RavenTheAzarathean: Well, time to feed the hungry overseas...(and you forgot to actually accept/decline the staff invitation! I got your email though!)
Angels 'N Dreams: Don't worry, in the chapter after this, they'll probably make it in. And, uh, who's Jake? The ACC is Eric.K1092000: Believe me, you stick around anything related to me, and the weirdness kinda rubs off onto you...you'll forget what normal is...
Jeremie was getting more frantic by the second. His friends had been in the old factory's elevator for over ten minutes. He had three options: Swing down on the rope. Find another entrance. Or abandon his friends.
But if they were in trouble, then someone back at school would need to be told. Like Jim. Jim looked dumb, but he had a sharp eye and soft spot for his students' safety. But Jeremie wasn't ready to give up yet. Not now.
He climbed back down into the sewer mouth, looking across at the opposite shore. It looked like there was another door at the floor level, accessible only by a rusted ladder on the edge of the bridge. Then, he heard running footsteps above him. He looked up at the manhole to see Eric descending at breakneck speed. "Move! Move!" he said. Odd was right behind him, going as fast as he could.
"What's going on?" Jeremie asked frantically.
"No questions! Just run!" Eric said. "Yumi and Ulrich should be right behind us."
"And if they're not?" Jeremie asked.
"Um...I'll think of something," Eric mumbled unconvincingly. "We've got to get away from that factory, though!"
"Excuse me?" Jeremie said, stopping where he was. "We're running?"
"Yes, we're running!" Eric snapped. "Problem with that?"
"I'm not leaving Ulrich and Yumi behind," Jeremie said.
"I told you, they're probably right behind us!" Eric retorted.
"Or not!" Jeremie shouted back. "What if they're not?"
Eric looked torn between his fear of whatever was back there and his loyalty to his new friends. Jeremie played his advantage to the hilt. "Why are we running?"
Eric shuddered. "Bodies. Bodies fried and crisped by electricity. Electricity that decided to go after us! We had to get out!"
"Yeah, it could of been us next!" Odd added.
"Maybe it already has been," Jeremie said caustically. "Ulrich and Yumi are not right behind us. We need to go back."
Eric sighed tiredly. "I don't get paid enough for this hero crap."
"You don't get paid, period," Odd said. "But..." he paused. "Jeremie's right." He braced himself against unseen dangers. "I'll go."
Eric winced. "I can't believe I'm doing this, but..." He turned to Jeremie. "Go get help. Jim, Sissi, anyone. Me and Odd will try something...I don't know what, but something." He turned around, back to the ladder. "I guess we're heroes, Odd. If we live."
Ulrich hung resolutely on the rope, just below Yumi. Below them, the floor crackled dangerously with electricity. "This is insane!" he gasped. "Where did Eric run to?"
"I don't know," Yumi said. "He seemed okay, but he just...deserted us."
"Maybe he's got a reason," Ulrich said half-heartedly.
Yumi snorted. "Like saving his own skin." Then, as if to rebuke her for her own unfaithful words, she heard footsteps outside.
"Don't come in!" they both shouted. Odd and Eric screeched to a halt just outside the metal platform. A large, fat spark crackled just in front of Odd's shoes, emphasizing the danger they had come so close to.
"God," Eric said in hushed tones. "We almost just bought the farm."
"What farm?" Odd asked.
"Never mind!" Yumi said. "Just...just figure something out with that fat head of yours!"
Eric's hand flew to his forehead self-consciously. "I don't have a fat head!"
"Shut up and get moving!" Ulrich said. "My hands are slipping!"
Eric paced back and forth on the bridge. "Well, we've got some rope left over..."
"It's not long enough to do anything with," Yumi pointed out.
"Don't be so quick to deny the possibilities inherent in any object," Eric said pedantically.
Odd groaned. "My brain hurts."
Eric snapped his fingers suddenly. "I got it! Odd, tie a slipknot with the rope."
"What'll that do?" Ulrich asked pessimistically. Above him, Yumi slipped another inch down the rope.
"Brain boy...I can't hold on much longer..." Yumi gasped as she slid downwards, onto Ulrich's shoulders, pushing him as well.
"Ulrich, I'll throw you the rope, and you loop it around your wrist and cinch it tight. Odd and I will pull you two onto the bridge without touching the platform."
"The rope's going to cut off circulation to his hand, Eric," Odd argued nervously.
"He'll lose more than his hand if we don't get them out of here," Eric growled. "We can't afford to wait for Jeremie. Call him on his cell phone and tell him—"
"No...cell phones allowed...on campus," Ulrich grunted as he slid another foot. "Just go!"
Eric wound the end of the rope under his elbow and slung the loop over to Ulrich. He freed up one hand and grabbed the loop, but as he did so, Yumi began to fall as his weight, which had supported her, shifted to a new position. She tumbled towards the floor, and Ulrich let go with both hands to grab her forearm. Suddenly, he found himself dangling upside down, supported only by the slipknot and his legs around the rope. Cords stood out in his arms as he held onto Yumi's wrist with a grip like steel. "Pull already!" he shouted through clenched teeth.
"Sheesh," Eric muttered as he pulled the rope backwards. The two teens tumbled back onto the bridge between Odd and Eric. "Let's go back to school before Jeremie gets someone to come looking for us."
It was a close shave, but Eric managed to tip off Jeremie just before he woke Jim. The two regrouped back at their room, and Jeremie was able to hook Eric's cell phone up to his laptop, so they could talk to Ulrich and Odd between rooms.
"You screwed up big time, Eric," Ulrich opened without preamble.
"Gee, you think?" Eric said despondently. "I kinda figured that out."
"Hey, I screwed up too," Odd whined into the phone. "Don't forget about me!"
"Oh, we won't," Ulrich hissed. "I don't believe you, Eric. Firstly, there was nothing worth risking our lives over. Secondly, we were almost killed for nothing. Oh, and thirdly, we almost DIED!"
"You do know, Ulrich, that those are all the same point," Jeremie said, taking the mike from Eric.
"And you're wrong about there being nothing there, Ulrich," Eric added. "Primarily, the name of our esteemed academy is the password into the factory. Secondarily, there were roasted bodies all about the lower level there. And tertiarily—"
"Uh, that's not a word, Eric," Jeremie interjected.
"—the electricity wasn't active until we arrived. It chased us."
"But what's it all mean?" Odd asked.
"I really wish I knew," Eric said.
