"Are you okay?" Sam asked worried and Kyle's eyes darted open.
"Is it broken?" Jimmy asked, shining a flashlight on Kyle's arm, but he pulled back into the darkness.
"I'm alright. It's just a bruise," he said.
"Then let me see," Jimmy insisted.
Kyle rolled his eyes, but took his hand off his shoulder. He was right, it was only a bruise. A big purple bruise with green, red and yellow spots all over it and a bloody gush right in the middle. Sam turned to the others worried, but Jimmy and Tom didn't seem to think it was a big deal and Jerry was looking away pointedly as if he had now decided that he didn't want to talk to Sam anymore either.
"I can't believe we got out of this one!" Jimmy laughed and Sam stared at him.
Before he could ask what was so funny, Tom and Kyle started laughing, too, the kind of laugh that exuded pure joy. And they weren't stopping. Jimmy had his arms around his middle while Tom had leaned against the wall.
"What on earth is so funny?" Jerry asked as outraged as Sam felt.
"We're alive," Tom said between hiccups.
"Yes, but we're in a dark corridor in the bowels of a temple filled with traps."
"Who cares?" Jimmy asked wiping away a tear. "We're alive." And the three continued laughing.
Sam gawked at them and his heart ached. As he looked at Tom, he wanted to be him, to laugh so carelessly. For the first time in his life he wanted to be someone else. Someone who looked exactly the same but could laugh out loud at just the thought of being alive. He could join them, but it wouldn't be natural. Just an imitation of someone he wanted to become. Maybe he would, in time.
"You know, I keep wondering," Tom said, trying to regain his composure. "How the hell did you smash through that wall?"
"I don't know," Kyle said between rounds of laughter.
"Will you at least now acknowledge that you might be a bit..." Sam paused, searching for a proper word. "Not normal?"
"I never claimed I was normal." Kyle finally stopped laughing and frowned slightly. "I've never noticed anything abnormal about me before. Maybe the wall was old and flimsy."
"Um, no. We've been pushing it before you smashed it and there was nothing old and flimsy about it," Jimmy said.
Kyle shrugged and everyone was once again aware that they weren't out of the woods yet. They faced a foreign tunnel that could lead anywhere. Though Sam was convinced it was an escape tunnel.
"Let's use just one flashlight to save our batteries and walk in a single line," he suggested.
They all agreed and started off through the darkness with Sam in the lead. There were crunchy things on the floor that fell apart under his boots, but he couldn't say what they were and he didn't want to know. All he wanted was to see sunlight again.
They walked for about a half an hour, talking amongst themselves, wondering where Snitch Gravel was, if the professor and Herrison had managed to dodge him and Sam couldn't help but congratulate himself for suggesting they set up camp further away from the temple, in a secluded spot.
He suddenly stopped because his flashlight flickered and turned off. The light had become steadily weaker, but he hoped it would last a bit longer. He reached out his hand for another flashlight but hit something that appeared to be dangling from the ceiling. The crackling sound it made, as if bones had hit metal, made the blood freeze in his veins. How could he have missed this?
"Here you go." Tom turned on another flashlight.
Sam's stomach dropped to his knees. He'd hit an armored corpse dangling next to him, all the bones still sticking together.
"Turn it off! I think I'm gonna throw up," Sam said covering his mouth and looking into the floor just to see another corpse. He shut his eyes tightly and felt his knees weak, but he couldn't sit down.
Tom turned the flashlight off immediately, but it was already too late. Had Sam misinterpreted the tunnel's destination? Was some trap hidden there, one that would turn them into dangling corpses as well? But they had to move on.
Gingerly, one step at a time, they continued walking. Every time he put one foot down, Sam wondered what could have caused the deaths of those people. But no trap came to mind, so he decided to keep going until they would either die or get out. Now he felt like laughing hysterically.
What seemed like years later, they reached a dead end. Sam turned on another flashlight and pointed it directly at the ceiling to see what looked like a trap door. The tunnel was clean here and there were some stone steps on the side of the wall, leading up to the doorway.
He and Tom both rushed up the stone steps as though racing each other and shoved the stone slab away. As soon as the slab moved, Sam squinted, trying to get his eyes readjusted to the light. He tried to see where they'd ended up, but didn't get to as a pair of hands wrapped around his shoulders.
"You're alive!" Christine yelled in his ear, kissing the side of his face. "I was so afraid something had happened to you."
Sam twisted in her arms and planted a kiss on her lips. "I love you."
Christine's eyes widened and she pulled back. Then her face lit up like the sun and she laughed. She threw her arms around him again. "I love you, too!"
Sam detached her from him. "Why are you still here? You should've gone with your dad."
Christine shook her head. "I couldn't leave without being sure you were okay. And who cares now? We're leaving in a few hours anyway, aren't we?"
"Hey, lovebirds, move!" Tom said nudging Sam and he finally moved out of the way.
Putting one arm around Christine, he watched Tom climb over the edge of the trap door. It came out away from the temple, but right next to camp. Kyle followed Tom out. There was a squeal and Tina launched forward, wrapping her arms around Kyle and hugging him.
"Whoa." Kyle spun on the spot as though trying to throw her off, but regained his footing and patted her back. "It's okay. We're all fine."
"I'm so glad." Tina looked up at him and then at Jerry who was half out, staring at her and Kyle. It took Tina a second to let Kyle go and launch herself at Jerry to hug him, too.
Christine giggled next to Sam as though she found her sister's behavior highly amusing. Sam had to agree that seeing Jerry and Tina together was kinda funny. Tina and Kyle were just weird.
Alice came over too, squeezed Sam's shoulder with a smile and headed for Jimmy who's just come out too and was pushing the stone slab back over the trap door. She reached him, grabbed his shoulder, turned him to face her and kissed him. Not just the peck Sam had given Christine, a real kiss. Jimmy's surprise lasted only a second. He wrapped one arm around her waist, pulled her against him and kissed her back.
"Ugh, they should get a room," Christine said fighting back more giggles.
"So should you," Kyle said, nudging Sam's shoulder.
With the distraction of Tina gone, Jerry stared him down, the desire to lecture him burning in his eyes. Sam started back at him, unimpressed. Jerry's lips were pursed and he started shaking as thought he was about to burst.
"Oh, damn this!" he said, turning away from Sam and taking a few steps after which he wheeled around and march back to him. "You irresponsible little brat! How could you do this now? This is no time to get distracted from your job! You...you...could end up getting us killed if your mind wonders off—"
"You're one to talk! Besides, I've been in love with Christine since before we left home." Sam grinned and Jerry stared at him. "And who died and made me boss?"
"Herrrison died, and apparently Jerry made you boss," Jimmy answered, his arm wrapped around Alice's shoulders.
"He's a good boss," Alice agreed. "A very good choice."
Sam did a double take. Everyone was looking at him fondly. No one was laughing at what he clearly thought was a joke. "Wait, you're serious? You're putting me in charge?"
"Sam, you've been calling the shots ever since we decided Herrison had no idea what he was doing," Kyle pointed out. "This doesn't mean that we won't disagree with you or pull the big brother card, but as far as I'm concerned, yup, you're in charge."
Sam stared. His first impulse was to say no, that this was a terrible idea, but he stopped himself. Why not? Who cared he was the youngest there? He felt up for it. He nodded and there was a collective sigh of relief.
"Okay, now that's over with, congratulations Sam and let's head to bed. It's been a long day," Jerry said. "But even if you're the leader now, I'm still not okay with this," he added pointing from him to Christine, but Sam only stuck his tongue out at him, making him laugh.
"You heard Jerry, guys and gals," Sam said. "Everyone to bed!"
No one objected to this. Sam watched them heading for their tents, talking amongst themselves, and tried to stop grinning.
"Glad to see you are safe, senor Sam."
Sam turned to Carlos who was smiling at him, showing his golden tooth. "Wait, Carlos, didn't you leave with Herrison and the professor?"
The guide shook his head. "I sent Pedro with them. I think you'll need me more."
Sam gave Carlos a hug. "Gracias." Even if he liked Pedro too, Carlos was more fatherly, and he needed that right then. The two of them would make sure to get everyone out of the jungle safely.
"De nada, senor," Carlos answered seeming taken aback by Sam's show of affection. He ruffled Sam's hair and headed for camp. Tom was the only one still by his side.
"I'm glad Carlos stayed. I like him." Tom turned to Sam. "We forgot to tell the others about the document," he finally said, emptying his pockets and handing the document and the ruby to Sam.
"You're right, but there's no point waking everyone up now. I don't even think we'll need the thing," Sam answered. He was going to read it just for fun, but not now. His mind wasn't in it.
"Congratulations, by the way," Tom said. "With Christine I mean."
He walked away without waiting for and answer and Sam watched him disappearing inside the tent he and Jimmy shared, unable to shake the feeling that he had sounded resentful.
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Sooo... stupid teenagers being stupid. But they're young and they think it's over. You do know that's not going to happen, right?
Any predictions on what would happen next? Will they find corpses on their way back? Or will an ancient curse kill everyone in their sleep?
Read on to find out.
I'm totally getting a spooky movie vibe. Sorry 😐
Thanks for reading and don't forget to vote and comment!