Chapter 8
Anthony sat on a nearby rock and continued to rub the knot that had begun to form on his head. "I can’t believe that we let four kids outwit us!" he growled.
"It was a surprise attack. How were we supposed to know that they were smart enough to throw those coconuts? Heck why weren’t we smart enough to pick them up and throw them back?"
"Maybe because we were outnumbered! Besides, if we would have stopped running long enough to pick up something to throw back, we would have been knocked out!" Anthony practically screamed.
"The boss isn’t going to be happy about this! We have already lost the group three different times," Steven pointed out.
"You think I don’t know that? If that nitwit Brian hadn’t hurt his ankle like the dummy he is, we would have more help and we wouldn’t keep losing them!"
"Now Anthony you don’t mean that. You are just mad because things aren’t working out," Steve chided him. Anthony turned to look at him and gave him an evil look. Steven decided to drop the subject. They had very little time left, and once again they were clueless as to where their prey was. Now instead of three people to put their heads together, they were down to two. Things were getting harder and harder.
The morning sunlight began to filter through the leafy canopy created by the dense trees around them. The sun bathed the little plateau where the eight had made their bed for the night. JC slowly became aware of the light shining on his face. He raised his hand to shield his sensitive eyes from the invading light. JC was the first to wake up that morning. The air was still rather chilly; the sun has not been up long enough to warm the area yet. He looked around and realized he was still smashed between Cari and Monica. To most guys being in this position might have exciting and exotic, but now was not the time or the place to be thinking about that kind of thing. Sex was absolutely the last thing on his mind. At this point and time he just wanted to make it off the island alive.
‘Why do things like this have to happen to us? In all seriousness what did we ever do to anyone that would make them come after us?’ JC thought to himself. ‘We have worked our butts off to fulfill our dreams and what do we get in return? We have to jump ship, literally, during our vacation…only to be stranded on a deserted island!’ He let out a low growl. Monica began to stir a little, but did not wake. He tried to decide whether to wake everybody up and get moving. He reached up and ran his hand through his hair and then checked his watch. It was almost 6:00 am. He was still really tired but he knew he wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep now even if he tried, so he just continued to lie there. After a few minutes he heard some leaves rustling nearby and he saw Lance sit up and stretch. Lance then proceeded to lean back on his hand and stare off in the sunrise for a few minutes. JC wonder what his friend was thinking. Lance began to look around and he realized that JC was staring at him. The pain and the suffering they had endured for the past couple of days were clearly written on his face. Lance nodded away from the rest of the group and stood up encouraging JC to get up and come to talk to him. JC slowly and carefully un-wedged himself out from between Cari and Monica, trying his best not to wake either of them.
As he was walking over to Lance he noticed that Lance was leaning up against a tree, yawning and rubbing his eyes with his fists.
"Please tell me that you slept better than I did," Lance said to JC when he was within hearing range without evening removing his hands.
"Nope, I wish. Every sound I heard scared me half to death and I just knew that we were either trapped or we were going to have to run for our lives," JC reached up and scratched his head trying to clear out those haunting thoughts.
"I know what you mean. I think Monica must have been having a nightmare during the night. She was tossing and turning and then she starting mumbling things in her sleep. I never could get her to wake up, but she finally got done with it I guess. She calmed down. I was worried about her and so that made it even worse. I couldn’t fall back asleep for the longest time after that."
"How long have you two been up?" Keeley asked as she walked up to the two men talking quietly. She went over and leaned against the tree where Lance was and then leaned her head on his shoulder.
"Not long, just a couple of minutes. We didn’t wake you did we?" JC asked with concern in his voice.
"Nah. The sun is shining in Fro Boy’s face and he rolled over and hit me." Both men chuckled at her.
"Well before he causes more damage to anyone else or mistakes Joey for you again, I think we had better go and wake everyone up," Lance suggested.
"Good idea," JC answered and the three went and woke up the other five. They were greeted with groans and even a couple of obscenities from Justin who was even less of a morning person than Monica was. He tried to go back to sleep but Keeley threatened him with his life. Monica just chose to ignore them and curled up into a ball and turned away from their offensive voices. Several of the members of the group were still sitting down on the ground talking when Cari realized that Monica was still asleep.
"Lance go get your girlfriend’s lazy butt up." Lance glanced over and shook his head and rolled his eyes.
"Don’t worry about it Lance, let me take care of it," JC said when he realized what was going on. JC walked over to Monica and got down on one knee and leaned down. He started blowing lightly in her hair. She swatted at whatever it was that was bothering her and then was still again. He smirked and repeated the action. This time she turned to look at him and gave him an evil look.
"Leave me alone," Monica growled almost under her breath and then continued to lay back down.
"Let me ask you a question." She turned back to look at him again, the scowl still on her face. "Do you remember that morning that I needed your help to surprise Cari?" She sighed and looked uninterested. "Do you remember what happened to you when you wouldn’t get out of bed?" She looked at him with a wide-eyed expression.
"You wouldn’t dare!"
"You wanna try me? Hey Lance come up here," he called as he looked over his shoulder at his friend. Lance started walking towards the two. When he saw the evil grin on JC’s face and the look of hatred on hers he knew exactly what was going on.
"No, no! Not that! Ok, ok. I am getting up. Geez you people are cruel!" Monica huffed and got up and began to walk away.
"What no good morning kiss?" JC asked as he pretended to pout.
"WHAT?!?" Cari screamed as she overheard JC’s comment. Lance and JC both burst out laughing and Monica turned and stuck her tongue out at both of the men. She went over to Keeley and Justin. Justin was lying on his back with his head in Keeley’s lap. Monica lay down and placed her head on Justin’s stomach.
"I swear…can’t get any respect around here," she continued to mumbled. Justin reached down and ruffled her hair.
"I know what you mean. Just remember I have to Ms. You-will-get-up-now-or-pay-the consequences here."
Keeley smacked Justin on the shoulder and he just chuckled.
"Ok everyone what is the game plan for the day?" Chris asked the group.
"I vote that we continue to run like hell," Joey spoke up. Almost getting trapped three different times was about three times too many for him.
"I would have to second that vote," Monica added.
"Ok I didn’t know we were running a democracy here but whatever! Let’s get our butts off this island and get us some food!" JC laughed.
"Now that I would have to second," Justin said, his stomach growling almost as if on cue. The group burst out laughing.
"Ok, well all you lazy bums need to get off the ground and let’s get moving," Lance suggested. He walked over and helped Monica off the ground. Keeley and Justin followed suit and both got off the ground and joined all their friends that were standing nearby.
The group soon started on their journey that would lead them to the top of the hill. The spot where they had stopped for the night was about three-fourths of the way to the top. Everyone was quiet during the assent up the mountain. Most everyone was either too tired to speak, or lost in their thoughts about the whole experience.
"Do you guys hear something?" Monica asked when they were almost to the top.
"Hear what Mony?" Joey asked.
"It sounds like a…"
"A helicopter!" Justin exclaimed, cutting Monica’s words off. The group began to look around and saw a helicopter way off in the distance. Everyone began a mad dash for the top of the hill.
"We have got to get his attention!" JC cried out. They all began looking around for something to signal the pilot with, without any luck. They were running out of time and JC took off running towards the edge so that maybe he could get the pilot’s attention. Keeley and a few others continued to look around while the rest of the group joined JC, though none dared to go as close to the edge as he was. When the group was in sight range of the pilot, they all began to wave their arms frantically.
"He has to see us! There is no way that he can’t see us!" a frustrated Lance stated. Just then the pilot looked over their way. He smiled at them and began to wave back. He gave them a little salute before he turned his attention back to the sky.
"What the hell?" JC screamed and began jumping up and down. They all frantically waved their hands trying to catch the pilot’s attention. The helicopter was already steadily moving away from the island. Keeley and Chris stopped jumping in defeat. They turned to walk away from the edge of the cliff. They looked up to see an amazing sight. They realized they were at the top of the hill, and it was the highest point on the island. They could see everything. Keeley’s jaw dropped in awe as she turned in a circle taking in the entire island covered in lush greenery. Chris too was enjoying the amazing view when he looked down towards the other side of the hill. Something had caught his eye. He reached over and grabbed Keeley’s arm and yanked her over to where he was standing. She stood there in amazement for a moment before regaining her senses.
"Justin!" Keeley called as she ran over to the group. "Chris and I just spotted a little village at the bottom of the hill!" All the while JC continued jumping up and down screaming at the pilot. He never heard what Keeley said. The helicopter was getting farther and farther out of sight so JC moved even closer to the edge and continued his mad rave. He was beginning to lose his voice and finally took a break. Lance who was standing closest to him heard a cracking sound and some rocks fall. He quickly turned to look in JC’s direction. Just as he did the ground gave out from under JC and he began to fall. A screamed escaped from JC’s lungs just as realized what was happening and he tried to move, but he wasn’t fast enough. Lance lunged in JC’s direction and barely caught his wrist.
"Someone help me!" Lance yelled as he tried his best to hold onto the hand of his slipping friend. Joey reacted first and was at Lance’s side in a flash.
"JC, can you reach your arm up to me?" Joey asked as he lay on his stomach and leaned over as far as he could. It still wasn’t far enough.
"No, I can’t move!"
"JC, you are going to have to…we can’t pull you up by one arm!" The rest of the group looked on dumbfounded until Lance looked like he was beginning to slip more and more off the mountain, falling along with his comrade. Monica finally pulled out of her trace and ran over to grab his ankles and tried to pull him back. Keeley saw that she wasn’t having much luck and rushed over to help. Justin decided he had better help Joey before he got into the same predicament that Lance was in. Cari was still frozen. She couldn’t believe her eyes.
"I am going to witness my boyfriend fall to his death," she thought to herself. Tears full of fear silently slid down her cheeks. She made no move to wipe them away. Her full attention was on the rescue mission unfolding in front of her.
"My God!" Anthony screamed at the top of his lungs. "Why in the hell can’t we keep up with them?" He and Steven had just stumbled upon the area that the eight had slept on the night before. They could tell it was the place because they could make out footprints, but more importantly they could make out places in the dirt where the group had huddled together trying to stay warm in their sleep. There was a stack of wood on the ground. It looked like they had tried to make a fire with no success. They noticed a few wrappers lying on the ground that had been left behind. They were from what little food they had left to eat that morning.
"Look Tony, it’s still pretty early. They couldn’t have gotten too far. I mean they have to be tired. Throwing coconuts and all must take a lot of energy," he continued sarcastically.
"You’re right. It’s just when I got called in for this job, the boss made it seem like it was just going to be soooo easy. You get on the ship, you round up a couple of teenagers and then you make you way off the boat with the kids and back to mainland and poof you are done!" Anthony began to pace. "But nooooo…it couldn’t be that easy now could it? They had to have nosey friends and get a whiff of what was going on, and try to outsmart us. Well I have news for them! No one, and I mean NO ONE outsmarts me, and I will let NOTHING stand in my way of getting my money for handing those pesky brats over to the boss!" When he was finished ranting Steve didn’t know what to say and just stood and stared at him. He was right. They had gotten into more than they had bargained for, but once they got their money, it would be more than worth it. Anthony continued to pace until he heard a faint scream and then heard a male voice yell for help. He and Steve both began to look around but saw nothing. Then they heard another male yelling to reach up. ‘Up?’ both men thought and glanced up at the same time. They saw JC hanging over the side of the cliff over to their right, farther up the mountain.
"HOLY SHIT!" Steve yelled. This caught Chris’s attention and his head whipped around and saw their two captors standing below on the ledge where they had just come from.
"Oh no," Chris mumbled under his breath. "JOEY!! LANCE!! You have to get JC up NOW!!!"
"No duh Chris!" a very agitated Lance called back.
"Lance, those guys they are right below us!"
"WHAT?!?" Justin cried and stood up letting go of Joey as he rushed over to where Chris was standing. Joey grunted when Justin let go of him and began to slip from leaning so far over the ledge. Keeley let go of Lance and reached over to help Joey. Justin looked down and saw Steven and Anthony standing below staring intently back up at him. Justin gasped and both of the captors began to wave at him then they took off running for the top of the mountain and began their journey up. Justin ran back over to the cliff and looked down.
"JC you have GOT to reach up here so we can pull you up NOW! They are on the way up the mountain!" A sound escaped JC’s lips that no one was quite sure what it was supposed to be. He began to try and throw his loose arm up. Joey and Justin both kept trying to catch it. JC’s foot finally caught the side of the mountain and it gave him just enough leverage where he could reach up just enough for Joey to reach his fingers.
Adrenaline pounded through Joey’s body as he finally had JC’s hand in his grasp. He struggled for a moment to get a better grip on him. He glanced over at Lance and said through grinned teeth," 1…2...3." He and Lance forcefully pulled their friend back over the ledge and to his feet.
JC stood for a second in shock, as what just happened sunk in. He had almost fallen over the edge of the cliff, a BIG cliff. He gingerly stepped closer to peer over the edge to see the fate that he had just barely escaped. His gaze fell about 200 feet to the water below that was pierced with jagged rocks. He swallowed the lump in his throat and shook himself back to reality. He quickly ran his hands over himself to make sure he was still in one piece. Satisfied that he was ok, he glanced around at his friends and nodded.
The group took off towards the village at the bottom of the hill. They did their best to scramble around the trees and debris that was lying in their way. Running up hill is one thing, but running down hill is quite another. They were discovering quickly that they had little control over their legs as they were propelled down the hill. Keeley lost her footing and slid down the hill several feet before she found her footing, and once again began to run with all she had in her. She looked behind her to make sure everyone was accounted for. Monica was a couple paces behind Keeley to the right, and Cari was behind her to her left. Chris was stumbling down the hill right next to her. Justin was a few yards ahead of her, as was Joey. Lance and JC were off to her right taking a slightly different path. Each one of them had a look of pure concentration on their faces as they careened closer to the village below them.
Justin was taking the longest strides he could without falling down the hill. He concentrated on the ground in front of him, with only quick glances up every now and then to make sure he wasn’t going to run into anything. He noticed that none of his friends were in front of him. He slowed down a bit so he could look over his shoulder. He saw all his friends in close pursuit. He looked a little farther up the hill, but he couldn’t see their pursuers. He turned back around to face where he was going. He became even more determined that he was not going to let those guys win.
"We can not let those kids get to that town!!" huffed Anthony as he and Steven scrambled down the hill. They were towards the top of the hill, while the eight that they were after were at least a good 30 yards ahead of them. They thought they were finally getting a break when they noticed one of the girls fall and start to slide down the hill. Anthony growled in anger when he saw that as quick as she fell, she was back on her feet running once again.
"What are we going to do if they get down there before we can get to them?" Steven asked. He glanced over at Anthony.
"We can’t let that happen. I’m not going to let them win! Damn it, can’t you run any faster?"
"I’m going as fast as I can, besides I’m going faster than you!" Steven replied. The only response he received was the quick steady huffs of Anthony’s breathing right behind him.
"Guys we’re almost there!" Justin hollered over his shoulder. He could see the edge of the town right ahead of him. The ground wasn’t as steep so he pumped his arms harder and picked up the pace. Help was so close he could almost taste it. When he reached the edge of town he stopped to wait for the rest of the group to catch up with him. He took that opportunity to look around the town.
The town that he was faced with was very sparse. Most of the buildings looked more like huts. They weren’t quite that primitive, but it was nothing like they had back on the mainland. Up the street, if you would even call it that were some street vendors selling food, clothing and other goods. The road appeared to be compact dirt.
"Where in the world are we supposed to find help?" he asked when the group was surrounding him.
"Man I don’t know, but whatever we’re gonna do we’d better do it fast," Chris replied as he anxiously glanced over his shoulder. He knew they didn’t have much time to stand around and discuss things. Those guys weren’t very far away.
"Uh guys, we’ve got company!" Keeley said frantically. They all turned around and saw Anthony and Steven barreling down the hill. It looked like they were going to reach them in a matter of moments.
"Come on!" JC said as he grabbed Cari’s arm and began to run down the sandy road toward the row of street vendors. The rest were right on his heels.
Just as Anthony and Steven made it to the road the group ducked behind the vendor’s carts and merchandise. Monica peered over the stack of rice bags she was hiding behind. She could see the two men quickly making their way toward them, and they did not look happy. She ducked her head back down and said a silent prayer that they wouldn’t be caught.
Lance tried to slow down his breathing as he crouched behind the vending cart. His heart was pounding so loudly in his chest he was sure it would give him away and they would be caught. He glanced over at Joey who was nearby trying to hide behind a several crates of oranges. Joey looked back with wild fear in his eyes.
"Where the hell did they go?" Anthony said as he stalked down the road. "I just saw them a second ago."
"Well they couldn’t have gotten far," Steven replied. "They probably went into one of these buildings to get help."
"Shit, we’ve got to find them. Let’s start checking them. It’s a small town. They really have no where else to go."
The two made their way to the building on their left that stood at the end of the row of vendors. They were so intent on heading into the building that they didn’t notice the spiked hair that peaked over the top of some boxes just inches away.
"Oh my gosh, I thought we were goners," Chris said as he crawled over to where JC and Cari were hiding.
"I thought they were going to see me, I wasn’t ducked down enough," JC replied. He quickly ran his hands through his hair. He noticed the rest of the group was coming over to join them.
"Guys, we need to find help!" Monica said. "Where is the police station?"
"I don’t even know if they have one! This place is so small!" Cari replied. They all looked at the signs labeling the buildings, but none of them could read them because they weren’t written in English.
"Why don’t we go in one of the buildings and ask?" Lance offered.
"It’s worth a try," Joey said with a shrug.
The group quietly made their way in the opposite direction of their pursuers. They neared a little building and entered it quickly. JC stepped up to the counter to find someone to talk to. "Um excuse me?" They could hear someone making noise in the back room and moments later a woman emerged from behind the curtain that separated the two rooms. She looked at the group expectantly.
"Ma’am can you help us? These guys are after us and we need to find the police and a phone," Justin said quickly. The only response he received from the woman was a confused stare. She stood there for a moment before she shook her head.
"Guys, I don’t think she understands," Keeley said. The woman continued to look them over as they stood there trying to figure out what to do.
Lance decided to try a different approach. He walked over to the woman and put his hand up to his ear like a phone. "Phone," he simply stated. It looked like a light went on in the woman’s head as she started to speak in a language none of them had ever heard before. Now it was the group’s turn to stare back with confused looks on their faces.
The woman shook her head again and said, "No phone."
Lance, JC and Justin continued to try and communicate with the woman as best they could while the rest began to look around the little shop. There were all sorts of knickknacks crammed into the small space. There were several different kinds of figurines. The ones that caught Monica’s eyes were the ones that were of the ocean creatures. This is where Lance found her after he and the other two guys finished talking to the clerk.
"Wow, those are really beautiful," he said as he stood next to her. She was so enthralled with a statue of two dolphins that she didn’t even hear Lance walk up to her. His deep voice startled her and she jumped, almost dropping the statue. Lance quickly reached over and helped her catch it. "I’m sorry sweetie. I didn’t mean to scared you." She just looked and him and smiled, relieved that he was him and not one of their stalkers.
"Did you ever get any information out of the woman at the counter?" she asked with a hopeful gleam in her eyes.
"No, she couldn’t understand anything we were saying and we had just as much trouble understanding her."
"What language was that she was speaking. I didn’t recognize it."
"We didn’t either. I am guessing that probably not many people here are going to speak English. Whatever it is must be the native language of the island."
"Great," she sighed.
"Cheer up, we will find help somehow. Come on let’s round up the others and get out of here." Lance took the dolphins from her and gently set it back on the counter. Everyone else was already gathering at the door about ready to leave. Cari was the first one out and just as soon as she walked out she turned around and ran back in.
"You know…um…this shop is really cool…maybe we should just stay here for awhile."
"What in the world are you talking about. Let’s get out of here before those two guys get here," Justin said trying to push her towards the door.
"Justin you don’t want to go out there." Cari said with a frightful expression on her face. Justin looked back her like she was crazy.
"Ok Cari. What the hell is going on?"
"Those two guys are heading this way!" JC exclaimed. He had moved Cari just enough to see out of the door. The two men were heading down the street in the direction of the store they were hiding in.
"Ok…we have to find another way out of here. Do you think there is a back door?" Keeley asked as she looked around the store. She was thinking about the back room that the woman had come out of earlier.
"It’s worth a try!" Cari exclaimed and the group took off running for the back of the store. The woman they had tried to communicate with earlier was still standing at the counter and looked at the like they were insane when they ran into the back room. She tried to stop them but they didn’t understand her. There was a young lady in the back sitting in a rocking chair sewing in the back room. She looked on confused as the group scoured the room looking for a door. Finally, Chris found the door hidden behind a long certain that was hanging up and the eight ran out of the shack.
The group was greeted by a complete emptiness when they exited the building. It just almost like the entire town consisted only of the main street. The only thing they could see was a bunch of trees and plants and some more mountains.
"So what’s the plan?" Joey asked as he looked around. With no one speaking English in the town but them it was going to be hard to try and find help.
"I don’t know I guess we just kinda lay low until we figure something out. Hopefully those guys are still out on the main strip and we have some time to spare until we can figure something out."
"I hope so Keeley, but how about we get away from the stores and put some distance between us and them." Lance suggested. Everyone agreed and began to move away from the building. Immediately they were immersed in a group of trees and had to move rather slowly. When they emerged the were faced with a large metal structure.
"What the hell is this?" Chris asked as he went up and touched it and began to look around. Justin looked up and saw that the metal structure towered over them. He walked away to get a better look.
"Oh my gosh you guys!" Justin almost squealed. Everyone turned and looked at him like he had lost his mind. "Do you know what this is?" Everyone looked up but since they were standing so close it was still hard to tell. Justin didn’t wait for an answer. "This," he gestured to the structure "is a radio tower! That means we might be able to find a CB radio or something and call for help."
"Good idea!" Lance said as they all raced up the stairs of the tower to the door. Lance reached out for the handle and pulled…nothing. He tried again a couple more times and still the door wouldn’t budge.
"Here, let me try," Joey said as he pushed through the group. He reached out with both hands and pulled as hard as he could. "It’s locked guys." His determined expression fell as he looked around at his friends.
Keeley sat down on the stairs and rested her chin in her hands. A sigh escaped her lips. The entire situation seemed completely hopeless. They never seemed to get a break. The group sat there in silence, unsure of what to do next. Cari’s head popped up and she grinned as an idea came to her.
"Wait! Mony’s cell phone! Do you think it would work next to the tower?" Cari asked.
"It might be able to use the tower’s signal," Justin stated hopefully.
"I don’t know…it’s worth a try. Do you even still have it Monica?" JC asked.
"Um…yeah. Actually I think it is in your bag." JC slung his bag off his shoulder and set it on the ground. He began to paw through it trying to find her cell phone. He was having no luck, so he began to empty the contents onto the ground. Finally in the very bottom of the bag JC found her tiny cell phone. He tossed it to her. She opened it up and prayed that the battery wasn’t dead and that it would turn on. She pressed the power button and the phone beeped and came to life. She resisted the urge to jump up and down…she didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up.
"Guys the battery isn’t dead!"
"Any signal bars?" Lance asked as he peered over her shoulder.
"Not yet," she replied. The group groaned. "Give me a second." Monica began to walk around hoping that she would be able to find a place that pick up a signal. Just as she was about to give up one signal bar finally flashed on the small screen. "WOO HOO! I got a bar!" Monica laughed.
"Alright! Keep walking around and try and see if you can get another one," Keeley said hopefully.
Monica carefully watched the screen of the phone as she slowly walked around the tower. Her eyes lit up and she began jumping up and down. "Guys I’ve got two bars!"
"Two is better than none!" Justin reasoned. "That should be enough signal to make a call. Let’s try it!"
"Ok…now um…who are we going to call?" Chris asked.
"My vote would be for Johnny. He has connections and he can let our families know we are ok…for now, JC said.
"Maybe he can figure out where we are and come and get us off this God-forsaken Island!" Cari said getting frustrated. The Johnny they were talking about was of course Johnny Wright the guy’s manager. Johnny was always there for them and they hoped that this situation would be no different.
"How would he be able to find us?" Joey asked confused.
"He could trace the location of the cell phone or something. I don’t know. I just want to go home!" JC sighed.
"C, calm down. We are working on it," Lance said as he walked over and patted JC on the back. JC took a few calming breaths and looked at his friend with a grateful smile.
"Ok, fine we call Johnny. Next question, who has Johnny’s number?" Monica asked. She knew that she had his number hanging on her refrigerator at home along with other important phone numbers. But she didn’t call it enough to have it memorized and she sure didn’t have it with her. How would she have known that they would need to call him from the middle of nowhere? All the guys began to dig through their pockets and thumb through their wallets trying to find his number written somewhere.
"Got it!" Lance exclaimed excitedly.
"Good, why don’t you call him," she offered and handed Lance the cell phone. He looked around the group and gave a reassuring smile before he focused his attention on the phone. The group said a small prayer as he began to carefully dial the numbers. He looked around the group and smiled.
"Here goes nothing." Lance said and pressed the send button. He held the phone up to his ear and waited. A few seconds later he was greeted with the awesome sound of the line beginning to ring.