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14
LORENZO
IgrabbedCeline’shandand started running through the trees back in the direction we’d come. The sooner we could get out from between these trees, the sooner we’d be less likely to get struck by lightning.
Where the fuck had this storm come from? I’d checked the forecast again and again. We’d all made sure this was a good time to come camping—this weather was out of place.
It didn’t matter where it had come from anymore. Right now, we had to get the hell out of dodge.
The mulch underfoot became a muddy mess. The more water came down, the worse it got until it sucked our feet in, making it harder to move.
“What’s happening?” Celine cried out.
“Just keep moving,” I panted, tugging her along.
The mulch started to slide, and I fell to my knees. I scrambled to get back up again. Celine went down just after me. When I looked back to help her up, her blonde hair clung to her face and shoulders and she was smeared with mud.
“I can’t do this!” she cried out.
I kneeled and shouted so that she could hear me over the thunder and the rush of rain that poured down harder and harder all around us. I grabbed her shoulders to get her attention, and she turned her big, scared eyes to me.
“We just have to keep moving,” I said. “You can do this. One step at a time.”
She nodded, and I helped her get up, pulling her to her feet. Before we could take the next step, the earth seemed to tilt on its axis. The ground underneath our feet started to tremble and move.
Celine screamed, and then the whole patch of mud we’d been in started to slide downhill. We tumbled along with it. Broken branches and other debris tumbled down the mountainside along with us, scratching and scraping. It was a miracle we weren’t caught on trees or rocks. Some of the smaller trees and underbrush with roots that weren’t very deep moved along with us. The larger trees stayed put. I tried to grab onto the trunks as they flew past us. We moved faster and faster downhill.
If I used two hands, maybe I could grab onto something, but I refused to let go of Celine’s hand. If I did, we would be separated and no matter what, that couldn’t happen.
I tried to grab onto branches and bushes and tree trunks but nothing worked. Either I couldn’t get a grip or the whole thing came down with us.
When we tumbled down a steep cliff, Celine screamed again, and my stomach flew up into my throat. I tasted bile, and the world spun around us as we fell down, down, down.
I braced myself for impact. This wasn’t going to be pretty—I didn’t know how high the cliff had been, but if we hit the ground anything higher than a couple of feet, we’d be done. This would have been it.
Such a short fucking ride, I thought as we were airborne for what felt like forever. If I could have done it all again, what would I have done differently?
I’d never have left Celine behind, that was for damn sure. I would have told her back when we were kids how I felt about her and fought to make a life with her.
The ground rushed toward us, and in the last split second before we hit it, I realized it was water, not dirt. We fell into a river. The water stung like a bitch when we hit the surface at the speed we’d fallen, but we were alive. The current rushed and bubbled with the storm, and we were far from safe. I didn’t know which way I was up as we tumbled underwater. All I could think about was Celine. I still had her hand in mine; she was still with me.
We rushed in the direction of the river, the water dragging us along. I hit something hard—a rock, maybe—and it knocked out the bit of air I’d had in my lungs. I still didn’t know which way was up. We tumbled and rolled.
I felt the ground underneath my feet for just a second and kicked off from it.
That did it—my head broke the surface, and I yanked Celine’s hand up, hoping it would help.
Her head broke the surface too, and she gasped for air.
“Lorenzo?” she cried out before her eyes locked on mine.
“Just keep your head above water, and don’t let go,” I said, squeezing her hand. “We’re going to follow the stream, don’t fight it. We’ll wash up, eventually.”
She nodded, swallowed water and coughed violently, but she didn’t let go.
The water dragged us along for a while still. Not too far off, I spotted an anabranch, and I kicked hard.
“Swim toward that!” I shouted.
