Tales of the Alternate Universe
Chapter Eight: Bartram
Finn, Flanna and Jake had been inside the dark tunnels for more than two hours now. On their way, they spotted several lit lanterns hanging on the wall. Fighting the temptation of grabbing one of them was surely a hard task for the red-haired girl, Finn had warned her that their light was just going to make themselves visible and easy to spot, so she kept turning away from their comforting glow despite how much she needed it.
Sometimes Flanna's grip on the boy's hand would tighten because of the faint noises that echoed in the distance. It was hard to tell if those sounds were voices and creeping guffaws awaiting for them in the depths of the dug earth, or if they were just the beats of their frightened hearts, bumping against their chests. The silence that engulfed the small group was certainly going to be intolerable if it was going to let them perceive each unnerving noise that bounced unexpectedly on the rocky walls of the mine.
How could they be certain that everything was going to be fine? They were just a pair of twelve-year-old kids and a bulldog puppy against five tough men, what told them that they had chance to succeed this time? Was it bravery or just the reckless confidence of youth what kept their feet advancing forward?
Jake made a sudden stop; something had caught his attention. His small round ears went up as they caught various squeaking noises coming out from behind him. A rat popped out of nowhere, her tiny paws carried her furry body from one side to the other swiftly until she stopped to scratch her ears and raise her head to sniff the air around her cautiously. The sight of that poor filthy creature somehow managed to alter Jake's usual behavior. He instantly adopted an offensive stance and began to snarl furiously at the rat.
"Squeak…!" the rodent leaped away by instinct as the angry dog jumped over her.
"Woof! Woof!"
Jake's enraged barks echoed throughout the tunnel, scaring the heck out of Finn and Flanna. The two kids whipped around anxiously, pessimist thoughts flashing across their minds.
"Squeak…!" the rat's squeal helped the farm boy understand what was going on.
He turned back to Flanna, not knowing if what he had discovered was good or if it would just worsen their current situation "Jake must be chasing a rat or something! C'mon, let's catch him before his barks attract the Destiny Gang!"
"Of course! You had to bring a dog to a life or death mission, didn't you?!" the red-haired girl growled angrily for the first time in a while.
"Jake it's not a dog, he's my friend!" Finn replied while he tried to catch up with the golden puppy.
"Yeah, but he's going to get us both killed…!"
The rat ran around a corner, entering a different tunnel and so did Jake, Finn, and Flanna. Her tiny glittering eyes spotted a small opening within the iron layer of a mining wagon, the rat gave one last glance behind her and when she saw the snarling dog coming towards her, she squeezed her thick butt into the hole and disappeared.
"Bark! Bark!"
Jake's yapping guided the two kids into an even narrower path, the coldness of the mine's rail-tracks were suddenly palpable beneath the boy's bare feet. He mentally warned himself to avoid tripping with them. Flanna followed him close behind and noticed the rails as well, however, she was so focused on chasing Finn down, that she wasn't able to spot a warning sign on the wall. The route they had taken was under construction.
"Grrr..! huh?" the golden puppy realized that he had lost the rat. Worse than that; he was running out of road. As Jake got closer and closer to the lonely mining wagon in front of him, he tried his best to reduce his speed, but he was too late.
Finn and Flanna went around the corner to witness in horror how Jake jostled against the wagon and pushed it down the railroad. The iron cart's wheels rolled, gaining speed with each passing second until its newly acquired momentum derailed it and caused it to crash into the girders, which were supporting the structure over them. The walls, the ceiling, and pretty much everything around them began to crumble. Fear took the best of the small team, Finn and Flanna searched desperately for a way out of the tunnel but as they approached their possible exit, rocks and iron debris collapsed on it, blocking their path.
"Bouw…" Jake shook his hurt head; his body balanced itself from side to side due to his dizziness. His senses weren't still sharpened enough for him to notice that the ceiling was about to crush him.
"Jake! Watch out!" Finn screamed, alerting Flanna as well. He ran towards his four-legged friend and covered him with his body. "I will protect you, buddy!"
"Finn get up!" the red-haired girl shrieked in fear, the tunnel was falling over him, but Finn was too confused and altered to react.
Flanna clenched her eyes in an attempt to summon all the recklessness that her father hated so much, and found the courage to plunge against Finn and roll with him away from the dusty rain of rocks and twisted steel that had threatened to bury them alive. When the girl opened her eyes, she found herself covered with coal and dirt. The world around her seemed to be spinning crazily as she tried to get back on her feet. Scrapped knees and bleeding elbows indicated with their stinging pain that she was still alive, but what about Finn?
Flanna turned her head in every possible direction until her green eyes finally spotted the cyan of the boy's shirt hidden beneath some crumbled rocks "Finn!" her concerned voice echoed in the silence as she stumbled to his side "Finn! Are you okay? C'mon, get up!"
"Ugh… Flanna…" she heard him whisper weakly while he rose slowly "I can't feel my arm Flanna… Oh dang! My arm's gone!" Finn yelled, waving the empty sleeve where his limb was supposed to be.
"WHAT?! NO, THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE! FINN-…what the?!"
The blonde boy leaned back, bursting in laughter as his missing arm popped out of his sleeve. Flanna felt her lips and her eyelids twitch nervously while she stared at him with an explosive combination of feelings such as relief, anger, confusion and frustration, that no twelve-year-old was able to control.
"You should've seen the look in your face!" Finn laughed, holding his stomach; the golden puppy wagged his tail in joy while he sat next to him.
"You IDIOT!" Flanna leaped over him like she had done just a few seconds ago, but this time instead of trying to save his life, she was determined to kill him. "Do you think that was even funny?!" The two struggled on top of each other; the girl trying to reach his neck and strangle the boy, while this one fought to keep her hands away from him "I was worried about you, jerk!"
"You were what?" Finn lowered his guard, dazed by the sincerity in her words. However, doing so cost him a hurtful blow that Flanna's fist delivered on his cheek without regret. "Auch…!"
"That's what you get for being a dork!" the Hacksworth girl replied, backing away from him. The terms and conditions of their pact were now in the garbage.
"Umm…okay! Okay! I'm sorry!" Finn admitted as he wiped away the blood on his face "I kinda messed you up a little with that joke… Now that I think about it, that prank isn't even a funny one… I-I don't know what's wrong with me, maybe that's what I do when I feel nervous…"
"Humph! You know what I do when I feel nervous?! I smash people's teeth out of their mouths!" Flanna stated, still feeling offended and most of all, scared.
The farm boy glanced at her shyly and spat a tooth out of his mouth with a goofy grin "Well look at that, you ain't lying, are you?" He rubbed his aching cheek while giving her a wide smile, which showed off some of his already missing teeth and the newest gap between them "At this rate, I'm gonna look handsomer than my dad when he was my age, don't you think?"
Flanna glanced down, chuckling faintly at his joke "Sorry, I don't really do that… but for some reason you always make me react in a fiery, volatile way…"
"No probs, you're right. I was a jerk, I should have remembered that this place frightens you…" he got back on his feet and stretched his hand towards her "I promise that it won't happen again."
The red-haired girl shook hands with him in agreement, "Okay, but don't you dare forget–…!"
"Woof!" A sudden bark from Jake cut her words off. The puppy sniffed the ground and stared at them with an intrigued expression.
"What's wrong buddy?" the farm boy inquired, "Did you smell something?"
"Woof!" the dog replied eagerly and trotted towards the only open path before them.
"Let's follow him, maybe he found an exit!" Finn exclaimed, encouraging Flanna once again.
After twenty minutes of walking, their eyes recognized the warm glow of a torch within the darkness. Finn felt Flanna's hand reaching out for his once more as they approached the light. She was right in feeling scared, for what he knew; the Destiny Gang could be waiting for them just around the corner. He chuckled quietly. How wouldn't they do it after all the noise that Jake had provoked by collapsing one of the tunnels accidentally?
"Listen…" Finn whispered as he stopped his pace "I'm gonna check out what's behind the wall, if those math-heads are there well…"
"I hope they are not in there, 'cause we can't run in any other direction that isn't the road forward…" she replied with an odd look of resignation in her eyes.
The farm boy motioned a nod and gulped in fear "Okay…here I go…"
He let go of Flanna's hand and walked away. The red-haired girl craved for his firm grip on her hand shortly after Finn left, feeling that an eternity had passed her by while she waited for any signal that could announce the boy's presence, still wandering somewhere in there.
"Finn…" Flanna murmured, "Are those freaks in there?"
The response that she was waiting for never came, instead, she felt the desired touch of a hand gripping hers softly and pulling her towards the lighted room. It was Finn, guiding her forward, a peaceful glance in his blue eyes.
"Watch your step…" the boy instructed silently "This is like some kind of stable, I found some horses here so there might be smelly surprises on the ground."
Flanna gave a better look to her surroundings, Finn was right it was a stable. In fact it was her father's Pit Pony Stable, sweet memories of her dad letting her ride on the small horses before they were taken inside the mine crossed her mind. The workers used the ponies to haul heavy wagons filled with coal through the tunnels, so it wasn't surprising for the girl to see that happening very often.
"Finn…" she said with excitement "If these are the stables, then that means…"
"Yeah…" Finn smiled gently as he pulled her along some piles of hay "Cecile is here…and also…"
They reached a small compartment where the grayish mule was lying serenely over some cozy-looking bunch of hay. Cecile turned her head towards them and waved it up and down as if she were welcoming them inside. Flanna followed Finn carefully as he crouched down next to his mule and asked her to do the same; a brown calf slid out from behind Cecile and brayed at the red-haired girl with curiosity.
"T-The…the baby?!" Flanna inquired, not being able to believe her eyes.
"Well, technically is not a baby…" Finn giggled, "It's a calf."
"Oh…please excuse my ignorance, Mr. Farmer…!" she replied in amusement "Have you thought in a name for him yet?"
"Sure! Bartram, hehe…!"
Flanna felt a bit of admiration towards Finn in that moment, he seemed to care a lot for his farm's livestock and especially for those mules "May I…?" she asked, reaching out to pet Bartram's head.
"O-of course! Go ahead!" Finn moved his body aside and scooped the calf up so that she could cradle him in her arms "I didn't know you liked animals." He said, watching her stroke Bartram's mane.
"Heh… Of course I do," she raised her sight and stared at one of the ponies "I used to ride these small guys when I was a little girl." Flanna glanced back at Finn and blushed a little, realizing that he had been staring at her the whole time, a sweet smile gracing his features "W-what is it?"
"Huh?" the boy flinched slightly, oblivious of why he had found Flanna's face prettier than usual "Did I... say something bad?"
"You see? I told you that something weird was going on in here! Tunnels don't collapse just by themselves!"
Finn and Flanna snapped out of their trance as soon as those voices reached their ears "the Destiny Gang!"
Author's Notes:
Hi, I just wanted to take some time to thank everyone reading this fic. Your support really means a lot to me and I hope you enjoy the rest of it :)
2/07/13 Update: Grammar mistakes corrected.