Chapter 14
As soon as Bobby stepped foot inside the elevator, he knew he was in trouble. After all, elevator floors are generally supposed to stay put.
Immediately after placing both feet on the floor of the elevator, it had literally dropped away…or that's what it had seemed like. Bobby dropped to his knees out of terror at seeing the floor panel hurtling end over end into black nothingness.
Peculiar thing was…Bobby hadn't moved. The floor was no longer there, he could see the shear drop right in front of him! Yet, there he was, on his knees, on a floor that wasn't there any more. It took him a moment to be able to breathe again.
"What…the hell?" He whispered. He tried to get up...but found that he was glued to the spot, paralyzed with a sudden fear that whatever invisible force was holding him in place would disappear as soon as he moved. He closed his eyes, hoping that maybe this was just a dream, or a nightmare, or something other than reality. Bobby peeked out from under hooded eyelids.
Nothing doing, there was still no floor. "Crap."
Bobby craned his head over his shoulder, looking to see if he could touch the 'open doors' button. It looked like it might be possible, so he reached slowly towards the panel. He noticed something strange about the numbers on the panel, but was too occupied with panicking to pay it any attention.
As soon as his finger brushed the button, the front wall of the elevator began to tip backwards. Bobby breathed in sharply as the entire front wall fell away, tumbling into the black void where the floor had gone. All that was left was Bobby, and the three remaining walls.
The thing is, Bobby was never one to just take everything at face value…actually, he rarely took anything at face value. There was always a catch, and that mentality had saved his hide on more than one occasion. Bobby's eyes narrowed…this had to be some kind of trick…some kind of illusion.
He reached out and pushed on the left wall. It tipped and fell away as the other two had, until it too disappeared. "Uh, huh…figured that might happen."
Still shaky from the adrenaline that fear had left in its wake, Bobby decided to chance it and get up. He forced himself to stand, careful not to touch the rest of the walls. After all, you never know…if the other two walls were pushed over, maybe the trap would be complete, and Bobby would be the last to go.
Questions began to flood in…
'How am I going to get out, if there's no door?'
'If the elevator's fake, is the whole building here?'
'What about the town, is that fake too?'
But the one that struck the hardest was the question of where Sam and Dean had ended up. If the whole place was booby-trapped with things like this, what had happened to them? The lobby, stairwell, and hallway had seemed real enough. The cut ropes and scuff marks had been real…at least, he thought they had been real. But…what if they weren't? Was this whole thing a giant trap for Bobby?
He didn't know, but the one thing he had learned in his years as a hunter was this: if you don't know, you follow your gut. And his gut was telling him that Sam and Dean were here…somewhere.
"Okay Singer, time to get outta here." He muttered to himself, "Right, so if this is an illusion, there's usually a key to breakin' it…" He took a deep breath, and then jumped. He went up…he came down.
*THUD*
"Okay…so that ain't workin'." He said, noting that there was no shimmer around his feet when he had impacted the floor, meaning there wasn't necessarily a force field of some kind. Meaning the floor itself was probably still there.
The next action presented itself fairly quickly. If the floor was still there, it wouldn't be such a stretch to say that the doors were still there…and thus also the buttons.
Bobby mentally pictured the doors as they had been, he extended his index finger, and stabbed at the empty space where the 'open door' button should have been.
*ding*
Bobby heard the familiar chime, and the elevator faded back into view…floor and all. The door creaked open once more, and Bobby threw himself out onto the carpeted hallway. He wanted to kiss the ground, but settled for getting up and dusting himself off instead.
"Whew! Well, that's one for the record books." He stated. He looked around…and discovered, to his dismay, that there was not a number 6 painted on the wall, but a number 8.
"Eight? This building doesn't even have eight floors." He said, concern etching his features. He'd noticed when examining the mailboxes that the highest floor number was six.
"Great…another trick, I'll bet." He grumbled. However, Bobby knew that little things in illusions could often give something away. Like, for instance, numbers on the wall.
"Hang on just a second…" He mused, staring at the figure of the eight on the wall in front of him. So far, the only numbers he'd actually seen in the building where the numbers six, and eight. That was what was so strange about the elevator panel! Bobby recalled what it was that had caught his attention…all the numbers had been rubbed off of the buttons, except for the number six. Now that he really thought about it…even Andrea's apartment number, 23, had been spelled out on the box, rather than printed in numbers…which was unusual.
"Six and eight, six and eight…" Suddenly it came to him. He snapped his fingers as his brain put the pieces together. "Fourteen!"
And just like that, he knew what it was that was behind the elaborate trickery, or rather who it was…
"What kind of apartment complex is this?" Dean exclaimed for the fourth time, as he dashed through the thick underbrush on the Sam's heels. When it came to running, even Dean couldn't keep up with Sam, with his freakishly long legs.
The three companions had quickly decided to analyze their sudden appearance at the foot of a volcano later…after they ran for their lives. Shortly after their arrival, a dark rumble had sounded from all around them, the source deep underground. Sam had deduced that since there was so much ash on the ground, it was highly likely that the volcano was not only active, but in the process of erupting. Hence the running.
A quick glance around had shown them that the entire area was surrounded by thick vegetation…giant elephant ear plants, palm trees, and some strange looking flowers that were taller than Sam grew in large numbers in every direction.
They had been running for nearly ten minutes, when Sam suddenly skidded to a halt without warning, causing Dean to collide with his brother, and Andrea to collide with Dean. If things hadn't been so suspenseful, it would have been awfully funny to watch.
"Sam?" Dean asked, peeking around his brother to see what had stopped their progress. Sam's eyes were as wide as saucers, and his mouth hung open in total surprise. "Sam?" Dean asked again. He followed the younger hunter's line of vision, and promptly followed suit, mirroring his brother's expression.
"Guys, what is going on? Hello, erupting volcano, can we please keep mov-" Andrea's suggestion died on her lips, as the sight greeted her as well. She was the first to find her voice again. "No freaking way."
The three had come to the edge of the forest, literally. The ground in front of Sam dropped away, ending in a vast area about 50 feet below them. The area extended for miles, and consisted of a few shrubs here and there, dry and cracked earth…and hundreds upon hundreds of skeletons.
Bones could be seen scattered everywhere, but it was no mistaking what they belonged to. They were the skeletons…of dinosaurs.
"It's a safe bet that we're not in Ohio anymore." Sam whispered. Dean, still shell shocked, didn't reply. Moments later another rumble occurred, but this time, it was followed by a boom. The trio turned around. "Oh, no" Dean managed to say, horrified to see the top of the volcano over the trees…now spewing tons of molten lava in a spectacular spray, which in turn landed on the sides of the giant mountain and began to flow down the sides at an alarming rate.
"Guys we gotta move!" Andrea urged. The three turned back towards the massive dinosaur grave yard. It was a straight drop of rock and mud, no vines, no roots, no boulders. "Well, how do you suggest we do that, princess?" Dean growled. This day had to be the worst day in history…so far. "I don't know, I'm just saying, if we don't get out of here fast, we'll be joining our lizard friends down there!" She shouted back, her voice rising to an annoying squeal.
"Guys, this isn't helping us to get out of here," Sam interjected, "and besides, we need to get to higher ground, not into a valley." He surveyed the area, thinking as fast as he could. The trees would burn, so they wouldn't be safe climbing them. The valley was going to fill up like a bowl, so that was no good. Wait…a bowl? Bowls had sides all around, right?
Sam peered to the other side of the valley…sure enough, there was another cliff on the other side, and it appeared to be higher than this one. "Okay, I've got an idea. We need to get to the other side of the valley, and then scale that other cliff." Sam stated.
Dean looked at his brother as though he had grown a second head, "Are…you serious? Sam, there's no way we'll make it in time! We don't even know how to get down!" He could already feel the heat from the lava that was making a steady path straight for them.
"Well, it's that or burn to a crisp in the lava, Dean, your choice!" Sam countered.
"Alright, so how do we get down?" Dean pointed towards the bottom of the cliff.
"Oh, that's easy," Andrea stated. They turned to look at her, just in time to feel her crash into them as hard as she could. Now, normally, simple bodily force could not have toppled the two hunters. But it just so happened that they were standing one behind the other, and too close to the edge of the cliff, creating the perfect opportunity for a domino effect. So Andrea slammed into Dean, who in turn slammed into Sam, who lost his balance and all three went tumbling over the edge of the cliff.
Rolling, bouncing, sliding, and yelling all the way down, the two hunters and one mystery woman found themselves coming to an abrupt halt at the bottom of a 50 foot drop. Small rocks and shale tumbled down after them, littering their forms with bits and pieces of earth. The dust settled. Dean was the first to start moving again. He mentally checked himself for serious injury. No broken bones or concussion, as far as he could tell. Next he slowly sat up. A few bruises, but nothing too terrible. 'What about Sam?'
The automated response had him searching for his brother almost immediately.
Sam lay a few feet away on his stomach, eyes closed. "Sam?" Dean crawled to where Sam was, and checked his pulse. Sam responded to the touch with a groan. Dean let out a sigh of relief. "Anyone get the license plate of that truck that just hit me?" He moaned. Dean snorted, "You okay?"
"Yeah, and my ribs were just getting to feel better too." Sam coughed and sat up with Dean's help. "Where is that little-"
"I'm right here, and you can thank me later, cuz we have company." Andrea walked towards them, brushing mud and pebbles off of her jeans. She pointed upwards.
Sam and Dean looked towards the edge of the cliff they had just fell over. Red and yellow goo could be seen seeping over the edge. A few globs dropped a few feet from where they were, sizzling into the ground on impact. "I suggest we leave. Now!" She said.
Dean stood. He'd have to kill her later. He hauled Sam to his feet and they began to hobble off towards the other cliff as fast as possible, steadily getting faster as they went. They dodged the giant bones that lay scattered across the valley floor. "These looked smaller from up there." Dean panted as he ran. The rib cage of what appeared to be a Diplodocus or Brontosaurus was directly ahead, and the huge bones towered over the three, at least twelve feet high, if not more.
Skulls and spines of various shapes and sizes lay strewn about, out of order, as if the animals had been eaten, their bodies torn to pieces, and the bones coming to rest in haphazard patterns. However, whatever had been the cause of such a disaster was unclear, since all of the bones were bleached white, no flesh to be seen on any of them, and thus no teeth marks. Of course, it was possible they had missed some evidence, running for their lives and all.
Andrea glanced over her shoulder as she ran, suddenly wishing she hadn't. "Go faster!" She screamed. The lava had made its way down the cliff, and was now slithering towards them like a giant snake made of fire. Everything it touched burst into flame, and was consumed. Even objects ten feet away from the river of molten rock were being charred black. And it was gaining on them.
Sam and Dean both knew better than to look back, so they ploughed ahead as fast as possible. Sam's side was on fire, every breath a gasp at this point. It was only a matter of time before the pain would win out, and he would have to stop. He only hoped that that point would come after they reached the top of the other cliff.
Dean noticed the look of agony that had come to rest on his brother's face. "Come on Sammy, just a little further." He was sucking air at this point, jumping over femurs and tibias, and various other bones that managed to get in his way. At one point, they came to a series of Tyrannosaurus Rex skulls, mouths agape. They were too big to go around without wasting precious time…so they'd had to go through them. "Oh God, this feels familiar for some reason." Andrea gasped as she raced through the open jaws of the long-dead beast, remembering the feeling she always had when entering the elder's chamber. Sam and Dean just shot her a look that said her statement would need to be explained later. Finally they came to the foot of the second cliff. They came to a halt, winded and sweating buckets. The air here was unusually hot and dry, and the lava wasn't helping any. "So, how do we get up?" Dean asked between gulps of air.
"Hopefully not anything like the way we got down." Sam muttered, doubled over with his hands on his knees.
"Umm…look! Vines!" Andrea shouted, pointing to a spot on the cliff face about five feet from where they stood where a single vine had grown down to the ground.
Dean walked over and examined it for a second, "Looks sturdy enough for one at a time." He said.
"It's our only option, and we're running out of time." Sam said, staring behind them at the advancing flow of molten rock. It had reached the dinosaur rib cage, and it didn't show signs of stopping.
"Okay Sammy, you first." Dean said firmly.
"Why him?" Andrea asked, desperate to get away from the menacing lava.
"Because he's wounded, and he'll be the slowest." Dean said, motioning for Sam to climb up. Sam reluctantly grabbed the vine with both hands…this was going to be a challenge. He scooted up the vine, hand over hand, as fast as he could. When he was halfway to the top, he heard it.
A screeching noise like nothing he'd ever heard before echoed across the valley. His head snapped up, looking for the source of the sound.
"Sam! Keep moving dude, we can't come up till you're at the top!" Dean yelled. He'd heard the noise too, but frankly, he was more concerned about their impending doom as future barbeque. Sam continued upward, finally reaching the top. He hauled himself over the brink, and lay there catching his breath. He felt the vine tug as Andrea began her ascent next. Sam stood slowly, cradling his injured side, just in time to notice a humongous shadow pass over him. He looked up, as the fifty foot wingspan of a Pterodactyl filled his vision. The giant creature swooped down from one of the giant trees…
…it was headed straight for him.
