“There’s a rocky hill not far,” Ivan said, leading us. “We can climb up and will be safe.”
I stayed close to Cerise, her face painted with worry. “We’ll be all right,” I said, trying to reassure her.
“I’ll feel better when we’re somewhere high.”
“Me too.” I squeezed her hand before letting go and continuing on.
The rain was already a few inches deep, our boots splashing aswe trudged through it, and I hoped a rush of water wouldn’t come barreling forth before we had a chance to get to our location.
We hurried through the jungle, reaching the rocky hill, and began to climb, gripping the slippery rocks with determination. Cerise was beside me, her brow knitted with effort as she pushed herself up, but she struggled with the weight of her pack and wasn’t making much headway.
Already at the top, Ivan called to Cerise, “Hand me your bag.”
She did as he said, tossing it up to the best of her ability. Without the extra weight, she hastened her ascent. The rest of the group made it to the top, Cerise and I still climbing to follow. We were almost there.
A rumbling sounded in the distance and my heart leaped in my throat. “Shit. Hurry, Cerise!”
A panicked cry sounded from her as she slipped a few feet before regaining her footing and trying to pull herself back up. I glanced to my right just in time to see a mass of water and debris headed our way. Almost at the top, I grasped the edge, reaching toward her with my other hand.
“Grab on!”
Cerise gripped my hand. I held tight, but it slipped in the rain.
“Liam!” she yelled.
I could barely make out the sounds of shouting above me over the roar of the flood nearing with every passing second. I lunged, gripping her wrist. But as I tried to pull her up, the water reached her legs and yanked her out of my grip.
“Cerise! Cerise!” I yelled. “Fuck!”
She was gone.
Ignoring the screams and yells above me, my pack still on my back, I let go, allowing myself to be swept away.
I hit the surface with a gasp. Debris peppered me with bruises as I tried to find my bearings. It wasn’t very deep, but that didn’t seem to matter. The force of the flood was strong, moving at such a fast pace I could hardly keep my headabove water.
Finding the surface, I gripped a floating log beside me, searching the darkness for Cerise. I tried calling out her name but it was fruitless, the noise of the flood smothering all other sounds.
Lightning flashed as I scanned the water ahead of me.
There.
Her head bobbed above the surface, her arms flailing.
I let go of the log and swam ahead, trying to avoid as much debris as possible. A sharp pain in my back took my breath away as something stabbed me. Growling through gritted teeth, I pushed away the ache, shoved off another tree trunk, and searched.
Another flash of lightning showed her a couple of feet away. I pushed off another large log, reaching her in seconds. Wrapping my arm around her waist, I pulled her against me.
She was unconscious.
We needed to get out of this moving water. Now. I had to find something to hold onto, some way to pull us out of this gulley. Perhaps a tree or another rocky hill. Struggling to keep our heads above the surface, I gripped Cerise tighter as I searched for something to help.
Another flash illuminated our surroundings. We were in a riverbed now, with banks on either side. Large roots protruded from the soil, leading to dry land just above the churning deluge. And fortunately, we were very close to one.
Yanking her closer, I grabbed the next root I saw. I had to move fast before we were injured or killed by the debris that would surely hit us.
Fortunately, this part of the bank was only a couple of inches above my head. With a shout, I pulled as hard as I could, pain erupting in my shoulder as I carried the weight of both of us.
It took every bit of effort, but I managed to drag us out of the water, tumbling onto the riverbank and gasping for breath.