Stranded Chapter 5 – Surprises!
Recap: "Wow! You know what this means?" Quatre's face brightened. "It means that we're not the only people stuck on this island!
"That's either a good thing…or a bad thing." Heero stated.
"How's that a bad thing?" Duo asked, still poking through the objects in the cave room.
"I mean they can help us or they could be cannibalistic tribal warriors."
"Well, aren't you a jolly happy little child." Duo muttered.
"Hey! I hate to interrupt your little conversation, but I for one would like to get going. Our torches are dying down." I indicted the steadily growing dimness around us. The others agreed and soon we were following the tunnel, trying to find a way out. I realized only after that it might have been smarter to just get out the way we came in.
The rest of the day was spent trying to get out of the tunnel. It twisted and turned like a large rabbit's burrow. Half the time I was worried we were going in circles. Finally we spotted a light filtering into the darkness. It seems the passageway opened out to a spot on the beach… not too far from where we were camping out. Already the sun had begun to set.
"You know what?" Quatre asked as we walked along the edge of the forest, picking fruits off the trees. "We never really thoroughly investigated this island. I mean, we've only been on one side of it."
"True, but we've been preoccupied." Wufei replied, checking his fruit for deformities.
"Yes, I know, but we'd be better prepared for things if we knew our surroundings better, what lies behind the forest or what's on the other side of the mountain?"
"Alright then it's settled." Heero was gathering wood for a fire. "We'll set out tomorrow after breakfast. Darkness will fall within a few hours, so we can't go out now."
In any case we didn't even have a chance for breakfast. Here's what happened.
The sun was just peeking over the horizon when I was rudely awakened by a bloodcurdling scream.
"AAAAAHHHHH!"
Duo was throwing rocks pell mell into the forest, seemingly trying to hit something. "Take that! And that! That'll teach you to come near me you filthy, disgusting… thing!!!!"
"Duo!" Quatre was staring in shock. "What happened?"
"I woke up and a face was looking back at me. A horrible scratch face with glasses and…You don't believe me? Fine! I'll got find it." He finished and ran into the forest.
"No! Duo, you don't know what's in there!" I shouted. One minute he's scared as a kid, and then the next minute he's acting like the brave little toaster! I'll never understand that guy.
Well, we all ran after Duo. Not an easy feat with branches grabbing at your hair, and snagging at your clothes. I could barely keep him in sight, he was running so fast.
"He's right over hereeeeeeeeee!"
Duo was disappearing into the ground. I stopped short. Bad idea…never, ever try this at home folks. I stopped short of falling into a large hole in the ground. Whew I thought. And then…Quatre rammed into Heero who bumped into Wufei who smashed into me causing a domino effect and we all tumbled into the hole.
"Nice one." Duo said. He was leaning against the dirt wall, almost like he was waiting for us to join him.
"Where are we?" Wufei asked.
"Hmmm…Let's think. Does a large, dirt hole in the middle of the forest floor sound good to you?" Duo sneered. Boy he definitely woke up on the wrong side of…sand? "That little bugger got away and now we're trapped in a dingy, dirty, and might I mention, tall hole!"
"That's ok. I've got a plan." Quatre was gazing at the sides of our temporary prison.
"Oh! A plan!" Duo said in mock happiness. "That's good because it's not like I didn't have a plan or anything."
"Duo, stop being a smart aleck pain in the rear end! I'm only trying to help! Because once again, YOU, not ME, have winded us into a mess! And you're not helping-"
"Will both of you just stop!?!" Heero shouted. You see, while Chip and Dale over there were having another temper tantrum PMS induced spat, Heero, Wufei and myself were working on getting us out of the hole. We were standing on each others shoulders, totem pole style, to try and reach the top. One more person should just about reach over the rim of the hole.
"Do you think this'll work?" Wufei asked, grunting with the effort of holding both myself and Heero above him.
"This damn well better work or we're totally screwed!" Heero
answered, teetering on the top.
"Ok, now who's lighter? Winner or Maxwell?" Wufei asked.
"That would be me, since Duo's braid adds about 3 tonnes to his original weight." Quatre smirked, looking sideways at Duo who was seething.
"Fine, whatever!" I interrupted when I saw Duo open his mouth to retort. "Just get over here."
It took the combined effort of all five of us, but we finally we got over the edge of the hole, after several attempts, that is. Shaken, tired and hungry, we slowly made our way back to camp. We didn't know it then, but the day was going to be full of surprises.
After a substantial meal of fried fish, fruits and roasted crab meat on a spit, we head back into the forest, cautiously this time. About half an hour away from the unholy hole in the ground, we came to a clearing in the forest.
"What. The forest just ends? Right here, without a warning?" Heero asked, looking over the area.
"Yeah, looks that way." I answered.
"Thank the good, gracious lord! I was getting tired of tramping through that…that thing. My poor braid." Duo grumbled, picking leaves and twigs out of his hair. I caught Quatre's eye, and we both looked away, grinning.
"Well, what are we waiting for, Chinese New Year? Let's go already." The ever impatient Wufei stalked across the bare terrain. We shrugged and followed, scattered around behind him.
"Oh no, no, no, no!"
I looked around. Quatre and Heero, who were walking to my right, were slowly sinking into the apparently hard packed earth. Already they were up to they're knees in it. Oh no, not quicksand! I thought desperately. I made to go over and help them, but I couldn't move. Looking in down in horror I realised, that I too, had unknowingly stepped into the squelching mud.
"Well, I guess we know why the forest just ends." Duo announced. He too, was struggling to free himself from the mucky mess to my left side. Wufei looked on horror-struck. He'd gotten through the clearing with no problem. The rest of us were obviously not as lucky. With each passing second, we were sinking lower into the mire.
"Well don't just stand there Wuffers! Get us out!" You'd think Duo was smart enough NOT to aggravate Wufei, with the delicate position he was in.
"Call me 'Wuffers' again Maxwell and I swear I'll let you sink to the very depths of this quicksand." Wufei called over his shoulder. He was trying to wrap a large, thick vine around a tree. Clearly we were gonna pull ourselves free. "And stop struggling, you'll sink faster."
"That's equivalent to telling Duo 'stand still while I cut your braid off.'" Heero murmured, standing stock still none the less. One by one, we pulled ourselves out of the sludge with Wufei's help. We sat down on safe ground, relief passing through us.
"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I think this island's got it in for us." Quatre was attempting to wipe some of the muck off.
Standing up, Duo replied. "What do you mean 'the island's got it in for us'? We didn't hurt it and I for one want off of this creepy, lonely god forsaken spit of land anyway!"
"Let's just keep moving before something else happens." Heero turned onto a narrow, dusty trail leading into more forested ground.
"Like what?"
"Oh I don't know!" Heero answered exasperatedly. "Maybe before your scary squirrel friend comes marching in here with an army." And with that we followed single file behind him. We're not stupid! We're not going to repeat the same mistake twice, you know.
Chirrup! Chirp! Tweet! Tweet! Twitter! Squeak!
"Wow! Look at all the birds!"
Look at all the birds was correct. There were hundreds! Ok, I know that's an exaggeration, but it makes for interesting story telling. Everywhere we looked there were birds of all sizes. We seemed to have walked into Birdy Wonderland. And the noise was incredible. Like a large congregation of foreign people all speaking a different language! And might I add, walking beneath birds is also a bad idea. Honestly, I should write a book. How to Stay Away From Bad Ideas by: Trowa Barton. I swear I'd make millions in a minute!
The birds were like an arsenal of crap. Literally. They were dropping their…umm…droppings…like some sort of military procedure! We side stepped, turned, ran and even used huge tropical palm-tree like branches for umbrellas. And when Duo shouted at the birds (like that would make them stop; another dumb idea for my book!) they took flight, clumped together and chased us (all squawking and screeching!) to the end of the trail.
"Dammit Duo! Next time…I want…crappy birds…chasing me…I'll give you a call!" Quatre was clinging to a tree trying to catch his breath. We were totally exhausted. I mean though crazy birds weren't giving up.
"Yeah Maxwell! Thanks a lot!" Wufei added his two cents worth.
"Shut up Wuffers! It's bad enough I get it from Ritchie Rich over there, I don't need you to -" Duo
"Common guys just give it a rest will you?" I'm always the peace keeper…
"Hey guys." Something in Heero's voice made us all freeze on the spot. Oh no, what now? I thought.
Heero stood at the very edge of the trail, peering through a few leafy branches. "I think I found our scratchy faced friend."
"What!"
Sure enough, sleeping in a makeshift sleeping bag was the guy who piloted our private plane. The nerdy little geek who abandoned us when the planes engines conked out, leaving us for dead.
"So, he landed on the island as well." It was more of a statement than a question that came out of Wufei's mouth.
"Good!" I said. "Now I'll get to pummel him for leaving his 'passengers' to die. That stupid little weakling!" Wow. I gotta be careful. I'm starting to sound a little too much like Wuffers, I mean Wufei!
AN: Well, that's the end of Chapter 5. I'm hoping to wrap this up soon, so maybe there'll be only one more chapter. Anyway, I don't own Disney's Chip & Dale, The Brave Little Toaster or Ritchie Rich. And one more thing…please review and tell me what you think of this chapter, ok? Thanks!