Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 104729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
Without thinking twice, we are on the beach, grabbing our clothes, dressing, and then hurrying back to where the raft is.
“How long?”
“Could be anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour. Maybe longer. Look at the sky in the distance.”
When I do, a strange foreboding feeling sweeps through me. A few miles out to sea, the sky is black. But worse than that is the funnel of clouds in the sky.
I must be lost in my head because I feel Alaric’s hands cup my jaw and lift my face. Our eyes meet, and I see actual fear in his.
“I’m going to need you to listen to me. Can you do that?”
I nod, not being able to form words.
“Together, we are going to lift this raft. I will secure our stuff inside. It will be heavy. About sixty pounds of dead weight.”
“Where are we going?”
“Toward the lake.”
“Is that safe?”
“By the lake, no. But I thought I saw a cave the other day when I was in the water. By the waterfall.”
“A cave?”
“If we can get there and if what I saw is correct, we can wait the storm out in there. I’m not going to lie. It will suck. It will be heavy, which is why I didn’t attempt this before, but now we have no choice.”
“Okay,” I mutter.
When the time comes, and Alaric signals me to lift, I do.
Goddamn, that’s heavy.
I grunt, my muscles flaring with the exertion.
It’s way heavier than I thought, even with Alaric helping.
Alaric counts off, and we are walking. My feet keep slipping at this pace because my gait is much shorter than his.
I keep up even though the pain is immense. Even though my body screams to stop, I keep the pace.
Once we reach the clearing, Alaric stops.
“I’m going to put this down and run up ahead to make sure what I saw is accurate, and most importantly has room for the raft. If it doesn’t, I’ll have to tie it to a nearby tree.”
“Be safe,” I say, but he doesn’t respond. Instead, his Adam’s apple bobs, and then he’s running toward where the waterfall is.
I expect him to run to the area where the water hits the lake, and I expect him to go underwater, but he’s actually a few feet away by the rocks. From where I am standing, it looks like just black rocks and nothing else, but then I realize when he disappears, that’s the cave.
A few minutes later, he comes out and jogs toward me. He’s out of breath when he gets to me, and a thin layer of sweat drips down the side of his face.
“We are good to go. It’s not very large. You might get your feet wet walking in, but once inside, it’s dry.”
“Okay.”
“You ready?”
“Yes.”
He reaches to lift the raft again, and this time, with an end in sight, it’s less daunting. Until I hear the crack and the rumble of thunder. Large pellets of rain start to slap at our bodies. The sound of the water hitting the raft tells me the storm is coming fast. It’s only a matter of minutes before it’s a full monsoon.
“Faster!” Alaric shouts, and we set off into a run. I lose my footing often, but we keep going.
My lungs seize from the oxygen I expel.
Rain beats down on us. The sky is black, but I see the clearing.
Together, we push on, and now the water is higher at the mouth of the cave, but I don’t care. My shoes will eventually dry, but who knows what the storm will bring. We are lucky to have a raft and shelter.
Once inside, I see what Alaric was talking about. In the first few feet of the cave, there is a small puddle of water, but then the rocks step up to dry land—well, stones but same difference.
We are safe.
“Help me flip it. Then we can unpack and start a fire.”
“You want to start a fire in the cave?”
“It’s the only way we will eat tonight. We just can’t start it close to the mouth.”
My mouth drops open. “And why is that?”
“Because if we do that, we risk the fire breaking apart the opening. At the opening of a cave, the rock is thinner.”
Shock must register on my face because he reaches out and takes my hand, and a soft and reassuring squeeze comes next. “It will be fine. I’ll start a small fire a few feet in where the ceiling is high enough that it won’t be a problem. If the airflow is bad, we will know right away, and we will snuff it out if it gets too smoky.”
“Good thing I got stranded on an island with you.” My joke is lame, but he doesn’t seem to mind.
“Yeah, anyone else, and you would be eating worms,” he says, and I stick my tongue out at him and then turn away to assess the damage to my clothing. “You okay over there?”