No More Smurfing Chances
Chapter 7
The world was confusing, noisy, suffocating. Hackus desperately flayed his arms around in the dark water, but however much he tried, the surface was inches away from his fingertips. He kicked hard with his legs, but still he made no progress through the turbulent water.
Rocks flew past him in the deep but he did not have the strength to hold onto them.
He had no strength left at all
He suddenly felt at peace, as if he belonged in this watery womb.
Back on shore, Vexy and the other Smurfs were running along the bank, trying to keep all three Smurfs in their sights. But as she ran, Vexy became fearful for her brother.
He had not surfaced at all.
Hefty was still shouting and cursing Gargy Smurf's name and was making a great effort to swim towards the soggy wizard.
The latter managed to grab a low branch only a few yards from the point of no return and he clung onto it like a leech.
Hefty grabbed the other Smurf's legs and tried to climb up. Gargy Smurf kicked out and even bit Hefty's hand drawing blood.
"You son of a Smurf! I'm going to smurf you with my bare hands!" shouted the strong one.
A rope was thrown from the bank to the branch and a lithe, athletic smurf quickly made his way across and tied it off. Gargy Smurf had a choice.
Be captured or take his chances with the waterfall.
He let go of the branch, dragging Hefty with him. A collective gasp of horror escaped the lips of the watching crowd as they both slipped out of view over the precipice.
Vexy fell to her knees in despair. She wanted to cry, but what good would that do? Other Smurfs had carried on running and were now making their way down the tangle of tree roots that were hugging the bank of the river.
They were all surprised to see Big Mouth standing in the water with a fishing net. He had a pile of fish on the bank and before they could shout out, he withdrew the net from the water and three Smurfs could be seen together with some fish.
Big Mouth was very exited with his catch, he opened up the net, took out the fish to add to his pile and picking up a stick he prodded the Smurfs in his net.
The one in the purple robes, jumped up and screamed, the one with a heart shaped tattoo lay still as did the ginger haired one.
Come to think of it, the latter was not moving at all, not even breathing.
The Ogre picked up the ginger Smurf and sniffed him.
"Urgghh! That's a dead one!"
He then flicked his wrist and chucked Hackus onto the pile of dead and dying fish.
Vexy burst out of the roots and ran straight at the giant. She dodged him and grabbed Hackus, dragging him off the pile of death.
She started to give CPR to her brother. It worked on humans, Smurfs were not so different, were they?
Time seemed to stand still, a loving sister and a loved brother were the only two beings in the whole world. She wished and hoped with all her might that her efforts would be rewarded with the sound of her dear brother coughing and spluttering back to life. She did not notice that her arms were beginning to tire, that each breath she tried to force into Hackus was not having an effect.
She did not notice Papa Smurf, gently grabbing her around the waist and pulling her away. She had been working on her brother for over fifteen minutes. She had to face the cruel fact that he was gone.
He had abandoned her.
With eyes full of tears she beat Papa Smurf's chest with her clenched fists. The elderly Smurf took the blows and when her anger was spent she let her collapse into his arms. They both sank down to the ground and even Papa shed a few tears.
Whilst all of this was going on, Gargy Smurf had taken his chance to escape. He tiptoed past the crowd of Smurfs around Vexy and was almost home free, when Big Mouth grabbed his robes and pulled him up into the air.
"Is this your fault?" the giant bellowed
Gargy Smurf closed his eyes tight shut. He was a goner. The Smurfs would rip him to pieces or even worse, let Big Mouth keep him to be eaten as a snack. It was no less than what he deserved. What a way to end his days as a Smurf kebab. Extremely ironic in fact, he started to cry from sheer terror and dread.
Papa Smurf was coming towards the pair. Gargy Smurf opened his eyes and even though his vision was blurred by tears of self pity, he could not read the expression on Papa's face.
"Big Mouth, release that Smurf at once!" he shouted pointing to be ground
The ogre, amazingly enough, did as he was told. Even he knew that the Smurfs could become very angry if they wanted to. He stepped back to watch what would happen to that evil Smurf.
Gargy lay on the ground, curled up in a ball, shaking like a leaf. Unwilling to look at Papa, he continued to snivel to himself. He had no fight left. No more running away this time. His smurf was cooked!
"Is there anything that you can do to help us, Gargamel?" asked the elderly Smurf.
Gargy, could not believe his ears. They were asking him for help? Him?
He started to get up and wiped his nose on the sleeve of his robes. He stared at the blue being in front of him and said;
"What makes you think that I would want to help any of you?"
It was a feeble attempt at bravado and he knew it had failed as soon as it had left his lips. He sorely wished that he could perfect the art of thinking before speaking.
Papa still had a poker face. He was not showing any emotions at all. This made it harder for Gargy Smurf to gauge how to taunt his old enemy.
Papa then walked away without saying a word. The other Smurfs watched Papa and then followed him back to the village. All that was left behind was Gargy, Big Mouth, Vexy, Smurfette and the lifeless body of Hackus.
Papa had a plan and by all that was 'smurfy', he was taking a big chance. But he had to let the Smurfettes deal with the evil wizard. The female of the species is smurfier than the male.
It was going to be a family affair. Big Mouth didn't like the look of Vexy, her eyes glinted in a way he had never seen before. Smurfette on the other hand scared him even more.
She looked murderous. She looked dangerous. Walking right up to him, her nose inches from his. She whispered something that made his heart go cold.
He looked up at Big Mouth as if to plead with the Ogre to rescue him, but the latter just smiled and made a 'cut throat' sign.
Gargy Smurf gulped.
He would have to think of something and fast...
To be continued...