Pangaea

Chapter 9

My heart was racing as I frantically scanned the scene trying to find a way to get to the girls, or at least get them to us. I tried to find something to use as a bridge for them. But the echoes of screams and chaos was a bit distracting. Dixon was pacing behind me. He approached me and ran a hand through his hair anxiously and asked, "What do we do man?"

I stayed silent, honestly at a loss. But then another problem dawned on me, "The notes." I muttered. The notes to the company were all in the car, and the car is now at the bottom of the hole that formed. I raced to the pit in a panic. I fell to my knees and put my head over the hole. All I saw was a long way down to a pit of lava. "Jim!! Get away from there, you'll fall!" Emma yelled from across the street. Lauren held her back from running to me. "Jim, come on what are you doing?!" Dixon questioned as he pulled me back. I let out a defeated sigh, "The notes were in the car Dixon, all the notes that led to the company."

He let out a breath and shook his head, "Maybe it just wasn't meant to be. But dude we need to get the girls and go alright." I composed myself and tried to further analyze the situation. The hole was uneven and had ridges. I then noticed that during the earthquake a tree on their sidewalk was uprooted. If they gave it enough tug, it would loosen and fall, hopefully in the right place creating a bridge.I nodded to myself feeling somewhat confident with the plan.

I put my hands over my mouth to speak over the noise when I yelled to the girls, "Can you get to that tree?" They must've heard me because they slowly trudged over to it. "It's lose, can you knock it over?" I then asked. "What are you trying to do?" Dixon asked. Right then there was a loud bang and I saw the girls had succeeded in knocking it over. It fell perfectly. "Create a bridge." I stated.

"What now?" Emma asked. "Cross." Dixon and I yelled. The girls exchanged fearful glances. Lauren nudged Emma to the edge, signaling her to go first. Emma glared before swallowing the lump in her throat and hesitantly stepped onto the unstable tree bridge. She yelped when a piece of bark chipped off and she wobbled. "You can do this." I assured her. She went on all fours and began crawling.

Dixon and I watched in anticipation as she slowly made her way across. She was breathing heavily as she crawled. I held eye contact with her the whole way, it seemed to be the only thing keeping her calm as I encouraged her across. Once she was in arms reach I immediately grabbed her and pulled her up. She dusted herself off and shuddered a bit. "Are you alright?" I asked. She nodded with a sigh, "Yeah I just never want to do that ever again."

We all looked back to signal Lauren. "Come on and cross." Emma called. Lauren reluctantly stepped onto the bridge and began inching her way over. She walked as if she was on a tight rope,with her arms out to balance her while she held her eyes glued shut. "Don't look down." We kept hearing her tell herself that over and over. "You got this." Dixon told her as he moved to the edge, getting ready to grab her.

She made a move to take his hand and the unthinkable happened. A loud snapping sound echoed and the tree bridge broke right down the middle. My eyes widened as Lauren plummeted out of my sight. "No!!!" Emma shrieked. I had to hold her back. By the grace of God it seems, Dixon was quick as a wink. He dove to the ground and we saw he was desperately trying to hold onto something.

When I looked over the edge I saw he held Lauren loosely by the hand. She was struggling to keep a grip and panicking at the same time. Dixon grunted, "I got you, don't worry." He groaned as he used all his strength and pulled her tiny frame up by himself. Once she was up, she flung herself onto Dixon in a tight hug. He felt the wind knock out of him as she clung to him. "Thank you." She said breathlessly. He chuckled," No problem."

I watched their embrace with a small smile. Emma let out a breath of relief and raced to her friend.They then hugged as well. Dixon walked over to me and let out a breath. "Quick thinking, you saved her." I commended. He nodded then smirked, "Maybe after today she won't be that big of a challenge." I scoffed playfully, "Right you saving her life was just too earn cool points."

He grinned, " It worked didn't it?" We both looked back and sure enough Lauren was giving Dixon a grateful smile. I shook my head smiling and he grinned triumphantly, "All in good time Jimmy, all in good time." The girls made their way over to us.

"So now that we've crossed the death bridge, what now?" Lauren asked. I lost my smile when I remembered," The notes, they're gone, they were swallowed with the car." Emma sighed, "Jim I know those were important to you but we can't worry about that, we need to get off the streets, it isn't safe." The group started walking away and I caught up with them, "Where are you going?" I asked. "I don't know about the ladies but I'm going to the hospital, Mocha fierce here nearly broke my arm when I helped her up." Dixon teased. Lauren scowled at him, "Don't make me regret starting to tolerate you." He chuckled in response.

Emma turned to us, " Should we go back to the campus? See if anything survived the quake?" Lauren scoffed, " I doubt it, everything for miles looks trashed." "We should still try." Emma pressed. "She's right, anything to get off the streets." Dixon agreed.

With that the group headed down the trashed streets, making a habit to stay close together. I observed what was left of the city in sadness. Buildings had collapsed, fires and smoke could be seen in the distance and people anywhere were running crazy looking for a safe place, that or they were looting.

I must've been lost in thought awhile because I didn't even notice Emma repeatedly waving in my face. "Huh?" I blurted out. She raised an eyebrow, "You blanked out." I glanced forward and saw Dixon talking to Lauren though she looked annoyed. "Can I ask you something?" Emma spoke. I nodded, looking at her. "How did you know all of this was going to happen? I mean I know you said you say it, but what does that even mean?"

I sighed myself and shrugged, "I wish I knew. But that's all I can say. I saw all of this happening as if it really did, and then like a bad dream, the next time I opened my eyes I was back with you in the car as if it never really happened ." I explained. She looked lost in thought," That's all so strange."

We kept walking in silence. I was thankful I saw the horizon of the school approaching. Suddenly we saw Lauren and Dixon freeze. I got a closer look and froze myself. The school was utterly destroyed. And the large hole that was made seemed to reach far beyond the school. It was like a crack in the earth. "You think my Xbox survived this?" Dixon asked seemingly genuinely concerned. Lauren let out a breath, "It's good to know that in the face of chaos you focus on the important things in life." Dixon glared at her playfully and crossed his arms, "Care to wager on that?"

Lauren raised an eyebrow,"What are you talking about?" He continued, "If I find my Xbox in this mess, I win. If I don't then you win." She chuckled," I doubt you'll find anything in this hell hole." He grinned , "Even better, if I find anything that's mine, I win. If I don't- well you know where I'm going with this."

She thought it over a moment before shaking her head, "You're not going to find anything." He smirked, "But you're in?" She reluctantly nodded. When he turned to leave she stopped him. "Hold it." He looked back. She slowly approached ,"What exactly do you get if you win?"

Instead of answering, Dixon lightly brushed her cheek with her thumb, "I'll think about it." She slatted his hand away, "So will I." At once we all walked into the collapsed school in search of anything and everything.