Ola-Kai

Chapter 1

It had been a long flight and it felt like an eternity since they had left China. Flying over the hot Arizona desert, Lucia felt relieved to know that they would be arriving in New York in only 5 hours.

She was flying with Gabriel, the pilot, and they were aboard a cargo aircraft with Ola-Kai. Ola-Kai was a 2-year-old panda cub who had a new home waiting for him at the Bronx Zoo.

After much controversy as to where the cub would go, the Bronx zoo was able to offer the most accommodating and loving environment for little Ola-Kai, and Lucia was very happy about that.

Lucia petted his black and white fur softly and thought about how great her decision of choosing to become a panda caretaker after college had been.

She had learned so much from being with these delicate creatures and had grown especially fond of Ola-Kai whom she had known from the moment his mother gave birth to him.

Gabriel, who was wearing dark sunglasses over his eyes and an American flag bandana around his head, yelled back at Lucia to bring him a soda.

As she walked towards the cockpit with the soda in hand, the plane started to shake roughly. Scared, she approached Gabriel and asked him what was going on but the only thing he said was

"O Lord, don't tell me that this is happening."

The engine of the right wing of the plane had stopped working and the gas was leaking out. Gabriel couldn't explain what was happening.

He was certain in his mind that this was no accident. It had to be a sinister act done by someone who didn't agree with Ola-Kai's departure to America.

That, however, didn't matter at the moment because he was losing tons of gas by the second and with no airport around, it wouldn't be long until the plane crashed.

Gabriel looked at Lucia pressing his lips together and through his facial expression, she was able to tell that he didn't know what to do.

She went back to hug Ola-Kai who was scared and whining from the turbulence of the plane. Lucia gazed back up at Gabriel with tears in her eyes but as soon as their eyes interlocked, she knew something had changed.

There was a renewed sense of hope and determination in Gabriel's eyes.

He looked at her intently and asked if she knew how to swim.

Confused by the question and unsure about whether or not she was hearing him right, she walked towards him.

Gabriel pointed to a river up ahead and told Lucia that he could fly low enough to the point where he would be hovering just a few feet above the water.

It would only be for a few seconds, but it would be enough time for her and Ola-Kai to jump into the water without getting injured.

Lucia asked Gabriel what would happen to him, and Gabriel only shook his head and said not to worry about that, having them jump out was their best option.

Besides, a good pilot flies with his plane until the very end.

"Lucia,"

Gabriel added gravely,

"be careful out there and take care of that cub. I'm certain that this malfunction was no accident."

Lucia, stunned by what she was hearing and still shaken by what was happening, only managed to nod at Gabriel as she grabbed her backpack full of supplies and held the whining panda to her chest.

Soon, the heroic Gabriel hovered just a few feet above the grand canyon river and yelled:

"Out now!!"

And the two gave each other one last farewell as she tightly held onto Ola-Kai and bravely jumped off into the blue water — submerging in it.

Her and Ola-Kai desperately paddled back up to the surface.

She looked around and was at ease to see that Ola-Kai had safely made his way to the top of the water.

Gabriel crossed her mind and she was heavy-hearted to see that the plane was pressed against a red rocky mountain in flames.

Sad, but determined to make Gabriel's sacrifice worth it, she swam towards Ola-Kai, held on to him and told him everything would be okay.

After a few minutes of deep breaths and thinking as they floated on the river, Lucia looked around and found herself surrounded by huge red walls of rocks.

About a mile ahead, however, she was able to spot some land, so she decided that the first step would be getting themselves out of the river.

With one hand holding Ola-Kai to her chest and the other paddling, Lucia gathered all her strength to get her and the cub to safety.

Once on land, Lucia let out a loud sigh and laid down on her back to rest for a few seconds. She looked over at Ola-Kai and petted his wet fur.

"It's going to be alright," she said.

Ola-Kai simply gave her a loud squeal and buried his head under her shoulder. Lucia knew exactly what that meant. The cub was hungry.

Luckily, she had been smart enough to pack a bag of bamboo before jumping out of the plane. She took the bag out of her backpack and fed the cub a few bamboo sticks as they rested and as she thought of what to do next.

5 hours, she thought. We were supposed to land in New York in 5 hours.

When we don't get there and they check the location of the plane, they'll know about the accident and they'll come to rescue us.

She looked around once more and noticed that she only had a few hours of sunlight left before she'd have to find shelter for the cub and herself until they were rescued.

However, Lucia knew that their only chance of survival would be if she found a way to communicate with them too. The only way she could think of doing this was going to the site of the crash and hoping that the emergency communication kit somehow survived.