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Chapter 6: Safety Nowhere

Thirty minutes after everyone returned to work, Rocky finished repairing all the pup packs he would be able to at the time. He was able to get most of them working with some exceptions. Skye's jetpack was one of these. There wasn't much hope for it; both wings had been shorn off in the crash, and he had never gotten around to adding a welder to his pack, not that it would help too much anyway. Other things not working included Chase's net, one of Tracker's cables, and a couple of less-common tools in his own pack. Tragically, all of their jetpacks had been in the back of the plane, where the fire had burned the hottest. Those that ran on fuel, like Skye's supersonic jets, had exploded while those that ran on electricity, like Rubble's hoverboard, were left with burned out motors and batteries.

"Of course all of the pup packs that would be able to help us get back home are ruined," Rocky griped. "Why couldn't this have been easy?"

Since the engineer didn't have much else to do, he examined the Air Patroller's damage. It was extensive. Besides the hole in the hull, the front cabin had been smashed in, the left wing was crushed, and the turbines were irreparably damaged. Not to mention the entire right wing was missing. Looking closely, Rocky found the cut was clean, precise, and straight, obviously not done by the lightning bolt. Even if they had been hit by something it wouldn't have made such a fine cut.

"Then what did it...?" he wondered aloud. Then he thought of something that could have done it. "A laser!" Rocky exclaimed. "Everyone!" he shouted into his pup tag, "We didn't crash, we were shot down by a laser! That's why nothing showed on our radar!" Everyone started talking all at once.

"We were attacked?!"
"I don't like this."
"What!?"
"There are lasers that are that powerful?"
"Dude, I still don't know what's going on."
"Oy-oy-oy…"
"Could it have been the pup I saw?"
"Why would he shoot us down?"
"Why would anybody shoot us down?"
"I don't know; I can't say anything for sure right now."
"Stay safe, Everest, we're almost there."
"We are? But I can't hear anything."
"Mayor Humdinger would shoot us down..."
"Try taking off the helmet."
"But then I can't see anything!"
"We're all gonna die!"
"We'll be fine, Rubble."
"What's happening?"
"Marshall, did you check if Zuma has a concussion?"
"No; but I'm sure he does."
"I wish I had my wings so I could get help."
"He was unconscious for an hour and so were the rest of us; I'm surprised we all don't have one."
"And I wish I had a stick welder."
"I wish we weren't here."
"Don't worry, Rubble! We'll- ouch!"
"Everest? Everest, are you okay?"
"Yeah. I'm fine!"
"You're sure?"
"Yeah… It's… nothing…"

It was obvious, however, that Everest did not sound 'fine.' After a few seconds, the dull thud of something hitting the ground came over the com system.

"Everest!" Chase shouted. "Tracker, come on! I'll keep you guys updated. Chase out."

"Well now what do we do?" Skye asked.

"I don't think there's anything we can do," Rocky replied, the worry evident in his voice.

Zuma spoke up, "Dude, can someone calm down Rubble? I have a headache…"

"Yep, definitely a concussion…" Marshall said. "Get some rest, Zuma, you need it."

"Marshall and I need to finish fixing this cast for Ryder," Skye said, "Can you help, Rocky?"

"Yeah, I'll come over. I finished fixing the rest of the pup packs. Those that could be fixed, anyway."

"She's close," Chase told Tracker as he sniffed the air, "very close. And the pup she was following was here too. Keep an eye out."

Tracker jumped over a log and shone his light ahead of them. "¡Mira! ¡Vio Everest! I see her!" he cried as his light fell on her where she lay on the ground. The pair raced over to her as fast as they could. "Everest, are you okay?"

"She's… Asleep?" Chase said in confusion after examining her for a few seconds. Sure enough, Everest seemed to have simply fallen asleep. Chase tried shaking her awake, "Everest, wake up! It's not safe out here!" Everest didn't wake up. "Now what do we do?"

"¿Qué?"

"Now what do we do?" Chase repeated a bit louder.

"Oh! Well, we could carry her back," Tracker suggested.

Chase looked at Everest and sighed, "I guess that's our best option right now. No job is too big, no pup is too small!" He called the others, "We found Everest, but she's asleep and won't wake up. We're going to have to carry her back. We should be back in about half an hour." After receiving confirmation, they began their journey back.

Fifteen minutes later, Chase stopped. "Let's take a break," he said, dropping the line to the makeshift toboggan Tracker had quickly fashioned for carrying Everest, "we should be almost halfway there."

Tracker followed suit, "Oy-oy-oy, I could use a rest." The two sat down in silence, breathing for a minute or two. Suddenly Tracker looked up, wide eyed, "What's that?"

"Turn off the flashlight," Chase whispered. Tracker did so. "What's what?" Chase asked in a hush, also looking around.

"That sound. It sounds like this: thump… thump… thump…"

Chase listened keenly for a few seconds, "I don't hear anything." He looked at Tracker for a moment. Then he took Marshall's helmet off his companion's head. "Do you still hear it?"

Tracker perked his ears up. "No… That's strange."

"I think you were hearing your heartbeat," Chase giggled.

"Oh," Tracker said, ducking his head in embarrassment. "Sorry."

"It's okay," Chase replied, "Let's get ba- ah- Achoo!"

"¡Salud!" Tracker exclaimed. Then he perked up, "Uh oh, I hear something big coming. And it's not my heart this time."

"Something big? Oh no," Chase said as he tried to forestall another sneeze.

"What is it?" Tracker asked. Before Chase could answer, though, a bolt of lightning struck in the distance. It shed light through the gaps in the trees, and Tracker saw what Chase had realized it must be. For a moment, a giant, tan jungle cat could be seen silently slinking towards them from twenty yards away. And then that moment passed, and all was dark.

Another delivery on a promise from earlier; the mention that the wing was cut off cleanly from chapter 5, along with how nothing showed up on the radar from chapter 3. I really enjoyed writing the group chat where everyone talks at once. It's very freeing to be able to know what a character would say and just have them say it. No 'Chase said, Skye replied, Rubble asked, Zuma answered' stuff, and you can still (for the most part) tell who's talking when. It also gives ground for some great jokes. (If you find it hard to read, though, let me know. I can adjust accordingly.) I especially enjoyed writing Tracker's lines in this chapter. (And sorry to Zuma fans, but when you're unconscious for more than a minute, there's about a 100% chance you have a concussion. Everest gets a pass because of reasons you'll find out later that I simply couldn't fit into the story yet.)