Another

Chapter Three: "Cave"

We approached the foothills of the large mountains. Flint sat in my pocket, his green camera expanding and contracting to take in the scenery.

"How high are we up Flint?" I asked.

He sat and buzzed for a second before he announced "About Two-thousand-seventy-two meters above sea level."

"How high up do the coordinates read?" I asked again.

Buzzing again, he finally said "One-thousand-six-hundred-eighty-nine meters above sea level, but Motherboard provided coordinates to an opening of a cave leading to the area." I looked behind me, and saw the sun falling closer to the horizon.

"Let's hurry buddy, it's getting closer to nighttime." After saying this, Flint hopped out of my pocket and pointed towards a tree.

"Past that tree, the cave opens up." He announced and hopped into his pocket again. I started walking the way he said and remembered something.

"Hey Flint, how far are you to being done with that little Remote Car you were working on?" I asked.

He shook happily, "R.C. is almost done, but I need some wheels."

I smiled, "Perhaps we can check out the junkyard after this little survey with the cave?"

He vibrated, his pupil contracting extremely small and beeped a little song. "That would be great Jacob!" I laughed, and kept walking.

I looked back at the sun, which was hugging the edge of the earth by now. We could see the cave now, but Flint had some strange thoughts of what a cave was. It was literally a hole in the earth, falling straight down until lava filled the bottom. Flint had started setting up his miniature hot-air balloon to go explore down.

"Don't worry Jacob, I will be back as soon as I make sure it is safe." He said as if there was no danger. I sat down on a rock, and watched as he slowly glided down the hole. The sun was sliding down quickly now, and the air chilled around me. I reached into my pack to grab a big blanket I had made before. The blanket seemed all too comfortable, and I slipped into a soft sleep.

"Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Wake up. I found something." Flint's robot voice opened my eyelids. His green eye shone bright against the dark night sky.

I coughed and sat up. "What did you find?" I asked groggily.

"There is someone in trouble down there; Motherboard was right about temperature fluctuations. There is ice and magma, we need to help them." He started shouting, scared.

I was still sleepy, "What time is it?" Flint's screen showed a digital '9:47'.

"Flint! We need to get home." I hurriedly said.

"But Jacob, the ice-"

"C'mon. Let's go." I interrupted him, picking him up. I quickly ran down the mountain, all-too-familiar with what happens at night.

"Flint?" I asked.

"Yes?" he responded, peeking out of my pocket.

"What did you mean by someone in the ice?"

"Jacob! There's-"A sudden roar erupted from in front of us. I stopped in my tracks.

"Jacob," Flint softly spoke, "the cave..." He was right, that was the only option... I looked around and saw the soft, blue lights crawling across the ground further down the mountain. One mistake had taught me what happens around those lights... I started running back to the cave. Another roar sounded, angrier and louder, bright lights illuminated the path in front of me.

It found us.

With all my strength, I ran as fast as I could towards the orange light spilling out of the hole.

"You said it was safe right?" I asked Flint.

"I never said anything, Jacob." He said, worried. "Jacob? What are you doing?" He started asking. The lights behind us grew brighter.

"Brace yourself!" I screamed.

I jumped into the opening of the cave.