Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 106092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
“Hey,” I assure her. “We’re here now. We’re going to get you out of here and over to your dad.”
“Where’s Jesse?” she asks, sobbing. “He had my hand and then he was gone.”
Aaron grimaces at the mention of his brother. “We’ll find him.”
Together, we manage to pull away all the tree branches and pluck the slight girl from the mud. Once she’s on her feet, Dan shows up, damn near tackling her to the ground as he hugs her. Pretzel yowls between them.
Aaron and I take off again, this time searching for the last of our group. Rain starts coming down harder than before, making it nearly impossible to see and drowning out all sounds.
“Do you hear that?” Aaron belts out, grabbing my arm to keep me from walking. “Over there?” He points across the flooded waters. “Listen.”
We both crane our necks, listening for any sort of sound. Then we both hear it. Yelling.
“Tyler? Jesse?” Aaron yells toward the sound.
Through the downpour, I see two figures waving at us.
“We’re going to swim across!” Tyler hollers back, his voice barely projecting over the rain.
My stomach does a nervous flip. It’s dangerous with how fast the water is flowing and with debris rushing along with it.
Me and Aaron stand there uselessly as Tyler and Jesse start wading into the water. When they’re about halfway, I can tell the water is deeper because they both start swimming. Jesse is the quicker swimmer and is soon wading toward us. Tyler curses, goes under the water, and then bobs back up again farther down the way. I take off running along the bank, readying to fish him. Thankfully, he finds purchase and manages to stagger out of the raging floodwaters. As soon as he’s close enough, I yank him to me, hugging him fiercely, choking down my tears. He clings to me, his entire body trembling.
“Is everyone okay?” he croaks out.
“Everyone’s alive,” I mutter against his head. “Thank fuck.”
I have no idea where we are or where we can take shelter, but all that matters right now is that no one died. It could have gone badly and yet we’re all still standing.
For how long, though?
Tyler
We lost our vehicle, our supplies, and are now soaking wet and injured. In a nutshell, we’re completely and utterly screwed. Kellen is quiet as we all huddle together, trying to figure out our next move. Of course the rain is unrelenting, doing its part to punish us for simply existing on this godforsaken Earth.
“Dad, I’m cold,” Hailey whines. “I don’t want to be here anymore.”
I agree wholeheartedly.
“What are we going to do about supplies?” Hope asks. “We need food and water.”
She’s cradling her arm to her chest. I want to look at it—at everyone’s injuries—but there’s not much I can do out here in the downpour without my kit.
“We need to start walking,” Aaron says. “We’ll get back to the main road and stick to it. We’re bound to come to a town sooner or later. If it’s abandoned, we can regroup in a building and at the very least get dry.”
It’s as good a plan as any. Our pitiful group starts walking, sloshing through the deep puddles of water at every step.
The first couple of hours go by in a blur. Everyone is quiet and just thankful to be alive. However, when we get into the next few hours without seeing signs of life, I think we’re all beginning to lose it. My feet are on fire with blisters, I can’t feel my fingers or my toes, and I’m starving. The rain has been plentiful, which has kept us from dehydrating, but without any way to capture it, we’re relegated to walking with our mouths open to catch whatever we can.
This sucks.
It really fucking sucks.
We take a break on the side of the road to rest our feet, but without food, it’s pointless to waste too much time. It’s imperative we find shelter and food. Stat.
The rain starts to let up, which is a relief. Despite the warmer temperatures, the rain is still cold and not doing us any favors.
“Can we stop and sleep?” Hailey asks with a whimper. “I’m so tired.”
“Not yet, sweetheart,” Dan says tiredly. “Just a few more hours.”
A few more turns into more like ten. We’ve been walking without any sign of civilization for nearly a day straight with more breaks the farther we get along. My stomach has been grumbling so loudly it’s becoming annoying as hell. Hailey nearly passed out twice and is currently sandwiched between her father and Jesse. Hope keeps whimpering. She’s a tough woman, so I know she’s in a lot of pain.
We need help.
And fast.
Things are going to get bad quickly if not.
Finally, we see a sign for Seibert, Colorado, and then advertisement for a food and fuel convenience store at the next exit. Our group is too exhausted and beat down to cheer, but it’s enough to have everyone quickening their steps.