She saw trees thrown like pick-up sticks, and a picnic table sticking out of a muddy bank. Trailers and upside-down cars lay in a jumbled pile. She saw pale forms of people, walking and stumbling, and—where were their clothes? She looked down at herself and gasped. She wore only her brassiere and her underwear. Her skin was scraped and muddy. She dimly remembered the wind pulling at her pajamas, the water hitting her and tumbling her like a rag doll.
Water.Get to higher ground.
She made herself stand up and walk, her brain as slow moving as her body. She saw lights. Headlights. Was it the ridge that had divided the campground? She went toward the lights, climbing up the slope to an overturned car. She sat down beside it. She could hear voices crying out for help, calling names.
Nobody was calling for her. Where were her friends? Her sister? Was she the only one left?
A bubble of hysteria rose in her throat.
She wanted to run away. She wanted to cry her eyes out. Mostly, she wanted someone—Claire or Bridget or even Dad—to save her from this nightmare, to tell her that everything was going to be okay.
Somebody, please, come and take care of me.
chapter 42:CLAIRE
The trailer was sinking.
The water sloshed over the top of the trailer as it tipped and bobbed like a cork. Pure fear rushed through Claire’s limbs. Where had the water come from? Could she and Beth swim to shore? But in what direction?
Claire pulled herself to her hands and knees. She strained to see through the dark but it was like trying to see through ink. The trailer was slowly turning in a circle, as if caught in a whirlpool. Claire felt Beth push herself to standing and stagger closer. Heard her small sound of pain. The trailer listed sideways, one end dipping deeper into the dark water. “We have to swim,” Claire said.
Something hit the trailer, and Claire caught Beth just before she fell into the black water. Beth held her left arm close to her chest. “I think my arm is broken.”
They couldn’t swim. Not in this, and not with Beth hurt.
“What’s that?” Beth looked toward dark shapes rising out of the water.
Claire followed her gaze. Black against black, dark fingers jutting out of the water. Trees. Lodgepole pines with thick trunks and evenlyspaced branches. Why were the trees underwater? The trailer lurched again.
“Beth,” Claire said, gathering a handful of Beth’s shirt in one fist. “When we get close, I’m going to try to grab a branch. Stay with me.”
Claire felt her nod. They had to reach the trees before the trailer sunk from underneath them. The biggest tree loomed in the dark, its branches reaching toward her. Claire leaned forward.Just a little closer.
The trailer dropped from under her feet and icy water rushed to her neck. She flailed, losing her grip on Beth. Water filled her mouth, tasting of dirt, then closed over her head. Claire held her breath and kicked hard, her legs encumbered by her clinging wet clothes. She broke the surface and gasped for air, groping blindly for the tree. Her fingers closed over a branch, the needles stabbing at her palm. She held tight. The branch bent with her weight, her hand slipped. “Beth!”
Then Beth was there, her pale face above water, one hand reaching out. Claire caught her arm. Beth coughed as Claire pulled her toward the branch. “Grab it,” she ordered.
“My arm,” she gasped. “I can’t—”
The branch broke.
Beth disappeared under the black water.
Claire lunged for another branch, grabbing on with one hand while searching the water for Beth with the other.Lord, no. I can’t lose her.She felt a cold hand grasp hers. Claire pulled, then got her arm around Beth’s waist. The bark bit into her hand and the limb bent under their weight, but it didn’t break.
Claire pulled Beth’s good arm up to the branch. “Hold on.”
Beth caught hold and clung, her breath rasping in Claire’s ear.
Claire pulled in a lungful of air. They were safe for now.
But where were they? And how could they get to shore? Claire could see nothing past Beth’s pale face and the tree they clung to. “Listen,” Claire said to Beth. She held her breath and Beth did the same.
Over the lapping sound of the waves, she heard voices. People crying out for help, other voices answering. Echoing across the water from one direction and then the other.
“Are they close?” Beth breathed.
It was impossible to tell.
