Roderick and Mitchell had no desire to get impaled by its claws, so they jumped back to the quicksand with their bodies spread wide. Eagle clutched the baby duck by its back and took off with it while Roderick and Mitchell tried best to increase their surface area.

The eagle itself wasn’t comfortable with its flight because of the struggling duckling. Bald eagle wasn’t used to of carrying such heavy preys so it lost its balance midair.

In an attempt to balance itself, it came in the range of vacuum pipe. From there it couldn’t keep itself controlled and started gravitating towards the tower.

Duckling slipped from its claws.

When it landed on quicksand, the eagle was inside the vacuum pipe and its gigantic feathers were floating to the ground. The baby duck was unhurt, but Roderick and Mitchell were far from being out of danger.

As soon as the duckling spotted them, it swam towards them. Roderick and Mitchell got on its back when it came close enough. It was about to take them outside the barred territory until Roderick commanded it to leave them in dry land within the area. After all, they had to cross it if they wanted to reach their destination in time.

The duckling took them to the solid land after some time and shrugged them off. Roderick didn’t mind the small fall but Mitchell was somewhat annoyed.

“We need to find Moffet.” Mitchell said after catching his breath, “He must be in the rig.”

“Moffet? Why?” Roderick said walked away.

“He is the brain behind this.”

“You mean quicksand?”

“NO!” Mitchell couldn’t remember when he had been this much angry over someone, “He stole the oil and tried to kill us.”

“And Gary?”

“They were on the same side all along.” Mitchell explained, “Gary tricked us to go there. You should feel surprised to see me alive. You can’t imagine what mess we were in.”

The duckling quaked while Mitchell was telling him everything. Baby duck tried to get Roderick’s attention by being loud, but Roderick had his concentration on what Mitchell was saying.

After trying its best, the duckling became tired of its efforts. It quaked the last time, hoping to get noticed by his mother. Baby duck looked at Roderick with tearful eyes and set off on its own path.

It didn’t just walk like an abandoned child, but ran like wind.

“Hey!” Roderick bellowed at the duck, which had gone very far now. Roderick tried to catch up with it, but it disappeared in horizon. He gasped, putting his hands on his knees. After end of the exhaustion, he saw traces of its foot on sand.

“Follow the duck.” Roderick glanced at Mitchell despite of being well aware that it was noon already.

“Who cares about it? We have to go in rig-”

“It saved our lives. Moffet can wait.”

“I remember you having issue with patience.” Mitchell reminded him.

“Then go alone and fight Moffet.” Roderick didn’t bother telling him bye and started to follow the tracks.

Mitchell followed him when Roderick walked about ten steps.