CHAPTER 1

INSIDE A BOWL

Everybody had gathered around a large rock statue to see a mole hog standing there in front of everyone. This was the Crazy Carol mammal that everyone talked about who stated that the world was gonna flood and end all life on earth as they knew it. Her voice sounded as crazy as her personality.

"That's right, people. A great flood so powerful will end all life on earth. It can actually pull air right out of the sky. Gather around, folks." She pointed out a female sloth. "Excuse me, ma'am. Do you have gills?" The woman shook her head. "So you can't breathe underwater? Of course you can't, but my latest state of the art technology might be able to help you. Allow my assistant to show you what I mean."

She introduced a giant tortoise who had a wooden straw in her nose. "I can smell the air." She snorted as she laughed.

Crazy Carol stormed over to the female tortoise and snatched the straw from her nose. "You breathe through it from your mouth, you idiot. Now I won't be able to sell it." She showed the wooden straw to everyone. "Feast your eyes on this creation. Through it's design and sturdy construction, you'll have enough air to last for years to come. Results may vary."

Ellie snatched Crazy Carol from the rock stand. "Why are you scaring everybody with all this doomsday nonsense?"

"Listen, honey, I'm trying to make a living here," Crazy Carol said, "It's my weekly forecast. The five day outlook calls for intense flooding followed by the end of the world. Also, there will be plenty of sunshine later on in the week."

"Don't listen to her," Ellie said, "Crazy Carol is nothing but a loony in the head. She would sell her own father for a grape to feed herself."

"Are you making an offer?" Crazy Carol looked to see everyone looking at her like a weirdo. "I mean, no, I would not."

"Haven't you heard?" one of the animals in the crowd said, "The ice is melting. A flood is on its way."

"Do you see the ground we're standing on?" Shira said, "It is completely covered in ice. Thousands of years ago, it was covered in ice. Thousands of years later, it will still be ice. It will be nothing more, nothing less."

"Um, not to judge your survival instincts or anything like that, but haven't sabers pretty much escaped from this world?" a female anteater asked.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you being one of the last few of your kind."

Shira knew she needed to distract the mammal. "Uh, your breath smells like ants."

The anteater smelled her breath, knowing that it did smell like ants. "Oh! Be that as it may, when was the last time you saw another saber?"

"About six weeks ago."

"I meant someone that you knew for longer than that."

Shira's eyes widened. Ellie tried to keep her hopes up. "Don't listen to her, Shira. She's just trying to start up something new."

"Sabers can't go extinct," Shira said, "They're the most fiercest predators on earth."

"Well, what about the dinosaurs?" Manny asked.

"The dinosaurs got cocky and made a whole lot of enemies."

"Look!" somebody shouted, "Some weirdo is climbing the tallest tree that goes pass the eviscerator."

"Please tell me that's not who I think it is," Ellie said.

"I'm still going up, everyone," Brooke shouted, "I'm not stopping until I climb to the top. Just give me a moment to climb up there."

"Brooke!" Ellie shouted, "Stay right where you are and don't move a muscle. We're coming up."

Everybody started chanting "climb" to encourage Brooke to keep going. Even Shira joined in. Ellie have her a look as The female saber stared at her bewildered. "What?"

"Don't worry, everyone," Brooke shouted, "I'm almost to the top."

"Brooke." The female sloth looked to see Ellie and Shira looking at her. "What the heck do you think you're doing? Get down from there."

"No can do, girls. I'm going to reach the top of this tree and prove to you girls that I can do anything. Then you'll have to treat me with respect."

"The only respect you'll be getting is respect of the dead if you don't get down from there," Shira said.

"I really hope she's not stupid enough to do this," Ellie said, "Hopefully, she'll be careful." They looked to see that Brooke had grabbed a branch, but it was starting to break. She gasped as the other two gasped. "I've been wrong before."

"I've changed my mind," Brooke said, "Somebody help me."

"Hang on, Brooke." Ellie made her way over towards the side of the eviscerator, holding out her trunk to reach out for Brooke. The female sloth fell, but luckily she was caught by her mammoth friend. "Gotcha."

"Oh, I feel as though I can't breathe. I think I'm about to be sick." Brooke placed a paw on her stomach. "Does anybody else hear a cracking sound?"

"What?" Shira asked before she looked down to see the ice cracking underneath them, "Guys, the ground is cracking. Move out of the way." Shira got the others off the thin part of the ice and placed them on thicker ground. Shira ended up falling into the water. Brooke and Ellie gasped as they had the feeling that Shira was afraid of water. Ellie was about to help her when Shira stopped her friend. "I don't need your help. I can get out of here myself." Shira removed herself from the water, shaking it out of her fur.

Brooke gasped with excitement. "Oh, my goodness, Shira darling. I didn't know you could swim. Not a lot of sabers enjoy a sort of sport like that."

"Yeah. A lot of mammals tell me that, too."

"Where did you learn how to swim, anyway?"

"My daddy...Oh, I mean my mother taught me how. Did I tell you that we lived on a cliff near the ocean?"

"Yes, I do mention that you said something about that, but why did you mention your father? I thought you never had a father figure in your life."

"Well, I guess it just...slipped out." Shira placed a paw over her lips.

"Girls," Ellie said, "Crazy Carol is right. Everything is melting."

"You're right," Brooke said, "It's all going to flood."

"Come on," Shira said, "We've got to warm everybody about this."

"You know, I have this strange feeling that we could magically evolve into sea creatures."

"I bet my mine lives that will never happen, Brooke."

"Call me Brooke the blowfish." Brooke jumped on top of Ellie. "This whole landmark is a piece of junk. I cannot believe I live here."

A crack could be heard through the ice as the three females looked at each other. "Uh, oh." It only took a millisecond for the ice piece to break off, making the three mammals fall to their doom.

Back at the bottom of the waterfall, Crazy Carol kept rambling in about trades and such nonsense. "Let's forget about reeds and look at a new revolutionary invention we call tree bark. It's so strong, it actually floats."

"I'll show you something that floats," somebody from the disappearing crowd said.

"Well, It's your funeral. I guess you won't listen. That's fine by me." Crazy Carol turned around to see Ellie, Brooke and Shira fall in the water. "See, this is exactly what I'm talking about. Giant balls of furry lava balls the size as mammoths falling from the sky."

"Nobody's gonna listen to you, Crazy Carol," Manny said, "You're nothing but a lunatic. Go suck air through a reed." Manny started walking away.

"Everybody, listen to her," Ellie said, "She's right about the flood."

"I am?" Crazy Carol asked as she was coming back to her senses, "I mean, yes, I am."

"Wait a second, Ellie," Manny said, "You guys were the ones that said there wasn't gonna be a flood. If you didn't want is to believe Crazy Carol, why should we believe you?"

"Because we saw what's up there," Shira said, The dam's gonna break and the entire valley's gonna flood."

Everybody except Manny started laughing before they heard a mysterious female voice. "The flood's real. They're speaking the truth." They all looked up to see a vulture staring at them from a tree branch. "Look around you. You're inside a bowl. A giant bowl. The bowl's gonna fill up and there won't be a way out."

"What shall we do, oh great vulture?" Brooke asked.

"Knock it off, Brooke," Shira said.

"There's only one way," the female vulture said, "You'll have to make it to the end of the valley. There's a boat. It can save you. You all better hurry, though. Ground's melting, walls tumbling, rocks crumbling. Survive that and you'll be racing the water because in three days time, it's gonna got the geyser fields. There is some good news, though. The more of you that die, the better I eat." Everybody gasped. "I didn't say it was good news for you." The female vulture flew off in the distance.

"She must have been a real pleasure to have in class," Brooke said.

Manny looked up to see a giant iceberg fall from the ice wall, hitting the water. Manny's eyes widened. "Dam."

"Okay, everybody, let's move out," Ellie said, moving everybody on.

Manny walked up to Ellie. "Ellie, do you really think there is a boat?"

"I don't know, but in a few days, this place is gonna be underwater. If there's any hope, it's that way."

Shira followed behind the two mammoths, but stopped when she saw an iceberg floating in the water. It frightened her a little, but she heard her name being called out by Brooke. "Shira darling, let's go."

Shira ran off from the iceberg, but little did she know that frozen inside of it was a tiger shark and a crocodile. Looking straight in the shark's eye, he blink, showing that he was indeed alive.

YES, I DID SWITCH A LOT OF THINGS AROUND IN THIS STORY. INSTEAD OF MAMMOTHS GOING EXTINCT, IT'S THE SABERS. HOW CAN THAT BE? THE LAST TIME WE SAW SABERS IN THE LAST STORY WAS SIX WEEKS AGO. NOW THAT I THINK ABOUT IT, ALL THE SABERS IN SHIRA'S OLD PACK WAS DESYROYED. ALSO, WHY DID SHIRA MENTION HER FATHER? DID IT REALLY JUST SLIP OUT?

I GUESS WE'LL JUST HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER.

PLEASE REVIEW.