34
Watching Kate grimace as she hopped into the water tied Josh’s stomach in knots. Both her pain and the increased danger it presented drove him to her side.
When he approached her, she gasped.
“Even if it hurts, the water will help, Kate.”
“It’s not the water. They’re at the trailhead, Josh.”
He looked down the beach. Recognition sent adrenaline rushing through his body. Josh pulled Kate off balance until she fell into his arms.
She tried to slide free. “No. Let me try to run.”
“No time for experiments.” He lifted her up, cradled her against his chest, and slowly accelerated toward the far end of the beach.
“You can’t do this, Josh. It’s too much…too far. At least let me try to run.”
He didn’t reply.
In less than ten seconds, he cleared the bend enough to see what lay ahead. It didn’t look good. “Do you know anything about this beach, Kate?”
She looked ahead. “Only that it looks like that point, about six hundred yards ahead, will cut us off.”
“Yeah. And the steep bank, like a cliff, keeps us from going up into the forest.”
“You just run, Josh. I’ll think.”
He kicked his legs into high gear. But six hundred yards with Kate in his arms would thoroughly exhaust him.
As Josh ran, the warm sun and exertion sent streams of perspiration down his arms, saturating his tank top, dampening him and Kate. Though they were in danger, he cringed at the thought of how gross this would be for Kate if she realized he was sweating all over her.
But she didn’t notice. Her head alternated positions between facing their pursuers and looking at the point, where a tall rock seemed to block their path. “We have to go around the point. There’s no other option.”
“How deep’s the water?” He managed between heavy breaths.
She stared at the point for two or three wave intervals.
“Kate…”
“At least three feet deep. But the waves seem to be getting bigger. The tide’s coming in. Maybe we…”
He knew what she was thinking. The point could actually protect them. “That’s a big maybe, Kate.”
“Maybe is all we’ve got.”
“Then let’s go for it.” He tried to speed up, but his legs had turned to rubber. Josh stumbled and almost fell. He slowed enough to catch his balance.
Kate looked behind them. “They haven’t gained on us. It’s only a hundred yards to the point, and they’re still at least four hundred yards behind us. That gives us about thirty seconds to get around the point before they get close enough to…” She stopped.
“Yeah. Before the firecrackers go off.”
As Josh ran the final hundred yards, he tried to picture them rounding the point. If he carried Kate, the crashing waves would knock him down, smash them on the big rock.
Big rock…he looked at it as a powerful wave crashed against it, splashing water up to the twenty-foot level. “God, help us.”
“That better have been a prayer, Josh.”
“It was. And, Kate…” His heavy breathing squeezed his words into short phrases, “… it gave me...an idea.”
“An answer to your first prayer? Impeccable timing.” She tried to smile at him, but he stumbled, smashing their mouths together.
“I’m sorry, Kate.”
“If that was a kiss, you’d better be sorry for it. Here’s the rock. What now?”
He ran out knee-deep into the water. “Do you mind getting wet?”
“Not if it saves our lives.”
“Good.” Josh plunged ahead until the cold water was nearly four feet deep between waves. A couple of big waves and they could be cut off. He extended his arms, with Kate’s body parallel to the water, and lowered her in.
She yelped when her body sank into the icy brine.
Josh’s legs churned in slow motion as he pulled Kate through the water, trailing behind him like a person on a wake board.
The next wave approached, sucking him seaward as it rose to its full height.
Josh bobbed with the big wave as it passed.
It shoved them closer to the rock, and then broke in a roaring explosion of water and foam.
He ran hard, trying to round the huge monolith while they were between waves.
The approaching wave sprang up to its full height, much higher than the previous wave.
Josh’s legs churned in the water. Sand filled his shoes. Progress was slow, but he turned for the beach, pulling Kate.
The big wave broke on top of them.
Kate’s hands slipped from his.
The wave rolled Josh’s body, flung him onto a sandy beach, and then drained back into the sea. His eyes stung from salt water and sand. His clothes were filled with sand.
Where was Kate? Josh turned around.
Kate sat on her rear facing the water. “Help me, Josh. Before the next wave—”
He scooped her up, stumbled onto the beach, lowered her onto the sand, and then fell down beside her, unable to do anything but stare up at the blue sky and breathe.
Kate sat up and hovered over him. “Are you OK?”
He nodded, still trying to catch his breath.
“Me too. But, Josh…” Her eyes widened with fear.
“What is it?”
“We’re trapped.”