A Time To Survive (Verge of Extinction): A Magical & Monstrous / Supernatural Urban Fantasy.

by J. Axbridge

  Mayumi reacted faster than I’d ever seen her move and leaped for my outstretched arm, gripping my hand firmly in hers as I disappeared over the cliff and out of sight. Still it wasn’t enough to stop my forward and now downward momentum as I pulled Mayumi over the edge with me before I heard Arthur swear and jump on Mayumi’s legs and hold tight. His weight and strength was what was needed to stop both of our forward momentums and all of us came to an abrupt halt as my body swung and slammed into the side of the rock face, sending funny bone-like pain through the whole right side of my body. Instinctively I closed my eyes wincing, not sure if I’d actually lived through the fall.

  “Addie, open your eyes, I have you!” Mayumi yelled down as she hung above me, her arms scrapped and bleeding while bent over the cliff’s edge holding tightly onto my hand. “Reach your other hand up and grab my arm . . . Do not worry; Arthur has me and I am not letting go of you and I know he will not let me go of me or I will kill him,” Mayumi moaned as the edge of the cliff began digging deeper into her stomach, which was thankfully protected by her zip coat.

  Chapter 47 - Hanging On

  Mayumi

  Arthur grunted as he grasped my legs tightly and braced himself. Almost instantly I heard his shoes digging frantically into the earth preparing to pull us up. Hanging over a cliff holding onto Adelaide was no easy task and I needed Arthur to bring us up as soon as possible. I always considered myself to be strong but there was a limit to my strength, after all I was pure human, not half werewolf. My strength came from daily exercise and extreme outdoor workouts, not genetics.

  “Listen . . . , Jax and Shawn are dead,” Adelaide yelled up to me emotionless as she tried to gain a foothold on the side of the rocky cliff kicking parts of the wall down. Watching the stones she knocked off disappear thousands of feet below she kept kicking trying to clear a spot to stand on. “I saw Lawrence Karayan kill them both before the Elder Wolf ordered me to leave,” Adelaide gritted her teeth and I knew her arms must have felt as jelly as mine. “Oh . . . and Yu, unfortunately from this angle, I know what those chuters are for.”

  “Yes Addie-san, I think we all do,” I said, my teeth clenched, sweat dripping off my dirty forehead while my muscles continued to stretch and strain to hold on to my best friend.

  “We need to jump off this cliff and do it right away Yu,” Adelaide said to me, finally gaining a foothold with her left foot taking some of the tension off our tiring arms. “I’m going to shimmy my legs up the side here so I can push off to get as far away from the jagged rock wall as I can when I jump. You need to hold onto my hands tightly until then, and then together we can jump at the same time . . . ARTHUR.” She yelled past me, “YOU, THE TWINS AND ETHAN MUST FOLLOW OFF THE CLIFF RIGHT AFTER US . . . USE THE CHUTERS - THEY’RE MINI PARACHUTES. IF THE ELDER DIDN’T TAKE CARE OF THAT VAMPIRE THEN WE PROBABLY DON’T HAVE MUCH TIME TO GET OUT OF HERE!”

  Chapter 48 – Jump

  Arthur

  I glanced at the flimsy looking mini parachute Ethan was holding and was afraid there was no way it would hold my weight, it seemed too small for my size. I was going to reconsider the whole jumping idea further when two loud screams pierced the silence behind me. Twisting my head as far as possible I realized the twins were in trouble as they stood staring at the giant vampire who was now only feet away from us. With blood splatters over his pasty face and on what looked to be a white colonial shirt from an era passed, he smirked.

  “At last, all the SymJin together, what a pleasant surprise,” Lawrence Karayan enunciated slowly. “And look at the predicament you’re in. Has my poor, dear Adelaide gone over the cliff? Is she hanging on for her dear little pathetic half-breed worthless life? Save her and all of yourselves the stress and let her go, you’ll be doing her a favor, you’re all going to die anyway, it’s just a matter of time . . .” Lawrence paused, “Oh wait . . . You don’t have any more time! Show me your fingers girls and maybe I’ll let you live. Maybe I’ll even help your sister?” He spoke coldly to the twins. “Otherwise just like your friends and that old foolish wolf, this day will be your last.”

  “Don’t do it girls,” I commanded, my neck craned as far as it could now to see Lawrence Karayan behind me. “Come over by me . . . Ethan, you too!”

  The three inched slowly closer to me all the while keeping their eyes glued on the overly large, scary looking blood covered vampire. Of course if he’d been cleaned up and this was colonial times, he’d probably look like a rather nice guy. Finally when they had all gathered near the edge and as far away from Lawrence Karayan as they could get without going over, I whispered to Ethan, “Jump off and use the chuters like a parachute, they’ll slow your fall. Tell Mayumi to get ready to jump when I let her go.”

  I’m not sure why he hadn’t killed us yet and even though he taunted us, I believe he did not want us to drop my sister. That was the only logical explanation I could come up with in the moment so I kept Lawrence Karayan busy talking as Ethan relayed my message to Mayumi.

  Ethan kneeled and then carefully lay next to Mayumi on his stomach, unknowingly knocking stones over the side into Adelaide’s face as he scooted nearer the edge. Hearing the stones fall he looked down. “Sorry Addie,” he said to our sister, before speaking in a hushed voice to Mayumi about the plan to jump. She then relayed the message down to Adelaide who had already shimmied up higher, getting ready for the push off. The only two who didn’t know our escape plan yet were the twins who were standing close but there was no time or way for Ethan or me to inform them with Lawrence Karayan moving in closer and listening intently now to our every word.

  “Tell me vamp, what do you think you’re going to do? Turn us into blood sucking creeps like you? We will never let that happen. We’d rather die first!” I strained my neck left than right trying to turn and face Lawrence Karayan better, who continued to inch ever closer. I wasn’t sure what his next move was going to be but I didn’t want to stick around to find out, as soon as I saw an opening we were going to jump.

  As seconds passed I began to worry, feeling Mayumi couldn’t hold on much longer and no sooner did that thought race through my mind when I heard her moan, “I’m starting to lose my grip Arthur, sweat is dripping down my face and arms to my hands making them slick. I’m ready to leap and must go before Adelaide’s hands slide out of mine. . . Come on Arthur, hurry this up!”

  “Turn you? You’d be so lucky,” Lawrence answered smarmily. “The only thing I’m going to do is kill you, kill you all! Now I must apologize but I’m tired of this useless conversation. Just like Braddock you werewolves think you can talk yourself to victory, how foolish!” His laughed nastily, briefly closing his eyes.

  That split second was all I needed! I squeezed Mayumi’s hand tight then let go and she knew it was jump time. “Finally — Push off Addie!” She yelled exhaustedly and released Adelaide’s hands, flipped up into a squat and then jumped with all her strength doing a flip over the side of the cliff like a professional high diver, her chuter held tightly in her hand, flapping in the wind as she flew gracefully over the side.

  Adelaide instantaneously pushed hard off the cliff wall also, both legs propelling her out and away from the sharp mountain edges falling back first before rotating her body around to look down at the approaching ground like she’d just leapt from a plane.

  Ethan took a quick breath than two steps and leaped feet first after Mayumi, the kid has some moxie, I thought as he began waving his arms in large circles to keep his balance without a hint of fear in his eyes, only determined concentration.

  I had the most difficult task; I spun, standing as quickly as I possibly could as my cramped leg muscles stretched in protest, thankfully the years of leg presses in the gym paid off and I didn’t pull or tear anything. I grabbed the twins around their waists in one swift movement on either side of me in a tight hug and just caught a glimpse of the vampire’s startled look as I yelled, “Jump,” and the three of us sailed over the side of the mountain and out of sight. The tw
ins screamed frantically, terror filling their eyes not fully realizing what was happening as we fell fast through the cool air towards the rocky bottom.

  Chapter 49 – Gone

  Lawrence Karayan

  My eyes, do they deceive me? I’ve never seen such recklessness, nor bravery. The SymJin in the blink of an eye vanished. They have jumped. But why would they jump to their death? Would they rather die? I may have misjudged them. I thought, flashing to the edge watching them fall, disappearing, and flickering as flames that go out unannounced as each dot grew smaller until gone.

  Confused about what I’d witnessed, I continued to stare down the cliff in disbelief until once more only the vast canyon lay silently stretched out before me. I was angry yet relieved at the same time. “That was easier than I imagined, not even a futile fight, but why?” I growled, turned and stomped heavily back up the trail, the undergrowth crunching and branches breaking effortlessly under my large feet as I headed to the cabin with an unusual feeling of disappointment washing over me. It had been ages since I’d felt emotions such as these, maybe a bit of my humanness still resided deep within me somewhere, hidden. But there was no time to reminisce about my weak, once human life, I needed to find their dead bodies and see if there were markings on their fingers.

  Stepping inside the old cabin I studied the quiet, dingy room. That’s when I noticed something was out of place. Lying on top of an old weathered trunk pushed against the furthest wall there was something I hadn’t noticed earlier when I ran through. Curiously I walked over to inspect this item a little closer. “What is this?” I pondered this thing made of heavy silk material, holding it up in the muted light that shown in through the wide opened front and back cabin doors. “It’s . . . it’s . . . IT’S A PARACHUTE!” I screeched, knowing I’d let the SymJin escape my grasps yet again. Hastily I flew back to the cliff’s edge where they had jumped from mere moments before and peered down into the canyon, something felt different. For earlier only emptiness glared back at me, but this time as I stood peering down, I felt the canyon was laughing at me!

  “MY CLEVER SYMJIN, WE WILL MEET AGAIN AND I WILL NOT WASTE OUR TIME TALKING. NEXT TIME WE MEET, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU ALL!” I bellowed into the empty canyon, listening to my echo before letting out a bloodcurdling scream, making sure they could hear me no matter how far they believed they’d safely gone. Angrily I stomped back into the dense forest disappearing into the dark shadows to plan my search to find them one final time and this time I will kill them at first sight, no words need be spoken.

  Chapter 50 - The Fall

  Arthur

  “PULL OUT THE CHUTERS! . . . VICTORIA, CAELYN—THE CHUTERS! TAKE THEM OUT, OPEN THEM—HURRY!” I yelled frantically while still holding the twins tightly to my side falling fast. Spinning through the canyon semi-controlled or so I thought, the sparse canyon trees around us zipped by, the only sound heard was the whooshing of the cool mountain air as our bodies sped towards the canyon floor.

  Fumbling with our chuters with no sign of slowing, the wind trying to rip them from our grasp, the three of us rocketed passed Ethan who had already opened his chuter and was floating down slowly, being pulled left than right like a leaf caught in an autumn breeze.

  Next we sailed by Mayumi who looked as shocked as we did passing her easily, “OPEN YOUR CHUTES!” She yelled a little too late. Surely we were just a large blur shooting by her.

  Lastly we zoomed by Adelaide who had a look of complete and helpless horror on her face watching the three of us go by so quick. She knew we’d hit the ground shortly and be turned into human pancakes if we didn’t open our chutes in the next few seconds.

  Time was something we didn’t have much of at this point; the nothingness once below was definitely turning into something as we fell towards a grayish canyon floor which I couldn’t help but imagine was a pile of jagged rocks and large boulders just waiting for our bone crushing impact. As gruesome as it was, I was debating whether it would be better to be impaled on some jagged rock or simply hit a flat surface with a crushing blow.

  “We’re not going to make it.” I mumbled to myself before yelling to my sisters. “I MUST LET GO OF YOU TWO SO YOU CAN OPEN THE CHUTERS! WE HAVE NO MORE TIME, SO ON THE COUNT OF THREE I’LL LET GO!” Their eyes were still full of fear as I began my countdown, I didn’t feel any better but this was our last ditch hope at survival. “ONE – TWO – THREE!” I regrettably let go, “NOW, NOW, NOW OPEN THEM NOW!” I screamed one last time praying they’d get their chutes open before it was too late as I spread my arms apart above my head, the chuter whipping open. The burning in my shoulders and muscles was nothing like I’d ever felt before, my arms stretched taut as if they’d rip apart as the wind caught my chuter and slowed my descent immensely. WOW these things do work, I thought relieved, ignoring the pain and stinging in my upper body and arms.

  Unfortunately I was brought back to the moment hearing Victoria and Caelyn still screaming for their lives knowing they’d hit the ground soon, as they continued to fumble with their chuters trying to get them out with only moments to spare.

  Still screaming frantically, desperately trying to get their chuters to catch the wind, they knew, and I knew, they’d come to their end and I braced for their crushing impact that I couldn’t bear to watch. I should have done more, I thought. I could have shielded them with my body, which might have saved them from the looming impact. At least it would have been better than letting them tumble alone to their deaths. How will I ever live with myself?

  Yet after a few seconds of looking away, I could still hear them screaming the same words, “STOP – STOP – STOOOOP,” and their voices were strangely coming closer. Surly they should have hit the ground by now. Did they make it? I thought and excitedly looked down again. As I floated nearer I curiously watched the twins slowly opened their eyes, magically floating in the air just above raging white water rapids. The same damn rapids I was about to plunge into. Looking at each other amazed they hadn’t died, they began laughing with joy when I crashed into the water only inches from them. Apparently I broke their concentration or whatever it was holding them up because I saw them fall into the raging waters after me as I was quickly pulled under.

  I struggled for air and swam hard, kicking my legs furiously to fight the grip the rapids held on me to get my head above the water. It seemed hours passed although it was only minutes and finally I broke the rapids grasp and my head shot above the water gasping for air. Thankfully I spotted the twins’ but their once relieved faces soon turned to fear yet again, as they were also swept up in the white water rapids, pulling them down stream tumbling in circles uncontrollably not too far behind myself. I feared for them and this time I would not fail my sisters, but I had to concentrate on my survival first, having hit hard seconds before I was not only fighting the current but was also still struggling to regain my breath having had it knocked out of me when I’d crashed into the rapids.

  Although I fought valiantly, the river’s current proved too strong a foe to fight any longer and I had no choice but to give in and let it drag me down stream at its whim. I decidedly shifted my priority to simply keeping my head above the water and my body from smashing into large boulders the best I could, and as luck would have it, I was actually able to latch onto one jetting out of the river. Unfortunately my rest was short lived. I only had the chance to take three deep breathes before the twins helpless tumbling bodies shot past me. I spat profanities breathlessly and let go of the boulder to be swept up by the cold raging river once more, trying to catch them swimming hard in their direction I yelled continuously for my sisters to hold on between being push, pulled and tugged under myself.

  Chapter 51 - The Fall

  Adelaide

  The chuters worked but the speed at which I floated down through the canyon was still rather hectic. My fingers automatically wrapped tightly onto my chuter handles, afraid I’d lose my grip, while my body and feet dangled helplessly below. Thankfully I was able to spot Arthur
and the twins in the crashing whitewater rapids below me; sadly I knew I’d be joining them momentarily. Still, they’d made it and it gave me confidence I’d make it too. But then, glancing directly below my dangling legs for where I’d hit the water, there was a wide grouping of jagged boulders slicing up through the rapids. I screamed in panic, instinctively gritting my teeth as I was heading straight for them. I frantically swung my legs trying to make the chuter sway off course but my efforts seemed to be of no use. So I did the next best thing I could think of, I squeezed my eyes shut not wanting to watch my life come to an end or at the least see both my legs crumble like twigs on impact.

  Remarkably the bone crushing impact never happened; instead my body was engulfed in a freezing blanket of water. Water . . . water, I’m in the water. . . I’m still alive. I thought laughing to myself, accidentally swallowing a large amount of river water causing me to gag and choke as I swam to get my head above the cold rapids.

  Breaking through into the open mountain air, coughing and spitting up the water I’d just involuntarily sucked in, I thanked God I wasn’t as flat as a pancake at the bottom of a ravine. Happily gagging instead of being dead, a wave of relief surged over me as the icy water did the same, pushing and pulling me downstream after my siblings.