NOVEL FROG Chapter 49: Escape The Breakdown
While Indie’s group ran back to the safety of the cave entrance, Frost, Panda, and Scott struggled to find a way out of danger as they crawled up through all the narrow crevices they found, eventually getting back to the last mineshaft at the bottom of the slope. They didn’t even have time to stop and think of their location as they followed the sounds of the ticking explosives nearby, running blindly in their direction. They managed to turn a few corners before stepping into the long stretch with all the bombs planted on the beams at the side. As they looked down the tunnel to see the small red lights blinking faster, they hurried up to get as far away as possible, trying to run back to the slope where they came from on the very end of the mineshaft.
However, halfway through, Panda noticed the stairs that the rest of the team took to get to the last level, and as it was closer, they ran upstairs without thinking twice. Now on the level directly below the ravine, they came across a large wall of rocks blocking their way. The staircase back to the ravine had collapsed, forcing them to run all the way back to the slope as the walls of the ravine began trembling. Frost and Panda kept running without looking back, but Scott couldn’t help but take glances at all the explosives on the sides, with their sharp beeps becoming faster and increasing in volume, as well as feeding into his anxiety.
He was frightened to run between so many hazards. But as the mineshaft was a straight line to the slope, Scott began looking forward and following Panda and Frost’s every move. They had reached the way they came from, but they were surprised to see that the slope had become steeper after the ground seemingly slid off. They were startled by a big rumble coming from far below; the explosives in the vault were set off prematurely. But as the rocks beneath them kept dislodging and sliding down the slope, they had no time to waste, so they began climbing their way up. Frost was able to keep running up the steep ground, but Scott had to resort to using his hands as well to keep his balance, with Panda withdrawing his machine gun to be able to climb, though it still slowed him down severely.
Having to keep an eye out for any ledges that he could use to climb, Panda was almost crawling as they were about to reach the top of the slope. They had to watch out for the ceiling crumbling above them as well, since the entire mines below were collapsing on their own. The rest of the explosives hadn’t detonated yet, but as relieved as they were to reach the bottom of the ravine, Frost, Panda, and Scott couldn’t catch a breath as they had to keep running. Trying to find their way up to the elevator, they first ran to the other side of the last platform, but it just so happened to be blocked by rocks as seemingly all the mineshafts on the opposite side of the exit had collapsed.
In a panic, Panda returned to the start of the slope, which had now completely collapsed and blocked the entrance to the lower mines. With nowhere else to go, they looked around the other paths on the same level, where Scott saw another set of stairs that Trash must have taken to get down. Running through the unstable ground surrounding the ruined slope, they ran up the flimsy stairs to reach the second level, where they confirmed they were on the side of the elevator as Panda recognized the wall of rocks that formed thanks to Nitro. However, the barrier wasn’t as sturdy as before since Panda began to bash it with his shield until he broke a hole for them to reach the platform below the catwalk.
Standing on the only remains of the platform where the cart exploded, Frost, Panda, and Scott had nowhere else to go. They were cornered between the ledge of the destroyed platform and the staircase behind, which now led nowhere as the mineshaft below caved in. Soon, they wouldn’t even have ground left to stand on as the remaining beams that supported the wooden floor began trembling, with the giant pillar in the middle starting to lose its structural integrity at the bottom.
With the gap to the other side being too wide for them to jump over, they looked up at the catwalk to see some ropes hanging from the ceiling. They were hanging just low enough for Panda to reach for them with a jump, but he hesitated to grab onto them as losing his grip would mean falling to the stalagmites at the bottom. Regardless, Scott and Panda jumped for it after Frost urged them to move. The last floor was beginning to crack, and with it, the entire ravine became unstable, so they couldn’t waste time climbing up to the elevator. The ropes were strong enough to hold their weight, but almost as soon as Frost tried to grab on, the pulley that it was connected to gave in and detached from the metal frame on the ceiling.
Frost managed to climb fast enough in the brief second the rope broke to get some boost and reach the platform above, hanging from one hand on the metal floor of the catwalk. He waited for Panda and Scott to get up as he barely held on. The rope had tangled with his blades, and while it wasn’t heavy enough to pull him down, it did hamper his balance. Panda and Scott made it to the catwalk, but by the time they got to their feet and were able to reach for his hand to get him up as well, the whole cave rumbled with a muffled but powerful explosion coming from deep down.
The explosives were set off, destroying the last two layers of mines below the spike bottom of the ravine immediately. The impact was so intense that even Crisis felt it on the surface, but since they only sensed some small vibrations, they couldn’t imagine that the entire cave started collapsing rapidly under their feet. Underneath the floor, the mineshafts were suddenly lit up by the fire expanding throughout every nook and cranny, but as the ravine was affected right away as well, the main concern became the main pillar.
The catwalk circling the pillar began wobbling, causing Panda and Scott to lose their balance, but it was Frost who suffered the worst, as he couldn’t hold on for much longer. Panda and Scott watched in horror as they saw Frost falling all the way down to the bottom platform, nearly dying instantly to the stalagmites. With his back hitting the wooden floor, he was knocked down right on top of the pool of blood from the brute he murdered. It almost looked like it was his blood, but Panda and Scott could tell the fall didn’t do much damage. And while he looked unconscious for a second while the floor began cracking, he quickly got up and assessed his situation, despite clearly getting a concussion from his fall.
–Frost!!– Panda yelled in terror, already trying to find a way down to help him, before noticing that what was left of the second platform had collapsed. Luckily, the middle of the ravine was mostly clear of any falling debris, but with the mineshafts at the sides blocked, Frost was left standing in the middle of a crumbling platform, with the entire bottom of the ravine about to collapse at any second.
–Leave! I’ll find a way!!– Frost shouted back before reevaluating his options, which he quickly realized were pretty much nonexistent. Panda begrudgingly ran to the safety of the ledge outside the elevator, which still appeared stable enough, but he tripped with one of the bags lying on the catwalk as the entire structure began sinking. He immediately got up to reach the ledge, but Scott stayed back as he looked at the heavy bag Panda tripped with. He looked down at Frost, who was running frantically at the platform as both sides were not only blocked, but they were also beginning to burn as the floor beneath him started opening up.
While Frost was about to be swallowed by the fire from below, with some flames reaching the platform he was on, helping it to crumble even faster, Scott began plotting a way to save him as he reached for one of the last ropes hanging from the ceiling. The wide array of support beams that made up the frame of the ceiling were still mostly intact, although they were giving in to the weight of the entire quarry above it as it was the only thing keeping the entire ceiling together. The pillar connected to it sank deeper into the ground as the bottom of the ravine gave in, the frame above tearing itself down, leaving a less secure structure for Scott to use as he tried pulling down enough rope to reach Frost.
Panda noticed he wasn’t moving from his spot, and as the pillar was no longer safe for them to stand on, he ran back to Scott to pull him away. He yanked his arm, causing him to fall, but after he helped him get up, and Scott kept resisting, Panda caught on to his plan when he pointed at the pulley connected to the rope he was holding. He turned his attention back to the heavy bag on the catwalk, which was the only one remaining as everything else began raining down on Frost, forcing him to dodge while also trying to climb the sides of the crumbling rock walls next to him. He only managed to get to the second floor, where he held on to a tiny ledge where the platform used to be. But as he gave up on climbing, Panda helped Scott by dragging the bag to the edge of the catwalk, then the latter tossed down all the rope he was able to pull through the rigid pulley.
–Hang on to that!– Panda shouted at Frost while pointing at the rope hanging low enough for him to reach. It was still too high up, but despite the distance, Frost was able to boost himself from the ledge to grab onto the very end of the rope right as the floor beneath him inevitably collapsed.
With the pillar giving in, almost the entire frame of the ceiling came down with it. The top of the ravine didn’t immediately collapse, but as it couldn’t withstand the weight of everything found above in the cave, it began to tremble. Large rocks began falling, weakening the structure of the ravine floor even more, but as the entire pillar finally broke, the catwalk collapsed in a split second. Panda was able to shove the bag off the ledge with as much force as possible before jumping to the safe cliff of the elevator with Scott. They barely avoided falling like Frost, but as the ground around the exit began to crack as well, they quickly turned back to see if Frost was making his way up.
After holding the rope tightly with his dear life, trying to compact his body to not get hit by the falling debris, Frost was suddenly lifted with great speed as the heavy bag fell to the bottom of the ravine, pulling the rope so fast that it tore the pulley while Frost was still hanging. He got enough air to reach the first floor, even passing the height of the catwalk when it was still standing. But as he had to let go to jump towards Panda and Scott, there was no more floor below for him to stand on. The catwalk was gone, and without it, all that was found beneath was the open, fiery hole of the collapsed mines underneath the ravine as its bottom collapsed, making room for the flames to take over and rise higher with all the debris fueling the fire.
Stuck in the air for a brief moment, Frost didn’t look down to see what looked like the entrance to hell. Instead, he tried to fly as close as he could to the natural ledge in front of the elevator, where Panda and Scott leaned dangerously towards him to reach for his hand. But as he was already coming down, falling a couple of feet short of the ledge, there was nothing for him to grab onto. Panda almost fainted when he saw his chief falling to a certain death, but what shocked him more was Scott jumping into Frost’s rescue without a care in the world.
Without thinking twice, Scott reached out for Frost, taking a big leap to grab his wrists and hold them tightly before it was too late. He managed to catch him midair, but he didn’t seem to notice that he was at risk of falling as well since he had mindlessly thrown himself into the same deadly pit waiting for Frost. He screamed as he looked down at his impending demise, but all of a sudden, Scott felt himself levitating, hanging in the air despite not being in contact with any ground. He panicked until he looked back to see Panda holding his ankles and pulling both of them up to the ledge, using quite a bit of effort but not much strength as he planted his shield on the ground behind him to use as an anchor.
Scott continued to scream until he found himself on stable ground once again, although it wasn’t for long as the entire ravine kept collapsing. After being rescued, Scott immediately dragged Frost into the elevator with the help of Panda, not even wasting a second to acknowledge any of their rescues. But as they waited for a brief moment for the elevator to close, they watched the flames consume the ravine before it caved in itself, but not without spreading smoke and dust into the elevator as they began ascending. They began gasping for air, with Scott trying to deal with the adrenaline rushing through his body, but as the others focused on saving their breath, he became dizzy fairly quickly.
Before he could say a word, the elevator stopped working halfway up the shaft. Frost and Panda looked at each other in disbelief at first, but after hearing the loud thuds of the rocks falling beneath, as well as the walls surrounding the rumbling, they realized they had to get out of their position quickly. Scott didn’t get to process what was happening as he struggled to breathe, but when Panda busted the ceiling open with a mere punch, he caught on to what they were doing and followed after they climbed up the elevator.
Frost and Panda searched for a way to climb the shaft while in complete darkness. The only light above appeared to have stopped working, so they couldn’t even see the end, though they realized it was a long way up as some gravel dropped on their heads from a considerable height. Scott got to focus as the elevator they were standing on began trembling more than usual, and as he got up close to the rock walls around him, he noticed the cables pulling the elevator, which led them straight to the top. And as soon as he began climbing one in a corner, Frost and Panda mimicked him, sticking to opposite corners as they all three made their way up the shaft.
Even though he got a head start, Scott was much slower than them and fell behind a little, which only got worse when the cables began loosening. Frost and Panda didn’t dare to look down, and while the latter seemed more scared than anything, they both focused only on maintaining a good grip and coordinating their movements to climb as fast as possible. However, Scott made the mistake of getting a quick peek below them. Seeing the elevator drop aggressively to the bottom didn’t help him; it only distracted him from climbing, as he had a hard time forgetting about the sight. He still got a glimpse of the destruction found beneath him, but since they were getting close to the exit, he focused on staring up.
They were right about to reach the control room when Frost realized some of the cables were being pulled down and ripped from the ceiling. He had to grab onto other cables as there seemed to be plenty of options to climb, but as Scott stuck to his one cable, he started falling once it detached from the ceiling. Panda and Frost finally reached the top, with Panda grabbing onto the ledge of the elevator shaft with a jump before noticing Scott’s cable loosening up. He tried to grab it with one hand as he was hanging, but even when he got to reach it, he only got himself a burn on his hand as it was too late.
Scott barely reacted when the cable he was holding onto dropped from above. It would have hit his face if he hadn’t switched to another right next to him, but as the walls of the elevator shaft began closing in on themselves, it turned out that all of the cables were unwinding. Seeing his inability to keep climbing, Frost jumped to his rescue and returned the favor by jumping across to the other side of the shaft to grab the cables Scott was trying to reach. Panda helped him by pulling them close together, keeping a steady hold as he was on the stable ledge of the control room, but he began struggling as Scott’s body grew heavier, causing Frost’s grip to weaken as well.
–Come on! CLIMB! What are you doing, Sissy?? Climb for your life!!– Frost shouted at Scott with a mix of rage and desperation, though it served to encourage Scott to continue climbing after freezing for a moment. He did seem stupefied as he only climbed with his hands, which started to burn the harder he tried to grab the cables, making it harder for both Panda and Frost to help as he pulled them down with his weight. However, they were determined to help Scott as much as they could, so they held on until they were forced to use all their strength.
–Keep going!! Don’t give up just yet!!– Frost yelled with a bit less energy in his voice as his muscles strained from pulling both him and Scott up. Despite this, he managed to climb up the cable with one hand, and after reaching the ledge with Panda, he had to let go of one cable that broke to pull himself up and keep holding Scott’s cable steady with him.
Now that there wasn’t much weight, Scott only had to climb for himself, though he was still a quarter of the way there. They had stopped pulling as they ran out of strength, but since Scott realized he couldn’t climb fast enough, he just stopped moving. He could see the ceiling above starting to fall apart. A few rocks dropped next to him, and instead of shielding his head, he just closed his eyes in anticipation of the elevator shaft collapsing on top of him. And as Scott completely gave up, Frost was enraged to see him succumb to his fears, but instead of leaving him for dead, a rush of genuine fury took over him.
–You are a coward!! Is that what you are, huh?? I was right in giving you that nickname, you pathetic piece of crap!!! YOU ARE WORTHLESS! YOU CAN’T EVEN CLIMB, IDIOT!!– Frost yelled at the top of his lungs with more animosity than he showed Trash or Spook. He lost himself at that moment, only to come back to his senses when the ledge of the shaft began to crack as well, causing both him and Panda to stumble a bit, and it was then that they dropped Scott, leaving him to save himself on his own.
But that crucial moment, hearing Frost insult him with the same hatred he directed to his worst enemies, brought Scott back to reality; a scary, hopeless, dull reality. Nonetheless, he froze again, but now with open eyes as his life flashed by, awakening the last sliver of energy and courage found inside, activating his instincts to survive, and at that moment, it meant climbing. He wasn’t scared anymore, or at least he didn’t show it. Instead, his face lit up with the determination of fighting himself for his life, pushing his limits despite his body impeding him, and overcoming the fear of death itself as he tried for once to go above and beyond with his strength, both physical and mental.
As Frost stopped yelling and was seemingly leaving him to die, Scott began to use his feet to climb the cable since his hands were burning in pain, though he still used them as he kept pushing. Something drove him to climb like never before, not even in the circuit back at the base, becoming some sort of animal as he shrunk his body to stick close to the cable as he climbed fast. Regardless of whether it was out of fear or newly found trust in himself, his speed almost matched that of Kiwy’s in the training course demonstration. And while he wasn’t as fast and even lost some energy fairly quickly, he was able to climb to save his life.
Scott reached Panda and Frost right as they were about to leave, but they turned around and immediately pulled him up once he reached the ledge as the ceiling collapsed on them. They jumped out of the way into the control room and watched rocks fall down with the last cable, finally taking a moment to breathe. Panda smiled at Scott with relief while Frost just turned back to the exit of the control room, and without looking back, he kept moving. They all stood up and continued running out towards the quarry, which had a more stable floor, but since the walls were collapsing, they were forced to go up the pit as soon as possible.
Unable to take the spiraling paths since they would take too much, they turned to the three piles of rocks at the center to get up to the first layer of the quarry. With dirt from the ceiling dropping on them, the ground below destabilizing the piles of rocks, and the control room suddenly getting crushed shortly after they left it, the three of them began climbing as best as they could. They struggled greatly to get up, especially when one single touch of a rock caused two more to fall. So, instead of hurrying up, they carefully climbed each tower, with Panda having the biggest to hold his weight. And after a few stumbles, and Scott almost falling all the way down to the rumbling floor, they reached the top, where they took a big leap onto the safe ground next to the base of the ramp.
They only had one shot, as the piles of rocks collapsed as soon as they jumped. But with all of them successfully crossing the gap, with Scott getting some help from Panda to reach the other side, they avoided falling alongside the bottom of the quarry. They weren’t completely safe yet; the pit began collapsing in the same order it descended, with the destruction quickly spiraling its way towards them. They had to run straight up the ramp, and while it was also falling apart, they had enough room to run at the same level.
Scott managed to keep up with Frost and Panda’s pace, and while his whole body seemed like it would collapse as well, he kept pushing since it was the only thing he could do. As they reached the soft light outside, the entrance became clouded as the ceiling began cracking before completely giving in to the weight of the hill and gate above. They were just about to escape, but with their last hope of making it outside crumbling right before their eyes, they had no choice but to search for another exit, if there was even one to begin with.