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KATE
I’m wet. I’m cold. I’m terrified.
Worries scroll through my brain. What if someone falls and breaks something? What if another sneaker wave comes? What if the weapon packs are too heavy? What if we can’t cross the boulders in time? Whatif-whatif-whatif ...
I feel like I’m running in Jell-O. I know what my body is capable of, but the terrain holds me back. And every millisecond of delay brings the tide closer to us.
I drop back behind Ben, determined to see every last one of my people out of the impassable zone.
“Stay next to me,” Ben snaps, wheezing as he sucks in air. “I can’t see you—”
“It’s too narrow,” I snap back, maintaining my position behind him. Running side by side will mean one of us will be in the water, which is too dangerous. “I’ll be fine. Keep moving.”
He grinds to a halt. “I need to be able to see you—”
“Move, god dammit,” I scream at him.
He gives me a solid glare before turning his back on me and resuming his run.
Our stretch of beach abruptly disappears, depositing us at the foot of the boulder field. Ben scrambles onto them, pausing only long enough to make sure I’m still behind him.
I leap up after him, legs bent and arms stretched forward for balance. I move like a giant crab, leaping from rock to rock. Each time I land, I crouch only long enough to secure my balance with my hands. Then I leap for the next stone.
“I’m too old for this shit,” Ben gasps. Despite his complaining, he moves with the same dexterity as the younger men. Even with the giant pack on his back, his balance is solid. His active life in the military has kept him in great shape.
I scramble and leap along with him. The ocean pounds the rocks directly to our right, sending up spray and gouts of water. Our path narrows as the water reaches steadily for us.
Ahead of us, a huge wave rears over the shore. It looms directly over Ash and Caleb. The rest of the crew is only a short distance ahead of them.
“Look out!” I shriek.
Their reflexes are whip-quick. Ash drops down between two large rocks and wedges herself between them. Caleb throws his arms around a boulder. Reed, Eric, and Susan dash forward, cranking hard to get ahead of the water.
Caleb and Ash are lost in a crash of gray water and white flecks of sea foam. I freeze where I am, crouched on a giant black boulder beside Ben. I hold my breath, waiting for the tide to recede.
The water rolls back. I let out a cry of relief when Ash and Caleb pop up from the rocks and continue their frantic scramble. We catch up to them, the four of us spidering together over the rocks. The others have reached the safe zone.
Ben slips. He tips sideways with a shout.
“Got you!” I grab his arm, counterbalancing him with my own weight.
“Thanks.” He shoves a neighboring boulder with his foot, righting himself.
I leap for the next rock right as another wave rears up. “Get back,” I cry, lunging closer to the cliff wall. Ben, Caleb, and Ash all do the same.
I reach out and latch onto Ben’s hand just as the wave hits us. The water pulls at his body. Digging my nails into his flesh, I hang on, refusing to let go. I wedge my feet between two rocks, bending my knees for leverage.
Shivering and terrified, I shake my head to clear water from my eyes as the wave recedes. Ash crouches beside me. Ben is draped on the rocks by my feet, both of my arms wrapped around his forearm.
“Caleb!” Ash scrambles to where he lays on his back in the valley between several rocks. “Caleb!”
Keeping one eye on the water, I join Ash. Ben is right behind me. We reach Caleb as he picks himself up. A nasty, jagged cut gushes blood across his thigh.
“You’re okay,” I tell him, looping an arm under one armpit to lever him up. Ash grabs his other arm while Ben grabs the back of his pack. “You’re okay, Caleb.”
I have no idea if he really is okay. I only know that he has to be okay enough to make it another two hundred and fifty yards to the end of the impassable zone. Reed, Susan, and Eric have all made it. They wave their arms and yell as us from a safe spot well away from the water.
“Incoming!” Reed bellows.
I look up just as another wave hits us. I throw my arms around Caleb, clinging to him. I have a brief flash of Ben and Ash doing the same thing.
The four of us hang on for dear life as another wave closes over our heads. We’re pushed sideways toward the cliff. Stone presses into my side. Water rushes over my face. I refuse to let go.
As soon as the water clears, we hurry to right ourselves. Caleb sits up, lifting himself off me. Ben picks himself up off the rocks. Ash removes herself from the top of Caleb’s bad leg where she fell.
“You’re okay,” I murmur to Caleb. “Two hundred and fifty yards. You’ve got this.”
“I’ve got this,” he growls in agreement, jaw set with determination. He lifts himself up, springing forward with more agility than I would have thought possible considering his wound.
By this time, we’re forced to hug the side of the cliff, scrambling over the boulders as fast as we can as waves collide into the rocks at our feet. My back aches from the constant crouch. My quads burn from the squatting. I ignore the pain, throwing all my focus at safety.
Safety. It’s no more than two hundred yards away.
A surge of water rises around us, soaking us up to our ankles. The world beneath our feet becomes inky black. We’re forced to halt and wait for the water to recede so we can see where to step.
“Don’t stop!” Eric yells. “Hurry!”
I grind my teeth, resisting the urge to shout back. As soon as the water clears, we’re off again. Ash leads the way, springing from rock to rock like a gymnast. She doesn’t even have to lean forward to balance with her hands like the rest of us.
One-hundred-fifty yards. We’re almost there.
Another surge of water gushes forward, this time rushing all the way up to our knees. I grab onto the side of the cliff for balance as the tide sucks back out, leaning and fighting for balance.
One-hundred yards.
Caleb stumbles on his injured leg. Ben catches him, keeping him upright. Seeing the two men work together gives me a surge of pride.
The feeling is short-lived as water once again gushes forward. This time, it comes up to our thighs.
This time, it doesn’t recede.
“Shit,” I snarl. To my people, I bark, “Move! The tide is in. Swim!”
Ash, still in the lead, is the first to splash down into the surf. The tide pulls at her. She fights to stay on course for the safe zone on the far side of the rocks.
Fifty yards. That’s all that lies between us and safety.
“Drop the packs,” I order. “Now.”
Caleb doesn’t hesitate. He slings off his weapons pack and chucks it as hard as he can in the surf. With any luck, it will wash up onto shore. Honestly, I don’t care what happens to the weapons so long as Caleb is okay. He jumps after Ash, long, sure strokes cutting through the water.
Ben hesitates.
There is no time for arguing. I summon every ounce of Mama Bear authority.
“Drop it, Ben. Right now!”
Cursing, he flings the pack into the water. He crouches against the cliff, fear plain on his face. I recall he’s not a strong swimmer.
“Hang onto me,” I order, grabbing his hand. “Don’t let go.”
I drag him forward into the surf. The tide is unyielding. First, it sucks us out toward the ocean, only seconds later to shove us back toward the cliff.
I do my best to stay upright, kicking off the rocks beneath my feet. I paddle with my free hand, gripping Ben’s hand in the other. Together, the two of us fight our way forward.
Twenty-five yards.
It’s the longest sprint of my life. Half running, half swimming through water, I hang onto my friend as the ocean tosses us back and forth like pieces of driftwood.
“Let go of me,” Ben gasps, sputtering as a wave douses him in the face.
“Not an option,” I grind out in response.
A wave rushes toward us. I coil my legs in readiness. Right before the breaker hits us, I push off, dragging Ben after me.
The water picks us up, hurling us toward the shore—
—and right into the waiting arms of Eric and Reed.
“We got you,” Eric yells, grabbing Ben by the neckline of his shirt.
“Come on, Mama.” Reed wraps both arms around me, dragging me toward safety.
Another wave hits us. The four of us tumble backward. A searing pain rips across my right hip as I’m sucked over a rock.
Reed and I tumble free of the surf, rolling onto a rocky shoreline. A heartbeat later, Eric and Ben wash up beside us.
Susan, Ash, and Caleb are all there. They help us to our feet.
Half staggering, half running, we rush away from the water. I nearly sob with relief when my feet hit sand. Granted, it’s not the fine sand you find at a tropical beach. It’s a thick-grained sand made up of hundreds of tiny pebbles. But it’s still sand.
As soon as there’s a hundred yards between us and the surf, we collapse in a heap. Wet, injured, and exhausted, we lay in a silent, gasping heap.
And just when I think we’ve finally earned a reprieve, it starts to rain.