42
"Climb! Climb, you idiots!" X-Ray screamed, pushing past everyone and began climbing the rock wall with giant hopes of reaching the hole at the ceiling.
We all dropped our things, and ran for the wall, too.
Except for Zero.
"Zero, come on!"
"But the treasure..." he stuttered, gazing sadly at Kate-Barlow's box that was quickly being drowned in elevating water.
Where is all of this water coming from?!
"Zero, come on!"
"I'm not leaving here without the treasure."
I ran towards him and took hold of hid hand, but he snatched it away.
"It's too heavy, Zero."
He shook his head and sat on the box.
"ZERO, YOU IDIOT!" I said, with a horrible chill scrambling up my back bone. I suddenly came to the realization that one of us could actually die due to extreme stupidity.
"There's nothing left for me out there," he said with a single, shallow voice. "This box is the only thing that would change my life if I ever got out of here, and we can't even take it with us."
I looked desperately at the boys who were hopelessly trying to climb the wall, and then back at Zero.
"You think I have anywhere to go? Zero, I'm just as stuck as you are, but I still have to live, do you understand?"
Zero stared at me blankly.
I felt a hand on my shoulder. Armpit was gasping for air out of complete exhaustion.
"We can't do it, Maggie... it's too hard."
I looked up and realized most of the boys had given up climbing. Only ZigZag and Charlie were halfway up. Suddenly a rock gave way under ZigZag's foot and he slipped down the wall, dragging Charlie with him.
"SHIT!" ZigZag screamed, and kicked at the rising water on the ground.
X-Ray began to cry again. Caveman tried to comfort him.
God, we were so close.
"Well," Charlie said, shrugging casually. "I guess we are going to die."
He stretched and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes.
We can't die! We're protagonists, Godammit!
Then I heard it. That tiny, high-pitched sound that I thought would never bring me hope.
"Heloo! Anyone in there?"
Everyone, even X-Ray, fell silent and looked up.
"MOM!" Squid shouted in surprise.
"Smokey? HOW DID YOU GET HERE?!" I screamed up, but no answer came.
A rope appeared from the hole.
"I'll pull up the lightest first!"
A rock fell from the ceiling and shattered to a thousand pieces in front of my feet.
"We're gonna be saved! Hallelujah!" X-Ray exclaimed.
I looked at Zero, who was the lightest out of all of us, and gestured towards the rope.
"I'm not leaving without the chest," he repeated.
I took the chest, and sat on it. "Pendanski will pull the chest up later. But not now. It's not the most important thing in this fucking cavern."
"Now git!" I pushed him towards the rope, and within seconds, he was pulled up.
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ARMPIT'S P.O.V.
I was the last one to be pulled up. It took the strength of all of the campers to pull me up. :(
When I resurfaced, they all came and patted my on the back as if I ate a huge chocolate cake.
We all thanked Mom, but he never said a word. He simply got out his climbing gear from a satchel he brought and told us to climb down. We were too happy to do anything else, so we did just that.
Mom even offered to help us carry the chest without even questioning what it was! But Zero wouldn't let anyone else touch it but Caveman and Mouse.
When we reached the bottom of the mountain in half an hour, we all just stood there for the longest time.
It was over! It was finished! Just like that!
"We don't know how to thank you, Pendanski!" Maggie exclaimed, smiling from ear to ear. She ran to hug him, but Mom pulled out a gun and pointed it right between her widened eyes.
"Give me the chest."
Zero shook his head.
"Give it to me. Please, Zero," he said, with a suspicious hint of desperation in his voice.
Zero clenched his jaw but walked over to Pendanski and set the treasure chest at his feet.
Pendanski lowered the gun and motioned for me to join the others.
With one hand pointing the gun at us, he took a walkie-talkie with the other hand, and spoke into it.
"Yes, I've found them... I don't know, Lou, it was some kind of miracle. Bring the car over; I used the truck to get here... Yes, Lou..." he nodded to the walkie-talkie
"They have it. They have the box."