We were standing on Travington, when there seemed to be a massive earthquake. The ground shook beneath us and we tried to sit down so we wouldn't fall. It wasn't much better. The quake seemed to last forever, and everything around us was blurry. It all seemed to be turning darker and darker, like the sun was setting over and over again. And then, it stopped. Everything stopped. And we weren't sure where we were. I looked around and almost hit my head against something behind it.
"Where are we?!" I asked confused and scared. Had the ground opened up under us, and we fell in? Could we be stuck under some big automobile? But...how?
Alec seemed to be just as scared as I was. He was looking around frantically for any kind of way out of--where ever we were. I put my hand on the wall in front of me, it felt cool. It was a cool, black marble wall. Or at least that's what I could get out of it by what little space I had to examine it. We were held in a small area of the tube. That's what I had made of the wall, since it was curved and went around us. At the end, there was a small opening, and there was light coming from it. I pulled on Alec's arm to urge him to follow me. I was going to crawl to the small area of light. As far as I could tell, it was the only way out. I crawled toward the light, inching my way..afraid that if I moved too quickly, the ground would fall beneath me. Alec was being just as cautious as I was. He never said a word. All I could hear was his heavy breathing behind me. All the while, I was thinking about what we should do next. What if the light we saw up ahead wasn't a way out? And it was just..a street light that had fallen as well? What if we were still stuck under here, and as much as we called out..no one heard us?? I began to panic, and Alec noticed. He put on his tough guy voice.
"Calm down..every thing's gonna be fine. Trust me. This has happened...well, ok, never. But I'm positive every thing's gonna be fine. We're alive, aren't we?"
I tried to smile. But it was a weak, unbelievable smile. "You really don't know that yet." Then I let out an unhumorous laugh. As did Alec.
When we were finished with out life and death conversation, we were at the opening. When I looked out, it was like nothing I could have imagined. Ever. There was sand everywhere, and up onto the sands edge, there was rocks. Small rocks broken into a thousand, red pieces. It looked like a miniature desert. There was organ pipe, and saguaro cacti everywhere. Along with some rotten wood, and a few non-tumbling tumbleweeds.
And then, where the desert ended, the sand started up again. And this time at the sand's edge, was water. An ocean. Unbelievable. I refused to believe what my eyes were seeing. The ocean didn't go out far in front, because it met a small rock island. But to the waters side, it went out. Very far out..farer than I could see. All this desert and ocean was to my left, I didn't even notice what was to my right side or front. I slowly turned my head to see. It front of me, there was another black marble tube, about 10 feet away. I looked out to my left again to see where it might end. And I was in for yet another huge surprise.
The marble tube went out for another 300 feet or so, and then it curved and was attached to a bridge. The bridge was made of dark wood, and went out straight. It was not curved at all. And at the beginning, there were two medium sized tree trunks placed across each other as an arch. There wasn't any railing on the bridge, just random large pieces of wood sticking up here and there to serve as a balance tool. At the end of the that bridge, there was another. This one was made of lighter wood, and had no railing at all. No archway made of crossed tree trunks or any other decoration. It was just pieces of wood placed across one another on the bottom, nailed in to become a bridge for safe passage to the other side.
Safe passage was needed..considering how I had just noticed the lava that was under the bridge. It was sitting quietly, not moving at all. No air bubbles popping up, or lava squirting everywhere. It was calm, quiet, unharmful. Or so it seemed. The lava extended to the sea, and to its other side, it hit a rock. Or a rock wall. A huge rock wall that went up for as far as I could tell. I noticed that it also went out to the sides, and that it made up my right side view.
The second bridge above the lava lead to a rock tower. One you would see in medieval times, used for watching out for enemies approaching. It was made up of rock squares, all glued together with concrete. There was a doorway in the middle of the tower where the bridge met it, and on the other side there was another doorway, but no door attached to either of them. Then I could see something..a huge statue it looked like..with..green gems in it's hand. Or at least that's what I could make of it. I wanted to examine it more..but I wasn't sure if I wanted to crawl out of the safety of the marble tube. I should consult Alec immediately.
I turned around to face him. He looked very frightened and bewildered. "Alec..do you think we should go out? I want to look around..see where we are..try to find out how we got here..You know..all that jazz.." I thought for a moment about what I had said, and then made up my mind. I wanted to go out.
Alec sat there staring at me, not moving at all. Not even blinking. But then he closed his eyes and put his fingers on the bridge of this nose. "...Are you crazy?" He finally said, not looking up at me. "You don't know where we are..and you want to go out there? I think I'll stay here. Where it's safe." He spat. I couldn't believe him! What happened the courageous Alec I knew..not half hour ago?
"What's wrong with you? Don't you like adventure? Danger? Risking your life?" I said with a half smile, trying to hide my hurt.
I finally looked up at me with a smile and took my hand and said, "I like adventure and danger as much as the next guy..but..shouldn't we wait for someone to come and find us? Instead of us going to find them..I mean..chances are..well...I'm not sure if we're dreaming or not. I could be dreaming and it could all just seem real. You could be dreaming too! But then I don't know how I would be here..and be able to see everything so clearly..But that's beside the point. What I mean is, we should probably wait for someone to come and get us..I really don't want to go out there. Who knows where we are!"
"Ugh!" I pulled my hand away in disgust. How could he be so...not...brave? I didn't know where we were either...but..I wasn't about to die in this stupid tube! I climbed out right then and there, and dropped to the ground. It was a good 10 foot drop, and I landed in a crouched position. I stood up immediately, not looking back to see Alec's expression, and started walking toward the first bridge.