Cumberland (Not A Dream Book 1) (9 page)

I turned to face the trees on the land. The ground was soft, and the grass was lush. I wasn’t for sure which way to go, then my grandpa started ahead of us. I watched as the others followed him without question. I trailed behind Mason.

              From a distance, I could hear the cries and whimpers coming from the creatures of the land. I caught up to the side of Mason, and looked at him. I was trying to seem sad, and he just looked back at me.

              I asked him, “Do you not hear those poor things?”

              “Huh?” he said.

              I looked at his ears, and remembered he had ear plugs in. I just shook my head and said, “Nothing.”

              He scrunched his eyebrows and just shrugged his shoulders.

              We must have been getting closer, because the sounds had gotten louder. We walked around a curve, and seen rows of cages lined up beside each other. The panel that releases one at a time was just placed in the opening. Over its square panel, was a clear box, locked up.

              The cages were welded shut. I looked at Jack and asked him, “Why is there a control panel locked up, yet the cages are just welded shut?”

              “Too many creatures found a way out. So now they can never escaped,” he answered slowly.

              “What do we do now?” Olivia asked.

              “Shh!” Jack commanded.

              I looked around, and didn’t see anything.

              Jack said, “Land patrol is heavy right now. I can hear their footsteps nearby.”

              “How do we free the creatures?” I asked.

              Jack took his bag off of his shoulders, and said, “Everyone check your bag for anything that might help.”

              We all placed our bags down on the ground. I began searching mine frantically, along with everyone else. The only things I seen in my bag, was a rope, a light, a blanket, and a thermos.

              I looked at Olivia and Mason, and they too had the same contents as me. I looked at Jack and seen he had more than us. He had a knife, a first aid kit, a flare gun, and then I watched him pull out three sticks of dynamite.

              “Alright! Now we are talking,” Mason grinned.

              Jack smiled too, but then said, “I only have enough for three cages.”

              We decided to use it on the three biggest cages.

              The first cage contained a three headed, four winged, horse that was as white as snow. The second cage contained a twenty foot cobra, which was silver in color and had six eyes. The last cage contained a man that stood even taller than the cobra.

              We went up to the giant, and seen him sitting quietly in the corner of his cage. I walked closer and could hear him sigh into the empty air. I said, “Hello.”

              He turned in shock, and acted like he was scared. He screamed, “No more! I don’t like to be poked! No more hot irons!”

              “Shh, shh,” I said, trying to calm him down. I continued, “We are here to save you, please be quiet.”

              He uncovered his eyes, and looked at me through his fingers. He then dropped his hands from his face, and asked, “You are?”

              “Yes, it will be greatly appreciated if you would help us free the other creatures as well,” I asked softly.

              He nodded in agreement, and pointed out a finger, “My name is Lester the Big.”

              “I am Milly James, nice to meet you.”

              I shook his finger, as if it were a hand.

              Jack said, “You might want to step back after I light this,” while holding up a stick of dynamite.

              Jack wedged the dynamite in the welded lock, and went down the line and wedged the last two sticks of dynamite in the other two cages. He took out extra fuse line and connected them all together.

              We stood back as far as the fuse would allow. Jack tried to find a match in his pocket, but they were all ruined from being in the water. I watched Olivia reach into her pocket, and pull out a red lighter. She handed to him and said, “Here, try this.”

              Jack looked at her and asked, “Why do you have a lighter?”

              “It was a friends’,” she answered.

              “We’ll talk about this later. I am keeping the light too,” he said angrily.

              He lit the fuse, and the spark was instant. It quickly spread to the three dynamites. Once the fire reached them, the sound of the explosion caused the ground to shake. I held onto Mason’s shoulder, to keep steady.

              The smoke from the blast cleared slowly. The trapped beings waited for it to clear. I asked my grandpa, “What type of horse is that?”

              He answered slowly, “That is the Uffington White Horse. The rarest of creatures.”

              I looked at its majestic manes, and muscular legs. I noticed its hooves had a single talon on each hoof. I asked Jack, “Why is there only one of each kind of creature?”

              “I am not sure. It was like this before we came in,” he answered.

              My grandpa intervened and answered, “Because, when they feel like they need to mate, they go to the Waterfall, and use the liquid Onyx to clone themselves.”

              “That sounds wrong. They mate with themselves?” Olivia asked.

              “Basically, but what makes a better soul mate?” my grandpa joked.

              I looked at him with a frown, and shook my head. He said, “What?”

              “Nothing,” I replied smiling.

              I saw the Uffington White Horse slowly leave out of its cage, and flew off. The silver cobra hissed, and approached us.

              “
Thank you
,” he said with a continuous hiss. He turned away and slithered off.

              The giant approached us, and asked, “Can I free the rest for you? It will be quicker if I do it.”

              We nodded, and Jack answered, “Sure, that would help out a lot.”

              “Yay!” Lester the Big screamed.               He ran down the aisles and smashed open cages on both sides using his fists. Five rows of cages were opened in under five minutes. He came back towards us and asked, “I do well?”

              “Yes, Lester, you did,” Olivia smiled.

              “Halt! Raise your hands!” a strange man’s voice demanded.

              We did as the man said. I wasn’t for sure what to do. Our bags still lied upon the ground. I looked at Olivia and she began to cry.
We didn’t come all this way to just get thrown in prison,
I thought to myself. I looked up at Lester and mouthed, “
I’m sorry.
” I felt like I failed all of the creatures.

              Lester moved to the side, and I saw two men in tight brown suits. I instantly knew they were the land patrol. Lester looked down at us, and turned to the land patrol. The men yelled, “Freeze! Stop moving!”

              Lester picked up the land patrol, and chucked them into the sea. They screamed for a minute, and then no more.

              Olivia and I hugged the giants’ foot, and said, “Thank you.”

              He nodded and walked away silently.

              My grandpa looked at us wave at him, and he said, “I have to go as well.”

              “What?” I asked.

              “Don’t worry,” he said.

              “No, you can stay here with us!” I yelled.

              “Don’t worry!” he yelled back.

              I gave him a tearful hug, and had to watch him leave.
Why?
I wanted to ask, but I knew he would never reveal that answer.

We walked through a path, away from the cages. I kept wondering if he was okay, so I asked Jack, “Where do you think he is going?”

              “Not sure,” he answered.

              “Why would he leave?” I asked.

              “Maybe to get help, or couldn’t take this much drama so far in one day,” he laughed.

              “Ha, very funny,” I said sarcastically. I did, however, fear it was true.

              Mason walked besides Jack, and then turned to look at me. My shoulders were slumped, and I tried to keep my head held high.

              Mason looked back at Jack and said, “Most likely he is trying to find help. He will be okay, I am sure of it.”

              I could sense tension between the two of them.

              Olivia peered at me, through the corner of her right eye and said, “He knows this place well. I am sure he would be fine, Milly.”

              I smiled at her gratefully. I knew she was trying to comfort me, in my time of need.

              I looked down, to see my feet move forward, and the ground rush back. It felt as if I were walking on a conveyer belt, because of the length of this long and curvy path.
I would rather walk a long road, than move in a circle and get absolutely nowhere,
I thought to myself.

              We came to a ‘T’ in the road, which gave us an option to go one way or another. I looked both ways, and asked Jack, “Which way do we need to go?”

              He pointed to the left and answered, “The path less taken.”

              “Why?” Mason asked.

              “Because, the path often taken typically calls for trouble ahead. In this case, it just means that Carolyn and her idiot clan take often,” he chortled, as if we should have already known the answer to that question.

              I looked down the path he wanted us to travel, and did not fully agree with him. There were vines dropping down from the sky, and logs on the ground. Dead leaves formed a blanket beneath all of the logs and sticks.

              I shook my head, and said, “I think I would rather take my chances on the other path. It looks easier to do.”

              Jack looked at me and said, “The easier way is not always the best to travel down.”

              “What if it is this time?” Olivia agreed with me.

              “I trust Jack,” Mason said.

              I sighed and said, “Okay, so it is boys versus girls here. Should we flip for it?” I held out a quarter, that I pulled out of my pocket.

              “No,” Jack said. Then he started down the left path.

              We followed him without any further questions. But, the rotting trees, in the path, made me cringe. The feel of them, as I jumped over, felt as if I were putting my hand on pillow made of fur.

              Many other trees, ahead of us were falling down, as the ones nearest to us were waving aimlessly. I freaked out every time a tree waved low, and rose back up. I looked at Mason and knew why my little shrieks did not make it into is ear canal.

              He did however, look back at me continuously. I smiled as he did. Then, without any warning, a tree had decided to crash down over me. I looked up at the falling bark and felt an arm around my waist. I could feel my body fly backwards, and fall to the ground.

              I opened my eyes and saw Mason on top of me. I tried to catch my breath, but felt lost in his eyes. He asked, “Are you okay?”

              All I could do was nod. I wasn’t able to find the breath to answer him aloud. He looked down, and apologized for having all of his weight on me. I finally took in a deep breath and smiled.

              “It is more than okay,” I told him.

              He grabbed my hand, and helped me up. I looked around and saw more trees fall. We were able to move fast before they blockaded us. I looked for Olivia and noticed her screams being muffled.

              I watched as the vines came around her and pulled her more into the side of the road.

              “Jack help her!” I yelled.

              “Already ahead of you,” he grunted with a knife in his hand.

              He charged towards her, and began dropping the vines one at a time. They turned brown and withered away as they were cut apart.

              I joined in on the other side to pull apart more of the vines. Mason began pulling off the ones wrapped around her feet. Jack kept sawing away, and a few seconds later, she was finally free.

              She hugged Jack with a shiver, and he hugged her back tightly. They slowly released each other as Olivia screamed, “What the hell was that all about?”

              “I remember my grandpa talking about this. Which, I guess is why I resented taking this route in the first place,” I told her.

              Jack coughed and said, “Well, I did slightly forget what this path does, but I figured it would have been too weak to do anything.”

              “And…” Olivia said, with a sway in her tone.

              “Well, dear, it is called the Path of Knowledge,” Jack answered, finally.

              “Why is it called that?” Olivia asked.

              I stepped towards her and answered, “Because when the path gets ahold of someone or something, it could steal from you. It likes to take your thoughts, memories, hopes, dreams, and anything else it feels like taking.”

              “Well that is nice to know now,” Olivia said with a snooty voice.

              “Hey, here is a question for you guys. If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is around to hear it; did it make a sound?” Jack asked with a smile.

              I looked at him with a grin and answered, “Of course it did.”

              “How do you know? You weren’t around,” Jack said.

              “Just because you didn’t witness something, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. A sound may have not been apparent to you, at the moment, but the evidence would prove otherwise,” I answered him.

              “Good answer,” Jack said. He looked at me and nodded. Then, before I could stop him, he knocked into a big tree.

              He fell down in surprise and Mason turned to him, and asked, “If a man lands into a tree, and doesn’t make a mark; did it happen?”

              I laughed at the remark, and I saw Olivia giggle into her hand. Jack looked around and said, “Ha! Very funny. What did I hit?”

              I pointed to the tree and said, “That tree in front of you. I tried to stop you, but by the time I opened my mouth, you were already on the ground.”

              I walked up closer to the tree, and saw that it was blocking the entire rest of the path. I noticed a hollow shape in its trunk, and decided to trace it with my finger. It was shaped like a cross. I scrunched my eyebrows together and looked at the others questionably.

              Olivia and Mason shrugged their shoulders, and turned to Jack. He stepped back, after standing up, and raised his hands up, “Don’t look at me, I don’t have the slightest clue.”

              “Well, what do you suppose it to be?” I asked.

              Mason looked around the tree, and sighed heavily. I knew there was no way around it.

              We decided, it would be best to turn around. Jack announced, “Turn back.”

              I quickly scanned the ground to see if I could find anything that belongs there, and sighed heavily as nothing came to mind.