“It’s no wonder. I’m pretty sure we’ve been going in circles.” Emily felt a butterfly tease at her stomach. That phone might be their only chance to call for help and in another hour, it was going to be a piece of useless plastic.
Distant rumbles of thunder that started a few minutes ago were growing increasingly louder. She looked up to the sky between the thick trees and saw the blue was long gone and the slate gray was darkening rapidly. As they came to a bit of a clearing, they could see the entire sky and it was ominous. Bolts of lightning cut through the dark clouds. “That’s not good,” she said.
Zack stretched a troubled, fake smile. “Not so much.” He looked back up the stream behind them. “We might be in trouble very soon.”
“Why, it won’t flood that fast. Will it?”
Zack twisted his lips to the side. “Umm, see how high these banks are?”
She looked around. “Yeah?”
“Well, notice the dark soil, no vegetation, exposed rocks. It’s been wet very recently almost to the top and they just had rain like a week ago.”
Emily suddenly felt a little more urgency. “Then we better hurry.”
No sooner did she say that then a few heavy drops of water landed on her shoulders. Then a massive downpour came in like a wall of water. The wind tore at the treetops, swaying them back and forth, opening gaps where more heavy rain could pour through.
They hurried down the stream, hoping it let them out into a basin or something soon before the waters started coming. They sloshed quickly through the now knee-deep water of the stream.
The storm had intensified. Heavy rains and whipping winds howled as they trudged through deepening waters. Over the rushing stream and pounding rain, they almost didn’t hear the waterfall and Zack nearly stumbled over the edge.
He caught himself and stopped cold. “Whoa.”
Emily looked past him over the edge. She wasn’t good with estimates, but it had to be at least forty feet or more.
“Now what?” Emily yelled over the falling rain.
He looked up to the top of the banks then back down to the falls. “Jumping is way too risky. We don’t know how deep it is and getting away from the rocks might not be possible.” He looked up again. “We may have to try and climb out.” Zack dug his foot into the side of the bank, got about two steps up and slid back down. “It’s way too slick.”
Emily looked behind them. The water started rushing a little harder. “It’s going to sweep us over the edge.”
Zack started frantically looking around. He picked up a flat rock and started digging into the side of the bank, making a foothold, using another round rock to hammer it in place. “I can make stairs. Look around and find flat rocks, as many as you can.”
While he was chopping dirt, Emily started searching the waters for flat rocks. She quickly found a bunch and started tossing them on the bank near Zack’s feet. A few more and she tossed them over. It was more than enough. “What else can I do?”
Zack took one of the flat rocks and hammered it into the soil on top of the flat spot he excavated. In no time at all, he’d done three staggered steps. “Hand me the rocks as I go.” He put his foot onto the first step and hoisted himself up. It held, so he put his other foot on the second and started digging the next.
Emily handed him another rock and he dug out the next handhold. She started feeling a little bit of excitement. They were going to get out of here. Zack just impressed the heck out of her. He was so smart and resourceful. For the first time she felt they could actually get out of this mess alive.
A funny humming noise started pumping in the distance. “Do you hear that?” She looked up. “Is that a helicopter?” At least that’s what it sounded like to her.
Zack stopped and evaluated the noise and then started working feverishly. He dug another foothold. “Rock!” he yelled. She tossed up another.
He was only about halfway up the steep bank when the sound started getting louder. Emily felt the stream hitting her harder. She was having a hard time keeping her balance as it slammed into her knees.
Zack climbed up another step and started digging another handhold. “Rock!” He said again and she handed him another rock. He tossed it back down. “I need a bigger, sharper one.”
Emily dug through the pile and came up with a bigger one. He couldn’t reach her outstretched hand so she tossed it up. He caught it and started hammering it into place, but then he dropped his hammer-rock. She quickly retrieved it and tossed it back to him.
He finished hammering in another rock then tossed the rock back down.
The water was really coming harder. Emily was struggling to stay on her feet.
Zack reached down to her. “Give me your hand.”
“It’s not high enough. We can’t get out from there.”
He held out his hand more adamantly. “We don’t have time. We’re not going to make it.”
She stepped up on the foothold, climbed to the other and took Zack’s hand. He helped her up to the highest one and they shared a foothold, one foot each on the same rock. He wrapped his one arm around her waist and reached up with the other to take hold of some roots that weaved in and out of the soil above their heads. The water was now rushing just a few feet below them and rising fast.
“Hold onto my waist. We’re going to have to try and wait it out.”
“Your bullet wound.”
“Don’t worry.”
Emily slid her arms around his waist softly. Balancing on one foot, she used her other foot to dig out a little bit of a spot for some additional grip. It was hard to get any grip, but she tried.
She looked down again and the water was rushing so hard it sounded like a freight train. White water bubbled up as rapids formed. If they were caught in that, they’d go right over that waterfall. Her fingers interlaced around Zack’s ribs, she tried to keep her hands above where his bullet wound was. She felt his muscles flexing and straining under the stress.
Lightning cracked the sky above and sent a rumble along the valley behind them. The waters thrashed the banks and thundered below. Churning rapids teased at their feet, licking the white soles of her Reeboks.
The clapping noise she heard earlier returned, only this time it was closer, and she could feel it in the earth. “What is that?” she yelled over the noise.
Zack looked at her. “It’s what I suspected, and it’s not good. I think there must be a dam or something nearby and it triggered.”
“That can’t be good.”
Zack met her eyes. “Listen to me. If we get swept off of this, we’re going over those falls. It’ll be better if we separated for the fall.”
“Okay, what do I do?”
“You can swim, right?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Just let the water take you, the pressure should push us away from the rocks. Just remember to orient yourself so that you’re hitting the water feet-first.”
Emily nodded. She was scared, but she was ready. The idea of falling at all was freaking her out. The fact there might be jagged rocks under the surface ready to rip them apart had her terrified. If either one of them were seriously injured out here, it would be ugly. It might end up being a slow, agonizing wait for the sweet release of death.
“Hey,” Zack got her attention. “You can do this.”
She swallowed hard and hugged him tighter.
“Say it. Say it to me.”
Her nerves were getting the better of her. The idea of falling ten feet scared her. If that was thirty or fifty feet, which it was easily, she was freaking out. The feeling in the pit of her gut was something she’d never felt before. It was like a wild hedgehog was slamming inside her chest.
“Hey.” Zack squeezed her. “Say it.”
She met his eyes, shook her head.
“Say it!”
His eyes pierced her, the intensity within them seemed to steel her. Suddenly she felt like she could do it. She nodded. “I can do this.”
�
��You can do this.”
“I can do this.”
“Damn straight you can. After you hit the water, swim with the current to the south side of the lake. I saw a soft exit.”
Emily felt the water hitting her legs. It was slamming hard, ripping at her feet. “I’m slipping.” Her foot slipped off the rock, she was dangling.
Zack was holding her up, she was holding on. But the water was pounding the strength out of her. She was sliding out of his arm, slowly out of his grip. Her already tattered T-shirt was ripping more and finally, she fell into the rush.
Chapter 21
Zack held her as long as he could, but he lost her. He could have held on to the root a bit longer without her extra weight pulling him down, but he wasn’t about to let her go through that alone. He jumped into the stream at the mercy of the rushing waters and sped rapidly towards the unknown plunge.
He couldn’t believe how fast and far the water shot him off the edge into the air. Rolling over mid-flight, he pointed his feet towards the water, hoping desperately it was deep enough to handle his weight.
It was a longer fall than he thought it was going to be, and finally he split the water and plunged into the depths. It was just deep enough, but he hit bottom hard. He felt his knee buckle and he slammed into the bottom.
With a frantic thrust, he shot himself back up to the surface. The rain was falling hard as he sucked in a deep breath. He looked around the surface of the water. “Emily!” he yelled, spitting water, but he didn’t see her anywhere. “Emily!” he yelled again, but there was no response. There was no way he could see through the rain and surging water surface.
The wind tore at the water and whipped up the droplets of teaming rain. Zack bobbed around in the water looking for her. “Emily!” But he didn’t see her.
He started swimming for the shore, hoping to get a better perspective of where she might be. As his feet searched and found ground, he was able to stand up. He looked back over the water. “Emily!” He yelled at the top of his lungs, but she didn’t reply and he didn’t see her.
Just as he was about to dive into the water and start an underwater search, he saw her on the rocks near the other side of the narrow section. She wasn’t moving. Zack dove into the water, and just as he plunged under the murky surface, he saw her arm reach up to the rocks and he swam to her.
She was coughing, but she looked to him and smiled. “Looking for me?” She stood upright.
Zack was so happy to see her he put both his hands on either side of her head and kissed her. She tensed up and pulled away, but he didn’t care. Then she looked at him, going back and forth between his eyes. A little laugh escaped her and with unexpected passion, she kissed him back. She wrapped her arms around him, and in the pouring rain, they sank into each other until a wicked crack of very near lightning stopped them.
They pulled apart and looked at each other for several seconds. Then Zack said, “You scared the crap out of me.”
She finally let her arms fall off him. “I got a little mixed up and swam the wrong way. I couldn’t find the shore and I freaked out.”
“You did it.” He tugged her arm to lead her out of the water because she stood there motionless and looked to be in shock. But she shook it off and followed.
They got to the shore and slumped to the soft dirt under some tall pines. Zack put his back to the tree, and Emily put her head on his shoulder. A part of him regretted that kiss. It was stupid. He could hear Rick in his ear saying it was stupid. She was too young for him. She just graduated high school, for crying out loud. Rick said young girls fall in love too quickly and it was too risky to mess with them. Sometimes Rick acted like they were thirty. Emily was only young in terms of their life stations, in years they weren’t that far apart. He was ready to go to work and start his life. Emily was just embarking on her journey and college was such a life-altering event. The person you are going in is almost never the person you are coming out. He didn’t want that kiss to give her the wrong idea.
Heck, who was he kidding? Rick was always filling his head with crap to push his buttons and it always worked. Zack wanted to do it, he wanted to kiss her, it hit him and he did it. And now wasn’t the time to worry about the future. Now was the time to find a way to have a future. He leaned his head on her head. “You did great.”
She sighed. “You too.”
“We make a pretty good team. All things considered.”
“If only there were rules, we might be able to play to win.”
Zack thought about it for a second. This whole time, Harry has been a step ahead of them, but maybe it was time to use that to their advantage. “Maybe we should stop running.”
“I’d love to, but how?”
“What I mean is we’ve been doing exactly as he expected. We’ve been running to high ground, heading towards the ranger stations, and trying to get where a phone might have reception.”
“Yeah, so?”
“So…we need to do what’s unexpected.”
“What would that be?”
Zack leaned his head into the tree. “I don’t know. But we have to start assuming he knows what we’re doing, and do the opposite.”
“We’ve been predictable.”
“Terribly. I’ve followed the wilderness survival guide to the mark. It’s a book everyone knows.” Zack looked at her. “Tell me more about this guy.”
Emily shrugged. “There’s not much to tell. He’s like forty-eight, he’s been my father’s best friend since we moved into the neighborhood fifteen years ago. I mean, we called him Uncle Harry when we were younger. When my mom worked, when we were kids, we used to go to their house until my dad got home.”
“You’d said he was in the Army?”
She nodded. “Yeah, he was. But that was a long time ago.”
“Is he a hunter, an outdoorsman?”
“He hunts and fishes all the time. He drives out to Pennsylvania and New York State at every chance.”
Zack looked out over the lake. The rain had slowed a little, but it was still falling steadily. Just for the heck of it, he took out his phone, knowing the water had probably killed it. As he suspected, it was ruined. Tossing it into the lake was his first thought, but then he wondered if maybe the pictures would still be on the sim card. Those would be the last pictures ever taken of Rick, Javier and Donovan.
“You okay?” Emily asked him.
He forced a smile. “Yeah, I’m just…”
“I was thinking about my friends, too. My best friend Ren, she tried to save me. She was like my sister. I’ve known her since I was six. It’s hard to believe she’s gone. They’re all gone.” She started to tear up. “So you can understand my reluctance to accept that my family is gone, too. I can’t lose them all. Not yet.”
Zack studied her face. She was incredibly insightful and strong. He really admired her more and more all the time. “I understand. I lost my best friend, too. I’d only known him four years, but I don’t really have any friends from high school. They either moved away or we just grew apart. My best friend growing up moved to Los Angeles years ago.”
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
He shook his head. “No, I’ve been living the single life for a few months.”
“Ever been in a serious relationship?”
“I was engaged.”
“What happened?”
Zack twisted his lips in thought. “I don’t really know. I guess she never wanted to marry me. She said yes, but I felt all along it was falling apart. We were together for two years.” He looked to Emily. “How about you?”
“My boyfriend and I broke up in January. We were together two years. He was a year ahead of me. We started dating my junior year and then he went to NYU. We stayed together for a while, but it was hard. I went to his dorm one Sunday morning to surprise him and he was in bed with some cheerleader. But I was so stupid, he said he was drinking and she just slept in his bed and nothing happened.” She laughed. “Yeah, right. But the wo
rst part is, he dumped me anyway like two months later. It’s better, anyway. I don’t want to go to school tied to anyone.”
Maybe he’d forgotten how mature eighteen year old girls can be. Or, maybe they were just more mature these days than they were a few years ago. Either way, he didn’t for one second worry this girl was too immature for him. He was feeling a little better about that kiss. Maybe he didn’t have to worry about hurting her or giving her the wrong idea. He was just so excited to see her alive, and well—she looked so good.
Chapter 22
The rain finally slowed to a drizzle. But the trail was slick, so they were moving slowly. Emily slipped and nearly fell, but caught herself, having lost count how many times she’d nearly fallen over the past couple days. Concentration was slipping a bit and she needed to get her brain focused back on the trail. Every step was precarious. But she kept thinking back to that kiss. Yeah, it was stupid, she knew it was probably meaningless to him, but it felt so right. Her heart skipped a little beat as she watched him power up the trail.
Emily knew her teen years were almost over, but she suddenly felt like a lovesick kid who wanted the varsity captain to ask her to the prom, and it was pissing her off a bit. Her baby-face aside, everyone had always told her how grounded and mature she was. When she was younger, they called her precocious. Now sometimes her friends called her an old lady because she’d rather not drink and party with a bunch of morons. She’d rather sit home and watch a movie or go out on a nice date to a real restaurant.
Almost slipping again in her struggle to get her mind back on the task at hand and avoid the slick spots and loose rocks, she sighed and kept going, but the mud was making it like ice.
Zack looked back at her. “You sound stumble-happy back there.”
She nodded. “Yeah, it’s just tricky with sneakers on this mud. I might be better off with my skates.”
He laughed. “What’s your brand?”
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