The Price You Pay

-2-

They zipped left down the tunnel. Once they reached the opening they skidded to a stop and looked over the edge. It plummeted down like a waterfall.

"What do we do?" Amara exclaimed, fidgeting with her shirt sleeves.

"We have to jump!" Maverick shouted over the running water. They heard the cops getting closer.

"But what about Alex?" Amara yelled, "we can't just chuck him over!"

"What other choice do we have?"

"What if it kills him?"

"Hey!" Someone shouted. Amara and Maverick turned around. Five police were approaching them at full speed. Some of them had their hands on their guns, others had them already out. They seemed to be ready for a full on war.

"We'll lower him down after we take out those cops," Maverick said as he cracked his knuckles. He pulled out a blow dart gun from his pocket, and Marmi jumped onto Alex's limp body to avoid the fight.

"That's your weapon?!" Amara asked. A blowdart against five guns? Amara thought. She hoped Maverick was joking. Incase he wasn't though, she took a step back and curled her arms into a protective shield around herself.

"I'm a good aim," Maverick said, bringing it to his lips. "I replaced the darts with tranquilizer darts too." Pwt! Maverick fired his blow dart. One cop went down. He loaded in another dart, and ducked as a bullet wizzed past his head. Pwt! Another went down. Pwt! Three cops down, two to go. Pwt! The fourth one fell too.

But then a gun fired and hit Alex in the knee. Alex groaned. The last cop tried to shoot Maverick again, but he moved in just the nick of time. It hit Alex again, and Mari jumped to Amara as Alex's dolly fell over, resulting in a face plant.

Maverick rolled his eyes and asked, "How are YOU the last cop standing?" He fired his blow dart gun again and the last cop went down. He then sat Alex up again.

"Wow, you are a good aim," Amara said. "Better than those cops."

Maverick took a bow and said, "Let's go."

Now that they weren't being chased, they could take their time to get Alex down without killing him.They found a pipe sticking through the wall, and tied the pulley to it. After they lowered Alex down, Amara shimmied down the rope after him.

Then Maverick threw the police down one by one. After they were all down, Maverick used the rope to tie the cops to a tree so it would take a while for them to find them once they woke up.

They journeyed deeper into the woods and then made a shelter for the night. Alex woke up and Amara and Maverick did their best to patch him up. Alex went to bed, and Amara and Maverick decided what to do tomorrow.

"Maybe we should go straight to the cave," Amara suggested.

"But we don't have anything to protect us," Maverick argued.

"It's okay, I'll be careful!"

"You don't understand how dangerous it is!"

"I can handle the slime!"

"It's not just "slime," it's from a dragon!"

"A dragon?"

"It's a dragon's drool. It guards the jewel, and there's no way you will get past it without proper protection," Maverick insisted.

"Why the heck didn't I know it was from a dragon?" Amara asked. It seemed like an important thing to know.

Maverick shrugged. "I dunno. I think we've talked about it before."