Elizabeth panted wildly, and managed to say, "My family's coming this way. You've got to hide!"
Eliza snapped out of her trance, and growled slightly, "Why should we listen to you?" Bree Blackburn nodded in agreement. Elizabeth could be trying to trick them. After all, she had tricked Eliza once before. No doubt she could do that same thing again. Eliza was still angry about that.
Bree said, "Yeah, why should we listen to you?" The dark girl's expression shifted to a look of disbelief. 'Why don't they believe me? Oh...right...I'm a poacher. Or was a poacher, anyway.' She stepped forward, and held out her arms as a sign that she's not going to attack them.
"I'm serious, you two. I mean you no harm. Just trust me."
The light girl narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "I still don't think I should trust you."
Elizabeth dropped her arms to her side in defeat. How was she going to convince these guys that she's an ally now? She was about to try again when she heard a sound of a gunshot. Bree and Eliza heard it, too, and shifted their gaze behind them. Something was moving at them...moving at them very fast!
Elizabeth shouted her warning again, "See? See? They're coming! Hide!" They all dove in the bushes.
The vehicle that came along was the comvee. It had its jungle camouflage out, and one of the poachers was looking out of the window to look for any signs of human life. It was Debbie. She didn't look too happy.
Eliza shivered. 'If that Debbie sees me, I'm dead!' She lay her body down as low and as flat as humanly possible. She could see Elizabeth across from her. She had her finger over her lips, and mouthed the word 'quiet'. Well, she didn't need to be told. With those poachers around, they all knew they had to be low and very quiet.
They finally heard Debbie shout, "They're not here!"
Then Nigel's voice could be heard. "Then let's get going!" The comvee suddenly picked up speed, and Bree, Eliza, and Elizabeth watched as the comvee went deeper and deeper in the neck of the jungle.
Eliza sighed, and looked at her counterpart. Elizabeth crawled out from her hiding spot. She looked at Eliza. Both of them had a depressed and shameful look on their faces.
They stepped forward towards each other, and said in unison, "I'm sorry." They stopped with a surprised look on their faces, and blinked.
Eliza asked, "Why are you sorry? I'm the one who didn't believe you." The poacher looked at her shamefully. Her gaze fell to the ground. 'Why would she forgive me?' A tear finally escaped her eyes, and the light girl gasped.
"I'm sorry for what I did back there." Eliza's face registered with confusion. She wondered what this girl could be talking about. Elizabeth may have been her alternate form, but she could not understand why or what this girl was sorry for.
"For what?" Elizabeth closed her eyes and felt a little trickle of tears run down her face and smash into the ground. Although it was small, to her it sounded like a giant wave crashing into the rocky surface of the beach.
"I'm sorry for what I've done to you. Sorry for hurting animals. You know the whole deal." Eliza couldn't help but feel morally shocked by this strange turn of events. 'She's supposed to be my evil counterpart. Why is she acting like this?' Then something clicked. She may have realized the error in her ways, and wanted to make up for it. Eliza smiled, and stepped towards her mourning counterpart.
"It's okay, Elizabeth." She placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. She looked up. "I forgive you." Elizabeth blinked her eyes a few times and more tears ran down her face. She smiled weakly as more tears came to her eyes. She fought to keep them back. She didn't want to be seen crying. But Eliza had already seen this, but decided to keep it quiet. 'I guess that not everyone wants to be seen like this. I understand.'
Bree smiled, and couldn't help but be baffled by the girls as they hugged each other, a sign of forgiveness. Then they were all startled by a loud rumbling. Elizabeth's eyes snapped open in shock as the ground below them started to split.
"ELIZA!!"
"ELIZABETH!!"
"BREE!!"
Their screams of shock went unheard because the roaring gotten so loud that they had to cover their ears. Elizabeth knew what was about to happen.
"IT'S MY PARENTS!!" She had to shout extremely loud for the other two to hear her. "YOU'VE GOT TO GET OUT OF HERE!! I'LL STALL THEM!!!"
Eliza and Bree looked reluctant since they didn't want to leave Elizabeth. It was a bit tempting, but she had helped them. They didn't think it would be fair to leave their helper out in the open like this. But they both agreed that they had to do what she told them, and they both took off in another direction towards the valley.
Elizabeth watched them go, and grabbed a hold of some part of machinery that was sticking out of the ground. She hung on tightly, and refused to let go. 'I hope I can get them to listen.' She whimpered thoughtfully. The ground shook even more, and the dirt started to split in all different directions. "Whoa!" She screamed in surprise as she was lifted high into the air. She was right. It was the comvee that had snuck up from underneath them.
Nigel laughed darkly, "I've got you now!" But then he realized that there was no one in his sights. "What? Where'd they go?"
Debbie grumbled, and rolled her eyes in disgust. "You lost them, dad."
Elizabeth was still clinging onto the part of machinery that had stuck out of the ground. She looked closely, and realized it was one of the claws that was equipped on the comvee for defense! Marianne was about to say something to keep Nigel and Debbie calm when she saw something hanging onto the comvee's claw. She screamed in shock, and grabbed Nigel.
Pointing towards the girl, she shouted, "NIGEL! LOOK!" Nigel looked out, and was shocked to see that he had grabbed Elizabeth by mistake. Part of him was relieved to see her fine and well. Another part was angry that she had gotten so close to the comvee while they were 'hunting'. He pushed a button and pulled a black lever. Elizabeth felt herself being lowered to the ground, and jumped off the claw when she was low enough. She waved her arms frantically to get her family's attention, and got her wish when they ran out of the comvee to greet her.
"Oh, I'm so glad you're okay!" Marianne screamed joyfully. If she wasn't wearing the pistol holder around her waist she would have seemed harmless. She hugged her daughter tightly. "Where have you been? Did that infernal Eliza have anything to do with this?" She sounded a bit angry with herself. She felt guilty for sending her daughter back to camp alone like that. Elizabeth shook her head.
"No, I wandered off on my own..." She covered her mouth in surprise. 'Oh boy.' Nigel looked at her as his head seemed to turn just as red as his hair.
"Why did you wander off? You could've been caught, or worse, killed! These animals can't be trusted!" He was going to say something even worse than that, but he noticed his daughter shaking violently in fear. A sympathetic look crossed his face, and he refrained from continuing. 'I think she's learned her lesson.' He kneeled down at her level. "I'm sorry, Elizabeth. Now, let's find those two animal lovers!" He suddenly grabbed Elizabeth and dragged her back to the comvee. He didn't want to risk losing her again. Elizabeth knew she couldn't stop her father. It was impossible while he's like this! She could only watch in terror as the comvee started moving again. This time, it was full throttle. Nothing was going to stop Nigel Thornberry now...
Sloan got out his phone and had dialed Kip and Biederman for help. 'Where are those guys?' He tapped his finger impatiently on the side of a broken down log. It had been at least 45 minutes since he had called those two. It doesn't take this long just to get out and find him. Unless, of course, they were lost, then that would serve as a problem. 'Why do I even bother?' Sloan muttered a couple of words when he finally saw some dust kicking up into the air. 'At last.' He still wasn't very happy, and was about to yell at the two for being so late, but then he remembered Bree and Eliza being in trouble. The thing causing the dust to kick up was a jeep. Inside it were Kip and Biederman. The jeep was the same color as military jeeps. Sloan still didn't know why they had the jeep like that, but thought it would be best not to mention it. The jeep stopped a few feet from Sloan's place, and the doors swung open.
Kip hopped out first, and said, "Sorry for the delay sir. I had a bit of a problem..." He gave a sharp glare at Biederman, who was adjusting his sunglasses.
"So what if it took me 10 minutes to find my glasses?"
Kip turned to him, and was glaring daggers at his shorter partner. "It took you 20 minutes! And all that time your sunglasses were sitting on top of your head!"
It was hard to tell if Biederman was afraid or angry because of the shades, but he did step back from his angry partner. He said to Sloan, "Sorry about that."
Sloan Blackburn stared at the two, but snapped out of it. "I just saw the poacher family." This got Kip and Biederman's attention. They immediately got into soldier position, and awaited their orders. "They went over there." He pointed towards the direction that the family went. The two men looked in that direction, and nodded in unison. They understood where to go. They, too, were familiar with the valley where the eclipse occurs. Sloan continued, "Bree Blackburn and Eliza Thornberry, the good one, had gone in that direction. I want to you to get them out of there as quickly as possible. If possible, try to apprehend the Thornberrys. This time, no mistakes." He seemed to be still angry about them grabbing the wrong human child.
Kip and Biederman looked at each other, and then back at Sloan. "It was his fault!" They shouted in unison, pointing their fingers at each other.
Their leader shook his head. He was getting a slight headache. Before things could get any worse, he pointed in the direction again, and gave orders, "Just go and find them." Kip and Biederman nodded, and went back to the jeep. Sloan sighed in almost complete relief as he knew that they were going to be going off for a while. As the jeep sped out of distance, a ton of dust was kicked up into the air, and Sloan coughed it. "I have to get them a bike." He muttered as he wiped his nose and mouth, and tried desperately to get the tiny rocks off and out of him.
Elizabeth didn't look too happy with her father chasing Eliza and Bree. But if she revealed the truth, they would probably shun her away. That was the last thing she wanted. She still loved her family. But she now hated the idea of poaching. She had seen life in the animals they once thought were mindless beings. 'They aren't mindless. They are alive.' Elizabeth sat next to Debbie, but kept her face turned away. She had tears coming out of her eyes, and didn't want Debbie to see them lest she makes fun of her. The teenager failed to notice this. Her eyes were set towards the front. She was scanning the area for anything unusual. They had found tracks earlier and were following them. Elizabeth was going to try and trick them into going in another direction, but her family was too smart for that.
'What I wouldn't give for...' She didn't finish her thought. Her gaze fell upon her father. She could see, in the mirror, he had a look of the devil in his eyes. 'This isn't good.' She told herself. There had to be a way to save the others. But how? Elizabeth knew it wasn't going to be easy. She turned to Debbie. Debbie looked very frustrated. Elizabeth couldn't blame her so much. Her sister may have hated the sight of blood, but she always did enjoy a little action. Elizabeth looked at the time. The clock was a bit out of control, but it was probably at least noon or 2 in the afternoon. "I don't see them." Elizabeth muttered under her breath.
"Oh, I know." Marianne said. Elizabeth jerked in surprise. 'She heard me?' Marianne turned to the back, and smiled. The red-haired girl seemed to back up against her seat. The woman seemed surprised, but didn't show it. "But we'll find them. Don't you worry." She assured her daughter. Marianne thought that Elizabeth hated Eliza. She didn't know of what had truly happened, and Elizabeth never intended on telling her parents. They wouldn't understand. 'Or would they?' The child looked out of the window, and was hoping that Bree and Eliza had gotten as far away as humanly possible. 'Please be all right.' She slumped in her chair. This time her sister had noticed her.
"What's wrong?" She asked the smaller girl. Elizabeth jumped in shock, and angrily glared at her older sister. "Don't scare me like that!!"
Debbie was taken aback by her sister's outburst. 'She never acted like this before.' She then remembered what happened a few days ago. 'Okay, so she had acted like this before.' She defended herself by saying that she didn't need to be so jumpy. The only people in the vehicle were the family of poachers. Why be so jumpy about it?
"I-I don't know." Elizabeth lied. 'I can't let her know the truth.'
Debbie, however, seemed to persist. She seemed to know that her sibling was hiding something. "No...what's really wrong?"
Elizabeth shook her head.
"You sure nothing's wrong?" Her sister nodded her head.
"Really, really sure?"
Elizabeth couldn't take all this, and suddenly snapped at her big sister, "OF COURSE I AM SURE!!!" Suddenly the vehicle stopped, and everyone looked at Elizabeth. Nigel and Marianne blinked in shock, and Debbie backed away to her own seat. Elizabeth looked down shamefully, and said, "I'm sorry." The ride resumed, but with caution.
Eliza and Bree kept running. They ran as fast as their feet could carry them. They finally stopped next to a river. Eliza looked around. The place looked horrifyingly familiar. She turned towards the water, and then looked up. Her eyes widened in horror. 'This is the same place where Sloan tried to kill me.' She seemed a bit shaken up, but she remembered that she was in an alternate universe. So this wasn't the exact same place, just the alternate. She looked at Bree. "Bree?" She asked lowly.
The woman turned towards her. "What is it?"
"Well, you just...never told me what happened here...in your dimension."
Bree gasped, and looked away. 'For some reason, I don't want to burden her with this.' She looked back towards the girl. A look of expectancy was on the child's face. She really wanted to know what had happened. But would Bree herself be willing to tell what it was? "Why do you want to know?" She tried to sound reasonable, but was worried that she wounded heartless.
The child looked away. She said, "Sorry, I just thought I should know about what happened here."
Bree watched the child turn away from her, and stare into the water. The rapids made her reflection look as thought it was bending. 'I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell her...' Bree did give in. "Okay, okay. I'll tell you. But you have to promise me one thing."
Eliza turned around right away. "What is it?" Bree swallowed once. She looked a bit nervous. But why should she be so nervous about? There was nothing to be afraid of, or at least that's what Eliza's been told for the past few years. Only thing to fear is fear itself.
The woman continued, "Don't tell Sloan I told you. He doesn't want to remember what had happened here." The child looked confused, but nodded. She promised she wouldn't tell Sloan. 'I hope I don't forget.' She smiled reassuringly at Bree. Bree smiled back, and began to tell the story. "Well, it's kind of long. But I'll make it short and quick, okay?" Eliza nodded, and waited for the explanation. Bree sighed, and finally began the tale. "Well, here's how it started..."
Then the area shifted into a flashback. As Bree discussed what had happened, the scene shifts about 4-5 months in the past. It's still uncertain how long ago it was. The scene is the same place that Eliza and Bree were, but they were replaced by a ton of other people. The water seemed more violent than before. It was splashing against the sides. A herd of elephants were walking in. The electrified fence waited to strike. Well it didn't have a mind of its own, but it did sparkle a little as the elephants trampled towards it. A car was seen in the distance. It stopped at the edge of what appeared to be a steep cliff. It looked similar to the cliff that Eliza climbed down. Two people hurried out of the door, and watched in horror as the elephants drew closer. "This isn't good." The people were Sloan and Bree Blackburn. They had hurried as fast as they could, but didn't know what to do.
Bree turned to her husband. "What can we do?"
Sloan shook his head. He didn't know what to do. He still couldn't believe that he had fallen for Elizabeth's trick. He glared. 'I can't believe I fell for her act. All she wanted was the cat!' He slammed his fist into the ground, causing Bree to jump. 'She lied to me.' "I can't believe that we actually believed Elizabeth!"
The woman next to him looked at him sympathetically. She understood why Sloan was beating himself up for this. He thought it was his fault that Elizabeth Thornberry had gotten away with murder. Well, okay not murder, but she did try and kill the cheetah cub that they had rescued. Bree had previously tried to get Sloan to snap out of it, but he just wouldn't forgive himself. They almost lost another cheetah back there. She tried to calm him down. "It's okay, Sloan. People make mistakes. It's not your fault." But even that didn't seem to work. He turned to her.
"Yes it is my fault!" Bree stepped back and looked out towards the edge. 'I know we have to save these elephants.' But she didn't know how to convince Sloan.
Angrily, she shouted, "Are you just going to sit here?!"
Sloan jerked in surprise. "What?"
"Are you just going to sit there and do nothing?" Sloan seemed to be at a loss for words. What should he say? And how should he say it? He didn't know. Well, not now anyway. He got up from the ground and looked out towards the moving elephants. 'They don't know the danger they are in.' He sighed. "What can I do?"
"You can stop feeling sorry for yourself and save them!!"
Up on another cliff, a man with red hair chuckled darkly. He held a rifle in his hands. It was Nigel's counterpart! He stood on the cliff, and watched as the elephants headed towards the trap with a grin on his face. The comvee stood behind him, and the rest of the family watched the elephants on the move. Well, not all of them. Debbie was inside. She was very weak of stomach, and didn't like seeing any type of killings. Elizabeth had fun calling her chicken and a scared cat, but Debbie didn't seem phased. Elizabeth held her own weapon, a different one from before which is a knife, in her hands.
Marianne turned to her youngest daughter. "You did a great job tricking Sloan and Bree." Her voice was simple and dark.
Elizabeth seemed proud of what she had done. "Now the bait has been set and it's time to spring the trap." She responded. An evil grin curved on her face as the elephants were almost in position.
"It's almost time for the fireworks." Nigel said. 'Finally.' Elizabeth thought as she got up. She folded her arms back behind her, and looked coldly at the animals. 'Your time has come.' She mentally sneered.
Sloan looked out at the scene. He sensed someone's presence, and looked towards one direction, probably north. He could see the outline of Nigel Thornberry. Eyes wide, he turned towards Bree and gently shook her. She swerved around and asked what was the matter, and Sloan said, "Nigel! He's over there!" He pointed towards another cliff. Bree brought both her hands to her mouth. They were so close to the enemy. '
We need to stop them!' Bree was becoming desperate, and looked towards the elephants. "How can we stop those animals?" She pointed towards them, and Sloan tried to think of a plan.
"There's got to be a way to..." He couldn't find a way. Well, he couldn't think of one. His eyes were still locked on Nigel. That man had been responsible for the slaughter of countless animals worldwide. 'I can't let him get away with this.' Sloan knew his time was almost up. He looked at the elephants again, and started to climb down the hill.
Bree looked horrified, and shouted, "Come back! You'll get trampled!" The man gripped on the rocks tightly. A few of them started to roll down the sides.
"Don't worry!" He shouted at his wife. "I'll be fine!" He finally gotten low enough that he could just jump down. He landed on his feet, and then hands. He picked himself up, and tried to think of what to do next. 'Now what?' He though. He had gotten down from the hill, but now what was he going to do? He knew he couldn't just stand there and watch this happen. He had to do something! Without thinking, he started to run towards the elephants despite Bree's pleas.
Bree could only watch helplessly as her husband disappeared in the large herd of elephants. 'I hope he knows what he's doing.' She sat down and watched worriedly. "I wish there was something I could do...something.....anything." But she could not think of anything. She just sat down, and watched. She let out a long sigh. She was alone on this cliff. She could feel the breeze strike the back of her head. She looked up towards the skies, and then back down the ground. 'If only I had realized Elizabeth's trick. If only I knew what she was really after. If only...' But what was the use? There was no way she could have known. Elizabeth was too tricky. "Elizabeth was a sly one, yes." She had to admit.
"Oh, I was, wasn't I?" An icy voice said from behind her, chilling her back to the spine. The voice was so cold it could freeze water if visible. She knew who it was. She slowly turned around. She gasped. It was Elizabeth Thornberry, and she was pointed her rifle at her! Bree backed up towards the edge of the cliff. With one step, a tiny amount of it broke away and fell down. Bree heard the sounds of the tiny rocks clashing towards the bottom, and could see the evil smirk on Elizabeth's face. "You want to join those rocks?" She asked evilly, and she took a step forward.
Bree took a step back, but remained in her same position. She wasn't going down that easily. "What do you want?"
Elizabeth slowly shook her head. "You don't get it, do you?" She looked up. "Face it, Bree. You've lost." The evil grin returned to her face.
Bree couldn't stand it for much longer. She gritted her teeth, and stepped forward one step. She said, "Sloan and I won't give up!"
Laughter...dark laughter rang through the area. Elizabeth was laughing...laughing because she thought the woman's bravery was futile. 'What a pathetic fool!' She picked up something from her pocket. Bree narrowed her eyes to get a better look. The object was thin and black. She shook in fear when she quickly realized what it was. 'It's a bullet.' She watched in terror as the girl placed the bullet into the rifle, and positioned it towards Bree. "I'm sorry, but I have to do this." The child leveled it up to Bree's head, and closed one eye. Her fingers went for the trigger, and started to pull it tighter. Bree didn't know what else to do. In a matter of seconds, she would die. She quickly looked towards the ground below her. She knew she didn't have much of a choice. Down was her only way out of this one. She took in a huge breath, turned, and jumped over the edge as fast as she could. Elizabeth fired the rifle, and it barely grazed the tip of Bree's shoes. The girl ran over to the edge and watched emotionlessly as the woman fell down.
Elizabeth Thornberry turned and walked away. She assumed that Bree would never survive the fall. 'That's one down. One more to go!' She walked towards a sloop down to the ground, which was located near the part of the cliff that Bree had jumped off of. 'Now for Sloan...'
"Whoa!" Sloan yelled in shock as he dodged another elephant's foot. He fell to the ground, and he looked towards his back. A large imprint was clearly seen carved into the ground in the same spot where he had been standing. 'This isn't going to be easy.' He looked at the elephants, and tried to wave his arms over his head. "GET BACK!!" He shouted. But elephants don't understand human language. How was he going to get them to understand him? There was only one thing he could try. He just didn't know if it would work or not. He ran towards one of the elephants, and grabbed its tail.
'I can't believe I'm going to do this.' He mentally feared as he climbed up on the elephant. It was a great struggle. Getting on a wild horse is easier than this. Once he was sitting on the elephant, he scooted himself towards the base of the neck. He remembered in a training class that when riding an elephant, if you gently hit them in the back of the head a certain way, they'll go in a desired direction. 'I hope they weren't wrong...' He got into position, and lifted his foot. He gulped, hoping that he wouldn't get this wrong. He was about to make his move when the fireworks started to explode! The elephants suddenly reared up in fear. Full of panic, they started to charge towards the fence, and Sloan didn't think he could react in time to save them.
"Ooo..." Someone moaned in pain. Bree had fallen almost 30 ft to the ground. It was quite a drop. She had hit a couple of small rocks jetting out and hit a bush, which all helped to break her fall. "What happened?" She rubbed her head. That was quite some drop she had there. She slowly shook her head, and rubbed her forehead. She had hit her head during the fall, and she noticed she had a few cuts and bruises. Parts of her clothes were torn. She knew, of course, why. She looked up towards the top of the cliff. She looked to see if Elizabeth was still up there. To her shock, she wasn't. 'She must've moved down...If she thought I was dead, then that means...oh no!'
She tried to stand up, but screamed in pain. She fell back down. She looked at her leg, and saw the problem. Her leg had been broken in the fall. 'This isn't good.' If Elizabeth or any of the other Thornberrys saw her, they would and could kill her right on the stop, and she wouldn't even be able to run for it. But it wasn't that she was worried about. She couldn't warn Sloan that Elizabeth was after him most likely. He was too busy trying to save the elephants. Bree sat herself down, and hoped for a miracle.
Sloan hung on for dear life. The elephants charged full throttle as the fence seemed to get shakingly closer. He never felt more afraid in his life. He didn't know what to do now. The electrical fence could kill 1,000 elephants! If he got hit...he didn't want to think about it. 'There just has to be a way to stop these guys.' He got himself ready, and gently kicked the elephant behind the head. 'This elephant is the leader. If I can get her to turn, the others will follow.' His gentle kick did its intended purpose, and the female elephant suddenly stopped and shifted to the left. Shocked, the other elephants stopped as well, and turned around so that they were behind the leader elephant. 'It worked...'
Sloan gently kicked the elephant's head again, and this time it had turned all the way around and started walking in the same path that it had come. The other elephants followed as well. There were no more fireworks, so they couldn't be startled, and even if they were, they'd run in that same direction. Sloan started to calm down as the elephants seemed to be out of danger. But then he remembered about the Thornberrys, and quickly turned his head towards them. They were all gathered on the same cliff, and were witnessing what was going on. 'Oh man...' Sloan whimpered in fear of what would happen next.
"WHAT?!" Nigel screamed in rage. Below them, the elephants were so close to being theirs, but Sloan had stopped that! The family glared in rage as they saw Sloan riding the lead elephant.
Marianne snarled, "I can't believe it! He ruined it all!" She formed fists with both her hands, and punched them together.
"I'd like to tear him apart!" Debbie had gotten out to see what was going on, and was just as appalled as the rest of them.
Elizabeth was holding her rifle with her, and stepped in front of her family. "I'll get him." She said darkly. Her rifle leveled up to the man, and she pulled the trigger. The bullet shot out faster than lightning. Sloan heard the sounds of a gunshot, and immediately moved back. Something black quickly sailed past him, and barely missed grazing him. He was now on to the Thornberrys, and climbed down off the elephants. It would be harder to shoot him in the mob of elephants. Elizabeth felt rage start to overtake her, and she kept firing shots down. She wasn't aiming at the elephants, but she did snicker as a couple of elephants were indeed hit by the bullets. Sloan screamed as he tried to outrun the falling animals. He looked around frantically, and saw something that might help him.
Out there, lying on the ground, was his helicopter. The black helicopter seemed to be in great shape, too. Sloan rushed over to it, and hopped inside. 'This should help me.' He hoped that it would anyway. He checked out the controls. They were still in good shape. He turned the helicopter on, and sat down in the pilot's seat. He pulled the lever up and down, as the machine started to rise into the air. 'That training in the Air Force paid off.' Sloan smiled as he rose about 20 feet and more off the ground. The Thornberrys' faces registered in shock as they watched Sloan ride in the helicopter. They backed up towards their comvee. The naturalist was headed straight for them!
Debbie screamed as she dove down to dodge Sloan. Nigel and Marianne looked at her with worry, then looked at Sloan with hatred. "We've got to get that, that thing down!" Nigel pointed at the helicopter. It was ruining their plans!
Elizabeth smiled. She was a great archer. She didn't always miss, but it was usually unlikely she did miss anything. "I will get him down." She took her rifle, and aimed at the helicopter. She didn't aim for the pilot, but rather aimed at the part connecting the propeller to the top of the machine. She closed one eye, and gave a shot. This time, the bullet hit its intended target, and the wing got damaged. Sloan screamed in horror as the propeller stalled and the helicopter started to plummet down the rocky surface below him. The Thornberrys laughed scornfully as Sloan fell down.
Luckily, Bree had noticed what had just happened. She still couldn't pick herself up, but she did get an elephant's attention. The big creature walked over to see what was wrong, and lowered its trunk down and nudged Bree. The woman used the elephant's truck to support herself. Somehow, it knew what she wanted, and lifted the woman up, and gently placed her on its back. 'I think it wants me to ride it.' She thought in wonder. She shook herself. She remembered what had happened to Sloan. She looked at the elephant, and pointed towards the falling helicopter.
"There! Catch that thing!" She shouted. She hoped the elephant understood what she wanted, and the animal started to charge forward. 'I think she does.' The elephant moved faster than anyone would have guessed elephants could move. She hung on as the animal drew closer and closer to the falling machine. The elephant outstretched its long trunk and wrapped it around the tail of the helicopter. It used all its strength to gently lower it to the ground, and it lightly crashed on the surface. Bree jumped down to the ground. She collapsed to her knees immediately, and had forgotten that one of her legs was broken. She lifted herself up, and screamed out in horror, "SLOAN!!!" Wide eyes locked on the helicopter, and Bree expected the worst.
For several moments, nothing happened. Bree closed her eyes in sadness. Thinking Sloan was a goner, she started to cry. "No...it can't be..." She whispered to herself. She brought her knees to her chest and continued to cry. A few rocks rumbled down from where the machine had landed. She lifted up her head and looked towards the black helicopter. A few more rocks came off and suddenly part of the area started to shift. Tears stopped flowing, and she smiled in anticipation. Sure enough, a hand poked out, and clung onto a rock.
"Sloan!" She screamed in joy. She wanted to run over and help him, but she couldn't. She rubbed her broken leg, and winced in pain as she only lightly touched it. She continued to watch, and hope. Sloan finally got out. He was a bit cut up and hurt, but he wasn't too bad off. He survived the fall, and that's all Bree really wanted. She picked herself up, and used the elephant's trunk to support herself. Sloan walked out of the pile, and his walking was a bit shaky. It wasn't a surprise to Bree. It was a bit of a shock to the body to fall like that. He saw Bree, and ran over to her.
"Bree!" He stopped in front of her, and he saw the large bruise on her leg. "What happened to you?"
"Elizabeth tried to kill me, so I jumped off the cliff."
"YOU DID WHAT?!"
Bree held her hands out in defense. "Let's worry not about that." She said. She pointed towards the angered Thornberry family. "Let's worry about them!" Sloan growled, and nodded.
On the cliff, the Thornberrys weren't too happy about all that had happened. They planned for years on this trap, and it was foolproof! They were hoping to get rich off of this operation. They did get a few elephants down, but not enough. Nigel had gotten their tusks already. He had gotten them while Sloan was helping Bree up and walked towards their vehicle. Since Bree was hurt, it would take quite sometime to get back up the hill. Nigel carried the heavy tusks up. He was stronger than most took him granted for. He set them in the comvee, and he hopped in the driver's seat. "Come on, everyone! We have to go now!"
Elizabeth, Debbie, and Marianne nodded promptly, and rushed inside the comvee. Sloan and Bree had gotten into their vehicle and were coming their way. Nigel pushed the pedal to the metal, and was off faster than a rabbit could hop. Sloan pushed the break pedal. The comvee had gotten away, and they were headed straight for the cliff! The vehicle skidded towards the side, and nearly went over the edge. It stopped, but just barely.
Sloan panted, and became angry with himself. Bree looked at him worriedly. "Don't worry. At least we saved most of the elephants." She scanned the area. The elephants were safe indeed.
Sloan smiled, "Yeah, at least there's that." The couple watched the sunset, and watched the magnificent animals grazing the area. And then the eclipse occurred...
Then the flashback sequence ended. The world warped back to present time. Eliza's eyes were wide with shock. She had no idea that Elizabeth was that cold at one time. She didn't think she was so bad now, but the thought of Elizabeth actually doing all that...it just sickened her! She looked at Bree with sympathy, and looked towards the ground. "Oh, Bree...I didn't know!"
Bree looked at her with understanding in her eyes. She knew that Eliza couldn't have known. She felt guilty with burdening her with something that she would feel was from a nightmare. She placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, reassuring her. "It's okay." She said comfortably.
The child looked up, and smiled weakly. "Yeah..." The child got to her feet, but then heard something in the distance. She quickly shifted her head towards one direction.
"Something's wrong." She said simply, and then the ground shook. Her eyes widen as the ground split again.
"No!" Bree screamed in terror. She jolted up. She knew what was about to happen. The comvee suddenly appeared, and the drivers looked just as angry as before. Eliza squinted, and noticed that Elizabeth was in there. She was looking out of the window, and gave her and Bree a quick look of sympathy. The dark girl then lowered back down in her seat, too scared to watch what was going to happen. Nigel pulled the lever, and the claw lifted up. It raised above Bree and Eliza.