DISCLAIMER: I love Journey to the Center of the Earth, but I do not own it. Or do I own anything associated with it. Kay? Let's get on with it then.

Chapter Two

"Mom, how much longer?"

Hannah glowered ahead at the rocks.

"My feet hurt."

She glanced to her right to see her daughter a few steps behind her, "About a half hour. I thought you wanted to come?"

"I didn't think we were climbing up the entire mountain!" Emmie exclaimed unhappily. The girl turned to see that the American duo were far behind her mother and her. "Mom, they are so slow. We would make it there faster if they hurried up."

They both paused to see both men stumbling to stay on their feet. Putting a hand to her mouth Hannah shouted, "Hurry up! I want to make it home before sundown."

The mother and daughter turned back around and returned to their hiking. Hannah was actually quite proud of her daughter. The young woman did not even seem out of breath as she paced beside her. Other than her nagging, which she figured she did just because she wanted to be annoying, Emmie was being surprisingly graceful compared to her usually clumsy self.

"Ahh!"

Emmie tripped over a rock and landed on her knees. She got back up and dusted herself off muttering curses under her breath. Hannah sighed, well at least she isn't tripping as much as she normally does.

Lower down the mountain, Trevor and Sean eyed the two females as they gave them their backs and started climbing higher up the mountain. They both saw the way Hannah's butt stuck out of her tight spandex pants as she reached up to climb over a larger boulder that clogged their path.

Sean smirked, "Dibs."

"Dibs? You want dibs at a time like this?" Trevor questioned.

"Not the candy," Sean rolled his caramel eyes. "I mean I call dibs on the mountain guide."

"You are fifteen. You don't get dibs."

He shrugged his shoulders, "Get over it. I'm cougar meat."

"I wonder if she's married," Trevor stared at the woman way ahead of him curiously. "It didn't look like anyone lived in there other than her. I didn't even realize there was someone else in the house."

"I heard music coming from upstairs," Sean pursed his lips as they finally reached the large boulder. Gripping the top he pulled himself up and kicked off the rock to get over it.

"I wonder how much longer until we get there," muttered Trevor after he lifted himself over the rock. He looked back down and shivered at the path down. It looked more dangerous than going up the mountain.

When they made it over the boulder they found Hannah and Emmie waiting for them. The older of the two pointed towards a group of rocks, "Be careful there. Mount Sneffels is deceptively treacherous. And very slippery at times."

"Mount Sneffels?" Sean questioned.

"Why don't you explain that to him, Professor?"

"Mount Sneffels is the mountain that the fictional character in the book found a portal to the center of the earth," Trevor answered shrugging his shoulders.

"Finally!"

Emmie placed her hands on her knees and panted as she let herself rest for a moment. The shinny metal object was planted a distance away from her and she never thought she would be happy to see such an insignificant object. Well, insignificant to her.

Her mother looked back to see Trevor and Sean only a few minutes down. She shook her head. From how they had been so eager to come up the mountain she was surprised by how little energy they had. She would have thought with the adventurous spirit they had shown to come all the way out to see her father would have meant their physical actives would allow them much more movement.

Trevor bonded over to the metal object poking out from the ground without stopping to take a breath. He got on his knees before it and attempted to yank it from the ground.

"This is what we climbed all the way up here for?" Emmie pointed at the object with a scowl.

"It has recorded all the seismic activity from the past years," explained Trevor as he was able to yank it a little more. "It is worth much more than it looks."

She sighed, "I guess you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover."

"Trevor..."

Emmie glanced towards her mom to see her staring intently upward. A gust of wind swept her hair burgundy waves around her face making her realize how the atmosphere had changed. Dark clouds surrounded above their heads making her eyes to widen at the once baby blue sky.

"Trevor, you need to hurry," urged Hannah as she started to casually move away from the metal object. Her mother had been mountain climbing enough times to know when it was time to get going. Storms were worse higher up than down below.

Hannah grabbed her daughters shoulder and started pushing her in the direction of a cave, "I am sorry! But there is no time to-" a bolt of lightening struck close by causing a streak of purple to encased them. "- we need to go. Sean, come on!"

Hesitantly, Emmie started walking away from the older man who was still on the floor tugging on that stupid metal object. Lightening had started to pick up even more around them. Hannah tugged on her arm trying to pull her to go faster. But when a strike hit close by Trevor something inside the younger female snapped. She couldn't let him die.

Wrenching her arm out of her mother's grasp she sprinted back to Trevor. They both tugged the metal piece up due to her adrenaline rush and his combined. When a lightening struck right beside them the duo started running with all their might towards the cave where Hannah and Sean stood.

"Come on! Faster!" Hannah screamed ready to sprint back out herself and slap her daughter for doing something so terribly brave.

Sean's heart raced as one lightening hit right between Trevor and Emmie's feet, "Drop the stupid thing!"

"It's attracting the lightening!" screamed Hannah when she noticed this.

"Let it go," Emmie let out an ear piercing scream as a flash struck even closer to her body. "Now! Or I swear if this lightening doesn't kill us I'll kill you with my bare hands!"

Trevor reluctantly let the metal piece soar behind him and lightening instantly hit it causing it to shatter into bits and pieces. They made it to the cave just as lightening hit the entrance erupting them in an earth shattering collapse. Screams followed as rubble fell upon the four burying them in dust and rock.

A deafening silence followed.

"Mom..." Emmie coughed when she inhaled layers of dust. She pushed rock and dirt off the bottom half of her legs. Shuffling started beside her, which she figured was Trevor considering he had been blasted alongside her when they entered the cave.

"I'm right here. Are you okay?" answered Hannah from across the room. Taking out a flashlight she clicked it on and scanned the area until she found Emmie kneeling on the ground breathing heavily.

Emmie was gently pulled to her feet and she discovered Sean was the one who helped her up. He looked her over quickly then moved onto helping Trevor up. Then it seemed as if a panic settled over him as he stared at the barricaded cave entrance. Or, what used to be the entrance.

Taking handfuls of rocks and shoving heavy boulders out of the way he started to breathe heavily, "Help me dig! Come on. What are you all standing around waiting for?"

Trevor joined his nephew, but after moving a couple rocks let his arms drop to his sides defeated. There were too many...

"Forget it," Hannah muttered.

Sean whirled around glaring at the golden haired woman "Forget it? What do you mean forget it?"

"We are buried too deep in. It would be best to find another way out," she examined the blockade with a sigh.

"She is right, it would take us about a month to dig our way out," Trevor agreed as he moved away from the rocks.

Sean started breathing heavily as Hannah began to dig through her bag to hand out flashlights and brown miner hats. With shaky hands Sean put the hat on is head and turned on the light. The action caused his heavy breathing to become short and raspy as his caramel eyes finally were able to see the mess that the lightening created.

His uncle placed a hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry Sean. I will get you out of here, promise."

The younger male nodded his head trying to assure himself that his uncle would indeed be able to get him home safe... to Canada. Maybe dying didn't sound too bad compared to the thought of moving to a different country.

As Emmie secured the miner hat atop her dirty hair she caught sight of her mothers once bright orange jacket. She was covered in so much dust that the jacket almost appeared gray. With a frown she wiped sweat from her brow and when she looked down at her hand she saw all the dust that covered her entire body. With a disgusted grunt she started to attempt and dust herself off.

"What else do you have in there?" Trevor gestured to Hannah's bag as he grabbed a flashlight.

"Rope, blanket, signal flares, first aide, and some protein bars," the woman shook her head disappointed that she had not been thoughtful enough to bring any more supplies. "We will have to ration the food. It's not enough to last more than a week."

"I brought some purifying tablets for water," inputted Emmie is she took her pack of her back. Her father told her that she should always carry some with her whether she was going for a walk in the forest or going camping for the weekend. "Not that there appears to be water down here... at least not much of it."

Hannah smiled gratefully, "Good. We don't know how long we will be trapped down here for?"

This caused Sean's panic to resurface, "Trapped? Trapped?"

"Don't worry," Emmie stuck her chin up. "With me here there is no way we can't escape! I'm a good luck charm."

Taking out his cell phone he held it up and started waving it around wildly, "I am not getting any service! Oh God, check your phones guys!"

Emmie rolled her eyes, "We aren't going to get any service in the mountains. Trust me, I've been trying to all the way up here."

"Sean, we will make it out of here," Trevor reassured him once more. "I promise, remember?"

"Yeah..." he swallowed loudly.

"Then let's get going!" the young girl held her flashlight high in the air. "I don't want to be stuck down here any longer than I need to be. Besides, look at me? I'm covered in dirt. I call shower first when we get back."

They all started walking down the path quietly. Trevor lead, Sean followed after him, Emmie next, and Hannah brought up the rear. There was so much tension in the air someone could probably cut through it with a knife.

Growing bored Emmie quizzed, "So... where are you guys from?"

"New York," Trevor answered breathlessly.

"Oh? That's interesting," she mused.

"What about you?" Sean added glancing back at her briefly. "You don't sound Icelandic."

"My dad's an explorer," her mother snorted, but she ignored her. "My grandparents lived in the states so a majority of my time was spent there when my dad would go off on his adventures."

"Why didn't you live here?"

"In this cave?" Emmie joked. "Because mom was young. She didn't really have the means to take care of me on her own."

Hannah bit her lip, "Not that I didn't want her."

"I know you did mom," Emmie smiled back at her mom.

The conversation ended when they found a fork in the rode. Hannah pointed a light at each doorway and thought long and hard on which one might be the best choice.

"How do we know which one to take?" asked Sean, the panic lacing his voice once more.

"My gut says we go right," Trevor responded and started in that direction.

Following behind him, Trevor started talking about how direction was his six sense. Also, how he enjoyed field work. Emmie was half-tempted to snort. The guy was the biggest nerd on the planet. She figured field work to him was something like digging rocks from his fenced in backyard with the dog running around behind him.

Hannah pushed Emmie aside as she saw the gaping hole before them. Screaming "watch out" she gripped onto the back of Trevor's grimy jacket and tugged him back. All you could hear was Sean's breathing and Hannah shoving Trevor into the wall.

"This isn't your lab Professor!" she mocked gazing up into his light blue eyes. "This is real. You have to be on your guard because you can die."

Moving away from him she stared down. She shined her light into the blackened pit, but could not see the bottom by doing so.

Picking up a rusted sign of the ground, Trevor handed it to Hannah, "What does this say?"

"Halda út," she read as she took it from his hands. "It means keep out. This is good."

"Good?" Sean asked surprised. "How is that good? It's saying keep out. Maybe we should take it's advice."

"Or you could always ignore it," Emmie pointed downward. "It probably isn't even that deep."

Sean looked back at her, "If I can't see the bottom then that means it's deep."

"Give me one of those flares," Trevor requested with a hand motion towards Hannah. She opened her bag and pulled out one handing it to him. Then she began to slide off her jacket and stuff it into her pack. "Sean, hold out your hand."

He did as told and Trevor pointed at his watch, "I am going to drop the flare. I want you to count how many seconds pass until it reaches the ground."

Emmie copied her mother and started tugging off the black jacket she wore as Trevor lit the flare. He started pointing it upwards and counting, but as he straightened his arm out the flame touched the wall and sent off sparks and explosions through the cave.

She felt something ram into her and knock her into the ground, which she found difficulty maneuvering around considering she had her arm behind her back from attempting to take off the jacket. When the bursts of explosions ceased she found Sean on top of her looking around the cave wide eyed. He seemed to be too engrossed into what happened to realize the compromising position he had insinuated.

"What was that?" Hannah was leaning on her elbows eyeing Trevor warily.

The man stood from where he had fallen to the floor and touched the ceiling. He sniffed his fingers and frowned, "Magnesium. It must run through the walls."

"Magnesium is kind of... flammable.. Professor, isn't it?" Hannah chuckled as she started to lift herself up.

Trevor nodded with a smile and motioned around them, "Yeah. It's used in gun powder, matchsticks..."

Emmie pushed Sean's chest roughly and he rolled over beside her. A blush tinted his cheeks, but was hardly visible underneath all the grime that covered his face. He hadn't realized that he had been pressed on top of her body, breathing heavily, and with her legs spread out so he was nestled snug between her. She finished pulling off her jacket and Sean stood moving beside his uncle embarrassedly.

"Maybe flares aren't the best idea then," Hannah started going through her pack and pulled out an orange glow stick.

Trevor held it towards Sean, "It's the same principal, got it?"

He rolled his eyes. It wasn't like he was five.

"Three, two, one-" Trevor released the glow stick into the hole.

Sean began counting instantly, "One... two... thr-"

Thud.

"Almost three."

"Two thousand feet," Trevor calculated looking back at Hannah. "Approximately."

Sean raised his eyebrows, "That's like... a huge building."

"Twenty story high rise," he laughed.

"I have rope," Hannah started taking the thick string from her bag.

"Enough of it?" Trevor asked as he saw her pulling even more out. He wondered how she fit it all in there.

"I always have enough rope," Hannah informed giving him a pointed stare.

"You aren't suggesting we go down there," Sean walked closer to the edge and motioned towards it.

"We are going to rappel down," his uncle answered.

"Down into that deep dark hole?" Sean scoffed.

Trevor smirked, "Is that a problem?"

"Pft," he waved his hand pretending he wasn't afraid when he saw Emmie giving him an amused grin. Hannah started situating the rope and Sean let his facade slide off. "There is no way I am rappelling down there."

"Your man enough to call dibs on the mountain guide," Trevor smugly said with raised eyebrows. "But not man enough to climb down a dark hole?"

Emmie snorted.

"Guys!" Hannah interrupted with a frown. "No one calls dibs on the mountain guide."

Trevor and Sean both turned crimson, however, it was a bit more visible this time from how dark their cheeks became.

"Okay..." said mountain guide stood with the rope in her hand. "Are we ready?"

So, the story is sticking to some more of the actual script from the movie than I intended. But once I get more into the actual "center of the earth" part it will be more original. BECAUSE they happened to be there for quite a bit of time, but it was shown in some flashes so you don't see anything else that happened down there. I got a reviewer! Thank you so much! I honestly wasn't sure how many reviews, if I'd get any at all, on this story because Journey to the Center of the Earth isn't that popular YET. Just wait, as soon as it comes out in theaters there are going to be TONS of stories on here popping up.