Rio: Endangered

Burnt out

The tranquility of the forest was quickly vanishing, being replaced with a loud and unsettling roar of flames and crackling of burning logs. The raging fire consumed many trees in just a quarter of an hour. Thanks to Pedro and Nico, much of the wildlife had been evacuated and relocated to the ground of the tribe's territory. Many of them already knew their home was lost; others stood in fear of what was to come next.

"What do we do?" Mimi asked. "We haven't faced anything like this before, and we need to act fast."

Standing on the column in the midst of the Soccer Pit, surrounded by a sea of blue and red macaws, Blu was faced with the first official act as a leader in the tribe, though Eduardo still outranked him. "We do have Linda and Tulio coming to help us, but I am unsure we can depend on them to get here in time. Do we have any large containers?"

"The largest containers we have," Eduardo stated, "are buckets we've acquired from the humans when we drove them out. We have at least 10."

"That's not enough, but it'll have to do. Nico, get some of your friends to do what they can about removing dry branches, leaves, whatever they can get out of the way. We will have to use what containers we can get and form a defensive line between us and the fire. Let's get to work!"

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Never before in all their time living as neighbors did the Blue and Red macaws work so well together. They willingly took up the task of digging a 12-foot-wide trench surrounding the territory between them and the fire. Nico and Pedro assigned jobs to the land creatures.

The beavers, skilled in tree cutting, chopped down trees, while the crocodiles, with their long and strong snouts, latched onto the trees and dragged them further into the territory. Multiple other groups of birds, using what they could find, carried loads of water to the trench in order to form a moat. They also did what they could to soak the trees.

After an hour of laboring to protect the territory, Blu saw smoke filling the sky, and hints of bright orange shone through the branches. "The fire is coming! Finish up your task and hurry back to the river!"

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"Do you think we can make it in time?" Linda asked, worried that their helicopter flight wouldn't be fast enough.

"Don't worry, Linda. Miguel is the fastest pilot I know. We'll get there long before the fire is in range of the refuge."

"I hope you're right," Linda responded. She still wasn't assured. "Where is the fire now?"

Tulio flipped a few screens over on his monitor and looked at his satellite feed, then grew alarmed. "Oh, no."

"What? What is it Tulio?" Linda panicked.

"It's almost on top of them! How far are we from the refuge, Miguel?"

"10 miles, Tulio. We will get there in time. Hold on to something!" He answered Tulio.

"What are you..." Before Linda could ask what he meant, Miguel pressed a button that turned on boosters. The helicopter went from a slow pace to a much faster racing speed.

"Whhaaa... Wwhhhaaattt is thiiiisss???" Tulio shouted as the wind rushed past. He never got an answer.

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"Retreat! Get back to the river!" Blu was hurriedly regathering the tribes in a desperate attempt to get them to safety. It was no easy feat, seeing that there were so many birds.

Crackle! Pop! Blu turned and spotted a tree right on the edge of the trench that had caught fire. It rapidly consumed that tree's foliage and spread to neighboring trees. One tree, then another and another, quickly fell prey to the ravaging flames. Then there was a scream, a loud, piercing scream that sounded a lot like...

"Blu! Help!" It was Jewel. She'd been trapped under a canopy of fire.

"Jewel!" Blu rushed towards her in an attempt to lift the part of the branch that hadn't caught yet, but he was too late. Another branch fell down on top of it. "Jewel! No!"