Chapter 34: The Ravine Scene
(Apologies for the long update guys but I've been working hard lately and it took me a long isolation period to get these next few up and running, anyways, Enjoy!)
I felt melancholy to say the least, I'd miss my dad, but I was happy he was finally at peace and his suffering was over. If it wasn't for him I'd have never known that a rescue was coming my way. Speaking of, let's get back to them.
The gang had continued on through a landscape that didn't look particularly friendly to the eye. It was a dreary jagged mountainous region that offered no comfort whatsoever.
"Any idea where we're headed now Doom?" Ruby asked her pet.
Doom could only gaze at the seemingly endless desolate landscape as her senses had all but ran out. She turned back to her owner and simply shrugged her shoulders.
"I guess the trails gone cold" said Skull Boy.
"How anti-climactic can you get?" added Iris.
Everyone was silent.
"Now what?" said Len breaking the silence.
Perhaps I could scout ahead and attempt to gain a, pardon this old saying "birds eye view?" suggested Poe.
"Primo suggestion Poe" said Skull Boy "Let us know if you see any traces of the adductor."
"Will do." Poe answered before taking off into the atmosphere.
"Now what do we do?"
"There's gotta be some way to get back on their trail." Len said.
"What if we all split up and looked for leads until Poe comes back down?" Ruby suggested.
"Well, it's not like we've got many other choices." said Frank.
"Alright, if anyone finds anything, call out."
They all then split up.
The land was mostly barren, the grass was dead and surrounded by many canyons and cliff faces.
Until Frank and Len happened upon one.
They saw shoeprints, flattened grass and rocks moved out of their positions all leading towards a very frighteningly deep chasm that although the bottom was visible it was unlikely anyone could survive the drop.
"Hmmm, maybe Zaí's abductor took her to the other side, but how?" Frank pondered.
Frank then looked left and saw a precarious log perched over the chasm.
"Yeah that's probably how." Len added to his brothers statement.
"I dunno, looks like quite a drop don'tcha think Len?" Frank pondered once again.
"Yeah, but at this point all of of options already." Len added.
"Fair point."
Without another word the conjoined brothers ventured out onto the foreboding bridge.
Then a loud crack! echoed through the canyon.
"That didn't sound good" Frank said.
"Nope" Len added.
They peered down into the chasm below.
"Yikes on Bikes!" Len shouted.
Then the log snapped like a twig.
"Honestly I'm kinda embarrassed that I didn't see that coming." Frank stated.
Aaaaahhhh! They screamed as they fell.
The log managed to get wedged between two ledges which broke their fall as they scrambled to the ledge on the closer wall.
They had only fallen down the height of a high rise building but they couldn't reach the top, and the bottom was a good 4 kilometres down which couldn't even be seen because of the clouds obstructing the view.
The others heard their screaming and all rushed over to the edge.
"Uh guys, of all the safe places to be, this isn't one I'd recommend." Iris informed them.
"Uh yeah, we got that." Frank said shaken.
"What happened?" Ruby asked.
"We thought that we could find the trail on the other side but the log was too weak already so it gave way." Len explained.
"Luckily it broke our fall and gave us a chance to get to the wall." Frank added.
"Just stay calm, I brought a rope, we'll lower it down and come help you." Skull Boy informed them.
"T-Take your time, no rush." said Len with his teeth chattering clearly still on edge.
"Maybe this is what I deserve." Frank said sadly resting his head on his arm.
"How so?" Len asked.
"For being so nervous about talking to Misery I used Zaí as a practice dummy just to make sure I wouldn't mess up. I wasn't even thinking about how it'd affect her, maybe I deserve to fall down this cliff and never come out." he said melancholic clearly showing regret and shame for his cowardice.
"Frank, it was an accident. I might not have seen it myself but I know you'd never lie to me, besides the fact that Zaí was innocent too, it was just a case of jumping to conclusions." Len reassured his brother.
"Wow Len, that was really cool."
"Hey if we're not being good to each other than we're no better than those witches, now are we?"
"I guess you've got a point there."
"Don't forget that if you die, I die too, so if you gave up you'd be killing us as well as Zaí's chances of living."
Frank looked shocked and embarrassed simultaneously with the look plastered to his face.
While they were discussing that the rest of the gang head tied a rope to the edge of the chasm and had all started climbing down with Skull Boy bravely going first followed by Ruby, Scaredy, Iris and Doom bringing up the rear.
"Umm, guys?" Skull Boy said.
Frank and Len looked up and Skull Boy was dangling just above them.
"Well if there ever a time when we needed to be saved, I guess now would be it." Frank said to his twin.
"You said it."
Frank grabbed onto Skull Boys hand not a moment too soon, just after they were dangling from the rope the ledge they were on gave way sending the log bridge tumbling down through the clouds into the abyss.
"Of course now that I see the alternative, I'm sort of glad I took it!" Frank said fully confident in his decision.
"Yeah..." Len said staring down.
Meanwhile st the top of the rope, Doom heard a sound and saw a terrifying sight. The rope was starting to break, the strings couldn't support the combined weight of all 7 (technically 6) of their bodies.
Doom frantically tapped on Iris' shoulder.
"What's up Doom?" then she saw the rope couldn't support their weight widening her eye. "Umm guys? I think we've got a bit of a situation!"
"What kind of situation?" Asked Ruby.
"The 'the rope is breaking' kind of situation" she said grimly.
"Think I might've spoken too soon." said Frank.
"Maybe we'll get lucky and there'll just be a pillow truck at the bottom." Len guessed.
"Len, that kind of luck is just wishful thinking." Frank informed him.
"It is safe to say closing my eyes and hoping this is all a dream isn't going to work, is it?" Scaredy said.
"You could say that, yeah." Ruby said.
Then the rope snapped.
AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!
they all screamed as they plummeted to the ground below.
They opened up their eyes only to find white feathery softness. In the form of pillows in an open top broken down truck at the bottom of the chasm.
"Wow! An abandoned pillow truck at the bottom of a ravine in the middle of no mans land." Exclaimed Ruby.
"Well that was a lucky break, I thought that kinda stuff only happened in cartoons." Frank added.
"On the downside, we are probably not going to get this kind of luck again." Scaredy added clearly shaken by the fall.
"Wishful thinking aside, I was right, wasn't I?" said Len smugly.
"You sure were Len, you sure were." answered Ruby.
"Well we can all be assured of one thing." Skull Boy announced.
"The bridge will always break whether it's in a movie or not?" Len said referring to the cliché.
"No, I meant that whoever manufactures these ropes is going to receive a very angry letter."
"You said it." Iris added.
Just then, a growling sound was heard not too far from where the group had landed, it echoed throughout the chasm.
"Um, Does anybody know what kind of creature makes those kind of sounds?" Iris queried.
"I'm not sure, but personally I don't really wanna stick around to find out!" Scaredy answered with alarm. "I suggest we leave here at once and find Zaí. Before whatever that is finds us..."
"Right," said Skull Boy before seeing a path leading away from the noise "this way!"
They all ran away from there as fast as their legs could carry them.
(Whoo! well that was dramatic am I right? I was motivated to write a few chapters at once due to a power outage and nothing to distract me. I thought of this idea but I hadn't thought it out as thoroughly as I should have. Even I thought parts of this were too generic, my bad. We're getting down to it now folks, it's crunch time.)