Chapter Twenty-three - The Frustration Continues

I grabbed the handle on the door and slowly began to pull it closed. Slowly … slowly … SLOWLY!

CREAK!

The Raptor's head whipped around and stared right at me. The door was only half closed and I was transfixed to the spot. The Raptor let out a low sort of chirp … or maybe it was a hiss. It charged in the blink of an eye. My reflexes had been improved, but not that much. I tried to the slam to door shut but a few of the Raptor's nails caught under it. It was much stronger than I was. I screamed. "SALLY! SALLY, COME OVER HERE AND HELP ME! HELP ME!"

Sally ran over to my side and grabbed the handle. We both braced ourselves and pulled down with all our might. I could hear the Raptor outside practically screaming in fury as we pulled the hatch farther and farther closed. My hands began to get slippery with sweat and I screamed again. But then, I heard metal hit metal and knew the hatch had closed. It was really hard to open from the outside but just to be sure, Sally and I grabbed some rope and tied it shut.

I sat down on the bed, panting and clutching my side. We could only stay in here so long. What were we going to do when we had to get out?

The night had been a hectic one. Not only had I barely gotten any sleep, but Sally "chose" the bed, cried into the late hours about Brad not being there, snapped at me for moving at all and making a noise, blew her nose on the blankets (yuck) every few minutes, and snored like … a donkey.

But that wasn't the only thing that had kept me up. The Raptors were still out there. I could hear them prowling around, trying to find a weakness to our structure. If there had been any, the Compys would have found it long ago, but this did not make me feel any better.

What if Eric… and Brad didn't notice that those stupid things were there and waltzed right up to the truck? By the sounds of it, they hadn't.

The only thought that kept me sane was Eric hasn't found Brad. Brad's been eaten. He's gone forever! Eric hasn't found Brad. Brad's been eaten… It was actually very helpful.

In the morning, my whole body was stiff and my eyelids drooped from lack of sleep. Sally's eyes were red and swollen but she only sniffed once or twice. We ate a … hearty meal of cold, nine year old beans from a can, took a few sips of our water supply, and sat around to wait. Five minutes later I was craving fresh-air, as I had never done before.

"Lane," Sally whispered a few minutes later.

"What?" I hissed back, listening to the sounds of the forest around us.

"I have to use the restroom," she whined.

"Find a can, then," I snapped back, not taking my eyes off the hatch.

"What do you mean, find a can? I told you, I have to go!" She exclaimed.

"And I said 'find a can!'" I replied, still not shifting my gaze.

"And what the heck am I supposed to do with it then?"

I finally looked over at her and raised my eyebrows. "You really shouldn't have made it through the tenth grade." I grabbed a can from a shelf, shoved it in her arms, and pushed her into the back corner of the water truck. She looked at me with horror. "Don't worry, I won't look," I said, looking back at the hatch.

"You expect me to … to pee in this can!" She exclaimed.

"If you have another idea, I would love to hear it," I said, not shifting my gaze.

"I never thought I would be peeing in a can," Sally muttered.

----------- Flashback -----------

"You took quite a beating," Eric said, sitting down next to me on the bed. "So we figured you deserved the bed, even though it was MY turn." I grinned and nodded. "So, any idea what happened?"

"Not really," I said, feeling even MORE dumb. "I remember something jumping out of the bushes and landing on Jessie, then more things jumping out of the bushes. I don't know what they were though. And then Tina …"

"OH MY GOSH!" Hannah cried, grabbing my hand. "IS SHE OK? SHE ISN'T DEAD IS SHE? WHAT HAPPENED TO HER, LANE!"

"Hush!" Eric said. "What did I tell you about being loud? You DON'T want to let any dinosaurs know where we're hiding! Otherwise they'll trap us in here and we'll run out of the nasty food that we have VERY quickly and have to pee in a tin can. Do you want that?"

I knew I blushed. His bluntness about the matter of peeing in a tin can was kind of embarrassing. Hannah and I both shook our heads and no one said anything for a bit.

"So, Lane," Eric said, breaking the silence. "Are you going to finish your story?"

----------- End Flashback -----------

I smiled at the memory. Eric had been so kind then … nothing like the jerk he was now. Nothing.

Sally thrust her can into my hands and sat down on the bed next to me.

"What the heck am I supposed to do with this!" I exclaimed, holding the can out at arm's length.

"You really shouldn't have made it through the tenth grade," Sally said. I turned to her; she was grinning.

"Don't use my words," I said under my breath.

"What was that?" Sally said mockingly, putting her hand to her ear. "I didn't catch it. What did you say?" She then put her hand back in her lap and smirked at me. "Just take it away, Lane. That's what slaves do."

I had a strong impulse to throw the contents of the can on her, and I almost did, too. But it wasn't my conscience that had stopped me. Oh, no. I was perfectly fine with contaminating Sally and her precious bed. It was the hatch being ripped open (even the rope tearing) and a shadow falling over us that stopped me.

I whipped around to look up through the hatch and was temporarily blinded by the bright light of a sunny morning. But I had no problem recognizing that voice. "Sally, Lane. Come on! Let's get out of here while we can!" It was Eric.

My eyes finally focused and I saw both Eric and Brad staring down at us from up above. They looked extremely tired and even dirtier than when I had last seen them. Eric had a scratch on the side of his face and blood was dripping slowly down his cheek.

I grabbed my bow and quiver of arrows, then I stuffed a bag with of blankets and shoved a few cans of beans and spoons in, slung it over my shoulder and ran over to the opening. Sally had already been helped out. She hadn't grabbed anything.

"The beaker; get the beaker!" Eric said, frantically looking around. I grabbed the beaker with the Tyrannosaurus urine in it, handed it up to Brad (make the evil thing carry the evil thing … smart, I am), then Eric helped me out. They closed the hatch and we raced from the truck. Over the swamp and into the trees we went. I never looked back but ran along following Eric and trusting him. Every time the bag hit my back, it reminded me that we were never going back. Never going back, never going back…

After quite a few minutes of running, we came to an extremely large tree and began climbing it. You had to be careful which roots and branches you stepped on because the tree seemed to be rotting and your foot would fall through. The roots were high out of the ground and slowly sloped up to the tree, where the trunk went straight up until it reached a cluster of branches at the top. Several odd vine things were growing across the trunk in a kind of grid pattern, making great footholds to help us climb up the tree quickly.

Eric was the first to reach the cluster of branches at the top so he helped the rest of us over. First he pulled Sally over, then me, then Brad. He grabbed my arm rather roughly and yanked me up and over the edge. There was only a small area where there were no branches sticking up towards the heavens and this was where we were standing. There were three small "paths", making a sort of fork in the branches. The ones to the right and left looked as though they went all the way around the tree. The one straight ahead appeared as though it led into the middle of the large plant.

"Eric found it last night," Brad said, brushing past me and standing next to Sally.

"Yeah," Eric said from behind me. "Thought it might come in handy as a shelter for the time being. Watch your step." He pushed past me (hitting my shoulder and nearly knocking me over) and walked into the path straight-ahead, disappearing in the shadow. Sally looked at Brad, who nodded, then the two of them followed Eric. I sighed, readjusted my load, and walked after them. I was amazed at how fast it got dark … and it was very dark. But soon it got light, not real light; a murky sort of cloudy light. And yet I had only been walking for a few seconds … at a slow pace. We came out into a small clearing, sort of a room. It was very small, with hardly enough space for the four of us to lie down comfortably. I looked up above and saw a thick layer of dead looking branches about twenty feet up, letting only a few rays of light in.

"Cruddy kind of place, isn't it?" Sally asked dismally, looking around. No one said anything. I didn't want to agree with her and make Eric mad … but did I really care what he thought? He was just being a big jerk.

"Yeah, the water truck was even better than this," I said.

Oops. Eric whirled around and … stomped over to me. I recoiled and hit the wall of branches behind me.

"Don't be so quick to judge," he hissed, coming only inches away from me. "Besides, it's not my fault that this is the only place we have to go to anymore."

"Oh, great," I said. "So now this is my fault too?"

"Who was the one down there yelling and screaming, being the perfect bait for some dinosaur?" He questioned, coming closer.

"Sally," I said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, sure, Sally," He said. "Now you're blaming her for your stupid actions?"

"Hey!" I said, shoving Eric a bit, which caused him to back up about a foot. "Stop blaming me for stuff, ok?"

"So you don't want to be responsible for your actions? You're the reason we don't have a safe place to stay any more! You're the reason that we have no bed, hardly any food, and –"

"Eric –"

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT DANGER YOU WERE IN? THAT YOU PUT YOURSELF AND SALLY IN! DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR ACTIONS HAVE CAUSED? WE HAVE NO WATER! NOW THE DINOSAURS ABSOLUTLEY KNOW WE'RE HERE! THEY'RE GOING TO BE LOOKING FOR US, LANE! DO YOU KNOW WHAT – "

Brad put his hand on Eric's shoulder and whispered something in his ear. Eric closed his mouth and started breathing hard. He looked over at me and we made eye contact. Though his eyes were wreathed in fury, I could tell it was only a mask, though what was behind the mask was unreadable. Brad stepped away back to Sally.

"It's just as inconsiderate … as stupid as what you did to Hannah," He breathed before turning and walking over to the other side of the "clearing" where he sat down.

While he was yelling at me, I hadn't realized it but now I did; I was shaking. My face was probably white, as well. His normal yelling didn't bother me much any more … or so I told myself. But what really got me was that he was still blaming me for Hannah's death. Didn't he know how much pain even her name caused? I could suddenly hear her screams rake the air around me, as though they were echoing around the trees. Now they were in my head, her words clearer than the day she had died.

"LANE! OH GOSH, HELP! SOMEONE! OH MY GOSH! HELP ME! LANE! HELP! SOMEONE! SOMEBODY HELP ME! OH GOSH! HELP!"

"LANE! LANE! LANE! LANE! LANE!"

"STOP!" I screamed. I opened my eyes. I was on my knees, my arms over my head. I was shaking worse than ever. Sally was kneeling next to me, her arm draped over my back. "Lane?" she asked.

I looked into her eyes and felt a tear roll down my cheek. I looked over at Eric and Brad. Brad was standing back timidly, looking kind of scared of me. Eric still looked furious and looked away when I looked up at him. But he didn't look as mad as he had been before.

"Lane, what happened?" Sally asked. Her voice sounded kind of scared.

I looked over at her. "I heard … I heard …" I sighed and lowered my head again. "It doesn't matter." I said hollowly.

"It was like … you suddenly fell onto the ground, shaking, and your eyes were rolled back into your head. Lane, you scared me," Sally sobbed.

I looked up at her again. This was so unlike Sally. She sounded as if … as if she cared! But that couldn't be right.

"I want to be alone," I choked out.

"Why don't you go back to your water truck, then?" I heard Eric mutter.

Why don't you leave me alone and stop being such a jerk! I felt like saying.

I shakily got to my feet and looked around. I saw a parting in the branches in the shape of what looked like a teardrop. I walked over to it and peered through. A small room sort of thing was behind it. I climbed through and curled up on the floor. There was just room enough for me to do this, but it was comforting and soothing. The last thing I heard before I drifted off to sleep was, "Stop being such a butt, Eric!"

"Thanks, Sally," I whispered before sleep claimed me.

Morning sunrise I'm glad you didn't like the kissing because with all honesty, neither did I.

The Elfin Child Well … ok, he's not my Eric … or my Trevor Morgan. But … -laughs evilly- I can make him do anything I want. MWAHA!

Shiro Did I review your story? I can't remember if I did or not …

Antiope I love your reviews! I don't know why but I love your reviews! Maybe because you're the only smart one … just kidding. But on this front you are. And you have a right to not like Sally. She's just evil.

Alexei James PLEASE tell me you meant the story when you said "MARRY ME!"

Beautyqueen321 TORTURE! -evil laugh- Fun fun. -claps hands gleefully-

Risa I know who you are, I do. -nods knowingly and taps head- Smart, I am.

Betsy Hehehe – I can get away with it! Hehehehehehe …

Jennifer Hello, hello, a new reviewer! I like you, I do … -smiles evilly-

Nogard Thanks for the site; I'll try it out.

Bonitabella Yet another person with a crush on Trevor Morgan. Well, if it gets you to read the story … J