Hey readers! Yay! I got two reveiws last chapter, so I hope this chapter will be even better.
March 3rd, 2004
Himalayas, Nepal-Tibet border
"WOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOO!"
Eight-year old Zana Kabalui was having the time of her life. She was skiing in the Himalayas with her twin brother, Zai. Actually, he was snowboarding. She had told him that skiing was much easier to learn than snowboarding, so now he was set out to prove her wrong. Her big brother, Zade, was at the top of the slope near their hotel. He was fifteen.
Zana streaked down the mountainside, her long black hair flowing in the wind. She hadn't cut it in years, so now it had reached impressive length. Just then, her brother sped up next to her on his snowboard. He was on her right side, because he was goofy-footed. That meant he had to put his right in front to gain better control. He grinned at her through his goggles. She grinned back and gave him the thumbs-up signal. She leaned forward and sped up. He did the same.
They were nearing the end of the slope. At the bottom, there was a large mound that they'd made the day before for practicing jumps. Whoever made the better landing would be the winner. Zana prepared herself for the jump. She was 30 feet away...20 feet...10 feet...5 feet...
"YAAAAAAAAA-HAAAA! Zana went sailing into the air. Her brother was right next to her. Then, the ground came rushing up. Zana tensed, then hit the ground. She wobbled slightly, but managed to keep her balance, then skidded to a stop. Zai landed a second later, windmilling his arms to keep his balance. Zana reached out and tapped him on the chest, and he went toppling onto the ground face-first.
"Ugfff!" he screamed, his voice muffled because he had just swallowed a mouthful of snow. Zana reached down and brother her brother to his feet. He stood up, spitting out snow.
"I won!" she taunted.
"No fair, you pushed me!" he complained, spitting out another mouthful of snow.
"Yeah, but you would've fallen anyway." she said.
"Would not!" he retorted
"Would too!" she replied.
Before they could get into a back-and-forth, they heard a faint rumbling in the distance. They also heard their big brother, Zade, calling to them from above. He was shouting and running toward them, waving his arms frantically. They couldn't quite get what he was saying.
"AVALANCHE!" He called.
"Did he say, 'Calabash'? asked Zana.
"No." said Zai, "AVALANCHE!"
Zana looked off to the right a little, where a small avalanche was building up. It was pretty small, only about 10 feet wide, but it still big enough to bury two eight-year olds.
Zana stood frozen in fear. The avalanche was picking up speed.
"RUN!" Zai shouted in her ear. Zana snapped out of her trance and ran, right behind Zai. But it was hard to move quickly through the waist-deep snow. The avalanche was getting closer. Suddenly, it crashed into a tall tree. The tree was pushed out of the ground and rolling toward them. The avalanche was only about 50 away now. They weren't going to make it. The fallen tree was going to kill them even faster than the avalanche would.
"Hang on!" yelled Zai. The avalanche was almost on top of them. Zai lunged toward his sister and tackled her to the ground. The wave of snow crashed over them.
"Zai!" called out as her brother was swept away from her.
Then everything went black.
A few hours later, Zana opened her eyes. Everything was still black. Am I...dead? She wondered. Then, as her eyes adjusted to the dark, she realized that she was buried in the snow, but there was a small area around her so she could breath. She noticed there was a faint glow of moonlight above her. She stood up, pushing through about two feet of snow that was covering her. She looked around. Then, she realized...
"Zai?" she looked around. Nothing.
"ZAAIII! WHERE ARE YOU!" She screamed in dispair. Nothing.
About thirty feet away, Zai slowly opened his eyes. He was buried up to his neck in snow. He slowly pushed his way out, then collapsed onto the ground, panting. Then, he heard something.
"Zai? ZAAAAAIIII!" A voice screamed.
"Zana," he muttered, getting up, his head clearing a little.
"ZANA!" He called.
"ZAI!" he heard his name again. He rushed toward where his sister's voice seemed to be coming from.
Suddenly, he bumped into someone, knocking them down. He looked down.
"Zana!" he exhaled in relief. His sister jumped up and threw her arms around his neck.
"Zai, I was so worried about you." Zana panted.
"Where are we?" asked Zai, taking stock of their surroundings. They were in the middle of a forest, with tall conifers all around them.
"I don't know!' said Zana, "All I remember is there was an avalanche, then you pushed me out of the way, then I woke up, and-"
"We've got to get out of here." said Zai, nervousness rising in his voice. Eight-year olds weren't meant to be lost in the middle of nowhere like this!
"Let's just try and get out of this forest." Zana said. They trudged forward through the thick snow toward the place that they hoped they might be the edge of the forest.
They were just getting worried that they might be trapped here for all eternity when they saw a break in the trees.
"Maybe that's the way to get out of here!" exclaimed Zai. They raced toward the edge of the forest. They were just about to step out when Zada spotted something on the ground.
"Whoa, Zai! Check it out!" he whispered. Zai looked at the ground. There, right in front of them, was a huge footprint. Huge. About a foot wide and about two-and-a-half feet long. It had five enormous toes, with blunt claws.
"Yeti" they both whispered in awe. Zai looked from the footprint, to the edge of the forest, to his sister. They had to get out of here, but could they pass up a chance like this? To look for a yeti?
"Well, he have to get back..." said Zana undecided.
"But this is a Yeti..." Zai said.
"Mom and Zade are probably worried sick about us..."
Zada looked Zai.
Zai looked at Zana.
"Yeti." said Zana
"Yeti." said Zai.
"Obviously." muttered Zana.
"Going back, tch. What were we thinking. " said Zai.
Their decision being unanimous, they looked around for more tracks. Zai spotted another one about five feet away.
"Based on the distance between the two prints, I'd say that the yeti was running." speculated Zai.
"Probably trying to get away from the avalanche." muttered Zana, reaching into her pocket. She pulled out her camera.
Zai stared.
"You managed to save your camera?" he asked incredulously.
"Well, yeah!" answered Zana. "I always travel with my camera. Don't you?"
"Yeah, but I lost mine during the avalanche." said Zai.
Zana shrugged. "I'll take pictures of the prints for evidence in case we get lucky."
They followed the tracks in silence for a few minutes. The prints were starting to get closer together.
"The yeti must've stopped running." said Zai. "Maybe we're getting close to it's home. Maybe we should-"
"AAAAAAAAUUEEEAHAHAH!" an ear-splitting roar split the air. The twins grabbed on to each other.
"What was that?" asked Zai, trambling.
"Maybe it was the yeti." answered Zana, also trembling. The twins slowly let go of each other.
"Do you think maybe we should head back?" Zai asked.
"Well..." Zana sounded undecided.
"Of course not." said Zai.
"Yeah. We could be onto something big!" agreed Zana.
"Only a total wimp would give up after they've come this far." Zai decided.
Zana felt much better. Zai always helped her make up her mind. They trekked on, Zana taking videos of the tracks, their ears were peeled for any more roars. After about fifteen minutes, the tracks disappeared into a cave.
"Should we?" asked Zai. Zana nodded. If they were going to take a picture of a yeti, they were going to have to enter it's lair.
Zai reached into his pocket and pulled out a matchbox. Zana knew that Zai always carried either that or a lighter with him, 'in case I have to set something on fire.' as he put it. He struck a match, lighting up a small area around them. They walked through the threshold into the cave.
"Look!" Zana pointed to the cave wall. Against the wall was a tall pile of bones. Zai shivered and kept going. The darkness was engulfing them. Suddenly, a breeze blew through the cave, blowing out the small flame of Zai's match. Zai inhaled nervously and lit another couple matches.
"Zana, look!" Zai held the matches out in front of him. There, half buried in the snow, was a small, blue box. Zai and Zana inched closer.
"Oh my god!" whispered Zana. On the side of the blue box was a large 'T' with a white Bear next to it.
"Tomas." whispered Zai in awe. Zana reached out to touch it when suddenly, they heard the roar again.
"AAAAAAAAUUEEEAHAHAH !" This time it was much closer, maybe 20 feet deeper into the cave. Zai dropped the last of his matches.
Zai and stood frozen in the pitch darkness for a second. Then, they heard heavy footsteps crunching through the snow.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!" at this point the twins turned and fled, Zana twisting around and snapping a few rapid pictures. She hoped they would look okay, but right now that was the least of the problems. They burst out of the cave and crashed through the forest, twigs and small branches snagging on their clothes. They didn't stop until they reached the edge of the forest, where they both collapsed from exhaustion. They yeti wasn't chasing them anymore.
"That, pant, pant, was...pant, AWESOME! pant...pant." Zai panted.
Zana nodded, also panting.
"I just hope Mom won't kill us when we get back." she said worriedly.
Zai shrugged. "Dying will be worth it. We saw a yeti!" he thought for a minute. "Besides, Mom probably won't kill us. She not like-"
Zai was cut off by a sound of a engine approaching. Suddenly, the bright lights of a snowmobile blinded them momentarily. Zai and Zana shielded their eyes. The snowmobile came to a stop in front of them.
"Zade!" Zana exlaimed. He was on the snowmobile, a mix of worry, relief, and surprise etched onto his face.
"Zai! Zana! Is that really you!" Zade jumped off the snowmobile and threw his arms around them. "We thought you were gone forever!" he exclaimed.
"Mmfff, your crushing me!" Zana complained. Zade let go of them.
"What happened to you guys?." he asked. "Did either of you get hurt during the avalanche? I tried to get to you in time, but-" he trailed off, looking down at the ground. "I thought you were dead, when the snow just swallowed you up."
"We're not hurt." replied Zai.
Zade exhaled in sheer relief."Good. Hop on, I've got to get you back to the hotel." he told them, jumping on his snowmobile.
Zai looked at Zana questioningly. Should we tell him about the yeti and the Tomas Box? Just like Amy and Dan, who were thousands of miles away, they could often tell what each other was thinking.
No, she responded silently, not yet.
Zai and Zana jumped on the snowmobile, and Zade took off up the mountainside. The secrets they uncovered on the mountain would be a secret shared by just the two of them.
"Mom is worried sick about you!" Zade shouted over the wind. "She'll be so relieved to find out you're okay."
After riding for about 5 minutes, they reached their hotel. Up in their room, their mother was standing by the front door, putting on her coat. When she saw the three of them, she dropped her it.
"Zai! Zana! You're alright!" she wrapped her arms around them. "I was just about to go out to look for you again." She looked at Zade. "Where did you find them?"
"They were a little ways down the mountain, at the edge of the forest."
"The forest?" their mother asked incredulously. Zai saw something pass over her eyes. Was is nervousness, or maybe even fear?
"Well, I'm beat. I'm going to bed." said Zai casually.
"Me, too." replied Zana, yawning. She followed Zai off to their room.
Did they discover the box? The mother wondered silently. If they did, than they are doing better than I thought. But now, we are in even more danger. We must leave tomorrow morning.
Back in the forest, the trees shook with another roar.
Sorry that chapter didn't have a fight scene. I probably should've included one, but I guess It's nice to have a break. There will be three more flashback chapters before the finale.
Read, review and comment!