this were me down there, wouldn’t she kill me?
But I see her staring back at me, and I think of Charlie, without a sister, and a part of me just can’t bring myself to do it.
“ Do it,” she smiles. In that moment I realize that she wants me to. She’s had enough: she wants to die.
The crowd quiets, and I look up and see the leader step forward.
“ If you kill her,” he screams down to me, “I will spare you. All of you. All you have to do is kill her. And then you will all be set free.”
The crowd cheers. I look down at Flo and see her breathing hard, scowling up at me.
“ Please,” she says. “Do it.”
I see that she is genuine-she really wants to die.
“ NO!” Charlie screams. “Please don’t kill her!”
I think of the leader’s words. If I kill Flo it will spare Bree. And Charlie. And Ben. And Logan. And myself. All for someone who wants to die anyway. For someone who would have gladly killed me.
I know I should do it.
But as I look down at her, a part of me just can’t do it. Besides, I want to defy the leader.
So instead, I drop my sword. It lands on the dusty canyon floor with a clang.
The crowd jeers and boos and screams down at me. But I don’t care.
Flo slowly shakes her head in disgust. “Stupid,” she says.
There is a tremendous rumbling noise, and at first I think it’s another boulder; but then I look up and see no rocks coming down, and realize it’s something else. The entire ground is shaking beneath me, like an earthquake, and I realize that whatever it is, it’s much more ominous.
Suddenly, large steel traps open on the ground and walls all around us, and water comes gushing in. It comes gushing in like a river, like a dam breaking, from every side, a huge tidal wave coming right for us. I look over at Charlie, Ben, Logan and Flo, and see them all looking wide-eyed at the water.
Bree holds out her hands and runs for me. I go to pick her up.
But it is a lost cause.
Suddenly, we’re slammed by water from every direction. My world turns upside down as I go head over heels, tumbling beneath the waves. The gushing water picks me up and smashes me down again, and I go tumbling, end over end, water shooting up my nose. I whirl and whirl, trying to make my way to the top of the water, trying to hold my breath.
After about thirty seconds of complete chaos, I manage to surface. The water is swirling all around me, and I can hear the crowd cheering like crazy. I look for signs of the others, and in the distance, I spot Bree and Charlie, their heads bobbing just above water. Further away, I can see Flo, alive, and Ben, flailing. But I look everywhere, and don’t see Logan.
Then I spot him: his head bobs up, just feet away from me. He looks in utter agony, and I manage to swim over to him, fighting the current.
“ Brooke!” he cries out.
He holds out one hand and I swim for it.
Our hands just touch when I see something in the water beneath us. It is a whirlpool, sucking down everything in its path. Our fingertips graze each other, and then he gets sucked away, the whirlpool pulling him down.
“ Brooke!” he screams.
I see the fear in his eyes as he gets pulled away from me, sucked deeper into the whirlpool.
“ Logan!” I cry.
He goes down, under water, then disappears.
There is nothing but silence.
The whirlpool disappears-as if someone turned off a switch. I search the calm surface of the water.
“ Logan!” I shriek.
But it’s too late. He’s gone.
I can’t believe it. Logan. The backbone of our group. Dead.
My heart breaks. But I can’t think about that now. I force it from my mind. The waters are swirling and rising, and I spin around, looking for any sign of the others. I see Bree and Charlie, close to each other, each flailing, struggling, arms up over the water. Luckily, Bree is a strong swimmer-and it looks like Charlie is, too. But I can already tell that Bree is losing strength and won’t last long. I have to save her.
I fight the current, swim over to her, the waters rising and frothing all around me; it is like swimming in a giant fishbowl.
Somehow, I manage to reach her; I grab her with one arm, from behind, wrapping my forearm around her chest.
“ It’s okay, Bree, hang on.”
She is gasping for air. The waves have pushed us close to the canyon wall, and I look up and see the rope dangling down the side of the cliff. Just minutes ago, the rope was a hundred feet off the ground-but now, it’s right there, in my reach. I can hardly believe it.
I reach out and grab it, it’s the knotty rope digging into my palms, then hoist Bree up onto it. Once she’s safe, I look over and about fifteen feet away spot Charlie, who’s getting swept away in the wrong direction.
“ Save him!” Bree cries.
I swim to him, fighting the currents, grab hold of his shirt, and with my last burst of energy, fight my way back, against the current, towards the rope.
I make it, and hoist him, too. Now he and Bree are both on the rope, dangling, and already beginning to climb their way up. I reach up and grab on behind them, and hang onto it, breathing hard, catching my breath. I look around, but see no signs of Ben or Flo. I wonder if they’ve made it.
But there is no time to search, or to rest on my heels. The water is rising fast all around us.
I look straight up, and see the steep climb ahead of us, two hundred feet to the top of the canyon. We have no choice.
“ Climb!” I yell, over the roar of the gushing water.
Bree quickly climbs, as does Charlie, and the three of us ascend, straight up the rope. I use my feet to push off the rock face, as if repelling, and gain momentum.
Soon, the three of us are high up, a good fifty feet above the water. I’m starting to feel optimistic, that we might actually make it out of here.
And then, I hear a cry.
I stop and look down over my shoulder, and can’t believe what I see: there, in the center of the gushing waters, swimming for the wall, is Flo. Her face is etched in panic, and she reaches a hand towards me. I’ve never seen panic on her face before, and I can’t understand it: is it because she cannot swim?
But then, I see it, what has her terror-struck-and my heart drops.
A huge tentacle reaches up out of the water, wraps itself around her leg, and drags her down, beneath the water. Flo disappears, bubbling, then moments later surfaces again, gasping for air.
“ Please!” she screams.
“ Flo!” Charlie screams.
But we are helpless. There’s nothing I can do from up here but watch as the sea creature raises its ugly head. It is the most hideous creature I have ever seen: it looks like a giant squid, but with rows and rows of sharp teeth and a single, large eye. Its face is grotesque, some sort of freak animal that probably resulted from the fallout of the nuclear war.
It reaches out with another tentacle, wraps it around Flo, and sucks her down for good.
The crowd roars, as Flo is pulled down underneath the water, and the monster disappears with her.
I look down at the waters beneath me with a new sense of dread. If I slip and fall, I will be finished.
“ MOVE!” I scream to Bree and Charlie, who stay there, looking down, terror-struck.
We all climb faster, when I hear a mocking laugh, and look straight up: the leader stands there, less than a hundred feet away, looking down and holding a machete.
“ No!” I scream.
