Chapter
2 ‘Splat’ Page 7
Struggling over rotted trees,
through thick jungle vines and along damp ground, the boys pressed on. Finally stopping at a most unusual
obstacle. Towering in front of them was
a high wall of twisted vines that curved off to the far left and far
right. They found a place in the wall
where the vines didn’t grow. Hoping to
find a short cut through the barrier the boys climbed through the opening.
The air was suddenly alive with
color! Giant flowers with stems like
tree trunks grew out of the dark wet soil.
It was very beautiful in a bizarre sort of way and was certainly the
weirdest garden Tommy and Jason had ever seen.
They wandered among the towering stems and tried to imagine what kind of
crazy gardener had thought this place up.
It took them more than an hour to make their way around the inside of
the strange enclosure, only to find the vine wall completely surrounded them
and the garden. They split up and scanned
the wall for any sign of a doorway out.
It was Tommy who found one. He
turned to call Jason over but Jason wasn’t there. Now where did he go?
Jason wouldn’t wander off without telling me, would he?
“Jason? Jason, where are you!?” called Tommy. “This isn’t funny!” But
Jason didn’t respond. Tommy was
starting to get nervous.
“Come on Jason, your wasting
time!” This time Tommy got a
response. It was a faint muffled
noise. Tommy slowly turned around
trying to find where the noise was coming from. He paused in front of one of the huge stems and looked up. Atop the stem, inside a giant flower head
with its petals tightly shut... something was moving!
There was the noise again but this
time it was louder! Tommy gasped! Was that his name being screamed? Yes it was!
It was his name! Tommy knew he
had to get the flower open, his brother was trapped inside!
He ran to the wall, grabbed a thick
piece of stiff vine and pulled, but it wouldn’t budge. Tommy started to seriously panic. What was he going to do! He let go of the vine and looked around for
ideas. That’s when he spied a jagged
rock lying on the ground near him. Tommy
picked it up and began to hack at the vine. It finally broke free and Tommy ran
at the plant, swinging like he was Mark McGuire down by a run in the bottom of
the ninth. He whacked the stem several
times without anything happening. Then
one of the huge plant leaves took a whack at Tommy, sending him flying through
the air! He landed on the ground
several feet away. Without missing a
beat Tommy jumped to his feet. He
wasn’t going to give up that easy and was about to try again when a thought
came to him. Tommy sat on the ground
and with the rock in one hand began to cut away at one end of the stiff vine
until it was a sharp point. Once again
he charged at the plant. Ducking under
the dangerous leaves he plunged the sharpened vine deep into the stem then
quickly backed away. The mutant flower
shuddered and shook then keeled over.
Seconds later the flower opened and Jason tumbled out. Tommy rushed over to him and pulled him away
from the deadly plant. Jason coughed
loudly. He was covered with sticky
pollen.
“Are you okay?” asked Tommy.
Jason was visibly shaken. “That plant tried to eat me!” he
shrieked. “I couldn’t breathe!”
“Will you be able to go on?”
Jason got to his feet. “I want to get as far away from here as
possible!” He had a feeling he’d never
look at a flower the same way again.
The boys
ran through the doorway Tommy found earlier and back out into the dense jungle.
Once again the sun began its journey
behind the horizon. Jason slumped down
on a wet log, rubbed his hands through his hair, and took a good look
around. All he saw was the same
horrible wet jungle they had been traveling through all day.
“We’re never going to get home are
we?’ he said softly. “We’ve been
walking for hours and we’re not getting anywhere.” Jason was feeling totally defeated. “It’s hopeless, just hopeless.
We’re going to end up a pile of bones just like the ones we saw
earlier.” He put his face in his hands
and went quiet.
Tommy sat on the ground and did his
best to comfort his brother. “I know
our situation doesn’t look good but I’m sure we’re on the right track.” Tommy felt like this was all his fault. If it hadn’t been for his stupid need to get
a picture of a dinosaur, they’d be at home right now.
“Jason,” Tommy said quietly. His chin quivered.
“Yeah, what?” said Jason.
“I’m sorry. It’s all my fault.” said Tommy. Tears rolled down his face.
Jason sat on the ground and put an
arm around his brother’s shaking shoulders.
“Don’t cry Squirt. You didn’t know any of this was going to
happen. Besides, it’s not all your
fault. I should have done more to stop you.”
They sat in silence listening to the
rumbling of their stomachs. Neither of
them had eaten since breakfast the previous morning. All they had were the jellybeans in Jason’s pocket. Although any kind of junk food was great,
they still would have given anything to be at home eating their Mom’s cooking,
even if that meant spinach. After
devouring the last jellybean the boys continued on with the flashlight guiding
their way through the dim jungle.