Chapter
8: The Quest Continues, Rocks Bad.
Time Unknown
The Path
Phaedos
“Kat,” Kim yells, “Pull!” The blonde is bent at the waist, trying to keep Kim from falling. The rocks at the bottom do not look girl-friendly. Kim’s feet move rhythmically, convulsing along the side of the cliff.
Kat strains her arms, her face turning red. “Stop moving so much!” Kim forcibly relaxes her legs and tries to hang as limp as possible. Kat closes her eyes and pulls as hard as she can, but even her best efforts don’t seem to have any effect on Kim’s situation.
Suddenly, Kim cries out, “I’m an idiot!”
“Idea? Please tell me you have an idea,” Kat puffs out.
“Yeah.” Kim is breathing hard. “Relax as much as you can and then instead of pulling on my arms, just tug, as fast and as hard as you can.” Kat doesn’t see how that would help, but, since this is their only option, she decides to give it a try. She slacks her muscles as far as she dares, breathes in slowly, and jerks on Kim’s arms, quick and brutal. Kim’s body tenses and uses that force to flip up and twist over, landing safely behind Kat. Kat drops into a liquid heap. Kim settles down and tries to catch her breath.
“You ok?”
“Yeah… you?”
“Yeah…”
Quiet descends as the young women come down from their adrenaline rush and take a few minutes to look around. The sun is shining here, like it is midday. The Path has become transparent for the next several hundred feet and the only way to get to the solid part of it is to climb over several hundred feet of rock and stone.
“Can I ask you something?” Kat says quietly.
“Sure.” Kim runs her hand over her eyes.
“What were you thinking about when you were hanging there?” Kat looks up shyly.
“Well, that whole cliché about your life flashing before your eyes holds pretty true,” Kim admits. “Of course that just brought me to the conclusion that I need a life.” She laughs.
“Let me guess,” Kat muses, “lots of monster fights and homework.”
“Yeah…” Kim is lost in thought, “let’s not do that again.”
“The whole falling off a cliff thing?” Kat shakes her head. “Yeah, I could have lived without that say… oh… another sixty years.”
Kim giggles. “We should get going.”
“Yeah, we should.” Kat looks herself over. “By the way, has it occurred to you yet that we bear a striking resemblance to circus clowns.” Kim looks at their multi-colored outfits and falls over in laughter. Kat pulls herself up with a groan and offers Kim a hand. Kim raises an eyebrow. Kat chortles and withdraws the offer. Kim stretches, pulling herself into a bridge position, then snaps into the standing position.
“So are you any good at rock climbing?” Kim wonders.
“Nah,” and they double over in laughter. Sometimes, laughter really is the best medicine. Finally, they calm down and eye the precipice with distaste. Kim thinks back, trying to recall what Jason babbled about when he took the guys rock-climbing… rope…
“Rope… Kat, we need rope,” Kim exclaims.
“Ummm… why?” Kat is thoroughly confused.
“We have to tie ourselves together so if one of us starts to fall…” Kim shivers, “the other can make sure there’s no squishy ending while still holding on.”
“Ok,” Kat agrees and begins to look around for something vaguely resembling a rope. She sees a vine and pulls on it. It turns out to be too thin. Kim sees another one. It’s not flexible enough. Finally, twenty vines and four chapped hands later, they find the perfect vine. Kim twines it around her waist and secures it tightly. Kat then measures off three feet and begins looping the other end around herself. She ties it off tightly and they’re ready to go.
“I’ll go first.” Kim is planning to rely on her gymnast training. Kat nods and Kim sets her foot into a small niche, moving very gingerly. She slowly shifts her weight and discovers that the niche will hold her, much to her relief. She edges her way carefully onto something that vaguely resembles a path and keeps moving, pressing her body tightly to the side of the mountain. Kat follows, in baby steps. They are silent as they creep along, listening for the tiniest warning of anything shifting under their feet. The soles of their boots are sturdy yet thin enough to feel through. They remain sensitive to every tiny rock and pebble. They inch across the massive expanse of stone for what seems like and what probably is hours. Kat’s muscles begin to scream, but she keeps her mouth shut, sensitive to Kim’s more precarious leading position. The sun beats down on them and rivulets of sweat from the heat and the exertion cover them more surely than their costumes. Suddenly, Kim tugs on the rope connecting them.
At first, Kat doesn’t realize why she is feeling extra pressure around her middle, lost in a delirium of pain and fever. Finally, she responds to the tugging. “What is it?”
“Stop moving, Kat,” Kim orders and Kat automatically obeys. “The rock shifts here and you are going to have to pay attention.” Kim notices that Kat is slightly woozy. “Come on, girl, pay attention!”
At the shout, Kat scrambles to focus her eyes and, at last, she realizes what Kim means. The rock face curves out at harsh angle and they will need all their strength to get across.
Kim has a strong urge to scream. Her muscles have been worked out more than Kat’s and they are used to more work, but she, too, has reached her limit. Yet, there is no choice. There is no safety net. No flying Zord. No Zordon. No Rangers to the rescue. It’s just her and Kat versus a very large mountain and they either win or they die. Simple. Yet the hardest thing they have ever had to do. Kim laughs bitterly, remembering the Great Quest that the Ranger team went on when they had lost their Morphin Powers. That was a piece of cake. What wouldn’t she give for a Tenga to battle? She steels herself and tries to melt into the stone, her skin scraping over the rough edges with every move she makes. She does not allow herself to move any faster than painstakingly slow. Kim cannot afford mistakes now.
Kat follows, sharply keeping in sync with Kim’s speed. She is praying for a third arm to wipe away what is now a river of sweat. From the ground, it would seem that this stretch of the mountain is tiny compared to the one they have already passed, yet from their vantage that idea would prove false. Thirst has long ago become a central thought. They have had nothing to drink for many hours and the moisture they have sweated out is threatening to leave them dehydrated.
Kim clenches her teeth and pushes all images of water to the back of her mind.
Kat deliberately allows the stone to cut her skin to distract her from her burning obsession with all things that are blue and liquid.
Kim grasps onto a nook high above her head, stretching her body taut as a wound coil. Her fingers move quickly, bloodied now, and her feet are almost numb. Only one thought is left, beating against the walls of her brain… must keep moving.
Kat can’t seem to think of a reason to keep moving any longer. Her only goal is oblivion, darkness. Maybe there she could find relief from the never-ending fiery pain. Then, she feels the vine jerk slightly and remembers that if she falls, then Kim falls. It would have been all right to condemn herself, but to condemn a friend is a sin of the unforgivable kind. She keeps moving.
The rock is hot, pressed up against their defenseless skin. Their own mothers would not recognize them now. Angry, chapped, red skin covered in welts, cuts, blood. Empty, forceful eyes. Moving only for each other. The other must survive. The cost is irrelevant. The incline is getting more and more pronounced.
Kim hangs on as if magnetized to it, her particles negative, its’ particles positive. Just a little more.
Kat wills herself to become liquid, to be glue, to stick. She has to stay on. Just a few more feet.
Kim slips her foot just a little farther, her toes automatically grasping. It doesn’t seem like a normal little cranny and she focuses her eyes to investigate. They’ve happened on a small oasis. Whoever said that those only exist in the desert should bite his/her tongue, preferably until it bleeds. Kim slowly shifts her weight, intent on reaching her destination. She stretches her arm out and pushes off, landing face down on flat ground. Not allowing herself a moment’s rest, she yanks herself up and reaches out her hand to help Kat over.
Kat doesn’t acknowledge Kim’s assistance, but grasps her hand anyway, and within moments she is gasping, lying flat on her back.
Kim is not done yet. She notices a small stream a foot away and crawls to it, heedless of her bleeding knees. She frantically sticks her face into it and gulps the water down. Remembering that too much can make her sick, she rummages for any piece of stone that’s even mildly bowl shaped. Finding one that satisfies her, she fills it with water, crawls back, thrusts it in Kat’s hands and collapses.
Kat sucks out every drop of liquid in her bowl, drops it, and collapses as well.
~*~
Monday
July 31, 1995
2:47 AM
Cranston Residence
Tommy wakes up to the sound of silence. Everyone else is asleep. He can’t even hear the crickets. Billy’s house is fairly soundproof. He wanders to the phone and decides to add another charge to the Cranston international phone bill.
“Jason here,” Jason’s voice is still tinged with sleep, though it’s after 10 in Geneva.
“It’s Tommy,” he identifies himself, figuring that his friend can’t tell breathing patterns apart yet.
“Wassup man?” Jason can’t help but worry.
“Kim and Kat are on Phaedos.”