We went as far as the car would take us

Chapter 2

"STUPID!" I exclaimed. "What?! What's wrong?" Charles sat up as quickly as he could in his sleepy mangled state. "Nothing, sorry to wake you, I'm just mad that I let myself fall asleep." "What's the problem with a little bit of sleep?" He looked at me with drowsy eyes. "What if there was... Something down here." "What could possibly be living in this pit of death?" Charles retaliated. "I don't know, nobody does. That's why I wanted to stay up. You and I baby, we're gonna be the first to make it out alive. And now that your brothers gone, we have an even better chance of making it!" I leaned my head on Charles' shoulder whilst saying all of this. He tried to hide a groan,and failed, but as I lifted my head to check if he was alright, he guided my head back into his shoulder. "I'm fine, and ill be even better when you stop worrying." He turned and pecked the top of my head as we both closed our eyes and drifted off to sleep once again.

When I woke up this time it was much more peaceful. Until I noticed that there was something missing! "CHARLES! WHERE ARE YOU CHA-" "shhhhh, I'm right here. Calm down babes." "Oh my word. You nearly scared the living shit out of me!" I gasped for air. "Well at least since it was a near experience, there's no mess!" He started to laugh, but stopped and groaned instead. "Are you okay? Do you need more jack?" I ran to his side to aid him. "Ya. That would be great. But first I need some water. When I wizzed, it looked like I was a sunny d fountain!" Another laugh turned into a groan. "Good call." I said while handing him the flask. He drank like a camel, storing water for a long trip in the dessert. The only difference is in an hour, he'll pee like a racehorse and then repeat the cycle until we're out of water. "Okay, that's enough water for now, we still have 2 more days." I struggled to pry the flask out of his strong yet gentle hands. "Wait! We slept for that long?" He took another sip. "Yes, almost a whole day. You needed it though with the shape you're in!" I snatched the flask and buried it in our bag. "Touché, but it's not my fault! Besides we should probably get moving." He started to stand up. "Only if you're sure you can handle it, I don't want you to hurt yourself even more!" I grabbed his hand to pull him up. "I can do this!" I trusted his ability, but even after standing up he was gasping for air. I prayed that he wouldn't screw himself up any worse than I had!

We walked, and walked, and walked, tripping over skeletons of everything from mice to cows. We finally rested. I could tell from the start that Charles needed one, but he was a man and couldn't stand looking weak. He kept walking, clearly in pain, until I suggested that we take a break. He looked at me. "If u need one, but don't take one on my account!" I smiled, sat and pulled out a snack, the flask and mr. Daniels. Even though there was very little sun at the bottom of the abyss, I was still quite hot and sweaty in my long sleeved button down. I rifled around in the bag and pulled out my ACDC t-shirt. I peeled off my sweaty shirt and started to pull on my t-shirt, but stopped when Charles looked at me and gasped. "What?! It's not like you've never seen me shirtless before!" I looked at him disapprovingly but he kept staring and pointed. "No! Your chest. It's been cut, what happened?!" I looked down and noticed that there was a scab across my chest in a snake pattern. "It must have been when the rope came down yesterday. Oh we'll it's not that bad." I groaned. "Weird how cuts and bruises sometimes don't hurt until you see them, hey?" "If that's gonna happen with me I'm not gonna look!" Charles stated whilst shaking his head. He stood up and walked to a near by bush skeleton and unzipped his fly. I heard a scream and Charles was once again by my side, as fast as he could move. "What?" I looked up at him, his eyes extremely dilated. "I think I just found Mr.Andreson!" His voice shaking at each word. I walked over to the bush to find a human skeleton curled in the fetal position, hugging a box of some sort. I pried the box out of "it's" hands. When I opened the box I found a scroll perfectly rolled and sealed with a wax stamp. I unrolled the scroll and rubbed my fingers over the smooth ancient paper. It was a map!