Chapter 3: End of the Line
Arnold was jerked awake when the force of gravity sent his sleeping body flying foreword. He was not alone in his misfortune, a fact he realized as soon as he landed upon and was jostled by many other members of the group.
The truck's engine continued to sputter as it fought to keep going, jolting repeatedly for a few more yards before finally coming to a humiliating halt in the road.
Then, to everyone's horror, there was a sharp pop, a final sound of defeat that seemed to echo off of the surrounding trees. The passengers heard the cab doors open and creak in protest at being swung back too hard, and James and Eric appeared at the rear of the truck.
"Everyone out, hurry!" James said quietly, yet forcefully, as the two men opened the tailgate and the passengers flooded out. Eric gazed intently at the sky and the tree line around them "Spread out! Get to the woods, go!" He said, and not a second was spared as the group dispersed and spread out at a run, making their way as quickly as possible toward the meager shelter of the woods.
Eric remained by the truck, looking and listening. Then he heard it. It was faint, hardly audible at all. In fact, it may have been only his imagination, but it was enough. When he turned to follow the others into the woods, though, he caught a movement out of the corner of his vision.
Further up the road there was a short blond man running along the tree line and waving his arms wildly to get Eric's attention, but the man was not Arnold. In fact, he wasn't a member of their group at all.
Throwing his don't talk to strangers caution to the wind, Eric hurried toward the man.
"Where did your friends go?" The shorter man said breathlessly when they reached each other. It took Eric a little off guard that the man was so blunt, bothering with no pleasantries whatsoever as though he knew Eric already. He looked back and it occurred to him that he didn't know where any of them had gone.
"They were supposed to re-group once they reached the trees…who are you?"
"We have to find them," the little man said, ignoring Eric's question, "I have a place you'll be safe."
At that moment Arnold, Gerald, Max and James came running up to them.
"Where are the others-" Just then, multiple shrill cries rose up from the far off distance and the little group turned as one, looking toward the trees on the opposite side of the road. For a brief moment, all were silent as they watched a scattered flock of birds rise over the tree tops and soar across the road, passing over their heads and disappearing.
"We have to go."
The blood had drained from the short man's face and his nerves seemed pent up as though he would take off like a shot at the slightest disturbance.
"Where are the others?" Eric asked those who'd appeared moments ago. Everything was happening so fast.
"We don't have time for that, we have to go now!" The man insisted.
The sound of pounding footsteps on sticks and leaves interrupted the two men as the Capaldo's hurried toward them.
"Eric…the birds…" Weitman panted, holding his wife's hand securely.
"Yeah, we saw them."
"Did you see Misha and Curly?" Arnold asked.
"No."
"We have to find them."
"Please, we have to go!" The little blond man pleaded, still ashen-faced as he eye'd the horizon.
"Who are you?" Gerald asked.
"Who cares, let's just get out of here!" Max exclaimed.
"Ok, look…Arnold, come with me. The rest of you go with him, now!" James said and promptly hurried off, Arnold behind him.
"Follow me." The stranger said as he turned and took off at a brisk run. The others pushed to keep up with him, swift as he was for his size. Soon he veered off into the woods and they followed, swerving around trees and hopping over fallen logs and leaving the road far behind them.
They came to a decently sized hillside, which they followed until the stranger suddenly dropped to the ground near a pile of large rocks and disappeared. It was as if the earth had simply sucked him into the hillside, and they all stopped, rather dumbfounded. A moment later, though, his blond head appeared near the ground from behind one of the large rocks.
"Come on!" He said before disappearing once more. Now they saw where he'd gone. Just on the other side of the rocks was a hole, scarcely more than two feet in diameter and well hidden by the rocks.
Gerald was the first to climb through, followed by Weitman and Evalyn.
"You've got to be kidding…" Max mumbled as he watched Weitman's feet vanish through the dark hole.
"Just get in there!" Eric urged, shoving him. Max whirled on the older man as if to strike him in indignation. Then, just as suddenly, the anger was gone and Max turned back toward the hole and crawled inside. When he finally reached the other end, warmth hit his face and arms like a welcoming embrace and, before he knew it, Weitman was grabbing his arms and helping him out of the hole. Two seconds later, he found out why he needed help.
The hole was no longer level with the ground, but a few feet above it. If Weitman hadn't been there to catch him, Max would have landed right on his face. Upon gaining his full balance, Max was able to survey his surroundings.
It was a cave. He could think of little else that categorized it. The space was roughly the size of an average bedroom and had three doors that appeared to have been manufactured some time prior to the American Civil War. One door was situated in the center of the wall to his left. The other two sat on either end of the wall across from him, one of which was open, but he couldn't see inside.
Like the others, it only took Max a second to take in these surroundings before he had to move aside to make room for Eric, who was crawling through the hole behind him.
Another thing Max noticed, though, was that the blond man was standing near an even shorter brunette girl just outside the open door. She appeared frantic and upset as she gestured wildly with both hands, but she spoke not a word. The blond man was trying to explain something to her, but she continued to gesture and get more upset.
Max realized that she was mute.
The little man turned abruptly away from her, regardless of her hand gripping his arm in blatant protest.
"I'm going back out." He said, which surprised them all. He'd been so adamant about leaving before.
"I'm coming with you."
"Me too."
"No!" His harsh refusal took them all by surprise. "It's too dangerous. I know my way around here, but I need someone to stand outside the door in case they come this way."
Everyone looked at Eric for acceptance or rejection of this plan.
"I'll stand by the door, but I think someone needs to go with you." Eric said.
The little man seemed irritated. "You'll all make too much noise!"
"They're our friends, we're going to help find them!" Gerald insisted.
"Wait, he's probably right. Having everybody out searching would get us nowhere right now, not when we're this disorganized." Eric said.
The other seemed to agree, albeit reluctantly. The stranger turned and crawed through the hole, followed quickly by Eric. Not knowing what to do with themselves, the four that remained all unintentionally looked at the young girl, but she paid them little heed. She merely wrung her hands and began pacing the dirt floor.
His bare feet hit the soft ground and underbrush with hardly a sound as he ran, veering in different directions to avoid trees and such. Every so often he dropped to the ground and held his breath, listening for any sound of the travelers as they trampled noisily through the woods, or for sounds of the coming dragon which, by all intents and purposes, should have arrived by now.
Not that he could pass judgment on the travelers for their lack of stealth, though. That was why he didn't want any of them out here getting killed for making too much noise. He knew that he was only good at this because he'd been doing it for so long.
Hearing nothing, he took off again, running a good distance before stopping again. This time, just as his muscles prepared to launch him into another sprint, he heard a shout.
A loud shout.
Damn it!
A howl split the air and the little man could clearly hear the rushing of wind with each beat of a pair of giant wings.
He leapt to his feet and made for the sound of the shout at a dead run, throwing stealth to the wind. He heard more than saw the dragon swoop overhead, trying to spot it's soon-to-be meal through the thick canopy of trees.
He saw someone running through the trees in his direction and skidded to a stop, barely preventing a painful collision. The other man stopped as well, though more out of shock than anything else at meeting a complete stranger while lost in the woods.
"Curly of Misha?" He asked, but the other man could only nod, dumbfounded that this stranger actually knew him.
The little man took him by the arm and pointed in the direction he'd just come.
"Go that way. Keep running as fast as you can until you come to a hill. Follow that and you'll find your friends, alright?"
"Who are you?"
"Aaron, your friends know me, now go!" He said, shoving him foreword, and the taller man took off without another word.
Mere seconds later, Arnold and James appeared, breathless.
"We heard a shout-"
"Yeah, you're not the only ones-"
The dragon flew out overhead; it wouldn't be long now before it found them.
"It was one of your friends. I sent him that way. Did you find the other one?"
"Not yet."
"We can't stay out here like this…" James said, watching the sky. There was a brief pause as each man considered what could be done.
"Which one did you find?" Arnold asked.
"He didn't say, really. Tall, curly-brown hair…"
"Misha." James said, looking at Arnold. That meant that Curly was still out there somewhere. James didn't know Curly very well, but he knew Arnold did. None of that mattered, though. They had to find him.
Suddenly the dragon swooped down, unleashing a wave of flame into the trees almost directly on top of them. Barely managing to escape the path of fire, the three men recovered and Aaron made to start running.
"Wait-" Arnold started to say, only to be interrupted by James.
"We can't find him now, Arnold. If we stay out here we'll die!"
"What about Curly?" With a sense of overwhelming defeat, he knew that James was right. His nerves vibrated with indecision until James tugged on his arm.
"We'll come back for him. He's out here somewhere. He's smart, right? Out here by himself, the dragon won't find him…we will come back for him."
Arnold was hardly aware of himself as they fled through the forest, and he knew he'd probably never forgive himself for leaving Curly out here if they never found him.
A/N: Sorry this took so long. College can be a real time-consumer, ya know?