The Forest
Chapter 1
"The Crash"
A loud explosion echoed throughout an abandoned forest. Loud, crackling, it chased through the leaves, it danced through the hidden eardrums and interrupted the peaceful slumber of the sleeping fireflies. It was almost as intrusive as the thunder that swept through the area every so often. Cries could be heard, it was clear that somewhere in this empty forest there was some sort of struggle. It sounded as if the sounds were coming from the silent river off to the west, of course in weather like this the silent river turned into a violent rapid of death. Any animal that tried to take a drink from the disruptive waters, the poor thing, would probably be pulled under never to be seen again. However, this didn't keep boaters off of the crazy rivers, sometimes it ended up as a happy ending but it seems like this wasn't the case on this night.
Pieces of metal and wood flew from the side of a river boat, screams could be heard and scrambling on the deck was apparent. The passengers on the boat were trying to find a way off, trying to find a safe spot, trying to find something that would calm them from the spiral crash course their boat was on. It was dark out, with sheets of rain- or was it the river water coming onto the boat?- and thunder. The lights on the boat were out, so the lightning was the only form of seeing more than five feet. It was like a strobe light, giving the passengers the view of their crash course every few seconds, leaving them in darkness in between. Voices could be heard over the screaming, the passengers were trying to figure a way to stay alive, trying to figure out how to get out of this mess.
"Abandon ship! Off of the left side now! Everyone off!"
"Captain!"
"To the back of the boat! Hold on to something!"
"Elizabeth!"
"Leave everything behind, jump off...Now!"
Several different commands being shouted at once, loved ones trying to find each other in this mess, to stay together. It might have been a small boat, but with all of the madness it was easy to get lost. A man with a black leather coat on grabbed everyone he could see that was running to the front of the boat, and pushed them backwards. The way the boat was rotating it was easily assumed that the back of the boat was the safest spot to take cover. He decided to ride out this crash, eventually it would stop on the narrow shore lines, and it would be over. A different man with long hair was shouting for everyone to jump into the midnight waters, to take a plunge into the unknown, violent waters and hope that they could swim to the shore that wasn't but a swift swim away. He knew that he could make it to the safe shore line and watch the boat swirl off and out of sight.
"Back of the boat now!" The jacketed man screamed as he passed the long haired man.
"Sorry chief, I'm getting off this paradise trip...send a postcard." With that, he dove off of the rail with grace.
The man in the jacket huffed gently as he continued to lead a group to the back. Branches of trees were catching the sides of the boat, punching more and more holes into it. They were also catching some of the passengers off guard, sending unwanted swimmers into the water. He dodged a few branches and instructed the group to lay down in the back of the cabin, and wait for all the spinning to stop before they come out. He didn't want to take this into his own hands, but his army training seemed to pump through his veins as he scattered over the deck of the boat. He had to check the top level of the boat, make sure there weren't any people up there. There wasn't much left of the top of the boat, it looked like a tornado just landed and tore it apart; but the man had to check.
"I'm going to the top, I'll be back!" he said turning away from the passengers, but he was interrupted.
A man wearing a white shirt grabbed him by his arm and pulled him back. "What about the crew! The crew cabin is below deck!" the stranger yelled over the most recent thunder. The man in the black jacket nodded and pointed down, sort of like a signal for the stranger to check the crew cabin. The young man understood and ran through the sheets of water to the ladder that lead down below deck. The jacketed man sprinted to the ladder that led up, passing some of the individuals that just decided to take cover under tables and simply ignore the commands that he was shouting.
It was getting worse, the boat was almost completely split in half. The current was wild enough to turn the world around, but that didn't seem to stop the people that decided to follow the arrogant long haired man. He was already on the shore trying to recover from the wild ride he just endured, he was breathing heavily and trying to salvage anything he could. There were a handful of other people swimming through the thick and dangerous waters, trying to reach the shore that the man was kneeling on. He wasn�t the type of guy to help out people he didn't know or care for, so he wasn't in any rush to get back in there and help. A blonde haired woman was the next one on the shore, but she was carrying a crew member on her back. It was unsure if the worker was alive or not, but she saw him struggling and grabbed him on her way. A young man with a lip piercing was another swimmer, he was one of the last ones in the water. The young man was only using one arm as he tried to get out of the wreckage. The waves slapped him around, but he continued to move. It became apparent why he was swimming awkwardly, he was holding hands with a young woman: trying to get them both to shore safely.
"Elizabeth come on! I need you to help me through this!"
"I can't...my..."
"Liz! Damnit...I can't pull us both back by myself!"
The man with the piercing was beginning to loose his grip on Liz's hand, and he was becoming desperate to get to shore. He started using all his strength, and he started to move a little quicker. However, it was just a spurt of adrenaline and it didn't take them far enough to coast the rest of the way. Actually, he probably made it into the most terrible part of the river. The current pulled him and Liz's body in different directions and the lock of their fingers began to break apart. He refused to let go, but against his will he did. The water pulled him under and threw Liz in the other direction, their hands flailing rapidly in the water trying to find each other again, but it didn't happen. The young man was going to stay underwater until he felt his girlfriend's hand touch his, he waited, and waited, and waited, he was running out of air, but he stayed there. He wasn't going to come out of the water without Liz's hand in his, but he was beginning to drown, and just as he was about to give up a hand came out of no where. It pulled him up to the surface and onto the shore, but it wasn't the hand he was wanting it to be. His eyes looked up and saw the blonde haired woman breathing heavily.
"Liz..." he said gently as he passed out in exhaustion, and near death.
The jacketed man was carefully walking across the unstable upper deck of the boat, the only thing that seemed to still be fully intact was the captain's cabin, which is where the boat was being steered from. The door of the room was open, but was being swung around like a swing set. When the door was open the hero squinted to see if he could see anything, the pilot of the boat was on the floor, rolling around with the motions of the river. It was clear that the captain was gone, there was blood splattered over the windows and a little on the deck. Something more surprising caught the eyes of the man when a lightning bolt lit up the sky. He narrowed his eyes as he waited for another lightning strike to allow him to see ahead. Not on the boat, but in front of the boat. His eyes then began to widen, the river disappeared in the distance about a hundred yards ahead. The only thing that the man could think was that a waterfall was waiting for them. If they made it over the waterfall, they might be a chance of calm waters at the end of it, but how long was the fall? The passengers were about to be on the ride of their lives.
A brown haired woman tried to calm the group down that was huddled in the back of the passenger cabin. Half of the wall was completely gone, water was pouring in from the rain and from the wild waves, but she kept her cool. That was until the jacketed made it back down to them with the wonderful news.
"Everyone grab onto something sturdy! There is a waterfall up ahead!"
"What...? I should have jumped off..." The brown haired girl said gently as she braced herself.
It was starting to make sence, the steady thunder that the passengers heard wasn't coming from the sky, it was the waterfall they were about to ride down. This river boat was one of the worst ideas that anyone had in a storm like this. The brown haired woman questioned why she decided to board the boat. The hero made sure everyone else was strapped in before he took a seat next to the calm woman. Then, the hero realized that the stranger that went below to the crew's cabin wasn't back. A fowl word escaped his lips as he began to stand up, but the boat didn't let him. Twirling toward the edge of the waterfall, the passengers all knew it was coming but it still surprised them when it actually happened. The remaining pieces of the boat tipped over the edge, flying down the stream of black water, they all prayed they would make it out alive.
"Damn, more people should have jumped..." The long haired scruffy man said.
"More people did..." The blonde woman said walking by him, their eyes locking for a second. An understanding went through the two that most of the people that jumped didn't make it to the shore.
The arrogant scruffy man narrowed his eyes gently showing a bit of anger and sorrow in the same face. He didn't want to lead people to their deaths, he just wanted to help them like the jacketed man was doing on the ship. He began to wonder if he should have just jumped without commanding others to follow, would there be less people dead? Rain dripped off of the man�s now blank face, his eyes searched the area counting the number of jumpers that survived. A rough estimate was around 6 to 10, maybe one or two more. Sighing, the man turned around to start to walk away from the waters, but he was stopped dead in his tracks by voices screaming and a gun shot going off. The scruffy man's eyes was now set on a larger group of people, all of them wearing some sort of army uniforms running straight at the jumpers of the boat. The language they were talking was unclear to most of the jumpers, because they were mostly American, but it was clear to everyone to just stay still and not to move.
"The Brazilian army," a woman standing close to the scruffy man said. "Wonder what they are doing out here..."
The woman had some sort of accent, the arrogant man made the assumption that she was from Brazil just from her skin tone and voice. However, the lack of light and the noise of confusion might have thrown the man's judgment off a bit. The storm was starting to weaken a bit, the rainfall was getting slower and the frequency of the lightning was dying down. It was still a storm to be cautious about.
"So what does this mean?" the man said as a gun was pointed to the back of his head. "No search and rescue team for us, cowboys?"
Smirking gently as he got pushed to walk forward, the man was the last of the group to be escorted away from the shore. In front of him was a stretcher that had the young man with the lip ring in it, who was still passed out. It didn't seem like any of the jumpers got away, but it also didn't seem like they really tried. After swimming so hard to shore they couldn't really put up much of a fight. Now, the scruffy man really began to contemplate if he should have stayed on the boat or not, anything is better than being prisoner.
As the night went on the storm began to pass, the rain sheets turned into a light drizzle and the lightning dissipated. It was still darker than ever, the only form of light was from the torches and flashlights that the small group of the Brazilian army was carrying. The clouds were starting to break, letting the stars gently cover the dome above the forest, and the chirping of the crickets began to fill the quiet air. Slowly, the night passed bringing the sun to take it's place, and finally the forest could be seen. The river that ripped apart the boat was now back to normal, barely looking like any type of threat. The animals danced along the water's edge and the blue sky made the forest look like a paradise. The beauty was a deception to what was going on in this forest, hiding what had happened the night before from the naked eye. Survivors, the dead, they were all hidden beneath the green leaves and flowing waters. Hope was the only thing left for the survivors of this crash and the prisoners of the army.
