Categories > Cartoons > Kim Possible > The Point Of No Return
Day Five
Kim was awake early, the pain in her leg was getting worse, but she wasn't the only one that was awake, apparently, Ron had got up before she had, because he was nowhere to be found, when she had gotten out of the tent, she looked around, and saw Ron's telltale footprints, leading into the first aid cabin, but there were more prints in camp than just the three that had been there last night, there were two extra pair of prints, coming from what appeared to be the west, they had also gone into the first aid cabin, then left, dragging something heavy out with them.
Kim was relieved to see Ron walk out of the cabin a few seconds after she had gotten up, but unsettled when she saw the look on his face,
"That's strange." he said, looking down at the footprints,
"What?" Kim asked,
"Well, there's three extra pair of footprints in camp, but no extra tents, not even steak marks in the ground." Ron said, pointing to the suspect footprints, and frowning, as Kim looked around, she noticed that Ron was right, there were no other tents in camp, and no visual markings on the ground that any other hikers had camped here during the night,
"Okay, this is getting too freaky." Kim said,
"And freaky is something we don't need at the moment." Ron finished, Kim nodded in agreement, just as Ron reached into the pocket of his snowsuit, and pulled out the Kimmunicator,
"Wade, talk to me, are there any other people in this area, besides me and Kim." Ron said, his face contorted into a huge frown,
"Yeah, but you're not gonna like it." Wade said,
"Let me guess, hunters, but Elk Season isn't for another couple of weeks." Ron replied,
"You got it." Wade said,
"Poachers! I should've known," Ron said, the palm of his hand coming into hard contact with his forehead, "with the blizzard shutting everything down, it's the perfect opportunity to bag a few Elk, without the National Park Service breathing down your neck."
"And that's not the half of it, Ron," Wade said, making Ron turn to look at the small screen of the Kimmunicator a little harder, "I have reason to believe that they're aware that you and Kim are on that side of the mountain, if they find you, you're gonna end up on their bag list."
"/SOOO NOT WHAT I WANTED TO HEAR, WADE!!/" Ron shouted back at the African-American boy,
"Chill, Ron,"Wade said, causing Ron to frown at him, "I've mapped a quick way down the mountain, you should make it to Ranger Station Seven within the next forty-eight hours."
"Station Seven, coolio, Paulie's down there, we'll turn the poachers over to him, and let the park service deal with them." Ron said,
"Well, that's looking on the plus side." Kim responded, she had decided to remain quiet during the exchange between Ron, and Wade, knowing Ron's temper, she had let him rant himself out, before interjecting into the conversation,
"Yeah, but there's a down side," Wade said, "the new course will pull you away from your food stores, Ron."
"That, I can live with," Ron said, "what about water?" he added quickly,
"There's a couple of springs that run through the new course, you should be golden until you reach the station." Wade replied,
"And if we don't find these streams, we'll just have to make due with what we got." Ron said,
"Yeah, you should be okay, there's enough water to last for a while." Wade said,
"Thanks, Wade, I'll contact you when we make camp for the night, Ron out." Ron said, turning the device off, and stuffing it back into his pocket,
"You ready to hit it, Kim?" Ron asked, looking over at his girlfriend, whose color was draining from her face,
"Let's move, Ron." she said, taking two steps, then falling into Ron's outstretched arms,
"You're not /walking/ anywhere." Ron said, picking Kim off the ground, and placing her into the sled he had made the day before,
"Ron, I'm fine." Kim protested, but Ron wouldn't hear of it,
"No, you're not, Kim, perhaps you didn't look into a mirror, but you look like you've seen a ghost, I'm not taking any chances." Ron said, his face was set, his voice was stern, but not inflexible,
"Look, me, standing, I'm fine, no big." Kim said, still attempting to let Ron see her side of it, but Ron wasn't budging,
"Look, Kim," he said, his voice was reassuring, but still somewhat stern, "I've leaned on you more than my fair share, now, it's your turn to lean on me, can you trust me, just this once, I know what I'm doing."
Kim couldn't argue that point, no matter how she looked at it, she would need Ron's help to get off the mountain, she couldn't do it on one leg, not with rabid poachers dogging their every step, poachers, that are, no doubt, armed to the teeth,
"Okay, Ron, you got me, what's your next move?" Kim asked, looking at Ron with complete trust,
"Well, for starters, I'm not gonna let those guys just waltz up here, and find us, if they want us, I'm gonna make them work for it." Ron said, an evil grin cracking his face,
"And how are you gonna do that?" Kim asked,
"Get them, before they get us." Ron said, his voice was scary, Kim had never seen him this angry before, and it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up,
"Amp down, Ron, you're scaring me." Kim said,
"I'm not trying to scare you, K.P., I'm trying to scare them." Ron replied,
"How do you know they're listening?" Kim asked,
"I feel it more than I know it," Ron explained, "for example, there's always the sounds of birds on Mt. Middleton, no matter what season it is, do you hear any birds singing in the trees?"
"No." Kim replied, shaking her head,
"Exactly, there's something other than us on this ledge." Ron said, looking at Kim,
By Mid-afternoon, Kim was aware that someone, or something, was following them down the mountainside, but who, or what it was, she didn't know, the creepy feeling of being watched followed her until they reached the halfway point, when a new feeling took over, biting cold, as though she had been dunked into a tub full of freezing water,
"Ron, I'm cold." Kim said, causing Ron to stop, and unhook the sled, he was by her side quickly, he laid a calloused hand to her forehead, and his face began to lose its color,
"/OH, GREAT!!/" Ron shouted, throwing his hands into the air, and positively screaming with despair,
"Wh-what i-i-i-s i-it." Kim stuttered, her teeth chattering loudly,
"Hypothermia, your body's starting to go into shock." Ron said, gathering up as much wood as he could, he needed to get Kim warmed up as quickly as possible, otherwise she could die of exposure to the brutal elements of Mt. Middleton's changing weather.
Evening had rolled around quickly, and Ron had figured, that with the stop to warm up Kim, they had lost about an hour of their precious window, if Ron didn't Kim off the mountain by this time in a day and a half, Gangrene would start to set in, and Kim could very easily lose her leg to the rotting disease. As he relaxed against a tree, something caught his eye. Movement, about a couple hundred yards in the distance, from the looks of it, whatever it was, they were getting closer, then, it happened,
BANG!
The rifle shot rang out loudly, waking Kim up from a sound sleep, and splintering the branch next to Ron's head,
"/HOLY SHIT!!/" Ron shouted, grabbing Kim into his arms, and running from the hastily made camp, picking up only the supplies they needed,
"What, what is it?" Kim asked,
"The poachers, they caught up with us!" Ron exclaimed, running at full speed to a nearby stand of trees, hopefully, they could lose the poachers in the thick brush.
With the adrenaline pumping fast, Ron ran through the brambles, and the briar patches, not looking to see how badly cut up he was getting, and not really caring, his only thought at this moment, was Kim, getting her off the mountain had become all consuming, he had asked Kim to get the Kimmunicator from his pants pocket as he ran, which she had done without a problem, even as fast as his legs were pumping,
"Wade, we got a major 911." Kim said, as Ron ran through another briar patch, his already badly cut up legs, getting even more cut up,
"What up, Kim?" Wade asked,
"The poachers found us, and right now, they've got to be tracking us." Kim said,
"I got you on G.P.S.," Wade said, speaking slow, so that Ron could hear as well,
"You're still about a day from the station, if you continue on the same path you're on now, you're gonna reach Devil's Fork in about eight hours, either turn left, or turn back."
Ron broke left from his current path, opting not to turn back, and risk falling into the hands of the poachers,
"Good, this should take you to Geyser Springs, there, you should be able to warm up a little, and from there, you're only a day away from the station, you should be able to get off the mountain from there." Wade said,
"And if the poachers find us beforehand?" Ron asked,
"Chill, Ron," Wade said, "I'm tracking them too, they didn't follow you through the briars, noone's dumb enough to follow someone with an adrenaline rush through there."
Ron looked down at his now throbbing legs, and saw several thorns sticking out of them,
"/AW, MAN!!/ Now I'm gonna be up half the night, trying to fix those." Ron said, a dejected tone in his voice,
"Well, gotta go, I told Kim's parents I'd keep them informed as to how you're doing, Wade out." Wade said, as the screen went blank.
Wade called the Possible home about a minute after he had gotten off with Kim and Ron,
"It seems the poachers tried to take a potshot at Ron," Wade explained, "he got 'em out of there okay, but he tore his legs up pretty bad, he ran through the briars between camp eighteen, and Devil's Fork, he took the left, to Geyser Springs, he should make it to Ranger Station Seven sometime tomorrow, at the earliest."
"You are just a world of good news today, Wade, have you seen the news, they're declaring Kim and Ron as missing." Mr. Possible said,
"Yeah, I know, how're you holding out?" Wade asked,
"As good as can be expected." Mrs. Possible said, a sigh escaping her lips,
"I'll keep you in the loop if anything happens, talk to you later." Wade said, hanging up, and breaking the telephone connection between him, and the elder Possible's.
Mr. Possible had sat down at the sofa, awaiting the news of Kim and Ron's appearance, when the phone rang again,
"Hello, who is this?" he asked,
"This is Steve Barkin, I'm just calling to say, my prayers are with you." the voice on the other end said, it was Mr. Barkin, the principal of Middleton High School, where Kim, and Ron were in their last year of school.
"Thanks, Mr. Barkin, I appreciate it." Mr. Possible said,
"Not a problem, Dr. Possible." Mr. Barkin said, hanging up the phone, and leaving Mr. Possible with his confused thoughts.
On the other side of town, at Middleton High School, a well built man with dark hair, cut into a flattop, sat at his desk in his office, Steve Barkin was not prone to working this late at night, but there were things on his mind that even he couldn't shake, he looked out the window of his office, there was a perfect view of Mt. Middleton, he bent his head in silent prayer, asking for the safe return of two of his pupils, Kim Possible, and Ron Stoppable,
'Bring them home safe, Lord,' he thought, 'I may have been a little hard on the both of them, but even they don't deserve to have their lives end like this, just, bring them home to their families, that's where they belong.' He turned out, to look at the mountain one last time, before shutting off the lights of his office, and leaving for the night.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A/N: Thought I'd leave it there, another cliffhanger, I'm getting GOOD at these, well, until the next chapter, keep those reviews coming, folks, I save all reviews I get, so keep 'em coming, no flames, please, I don't think I could take the rejection, laughs evilly, keep the reviews coming.
Kim was awake early, the pain in her leg was getting worse, but she wasn't the only one that was awake, apparently, Ron had got up before she had, because he was nowhere to be found, when she had gotten out of the tent, she looked around, and saw Ron's telltale footprints, leading into the first aid cabin, but there were more prints in camp than just the three that had been there last night, there were two extra pair of prints, coming from what appeared to be the west, they had also gone into the first aid cabin, then left, dragging something heavy out with them.
Kim was relieved to see Ron walk out of the cabin a few seconds after she had gotten up, but unsettled when she saw the look on his face,
"That's strange." he said, looking down at the footprints,
"What?" Kim asked,
"Well, there's three extra pair of footprints in camp, but no extra tents, not even steak marks in the ground." Ron said, pointing to the suspect footprints, and frowning, as Kim looked around, she noticed that Ron was right, there were no other tents in camp, and no visual markings on the ground that any other hikers had camped here during the night,
"Okay, this is getting too freaky." Kim said,
"And freaky is something we don't need at the moment." Ron finished, Kim nodded in agreement, just as Ron reached into the pocket of his snowsuit, and pulled out the Kimmunicator,
"Wade, talk to me, are there any other people in this area, besides me and Kim." Ron said, his face contorted into a huge frown,
"Yeah, but you're not gonna like it." Wade said,
"Let me guess, hunters, but Elk Season isn't for another couple of weeks." Ron replied,
"You got it." Wade said,
"Poachers! I should've known," Ron said, the palm of his hand coming into hard contact with his forehead, "with the blizzard shutting everything down, it's the perfect opportunity to bag a few Elk, without the National Park Service breathing down your neck."
"And that's not the half of it, Ron," Wade said, making Ron turn to look at the small screen of the Kimmunicator a little harder, "I have reason to believe that they're aware that you and Kim are on that side of the mountain, if they find you, you're gonna end up on their bag list."
"/SOOO NOT WHAT I WANTED TO HEAR, WADE!!/" Ron shouted back at the African-American boy,
"Chill, Ron,"Wade said, causing Ron to frown at him, "I've mapped a quick way down the mountain, you should make it to Ranger Station Seven within the next forty-eight hours."
"Station Seven, coolio, Paulie's down there, we'll turn the poachers over to him, and let the park service deal with them." Ron said,
"Well, that's looking on the plus side." Kim responded, she had decided to remain quiet during the exchange between Ron, and Wade, knowing Ron's temper, she had let him rant himself out, before interjecting into the conversation,
"Yeah, but there's a down side," Wade said, "the new course will pull you away from your food stores, Ron."
"That, I can live with," Ron said, "what about water?" he added quickly,
"There's a couple of springs that run through the new course, you should be golden until you reach the station." Wade replied,
"And if we don't find these streams, we'll just have to make due with what we got." Ron said,
"Yeah, you should be okay, there's enough water to last for a while." Wade said,
"Thanks, Wade, I'll contact you when we make camp for the night, Ron out." Ron said, turning the device off, and stuffing it back into his pocket,
"You ready to hit it, Kim?" Ron asked, looking over at his girlfriend, whose color was draining from her face,
"Let's move, Ron." she said, taking two steps, then falling into Ron's outstretched arms,
"You're not /walking/ anywhere." Ron said, picking Kim off the ground, and placing her into the sled he had made the day before,
"Ron, I'm fine." Kim protested, but Ron wouldn't hear of it,
"No, you're not, Kim, perhaps you didn't look into a mirror, but you look like you've seen a ghost, I'm not taking any chances." Ron said, his face was set, his voice was stern, but not inflexible,
"Look, me, standing, I'm fine, no big." Kim said, still attempting to let Ron see her side of it, but Ron wasn't budging,
"Look, Kim," he said, his voice was reassuring, but still somewhat stern, "I've leaned on you more than my fair share, now, it's your turn to lean on me, can you trust me, just this once, I know what I'm doing."
Kim couldn't argue that point, no matter how she looked at it, she would need Ron's help to get off the mountain, she couldn't do it on one leg, not with rabid poachers dogging their every step, poachers, that are, no doubt, armed to the teeth,
"Okay, Ron, you got me, what's your next move?" Kim asked, looking at Ron with complete trust,
"Well, for starters, I'm not gonna let those guys just waltz up here, and find us, if they want us, I'm gonna make them work for it." Ron said, an evil grin cracking his face,
"And how are you gonna do that?" Kim asked,
"Get them, before they get us." Ron said, his voice was scary, Kim had never seen him this angry before, and it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up,
"Amp down, Ron, you're scaring me." Kim said,
"I'm not trying to scare you, K.P., I'm trying to scare them." Ron replied,
"How do you know they're listening?" Kim asked,
"I feel it more than I know it," Ron explained, "for example, there's always the sounds of birds on Mt. Middleton, no matter what season it is, do you hear any birds singing in the trees?"
"No." Kim replied, shaking her head,
"Exactly, there's something other than us on this ledge." Ron said, looking at Kim,
By Mid-afternoon, Kim was aware that someone, or something, was following them down the mountainside, but who, or what it was, she didn't know, the creepy feeling of being watched followed her until they reached the halfway point, when a new feeling took over, biting cold, as though she had been dunked into a tub full of freezing water,
"Ron, I'm cold." Kim said, causing Ron to stop, and unhook the sled, he was by her side quickly, he laid a calloused hand to her forehead, and his face began to lose its color,
"/OH, GREAT!!/" Ron shouted, throwing his hands into the air, and positively screaming with despair,
"Wh-what i-i-i-s i-it." Kim stuttered, her teeth chattering loudly,
"Hypothermia, your body's starting to go into shock." Ron said, gathering up as much wood as he could, he needed to get Kim warmed up as quickly as possible, otherwise she could die of exposure to the brutal elements of Mt. Middleton's changing weather.
Evening had rolled around quickly, and Ron had figured, that with the stop to warm up Kim, they had lost about an hour of their precious window, if Ron didn't Kim off the mountain by this time in a day and a half, Gangrene would start to set in, and Kim could very easily lose her leg to the rotting disease. As he relaxed against a tree, something caught his eye. Movement, about a couple hundred yards in the distance, from the looks of it, whatever it was, they were getting closer, then, it happened,
BANG!
The rifle shot rang out loudly, waking Kim up from a sound sleep, and splintering the branch next to Ron's head,
"/HOLY SHIT!!/" Ron shouted, grabbing Kim into his arms, and running from the hastily made camp, picking up only the supplies they needed,
"What, what is it?" Kim asked,
"The poachers, they caught up with us!" Ron exclaimed, running at full speed to a nearby stand of trees, hopefully, they could lose the poachers in the thick brush.
With the adrenaline pumping fast, Ron ran through the brambles, and the briar patches, not looking to see how badly cut up he was getting, and not really caring, his only thought at this moment, was Kim, getting her off the mountain had become all consuming, he had asked Kim to get the Kimmunicator from his pants pocket as he ran, which she had done without a problem, even as fast as his legs were pumping,
"Wade, we got a major 911." Kim said, as Ron ran through another briar patch, his already badly cut up legs, getting even more cut up,
"What up, Kim?" Wade asked,
"The poachers found us, and right now, they've got to be tracking us." Kim said,
"I got you on G.P.S.," Wade said, speaking slow, so that Ron could hear as well,
"You're still about a day from the station, if you continue on the same path you're on now, you're gonna reach Devil's Fork in about eight hours, either turn left, or turn back."
Ron broke left from his current path, opting not to turn back, and risk falling into the hands of the poachers,
"Good, this should take you to Geyser Springs, there, you should be able to warm up a little, and from there, you're only a day away from the station, you should be able to get off the mountain from there." Wade said,
"And if the poachers find us beforehand?" Ron asked,
"Chill, Ron," Wade said, "I'm tracking them too, they didn't follow you through the briars, noone's dumb enough to follow someone with an adrenaline rush through there."
Ron looked down at his now throbbing legs, and saw several thorns sticking out of them,
"/AW, MAN!!/ Now I'm gonna be up half the night, trying to fix those." Ron said, a dejected tone in his voice,
"Well, gotta go, I told Kim's parents I'd keep them informed as to how you're doing, Wade out." Wade said, as the screen went blank.
Wade called the Possible home about a minute after he had gotten off with Kim and Ron,
"It seems the poachers tried to take a potshot at Ron," Wade explained, "he got 'em out of there okay, but he tore his legs up pretty bad, he ran through the briars between camp eighteen, and Devil's Fork, he took the left, to Geyser Springs, he should make it to Ranger Station Seven sometime tomorrow, at the earliest."
"You are just a world of good news today, Wade, have you seen the news, they're declaring Kim and Ron as missing." Mr. Possible said,
"Yeah, I know, how're you holding out?" Wade asked,
"As good as can be expected." Mrs. Possible said, a sigh escaping her lips,
"I'll keep you in the loop if anything happens, talk to you later." Wade said, hanging up, and breaking the telephone connection between him, and the elder Possible's.
Mr. Possible had sat down at the sofa, awaiting the news of Kim and Ron's appearance, when the phone rang again,
"Hello, who is this?" he asked,
"This is Steve Barkin, I'm just calling to say, my prayers are with you." the voice on the other end said, it was Mr. Barkin, the principal of Middleton High School, where Kim, and Ron were in their last year of school.
"Thanks, Mr. Barkin, I appreciate it." Mr. Possible said,
"Not a problem, Dr. Possible." Mr. Barkin said, hanging up the phone, and leaving Mr. Possible with his confused thoughts.
On the other side of town, at Middleton High School, a well built man with dark hair, cut into a flattop, sat at his desk in his office, Steve Barkin was not prone to working this late at night, but there were things on his mind that even he couldn't shake, he looked out the window of his office, there was a perfect view of Mt. Middleton, he bent his head in silent prayer, asking for the safe return of two of his pupils, Kim Possible, and Ron Stoppable,
'Bring them home safe, Lord,' he thought, 'I may have been a little hard on the both of them, but even they don't deserve to have their lives end like this, just, bring them home to their families, that's where they belong.' He turned out, to look at the mountain one last time, before shutting off the lights of his office, and leaving for the night.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A/N: Thought I'd leave it there, another cliffhanger, I'm getting GOOD at these, well, until the next chapter, keep those reviews coming, folks, I save all reviews I get, so keep 'em coming, no flames, please, I don't think I could take the rejection, laughs evilly, keep the reviews coming.
Sign up to rate and review this story