by J. Axbridge
Turning to the group I shrugged my shoulders, then turned back and lightly knocked. With no answer and not so much as a sound from the inside I knocked harder yet still no sound came from the other side of the large musty door.
I was shocked when panic and worry actually crept into my mind! I’d been calm this whole endeavor but all of a sudden I couldn’t help but think of the three plus weeks we’d struggled to get here. The days we’d solemnly walked through once great cities that had only recently been flattened and erased from history, along with the miles of previously wooded areas we stomped through which had been turned to ash or pock marked with giant craters, it was all so surreal.
My mind wandered to the days we’d spent climbing over piles of waste and around dead bodies from Michigan to Wisconsin and on to Minnesota including everywhere in between. I still visualized the deceased we passed in nightmarish detail, a mix of charred and decaying bodies that had no chance to escape the meteoroids, floods and fires that destroyed just about everything. As the unknown feeling I could only describe as “fear,” surged through my veins, I was beginning to think this whole trip was a waste of time as I stood alone on the porch with my roaming thoughts.
“Jax, what’s wrong? What going on?” Adelaide shrugged her shoulders impatiently. That’s when I realized I must have had a blank look on my face while my thoughts raced around.
“Well . . .,” I turned and faced the group deciding what I should say. “I can’t help but think about everything we’ve gone through to get here and even if we don’t find the Elder Wolf, this journey was very much worth the trials.” I spoke directly to Adelaide who’d moved closer to the porch steps. “Think about it . . . when the guide book wasn’t being studied, Mayumi and I taught you guys everything we know about fighting, tracking, medicines, first aid and living in the wilderness.”
“And . . . ,” Adelaide replied curiously, placing her fists on her hips wondering where this talk was headed.
“. . . And” I regrouped my thoughts, “. . . and Arthur took tons of great notes and filled up half his journal on how to kill C.O.N.s. That’s worth its weight in gold alone. When it comes to Ethan there, he wrote down a lot about survival techniques, learning from both Mayumi and myself.” I continued, my voice gaining strength and confidence, “Plus Victoria took notes on both medicines and cures found in the wilderness and Caelyn being keener on learning about building things, took amazing notes on building makeshift shelters to homemade weapons and tools and added lots of great sketches to her journal. . .” Watching the group just stare at me in confusion, I had to somehow explain myself clearer. “Listen, I just want everyone to realize that no matter what happens when we go through this door, this trip has been well worth what it took to get here,” I said earnestly, although the looks stayed the same suggesting I might be a little crazy. Even I began to think I was a bit crazy as everyone just stared at me in silence.
“It wasn’t all fun and games Jax,” Arthur shook his head. “What about all the shit we had to deal with. Did you forget about the Red Eyes and that oversized mental vampire and climbing through that area of dense forest that miraculously survived the showers but was so narrow that even the light hours seemed to turn into night? The trees were bunched so close together that most of the already muted light was nonexistent, not to mention all the branches that scratched up our faces and arms. That was some crazy shit Jax, and it wasn’t fun for me one bit.”
Caelyn suddenly stood taller, “Yeah, and what about all the arguing and complaints? Every day at least one of us was miserable, and the never ending talk about whether the trip was even worth it, was super annoying,” She sighed. “I’m surprised we didn’t kill each other, forget the Red Eyes.”
“Oh for goodness sake, please just try the stupid handle Jax. Please . . .” Mayumi pleaded, her face glaring with annoyance. “We all know what happened and we have to live with it forever, now let’s find the Elder and move on. The past is the past, it was hard, but let’s concentrate on the present. We made it – YEA – now open on the damn door — please!”
Turning back without another word I pressed the cool metal handle down with my right thumb. Initially it was stuck but with more force a loud clunk rang out from the inside. Accidently letting it slip, the handle shot from my hand and the door swung quickly in, slamming the interior wall with a crash. The unexpectedness of the noise caused everyone to jump back as tree and shingle debris slid rapidly off the roof crackling to the ground below, mostly in front of Adelaide causing her to spit out profanities then scowl in my direction as the dust cleared.
I nervously laughed for a moment hearing Adelaide’s unsavory language, and then quickly entered before she threw something at me, waving for the others to follow after assuring all was clear. One by one our group entered, cautiously stepping onto the faded and scuffed rickety wood flooring only to discover what I’d already found, a large, mostly empty room with simply an antique, well used black iron stove in the middle with a small stool placed near it. The rest of the cabin was empty except for thick dust, cobwebs and a few decaying bird nests from years past.
“Where is the Elder Werewolf?” Ethan twisted around, looking for signs of life.
“It does not look like this home has been occupied for many years but those footprints on the floor mean people have been through this way,” Mayumi wiped dust off the wall with her index finger staring, before wiping it on her pants.
“Hey, maybe they’re just out back,” Caelyn shouted as her and Victoria rushed by, following several pair of footprints leading to the back door and fought with the handle, which to no one’s surprise, was locked. They struggled with a large black deadbolt before finally pushing it to the right together and unlocking the door with a loud metal clank. With both of them pulling the door handle hard, the oversized heavy log door creaked open revealing the scariest, yet possibly the coolest thing I’d ever seen.
“Holy Mother of God,” Arthur gasped, walking up behind his twin sisters, staring agonizingly over their shoulders and for once he took the words right out of my mouth.
Chapter 39 - One Step at a Time
Arthur
I could not believe what I was staring at! In front of me hung a rope bridge, the likes I’d never seen before that lead directly from the cabin’s back door, easily stretching over five hundred feet in length, hundreds of feet above ground and too high above the tree tops for my liking. It was on some unbelievable crazy angle too, rising up in the distance to connect to a much higher, narrower mountain peak covered in lush green forest. This could actually be my worst nightmare, I thought as beads of sweat began forming on my forehead.
“You’ve got to be kidding me?” I blurted out, “This bridge is insane! Are we really going to cross this damn thing . . . really? The boards can’t be any wider than a foot and look at the engineering, single ropes covered with vines on either side; we have to hang onto those too I suppose? One slip and you’re taking a swan dive to your death!” I rambled on momentarily, complaining about my fear of heights oblivious to the people around me.
Manga Princess Mayumi on the other hand was hardcore; she didn’t seem to mind the height one bit because as she’d told me on more than one occasion, she’d trained in the mountains around Kyoto from a young age and heights didn’t bother her. “Come on Arthur, it is not that bad. The Red Eyes at least fought back, all you need to do here is . . . have some courage and . . . walk the planks, Arrrrthur,” Mayumi scowled in a pirate voice, which as cute as it was, irritated the shit out of me because I was feeling like the cowardly lion suddenly, staring out at the rope bridge in front of me.
“Yeah, I’m sure it’s as easy as that? Walk the Plank – ha ha, don’t tease Yu. Give me a break, I hate heights . . . Addie, can’t we just go down and around?” I pleaded, then turned away from the bridge walking back to the middle of the room where my footing was solid and safe and the view a lot easier to handle.
“Listen,” Jax chimed in to calm everyone
’s nerves. “We did not come this far just to turn back because of a ‘scary bridge’, that would not be the wisest idea Arthur, you do know that. Sure it doesn’t look like the safest thing I’ve ever seen but we need to cross it to find the Elder Wolf or whoever is on the other side. Think of it as the Yellow Brick Road.” He finished just as a slight breeze kicked up, causing the bridge to ever so gently sway back and forth and the ropes to whine. “Besides, it’s here for a reason and people obvious use it so it must be safe.”
Victoria watched in what looked to be sheer terror, her mouth open and eyes wide as the bridge continued to sway. “Yeah, but the Yellow Brick Road didn’t sway like that.”
“Arthur’s right, this is insane,” Caelyn said, her wide emerald eyes now fixated on the swaying, twisting and whining ropes with Victoria.
“Um . . .” Ethan raised his hand, “I just want to keep on the move and would rather be crossing that bridge then sitting in an empty log cabin waiting for who knows what to show up. So I vote for crossing.” To my surprise Ethan clearly wasn’t bothered by the height. My little brother had guts; I had to give him that.
“Can’t we just yell and see if anyone responds?” I begged knowing in my heart that no matter what I said, I’d have to cross the ‘bridge of death.’ In my mind that’s what I called it already because obviously that’s what it was.
“NO — no more sitting around thinking about crossing that bridge, you’re only working yourself up,” Adelaide broke the silence then picked up her backpack and slid it over her right shoulder then the left bouncing it comfortably into place on her back. “Just grab your backpacks and let’s do this. It’s not a time to chicken out; we need to keep moving forward and here’s how we’ll do it. Jax, you lead the way followed by Victoria and Caelyn. DON’T LET GO OF THE ROPES GIRLS NO MATTER WHAT. Next I’ll go followed by Ethan, then you Arthur and last will be Yu since she’s not bothered by heights,” Adelaide said, acknowledging Mayumi’s unrivaled bravery. “Just make sure Arthur gets across safely Yu. He trusts you on oh . . . so many levels!”
Mayumi smiled, turned and winked at me before brushing strands of black hair out of her face leaving me to sigh shaking my head in utter defeat, already dreading the moment I’d have to step out of the cabin. My anxiety had never been so high, my fingers and toes were already feeling numb, my knees began to feel like jelly and I was beginning to feel light headed. I was doomed.
Shuffling orderly out the door we walked gingerly onto the thin planks in a single file line testing their strength. When all seven of us were finally on the thin bridge, we began creeping our way across, soon realizing that at only a foot wide there was absolutely no room for error.
Less than five minutes into the crossing, as if the wind gods knew we were all on the damn thing, another breeze blew and shook the fragile bridge a little harder this time causing every one of us to stop and squeeze the single rope lines we’d held onto even tighter. I myself wasn’t sure if I was shaking from the wind or my anxiety and fear of heights. But one thing I did know, I wasn’t letting go no matter what happened! You’d have to pry my dead fingers off these damn ropes.
Having accidently looked down I began to panic. My hands instinctively squeezed the ropes harder, if that was even possible and the thought of fainting hit me like a rock to the head, as the ground below me swayed left and right. I tried to shake it off by looking ahead and closing my eyes, but that only made my head spin uncontrollably like I was on a never-ending rollercoaster.
“DON’T EVER LOOK DOWN ARTHUR!” Mayumi yelled from behind and placed her stable hand on my shoulder. “Look at the person in front of you and take one step at a time. Stopping only makes it worse and it will take us longer to get to the other side. JUST . . . KEEP . . . MOVING . . .” She ordered loudly.
Thankfully, even with the continued swaying my blurry vision eventually cleared after a minute or two and once again all was going as planned; we successfully crossed the half way point and finally began the steep ascent heading towards the mountain peak directly ahead of us. That’s when Jax came to an abrupt stop.
“Why in the world are you stopping Jax? Let’s get off this death trap,” I closed my eyes not wanting to experience blurry vision and dizziness again, yelling up from the back.
“Well . . . there’s a couple planks missing, we’ll need to use the ropes to climb across.”
“A couple planks? Those planks are at least ten feet long each!” I breathed deep five times trying to stave off panic. “Alright, how many is a couple planks?” I yelled back to Jax, as I stood there trying to stay calm in the open breeze.
“OK, there are three planks missing . . . but it’s doable.” Jax yelled over his shoulder, the wind pushing his hair in all directions. Although he was our fearless leader, I noticed him squeeze the ropes tightly while looking down and wincing at the ground hundreds of feet below.
“Doable . . . DOABLE? That’s thirty feet of rope with no boards to stand on. HOW IS THAT . . . DOABLE?” I yelled back.
“Arthur,” Mayumi said curtly, “We cannot turn around, go back, climb down the mountain, go around and climb back up the other side because you are still afraid. That would take too long. But we can do this. . . I tell you what? When we are across safely, I will give you that big kiss you have been waiting for, a proper one this time, no tricks!” She yelled louder than intended, her mouth only inches from my ear just as the wind kicked up blowing her long black silk like hair around causing it to gently brush over my neck, arousing my bodily senses.
Instantly my adrenalin began pumping and I was determined to brave it out for the little longer we’d have to spend on this bridge. I loved the way Mayumi kept motivating me and I was going to prove myself to her no matter what I had to do. Naturally the strongest breeze yet came and all my bravado went with it, as the bridge swayed even further from left to right, causing all of us to scream with deafening fear. Caelyn and Victoria in what looked to be perfect synchronization knelt down on one knee to steady themselves.
Cursing under my breath, my hands strained to hold onto the guide ropes. Is crossing this really worth one freaking kiss? I thought, my grip so tight my fingers began to hurt as the bridge continued to swing back and forth deliberately trying to throw us off, or at least that’s what my mind was telling me.
“Victoria, listen carefully! Unzip my pack . . . there’s a rope in it. Then hold onto my pack to balance yourself and slide it out. Then very carefully reach around and hand it to me.” Jax asked in as calm a raised voice he could muster.
Victoria did exactly as Jax said, carefully standing up she unzipped his backpack slowly, while the rest of us anxiously watched and waited. She began sliding out the rope with her left hand, holding onto Jax’s pack with her right tightly. When the last bit of rope slipped out, she cautiously reached around Jax and handed the rope to him, and then her hands flung back onto the guide ropes once more to keep steady.
Balancing as the wind gave a much deserved moment of calm; Jax tied a knot around his waist and knelt down, tying off a tight knot to the plank of wood he was kneeling on.
“OK. . . I’m going to shimmy across the rope bridge here and pull the end of my rope with me and when I reach that plank on the other side I’ll secure my end of the rope to it. After the rope is securely tied, each of you must shimmy across carefully, only after tying your end of this rope around your waist tightly in case you fall,” Jax said, before hanging below the ropes, wrapping his legs around them like scissors and pulling himself carefully to the other side, all the while dangling like a wind chime on an overly breezy spring day.
“How in the world will Ethan be able to do that?” I pointed out, still sorely hoping for a way to get out of the insane acrobatic rope crossing.
“Me?” Ethan spoke up. “I can do this, I love the monkey bars at school, and this isn’t that bad,” He bravely yelled out.
“Showoff,” I mumbled, rolling my eyes while continuing to squeeze the ropes tightly for security. I do
n’t know why my little brother wasn’t affected because for me it felt like we were about to bungee jump from a tall mountain without the cord.
“Fine Ethan, but how AM I going to do this?” I laughed half heartedly feeling my fingers burn each time the bridge swayed.
Jax had made it to the next plank thirty feet away safely and tied the rope off to become the rest of our group’s safety line. Victoria then squatted down on one knee untied the rope from her plank and slid it around her waist, then with the help of Caelyn tied it extra tight.
“I don’t know if I can do this?” Victoria uttered to no one in particular as she wrapped her legs around the rope, closed her eyes and swung underneath. Instinctively she let out a yelp, only her hands and legs holding her above a drop of sure death to the tree covered rocky ravine hundreds of feet below. “God help me,” she murmured as she began shimmying across scared and nervous, continuing to close her eyes and stop every time the wind blew. Half way there a strong breeze shook the bridge so hard that everyone bent to the planks once more to hold tight, except for Victoria. Catching our breaths we looked up only to see her hanging by one hand, her body dangling helplessly below the bridge, her muscles straining and tears covering her red cheeks.
“OH NO, VIC?” Caelyn yelled lifting her chin off the plank she was laying on.
“HELP ME —” Victoria cried, trying to flip her left leg back over the rope but clearly didn’t have enough upper body strength to do it and eventually lost her remaining grip. Falling fast she plummeted straight down 30 feet before Jax’s safety rope halted her fall and swung her hard towards and then under Jax who was already laying on his stomach hanging onto the other end of the rope using his inhuman strength to keep Victoria from dropping further.