The Disappearance of Taylor

Chapter 6

"Where the heck are we?" Max questioned as he looked up at the sky. Actually, there was no sky, only an endless amount of treetops, their leaves blocking out the sun and sky entirely, so the forest was almost completely dark. Danny took out a flashlight and turned it on. The light radiated through the forest.

"Princess Shayla told us that Taylor might be somewhere deep in a forest past the city," Danny exclaimed. "And... here we are."

"But this forest seems to stretch on for miles," Max groaned. "And it's so dark. How will we know if she's here?"

"We'll know. The princess said that she couldn't have been sent too far."

"Yeah, well, we can't go back to the Animarium until we find her," Max grumbled. "After all, she is-or was -our yellow Ranger."

"Yes." The two went on in silence.

"I sure hope the others are having better luck than us than this," Danny muttered as he and Max crossed a muddy swamp when it seemed to be night. "This stinks... literally."

"Should we stop and rest now?" Max asked. "We've only been walking through this forest for about 17 hours." Surprisingly, Max had somehow been able to bring a watch along with his large pack.

"Then yes." Upon those words, Danny and Max set their packs down and gathered a bunch of sticks for a campfire. They had forgotten to pack a lighter and there was no flint rocks nearby as far as they could see, but luckily, Danny wore glasses, so he used them to catch a bit of light from above. Once the campfire was attended to, they ate some of the food that they had prepared beforehand.

"A small amount, my friend,"Danny told Max. "We must save our food for the days to come."

Max groaned again, but saved some of the food. Soon, he and Danny drifted into sleep.

***********************************

Danny woke up and found Max already helping himself to a bit more of his food. He sighed and joined his friend. Max quickly finished and got up from the ground. He packed everything he had taken out into his large bag and motioned for Danny to do the same, which he did. Then the two started off again.

"Um, Danny?" Max mumbled when they went deeper into the forest. "Am I the only one who thinks that the longer it is that we don't find Taylor, the worse her condition could become?"

"No, Max, you're not the only one with that fear," Danny replied.

Max looked straight ahead as he walked on with Danny.

"We're coming, Taylor," he whispered, loud enough so that Danny could hear. "Just hold on. Hopefully, we'll be there soon."