We're all going on a summer holiday
This chapter has been prompted by No-one Will Know and the prompt was The Roscoe family go on their annual camping holiday, but their journey is stopped by a disaster. Will they all get out alive?
The summer holidays are a fun time for all. After all, it's the time when you can spend all your days lazing around in your pyjamas, you can go down to the beach with your friends for a barbecue and so much more. They're the longest days of the year and they're yours to do whatever you want with.
One portion of those holidays is usually spent up by the annual family holiday together, everyone has them and they're the time to bond with your loved ones, whilst also trying to restrain yourself from ripping off their heads, due to them being completely irritating after just a few days in their company.
Those family holidays can consist of anything and everything, from two weeks spent in Disneyland, to cruising around the Mediterranean, to simply enjoying the simple things in life by having a family camping trip in the British countryside.
The latter activity was how the Roscoe's spent their holidays every single year, and on the 28th of July they packed up the two cars and made the trip down St Neots Camping and Caravanning site just as they always did.
The holidays had started when Joe was just a little boy, when Alan and Sandy didn't have enough time off from work to take him on a proper summer holiday, and from then on, the trips had continued as the family had only grew and grew.
Sandy found it to be easier than trying to find the money and patience to fly them all over to a sunny destination, no matter how much she wished she could. The scenic camping site held a lot of memories for her also, making it as good as a second home.
Sure they hadn't been able to make it down every year, the summer of '02 flashed through her mind, when Ziggy had gotten chicken pox, leaving them all to take care of him instead, but whenever they could, the Roscoe's would go camping and just because they had moved up to Chester wouldn't change that, not now, after all it was tradition.
The first half of the journey went smoothly enough, with the first car consisting of Sandy, Joe, Lindsey and Jason, all lightly bickering about what route to take and the second car containing Freddie, Ziggy and Robbie, the latter two trying to convince their older brother to overtake and race the others to the campsite, though Freddie did what he could to ignore the others, knowing Sandy would be less than impressed with his actions.
It was only as the family hit a small country lane did the journey start to become a bit more troublesome. It wasn't by a lot at first, merely the road being too narrow for even two cars to pass by each other, leaving the family irritated as they were practically forced into a ditch when a huge tractor came roaring down the lane, no care for who and what else could be on the road in front of it.
However the Roscoe's were too high in spirits to let that faze them, after all they had a whole week of freedom, with no work or exams looming after them, just enough time to relax and let all the stresses go before they had to face the real world once more.
Though despite this, their biggest problem came when the family were met with a bridge, though they would never have guessed it at first glance.
The structure was sturdy enough, with two solid walls on either side to protect passer-bys from the spray of the raging currents that lay underneath, in fact it was even wide enough to let more than two cars pass at once, a rarity in the deserted stretch of country the Roscoe's had found themselves at.
So Joe and Freddie did what any dream boy racers would do, despite Sandy protesting that it wouldn't be safe, and as one they floored it, tyres spinning dramatically as they tried to beat each other to the imaginary finishing line, otherwise known as the end of the long bridge.
Though both men would have done right to listen to their mother's warnings, realising that they had made a stupid mistake when they felt their control waning under the slippiness of the road beneath them, due to the mix of the river spray and mud from countless farm animals that had no doubt passed by this very route.
Joe wasn't sure how, but he managed to keep control of his car till he had slowed to almost a snail's pace where the car once more straightened, much to the shared relief of Lindsey, Sandy and Jason, though Freddie wasn't having any luck in the slightest.
In fact, before he knew it, he had lost complete control over the rear of his car and him, Ziggy and Robbie found themselves watching in horror as it collided with the bridge wall, unable to do anything as it smashed straight through the brick work and only coming to a stop when half the car was hanging precariously over the edge, the wicked currents just mere feet below, reminding them gleefully what their fate would be if the car fell.
"Oh my God," Ziggy gasped once the car had stilled, brushing away the shards of glass from his broken window with little concern amd trying his best to stay calm as the screams from his family who had been watching on in equal horror reached him from the other side of the road. "You okay Freds?"
His older brother nodded, face pale as he realised just how precarious their situation was and no doubt blaming himself for it already. "Stay calm Freddie okay, that ain't going to help anyone right Robbie?"
When there was no reply from his usual loudmouth brother, Ziggy tried to turn to see if Robbie was okay, though as he moved the whole car shuddered slightly, and Ziggy turned back, not willing to try his luck.
"Robbie?" Freddie called, moving his arm back till it made contact with his younger brother's arm, hoping that he'd see his still form move at the touch through his mirror. "Can you hear us mate?"
The answering groan from Robbie, put both Freddie and Ziggy's nerve at rest, though they instantly shot up again when they saw the blood that was soaking through their younger brother's hair at an alarming rate.
"He must of hit his head on the window or something," Ziggy said, realising that Robbie's side of the car had been the one to make full contact with the wall when it had crashed.
Once more he tried to turn, to assess some of the damage on Robbie and to see how out of it he was due to hitting his head, though once again, the car shuddered back, threatening to fall into the icy water below.
"We have to get out of here now," Freddie said decisively, already trying to think of ways to escape the car, that could so easily become the place they died in. "Robbie, you think you're up to getting to front? There's no you're in a state to try and jump over to the road."
"Uh.. yeah. Yeah I think so," Robbie groaned, slowly sitting up, though paling suddenly and looking like it was taking all his restraint not be sick. Freddie watched him intently through the mirror, only now noticing the odd angle his brother's arm was at, realising it would probably be broken.
"Well how are we going to do this then?" Ziggy asked, hating how he had to be the voice of reason, though someone in this car had to be. "Cause if Robbie just climbs over, then he'll probably topple the car, after all we can barely turn around without it moving."
"Could you lower your seat, that way, all he'll have to do is crawl and he shouldn't be moving too much?" Freddie asked, hoping that his haphazard plan would be successful.
"Yeah that might work, but there's one problem, I don't think we'll both be able to get out of the car, if we're sat on top of each other!"
"Then you get out first Zig, that way, the seat will be free for-"
"Be free to topple over, cause the weight in the car's been evened out?" Ziggy snapped, anxiety to far up the wall for him to even bother sparing Freddie's feelings. After all, he could die any second now, so any plan they made, could not have any sort of loop holes. "Unless... Joe! Jason! Get over here."
Ziggy's shout attracted his two other brothers and they, along with Lindsey cautiously got nearer the car, leaving Sandy who was on the phone to the ambulance, trying her best to direct them to their current location.
"I need to get out of the car, so Robbie can get in the front to get out himself. The moment I'm out of the car though, there won't be enough weight on this side to keep it from falling over, you three need to lean on the bonnet or something to stop it from falling."
The three shared a nervous look at how dangerous the whole situation was, though in no time at all they'd swallowed their nerves and were making their way to the front of the car, only leaning down when Ziggy signalled to do so.
Taking a calming breath, Ziggy pushed open the door and jumped out of the car, sighing in relief as his feet touched solid ground and he realised that he was completely safe, bare the odd cut and bruise. He hadn't been free for long before Sandy rushed over to him, clutching him tightly as she sobbed brokenly, knowing how close she was to losing him, and how close she was to still losing the others.
He turned just as Robbie managed to scrabble to the front of the car, taking longer than usual in his injured state, though ultimately managing it.
"Now what?" Lindsey cried, arms trembling as she struggled with the weight of the car, the battered vehicle still threatening to fall back at any second, despite there being nothing in the back of the car to hold it back.
"Me and Rob are ready to jump," Freddie shouted back, face pale and eyes wide as he realised exactly how stupidly dangerous what he was doing, actually was. "When we do, let go of the car because otherwise the back end will make you go flying. All the stuff in the boot will overpower you."
"On three then," Joe called, praying to whoever may be listening that this would actually work. "One... Two... Three!" Robbie and Freddie pushed their car doors open and leapt out of the car, just as Joe, Jason and Lindsey pulled their hands off the bonnet.
Ziggy found he couldn't watch as the car finally fell, smashing into tiny pieces the second it hit the water, the rapid currents taking all the parts with it and just showing what would have become of him, if he had been in the car when it fell.
Instead he rushed over to Freddie and Robbie along with the rest of the family, all of them hugging him or the others tightly, glad that they were all ultimately okay, though Robbie was getting woozier with each passing second, not even able to register the pain of his arm anymore.
Before the ambulance came tearing down the small lane, Lindsey and Sandy had checked out the three brothers, seeing no injury that would be ultimately life threatening, though Robbie was the worst off with his head injury and broken arm.
The paramedics gave a similar diagnosis when they had arrived, leading the three brothers to the ambulance to be checked out at the hospital, the rest of the family following close behind, just glad that no terrible danger had been caused, though no one was willing to go camping for a long time after, or to let Freddie drive.
So a happy ending for once and all of our favourite family are okay.
Mollie – Thank you for the prompt! It should be up for around chapter 75 :)
Next chapter – Freddie can't hide his love for Lindsey anymore and kisses her in the Dog. Only problem is, Joe sees everything – prompted by in-my-head-749