My Jewel - Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

Twenty-Four - More than One Scare

"Well that was awful!"

She had died - for the first time. Now each of them had lost at least one of their three lives.

"That was so scary!"

It had happened so fast - Alex had been flying the helicopter over the canyon, when the propeller had jammed.  Seeing as Dawn Dars was a mechanic as one of her strengths - thankfully -  Sawyer leapt into action. She had managed to fix the problem - with little struggle, thanks to her avatar's skills - but had lost her hold on the side of the helicopter and had fallen - one of her weaknesses being heights - sending her plunging downward and smashing into the rocks below.

It had been quick and thankfully painless - the next thing she knew she was dropping from the sky. Spencer caught her and hauled her back into the chopper. 

"I think we can all agree that dying in the game is horrible!" she cried, still shaken as they landed on the grassy field beyond the canyon.  

"So bad."

"Yeah, no kidding."

The jewel may have been gone from their grasp, but they had to continue on their mission. Even without the jewel, the main prize, they were still making their way towards the statue, on to the next level.

"But you guys, we did it!" cried Alex, beaming despite just having finished the stressful level.  "I've never made it past that level before! Apparently, I've been trying to get across that canyon for like twenty years - do you realize how huge this is?!" He was ecstatic. Suddenly he went rigid.  "Mosquito." With that, he collapsed to the ground instantly. 

"Alex!"

"Oh my God!"

"No!" Everyone surrounded him. 

"He's dying!" cried Martha, nodding to the last remaining bar tattoo on his wrist, which was readily fading before  their eyes. 

"Move over! Give him some air! I took a CPR course!" Sawyer shoved the others out of the way and dropped to her knees beside him. She began a steady rhythm of compressions and mouth-to-mouth.  Come on, Alex. Don't die on us! 

"Sawyer wait, stop!" Martha suddenly cried.  "Your tattoo - now you're losing a life too."

"And you just lost a life," Spencer reminded her. 

She looked down at her tattoo - indeed, the next bar was fading. Two lives in the span of several minutes. If she saved Alex, costing her a life, then she would have only one life left remaining.

Glancing back down at Alex's wrist, she saw - much to her relief- that his tattoo was coming back somewhat. Her efforts were working!  She had to keep going. 

"I'm okay with that," she quickly decided. "We can't let him die, I won't let that happen, especially not when we're so close-"

"Are we though?" mumbled Fridge, still unconvinced by their whole mission, but Sawyer ignored him. 

"I want Alex to come home too. And we promised him we'd bring him home - and I intend on keeping that promise-" She leaned over Alex and continued her compressions and breaths. Please work, please work, please work. It had started to work, so just a little more...

Alex stirred to life. Everyone breathed a heavy sigh of relief - perhaps a breath they had all been collectively holding. Sawyer collapsed next to Alex, now out of breath herself. 

"Alex! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Sawyer, you okay?" asked Spencer.

"Yeah, I'm good," she called from her spot on the grass. 

"Alex, Sawyer gave you one of her lives," Martha was quick to tell him.

"What? Is that true?" Alex cried, taking Sawyer's hand and helping pull her to her feet.

"Yeah, of course. We promised we're getting home, and we're getting home," she insisted. 

"Thank you." The next thing she knew, Alex had pulled her into a crushing hug. "Thank you, so much. You saved my life - literally."

She chuckled, hugging him back after the surprise of his hug wore off.  "Of course, glad it worked. We're not leaving anyone behind - especially not in this terrifying game."

---------------------------------------

Sawyer found Alex skipping rocks at the creek. The team was taking a break to rest after their very stressful and eventful afternoon. 

"I keep thinking about my poor parents," he said. "What they must have been through. And why? All because I was sitting around in my hideout, too afraid to finish the game?"

"Well you didn't know how much time had passed," she reminded him.

"Yeah, I guess." He sighed.  "Sorry, I don't mean to lay this all on you, it's just - you're just really easy to talk to."

"Oh, thanks. I'm glad. So what are you like in the real world? Out of the game? Who is Alex Vreeke?"

He chuckled and skipped another rock.  "A full-on metalhead. A drummer, like my dad.  And you're an artist, right?"

"That's right. And a bit of a rebel."

He grinned.  "I like that."

"Thanks. I think '90s metalhead is pretty cool too." 

"YOU GUYS!" Fridge suddenly burst through the trees, out of breath and arms flailing. 

"What is it?" cried Marta.

"Yeah, what happened?" asked Bethany.

"I found the jaguar!"

(Again, I know it's been forever, and I'm sorry, but I'm still working on finishing up some stories and I am determined to finish this story - and I'm almost done, almost there! 

So thank you for being so patient and sticking with me and for reading and, as always, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :))