Chapter 24. So unless I get lucky, I am now back to updating weekly. Spring break is a month away now(a little early I know, but I'll do as much updates then as I can then) Plus I have testing at school in less than two weeks so I really have to prepare. Enjoy!
Morning turned to noon, noon turned into evening and evening turned into late night since the search for Flora began.
"Flora!" called the concerned father. "Where are you?"
"Flora! Come on baby, please tell us you're somewhere out here!" added in Shira, almost breaking into a sob.
"Diego, can't we rest for a while?" asked Manny. "We've been at it for hours."
"Hours isn't enough." replied Diego not even looking at Manny.
"Please Diego! I feel like my legs are about to fall off!" wailed Sid with woe. "Even Granny is tired!"
Granny however begged to differ as she was on Sid's back clonking him on the head demanding that he'd go faster.
"My little girl is no where to be found and all you guys care about is resting?" Diego hotly questioned. "As a herd, I always thought we had each others backs, but now, it looks like you guys couldn't care less that she's gone!"
"Diego, we do have your back." said Ellie tiredly rubbing her eyes with her trunk. "And we all do care about the fact and Flora is missing and of course we want to find her, but we won't get the energy to do so unless we sleep for a few hours. You get my drift?"
Diego sighed to calm himself down. He knew that Ellie was right, but he was so worried about finding Flora that sleeping was the last thing on his mind.
"Baby, Ellie does have a point." Shira caught Ellie's drift. "If we're gonna move on to find Flora, we should sleep a little. Don't you think?"
Diego thought and finally answered.
"Good call. Okay, we'll rest, but we'll continue first thing in the morning."
Upon hearing those words, everybody collapsed in exhaustion, not even being picky about their spots.
Sleep did not come to Diego no matter how hard he tried. Shira had noticed this.
"Diego, is everything alright?" she asked.
"No. I drove our daughter away." he replied sadly. "I was way too harsh with Flora back there and now who knows where she is or if she's safe or not?"
"Diego, I'm just as much worried about Flora you are, and we have every right to be with us being parents. But Flora is a strong, smart and independent saber who can surely manage herself. We will find her."
"I know we will. It's just that, I can't get over that hurt gleam Flora had in her eyes when she said that she hated me. I know I was being way too hard on her, but-"
"Diego, Flora did not, I repeat, DID NOT mean it when she said that. It was just the anger talking. Like I said, we'll find her. Try sleeping now. We'll need it."
Diego took Shira's advice and closed his eyes. He didn't know what he would do without her.
…
Cash, finding it difficult to sleep with his missing sister on his mind, decided to go for a walk hoping it would tire him out. Unbeknownst to him, someone had followed him.
"Flora, wherever you are, please tell me you're okay." Cash begged to himself, worried about Flora's disappearance as much as his parents.
"Boo!" the voice startled Cash, nearly making him fall off the granite rock pile he was sitting on. He turned around to face the animal that startled him.
"Please don't do that." sighed Cash, annoyed at Sandy for scaring him.
"Aw, I remember there used to be a time where you would barely react to that and just shrug it off and say, 'Hi Sandy.'" Sandy fake-pouted. "You worried about Flora?"
"On all levels. We may be just a few minutes apart, but she's still my little sister."
"I'm worried about her too, but we know Flora. She's got street smarts and wherever she is, we know that she's using them. We will find her safe and unharmed."
Cash smiled. "Thanks Sandy. You always know the right thing to say."
"Don't mention it." Replied Sandy. "That's what best friends are for."
"About that..." began Cash. He wasn't going to hold back this time. He was gonna tell her now. "Sandy, I've known you for a while now and, I've always kinda-. I'll just cut to the chase. Sandy-"
When Cash was about to tell Sandy that he's always liked her as more than a friend, rustling in the bushes was heard.
"I'm not the only one who saw that right?" asked Cash completely changing the subject now.
"No you're not." replied Sandy. They stayed to see if there was gonna be any other movement from the bushes. They didn't see it completely, but the silhouette in there looked like another saber who at the sight of Cash and Sandy immediately fled. Wanting to get some clues, the teenagers pursued him.
"Hey, come back!" called out Cash. "We just want to ask you some questions!"
The shadow ran as fast as he could, trying his best to avoid contact with his pursuers. Thinking fast, he knocked down some big rocks (like Shira did in Ice Age 4 while running away from Diego), preventing them from going any further. Cash and Sandy jumped back at the falling rocks until they ceased dropping. They coughed up they dirt that flew in the air.
"Are you okay?" Cash asked Sandy making sure she wasn't hurt. Sandy nodded.
"Looks like we lost him." he huffed. "We were so close to-" when Cash was about to finish his sentence, thunder rumbled in the sky and drops of rain fell out of the clouds.
"We'll worry about that tomorrow." reasoned Sandy. "Right now, we better go back to where we're staying. We don't want to get soaked.
Cash knew that Sandy was right and they headed back to their camp. Cash however was going to tell everyone about what he saw.
…
Meanwhile back at Soto and company's camp, Flora was curled up fast asleep. She might have not shown it, but the thunder scared her. At times like this, she longed back for the days when she was a cub and had an excuse to sleep by Diego's side, but she stopped doing that a long time ago after being teased by Cash about how babyish it was.
The thunder wasn't the only thing bothering Flora. There was a small gap in between the rocky ceiling of the cave that was causing a leak. It annoyed her greatly considering that it kept dripping on her and even if she did move away from it, the water dropping on the ground made it hard for her to sleep.
While Flora was grumbling to herself about the leak, it mysteriously stopped. She noticed that the gap was covered with something. Her irritation turned to curiosity when she wondered how it happened. She came to the conclusion that Sam must have covered it up.
Get real Flora! She scolded herself. It's pretty obvious he doesn't really give a damn about you, so why would he do that? You hate him now so he wouldn't risk his pelt to do some nice things for me!
Flora attempted to sleep now that she didn't have any sounds of dropping water to worry about, but all that was on her mind was her father.
Dad, if you were here, I wish I could say how sorry I am. Thought Flora before drifting off to sleep.
Who was the silhouette that Cash and Sandy were chasing? Hint, it's not Sam. And we probably know who covered up that leak for Flora considering there's only one saber out of Soto's pack who really does care about Flora even though she's still pissed at him.
So what did you guys think? Great? Okay? Decent? Please review.
