly and opened his eyes wearily to see me ki-no, performing CPR on him. I was pushing on his ribs again when I felt a gentle caress on my cheek.
"Stop you're crying, Katie. You're too stubborn to show any emotion other than stupidity," he scoffed, wiping my tears from my eyes.
"Morgan! He's alive! He's…alive!" I sobbed, embracing Geoff in a one-armed hug. Morgan rushed over and did the same, crying as well.
"What're you guys crying over?" Geoff asked us. Morgan and I both blinked, sniffled, and stared at him.
"Aren't your legs crushed?" Morgan asked, observing his legs. Sure enough, it looked like they were crushed.
"No. I'm just…I'm just pinned. I think I got an open wound on my upper-thigh though," Geoff said, straining to touch the lower half of his body. Sure enough, his leg was also blood-stained. "What happened to you guys?" Geoff asked.
"Don't ask. How the heck did you get like this?" I gestured at his position.
"I don't know! I'm just pinned. Can you lift the boulder?" Geoff pointed at the rock. It was big; too big for me and Morgan to lift. I had a fractured elbow, and I doubted Morgan could move the rock by herself.
"I don't think so. Morgan, stay with Geoff. I'm going to go check with Amy and see if she's got anyone over there," I stood up, gingerly tested my injured leg, and left the lantern with Morgan who was experimenting with the rock. When I got to the mountain of rock, I could see a small hole at the very top, about fifty feet up, where Amy was fervently shoving rocks away from the opening. I called up to her.
"Katie! You see what I'm doing?!" she cried. I nodded my head. It was still rather dark, but it seemed as if there was a lighter area in Amy's sector, for the back side of her body was illuminated and her face dark.
"Amy. I'm wanting to know if…if you got anyone over there!" I asked my throat catching.
"Well, while you were gone, I found Hanna and Nich and Sarah…You didn't find Mackenzie…did you?" she asked me gently, the soft light appearing on my face as she moved out of the way. I shook my head.
"She wasn't but five feet from me! Amy, tell me why! Tell me why there has to be death! I don't like it! I hate it! And yet-and yet people move on like it's no big deal! But it's not! I don't want to feel this horrid pain in my heart! It hurts! It hurts!" I sobbed. But then I jumped up, loosening my sword. There was movement at the foot of the base of the rock piles. Why hadn't I seen it before?!
I moved tentatively forward, creeping along slowly like an inchworm, pulling out my blade and dragging it behind me. When I peered into the darkness beyond me, I nearly wept with joy. Jakob was lying there on his stomach, groaning and moaning as if every bone in his body had been broken. But it hadn't; I knew because I ran to him and enveloped him in desperate hugs and kisses and tears the next second later and the response I got was a huge hug in return when he realized it was me.
"I…I thought you…I thought you had died!" I hunched my shoulders and sat on one knee, the other laid out before me, crying. Jakob patted my back reassuringly.
"Still. That's no reason to be so sad. I'll live," Jacob pointed out to me, the wound on his side and a mangled finger.
"Oh, Jakob…!" I moaned and told him about my injuries.
"Not nearly as bad as you, am I?" Jacob asked me.
"Who'd you find? Is it Mackenzie?!" Amy cried from directly above us.
"No! I-it's Jakob!" I responded and pulled Jake to his feet. He leapt up and we moved back into Amy's line of sight.
"Oh, thank God!" Amy sighed, and leaning back against the rocks, exhausted, then began to shake with tears. "Mackenzie…Oh, Mackenzie…,"
"You didn't find Mackenzie?" Jacob asked me. I shook my head. I had walked side to side of this cave and there had been no trace of her. But…then again…there was that odd look Morgan had gotten on her face when I was speaking with Geoff. Maybe she saw something! "Come on! We're going back to Morgan and Geoff!" I exulted, forcing my good hand into Jakob's good grip and pulling him along back the way I had come. Morgan sat there trying to soothe Geoff in his pain.
"Brother, you are alive!" Jakob cried, running over to the crumpled Geoff and embracing him. I always wondered if these two had ever gotten along, and apparently they had.
"Never better," Geoffrey replied sarcastically. I walked ominously into the light cast by the lantern. I went and kneeled by Morgan.
"You saw something out there," I pointed to where she had been staring, "what was it?" I asked. Morgan silently stood up and shook her head.
"We must free Geoffrey first. We will need the lantern," Morgan mumbled, walking over to the rock. She had tried moving it, to no avail. She had then dug a two-inch ditch all the way around. I could see a larger rock underneath the first. That rock was what was keeping Geoff's legs protected.
"Jake, think you're going to be able to move this boulder?" I gestured behind me.
"Yup," Jacob shooed me and Morgan out of the way and flexed his muscles before bending down to reach for a hand hold underneath the rock. For once, my don't-treat-me-like-a-little-woman instincts didn't stir, and I obeyed Jake, moving away.
Miraculously, Jakob lifted the rock about four inches off the ground before he barked at me and Morgan to move the second rock. We were startled and stood there for a second.
"DO IT!" Jakob snarled. We rushed forward and threw the lighter rock out of the way and pulled Geoff to safety just as the huge rock Jakob was holding up, was dropped back into the ground.
"That was too close for my comfort!" Geoffrey exhaled and bent down to examine his legs. They were a little black and blue, but otherwise, he was the most unhurt of us all. There were no open wounds that I could atleast see on his body. He stood up and began stretching after who knew how long of a time underneath the rocks. I prayed a silent prayer.
There was s soft touch on my arm.
"Come now. I'll show you what I saw," It was Morgan. And I knew she was not going to show me something I liked. She held up the lantern and led the way forward, ignoring the men's questions as to where they were moving anyway. I knew what I would see would not be a way out of the cave, to find Mackenzie alive, or a million manga. It was going to be death. I knew this already, for I could smell the disgusting scent of blood wafting toward me.
"Mackenzie…," Jakob's voice trailed off huskily when we stopped, but I did not lower my gaze to what the others saw.
"You…gotta look. It's the only way you'll ever be able to…let go," Geoffrey told me, making me sit on the ground. I stopped halfway. I peeked through my eyelids. What I saw was about the most revolting thing I could have imagined.
Mackenzie lay there, under a huge stalactite which had fallen from the ceiling. It had impaled her, and a rock lay stretched across her legs, breaking them both cleanly. I turned away and vomited. Mackenzie's face was horrifying. She had obviously felt great pain before dying. I don't think I wanted to know which had come first; the rock or the stalactite. I guess the rock. Mackenzie's eyes were open wide and staring up at the ceiling, her mouth wide open and fangs bore. Her hands lay in clenched circles of her own blood beside her. I looked down at her hooves, but only saw huge, bloated mangled parts. They were purple and black from lack of oxygen and blood flow. I didn't want to imagine the pain she went through before she died. I reached up to close Mackenzie's eyes and to soothe her wretched spirit.
"Katie, you shouldn't do that. Health reasons, you know?" Morgan said.
"I need to do this," I snapped. Morgan gave me up as a lost cause. I covered my hand with my shirt sleeve and reached up and closed Mackenzie's eyes. I washed the blood from her face and shut her mouth. I folded her hands over her breasts. I could do nothing for her anymore except mourn for her spirit, glad she was in a better place.
All of a sudden, I began to howl and moan louder than I had ever in my entire life. I draped across Mackenzie's chest and shook with remorse and grief.
"It could've been any of us! Any one of us!" I howled. "Why her?!" I sobbed. "We need you, Mackenzie! Now-more than ever before! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"
I must've looked like a train had hit me, looking so pathetic and miserable, that none of the others wanted to be near me. They were all silently crying and praying on their own.
"Look at her…looks like she's just sleeping…!" Geoffrey choked back, swallowing a painful lump in his throat. "You bitch! Wake up! Wake-up!"
"Mackenzie! Mackenzie! Oh, my dear, sweet, lovable Mackenzie. None of us ever really appreciated your strengths, and now we'll never get the chance! You wanted to show me the beauty of your world, and yet I only see death in the future, as foretold by your own! I miss you so horribly that my heart is breaking on the inside! I am here with nothing more than an injured arm and leg. What an awful way to die! Come back!" I was still stretched across Mackenzie's chest when I felt Morgan's arm grasp my shoulder. I pulled away, unable to do anything else but cry out in pain for the friend I had lost.
She began to sing a hymn. And the fact that there was no music; indeed no sound at all except for the drumming of my heart, made it all the more painful to listen to. But it was so beautiful!
"Lay down…your sweet and weary head.
Night is falling…you've come to journey's end…!
Sleep now. Dream of the ones that came before!
They are calling…from across a distant shore…!
Why do you weep? What are these tears upon your face?
Soon you will see-all of your fears will pass away…!
Safe in my arms…you're only sleeping…
What can you see on the horizon? Why do the white gulls call?
Across the sea-a pale moon rises…!
The ships have come to carry you home…
And all will turn-to silver glass…
A light on the water-all souls pass…
All fades into the world of night. Through shadows falling-
Out of memory and time!
Don't say-we have come now-to the end…!
White shores are calling-you and I will meet again…
And you'll be here in my arms…just sleeping…
What can you see-on the horizon? Why do the white gulls call?
Across the sea-a pale moon rises!
The ships have come to carry you home…
And all will turn-to silver glass. A light on the water…
Grey ships pass…into the West…"
By the time Morgan had finished singing her tribute to Mackenzie, I was crying in her arms, holding her like I would my mother, had she been there and truly had the privilege to have known Mackenzie.
"Shh…you're going to be OK…," Morgan cooed.
"You think so?" I looked up at her. "You really think we can make it out of this cave alive?"
"Yes. I know you better than that. It's just not like you to give up on us all of a sudden. You will go on!" Morgan told me. She stood up and held her arm out to me. "The only question now is 'will you take the first step'…?"