Daria stood at the edge of the cliff, gazing over the precipice. Below her, amid the pines and the still-bare oaks, the river rushed by, roaring over boulders and down cataracts.
A full thirty-five feet, she thought, that would be enough to do the trick. She imagined what a body would look like, tumbling to the rocks below. She thought of Piggy in "Lord of the Flies."
"Daria?" It was Jane, coming up behind her. "Daria, are you okay?"
"Yes, Jane," she said, swallowing hard, "Perfectly alright. I'm standing here, enjoying a beatiful vista with morbid thoughts running through my mind and amber waves of vertigo lapping playfully in my head."
"Gee, sounds wonderful," she said, coming up beside her. "Whoa, that is something! Hey, what do you think it would look like if somebody fell down there?"
Daria locked her fingers in a death-grip around Jane's arm. "Just back me away from here slowly, okay?"
Brittany bounced up on Daria's other side. "Hey, you! What are you looking at? Ooh, pretty! Hey, Kevie! Look at this!"
Kevin came up, muscling his way between Daria and Brittany. "'Scuse me, Daria. Whoa, cool!"
"Daria," said Jane, "my arm!"
Through gritted teeth, Daria said, "Pull me back, Lane!"
"But we might get a chance to see..."
"Now!"
"Okay, okay..." Jane guided her back from the ledge, but not in time.
"You kids get your butts back to this side of the guardrail NOW!" shrieked Barch. Glowering at Kevin, she added, "You enticed them into this, didn't you, man-spawn?"
Kevin looked at Brittany. "Um, you know the answer, Babe?"
"Ummmmm," she responded.
"It's 'yes,' Kevin," said Daria, now safely behind the guardrail.
"Oh, okay. Yes!" He grinned in momentary triumph before Barch savaged him.
"Daria? Jane?" It was Mr. O'Neill. "You shouldn't be taking chances like that. The guardrail is there for your protection."
"Tell me, Mr. O'Neill," said Jane, "Haven't you ever gone against the rules, just for the fun of it?"
"Uh, well, heh-heh," he stammered and blushed, smiling at the memory of the last time he and Janet had been to the park. By the time he had collected himself, Daria and Jane had made good their escape.
He looked around. Andrea was nearby, giving him a strange look. He thought of Littleton, gave her what he hoped was a conciliatory smile, and moved on.
"Well," said Jane, rubbing her arm, "That was fun. What say we hit the store again before Barch begins the death march?"
"Doesn't look like we have the time," she said, as Morris came out of the ranger station and strode purposefully toward Barch. "Lets go!"
"What's the word, Sam?" asked Barch.
"Looks like we lost Demartino, Phelps, and most of the seniors back at Woodbridge. Just spoke to the bus driver."
"What's wrong?"
"They threw a rod, he says. I told Li that damned old warhorse wouldn't make it. Now they're going to have to tow it back to Lawndale."
"Hmmph!" She had a sour look on her face. "I bet that suit's Anthony just fine, lazy male bum! Well, call them together."
Daria and Jane had just got to the store's porch when Morris' whistle blew.
"Damn her!" said Jane, "I'd like to tell her where she could stuff that whistle."
"Lane! Morgendorffer! Get your lazy butts back here," Morris shouted. "Phillips! Zeffereli! Those better not be cigarettes!"
"And what else could they be?" asked Daria rhetorically. "Do you want that soda bad enough to chance it?"
"Not worth the detention, and I bet Morris would give it to me quicker than she would Zeffereli and Phillips."
"Face it, she loves you"
Jane snorted as they made their way back to the group.
"Daria!" said Ted as they approached, "Isn't it beautiful out here? Smell that air!"
"Not enought hydrocarbons," she answered as they passed. Ted laughed.
Daria saw that Quinn was giving her that "keep your distance" look, so she stood near her. It was a delicate balance to maintain, close enough to make Quinn nervous, yet far enough away to not be annoyed by fashion fallout.
It would be difficult today. The Fashion Club was in full whine about the difficulties of balancing fashion form with outdoors function. Sunscreen that wouldn't clog one's pores was the current hot topic.
Daria shivered in the morning chill, but she knew that wouldn't last. Soon, she'd have to put her jacket in the pack. She herself had opted for utility today, wearing a green t-shirt and blue jeans instead of her normal outfit.
She stole a look at the mountain while Barch was shrilling her instructions. It was a long, forbiding ridge just barely visible in the morning's mists. According to the brochure, the trail they would follow was of medium dificulty, skirting the mountain alongside the river and leading to mountain glades that Barch assured them were of surpassing biological diversity. She and O'Neill had found the glades last year during a "personal visit." God only new what else they had been doing among the daisies. She had to admit, it wasn't a pleasant mental image.
Barch was going on and on about rules of safety, with the usual side rants. Daria looked over Jane's shoulder to see what she was sketching. It was a lovely idylic forest scene, with various members of the Fashion Club hanging from the trees.
She chortled, and Jane gave her a wink.
At that point, one of the football players leaned over to Stacy and told her there was a snake nearby. Not stopping to verify, she shrieked "Snake!" thereby spooking the rest of her herd.
"That's one danger of being too near the FC," said Daria as she and Jane picked themselves up, "You get caught flatfooted when they stampede."
Barch, of course, savaged the poor fellow after Tiffany fingered him.
Having had "enough of these male shenanigans," she started the hike with the dire warning that everybody had better keep up.
Forty-five minutes later, the students were divided into two groups, or, Daria thought, the quick and the near-dead. Had she the wind left to say it, she would have done so.
Or would have, if her friends, Jodie Landon and Jane "Marathon Woman" Lane, were not at the moment far ahead of her. Walking wasn't the problem, she and Jane walked practically everywhere in Lawndale, it was the grade that was the killer. There were no mountains in Lawndale, at least there weren't the last time she'd looked.
At least, she thought, I'm in better condition than "cuz" and her cronies. Fatigue had finally, mercifully stilled their whining five minutes ago. She would have smiled, thinking of Sandi and Quinn sweating like a horses, had she the strength left.
At the tail of the column, reluctantly taking the "sweep-up" position, Samantha Morris was prodding and verbally abusing the laggards to keep up. She was beginning to get concerned, however. There was only so much the average couch potato could take without passing out.
Daria winced as the first call of "Barch! Yo, Janet!" wafted past her.
The students ahead took up the call. The column staggered to a halt and Barch looked around.
"There'd better be a good reason for this," she called back, "and who the Hell has the damned gall to use my first name?"
"Um," said Mack nearby, "that would have been Ms. Morris, ma'am."
Barch glowered, unhappy to be corrected by him, but unsure of what to say. "I'll deal with you when I get back," she told him. "What is it, Sam?"
"It's time for a break, Janet. Some of theses creme puffs can't go any further."
Daria sighed, breathing heavily. Creme puff or not, she had to get off her feet. She eyed a large stump just this side of the guard rail. Perfect sitting height, she thought.
"What's the matter, Sam? You getting soft?" said Barch.
"No, but maybe your boyfriend is. He's about thirty yards back, sucking his inhaler for dear life."
"Skinney?" she chirped in concern. "Alright, take ten! And don't any of you males wander off!"
"As opposed to us females," muttered Daria as she sat down, "who may wander hither and yon as we please." She watched Barch storm past, taking care that she didn't look out over the edge of the trail to the river below. Had she done so, she might have noticed rocks tumbling down the cliff's face. She waved at Jane, who was heading her way.
"Ex-cuse me, Quinn's cousin or whatever, but I saw that stump first."
Daria looked up to see Sandi breahing heavily before her. She looked like something out of the L. L. Bean catalogue that had just taken a sip of unsweetened lemonade.
"Excuse me, Quinn's friend? You want me to give up my seat and you can't even call me by my name?"
"C'mon, be, like, reasonable or something. You're, like, in those faded old ratty denims, and these," she motioned to her own outfit, "are new. I wouldn't want them to, like, get dirty, okay?"
"And the stump is clean?"
"It's cleaner than the ground, okay?"
Daria looked over to Jane, to see if she had caught this. She had stopped about fifteen feet away and was enjoying the spectacle. Glad to have back-up neary, Daria returned her gaze to Sandi and opened her mouth to speak.
That was when she felt the earth start to move beneath her. Daria tried to stand, flailing for balance.
"What are you trying..." said Sandi. When she realized what was happening, her eyes grew big. Daria saw the ground seperating between the two of them.
To Daria's surprise, Sandi grabbed her arm and pulled backwards. With her help, Daria was able to step up where Sandi was, but with a growling sound, that portion of the trail started sliding, too.
Several of the students nearby jumped back as more of the trail started breaking away.
Jane was at first rooted in place, but when both girls went over the edge, she leapt for the slide. Mack grabbed her around the middle to keep her from falling too.
Quinn screamed when she turned and saw her sister and her friend going over the edge.
Daria and Sandi both had the singularly unpleasant sense of betrayel that comes when solid ground moves in ways it shouldn't. The slide, earth and solid rock, had become like a liquid, flowing downhill towards the river.
Daria attempted to grab the now dangling guardrail as she passed it. She cursed as it slipped through her fingers. She saw Jamie clinging to a root for dear life and Mack dragging a struggling Jane back from the edge.
Sandi grabbed her, desperate for anything solid to hold on to. Then there was the shock of cold water, and Sandi was gone.
To Daria, it had seemed as if she had entered a strange new land of semi-silence and pain. There were muffled booms where the rocks and dirt were hitting the water accompanied by the rushing sound of her own blood in her ears. She felt a vague sense of hopelessness. With a start, she realized she didn't know which way was up.
Her lungs were beggining to burn when she began to kick towards the light.
She broke the surface and gratefully sucked in the fresh air. She became conscious of the receding cries of her classmates, as well as a scream nearby. The landscape was rushing past and blurry. She realized that she had lost her glasses, which meant she couldn't ditch her backpack where her spare pair were.
She didn't want to get rid of her boots either, even though they were weighing her down too. Her head went under again, and she kicked harder.
This is Hell, she thought, be rational. Stone bruises later beats drowning now.
She took a deep breath, preparing to go under and undo the laces when she was grabbed from behind. It was Sandi in a blind panic, pulling them both under.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, she thought. She elbowed Sandi in the stomach. Sandi released her and Daria manuevered around to hold Sandi's back against her front, then kicked for the surface again.
"You're not going to do us any good," she spluttered when they had caught their breath, "if you drown us both. Relax, grab my arms and kick, *splutter* and kick rhythmicly."
"Um, *gag* okay.. don't like, turn loose, okay?"
"I've got you, you've got me, now let's kick for the shoreline."
They began to move toward the shore, when, rounding a curve, a deep roaring sound came from ahead. The current picked up speed.
"No... I don't believe it," muttered Daria. "Don't panic! Swim!"
But no matter how hard they tried, the current drew them inexorably towards the waterfall. Daria was tired and her legs were beggining to feel like lead weights.
Sandi began to panic again. "We're not going to make it!" she wailed.
Duh, thought Daria, as they went over the edge. The impact at the bottom tore them from each others arms. Daria felt a sharp pain, a bright light exploded before her eyes, and she lost consciousness.
Back on the trail there was pandemonium. Two of their number washed down the river, maybe dead, a wide gap between the two groups and Barch was not keeping a cool head about it. Quinn was bewailing the simultaneous loss of Daria and Sandi while two of the three J's were trying to comfort her in their own bumbling ways (Jamie, of course, was too busy trying to calm down after his own near plunge). Jane was pacing the edge of the trail, trying to find a path down to the river. One of the male students lamenteded the fact that he had yet to get Sandi in bed, elliciting an "ewwww" from the Fashion club and focusing Barch's rage for a moment.
"Somebody needs to go get some help," said a cheerleader on the jock side of the cleft.
"All the fast ones are on this side, though," said Evan, "and Barch is definitely needing Ms. Morris' help to keep the slackers in line."
"But she's the only one that could get help quick."
"Alright, Caryn, I'll go talk to her."
"No way," growled Jane, "am I going to trust that slug to get help for Daria."
"Get real, Lane," said Evan, "She's the only hope. None of us can jump the cleft."
"You couldn't," she replied, and started running for the edge.
"Damnit, Jane!" yelled Mack, too far away to catch her now.
"Jane, wait!" shouted Jodie, "We've got to..."
Jodies voice trailed out as Jane reached the edge and jumped, giving it all the power she could muster. The jump was beautiful in it's cat-like grace. It felt good until she realized she wasn't going to make it.
Her feet landed three feet downslope and the ground immediately gave way. A fist closed around Jane's wrist and pulled her up.
She gave her benefactor a pat on the shoulder, saying, "Thanks, Jimmy," before taking off down the trail.
"That's Jam... aw, forget it. Good luck!"
Ms. Morris saw her. "And where do you think you're going, young lady?"
"To get help," she said, racing past her.
"No, you're not!! We're sticking togeth... hey, come back here!"
Jane wondered, but didn't really care, how many demerits that particular gesture would gain her.
Back on the other side of the divide, there were several people starting to form rescue groups. Mack, more interested in the safety of Daria and Sandi than personal glory, decided it was time to put a stop to it.
"One group is going," he said. "The rest of you need to stay put until help gets here. They don't need to be searching for more than one lost group."
"Yeah," added Kevin, "any of you guys that wander off and get yourselves killed... you're off the team, buddy!"
Mack sighed. "Has anybody got a map?"
Ted, leaning up against a tree, holds up the one he'd been studying. "Right here," he said.
"What've you got?"
"Well, the trail bends away from the river here," he said, "and follows the spur for a half-mile."
"Pretty slick, Ted. Where'd you get this?"
"Copied it from the library. They've got contour maps for the whole state. You can't really rely on the ones in the brochure.
"This is what's worrying me, though," he continued. "There's a waterfall, or maybe cataracts, here. It falls between the contour lines, which have a twenty-foot interval."
"Huh?" said Kevin. "What's that mean?"
"That, hopefully, it's not too high to survive," answered Mack. Ted nodded ruefully.
"Well, who's going with us, Mack Daddy?" said Kevin.
"What do you mean, 'us?'" said Mack.
"Hey, I'm the QB, man."
"Yes, well, that means your not expendable," Mack said, thinking quickly. "If something were to happen to you, the team would never forgive me. He gave the team a look that said, contradict me at your peril.
"Would you object to my presence?" asked Ted.
"You've got the map, man."
"Honey," said Jodie, coming up, "Jane's gone to get some help and Becky's trying to get 911 on her cell phone. I'm as worried as you are, but your getting lost won't help a thing."
They looked over to where one of the cheerleaders was trying her cell phone. She looked up at them and shrugged helplessly. They were out of range.
"Baby, I know your concerned, but I know what I'm doing. I've got a compass, and I know my way around the woods. I've been scouting since I was nine. I'll be carefull."
Jodie turned to a tall, sandy-haired fellow nearby. "You're going with him, right Shane?"
"Try and stop me," he answered. "Mack's always been the best at this sort of thing, but I've been dogging his footsteps the whole way."
Becky came up and offered her phone. "Take this, Mack. Maybe you'll wander into range of a tower."
"Thanks, Becky."
Jodie hugged Mack. "You be careful out there, okay?"
"I'll be alright, Jodie." He kissed her and started up the trail, Ted and Shane following. "Kevin, make sure no one else wanders off."
"You got it, Mack Daddy!"
"And don't call me that!" He said, and wondered why he bothered.
They started up the trail. As soon as they were out of sight, they heard Barch screaming about nobody wandering off.
"Good thing we left when we did," said Mack, "we might have heard that."
"Mack?!? Where's Mack?" she shrilled. "Damnit, Mackenzie get back here or your ass is mine!"
"Man," he said, "what does she have against me?"
"It's your magnetic personality," said Shane. "The woman's hot for you, 'Mack Daddy.'"
"Damnit, Shane, don't you start."