Chapter 6
It seemed as if time had stopped as they stared down into the dark water trying to catch sight of Keeley. Justin and Joey pushed their way over to the side of the boat where she had fallen. Grabbing onto the rope on the side of the boat they leaned over as far as they could to get a better look.
On the cruise ship Tam and Trish as well as the hijackers were still peering over the edge of the boat trying to figure out what all the commotion was about. Tam looked over at the men and realized this could be their chance to finish lowering their friends to the water. She shifted her weight and reached behind her back to grab hold of the lowering mechanism. As she pressed the button she prayed it wouldn’t make too much noise. She wasn't that lucky. The mechanism groaned as it came to life. The sound of the gears brought the men out of their stare. They turned to the sisters with hatred in their eyes.
“You really shouldn’t have done that,” the blond one said as he lunged towards Trish. She ducked out of the way and the man went crashing into the side of the boat. He sat up and shook his head trying to make the stars dancing around it disappear. The other two hijackers ran over towards the women. Tam knew this was their last hope of getting their friend’s boat to the water. She hit the quick release button that freed the other side of the boat from the ship.
‘They have a better chance of surviving the waters than these men,’ she thought to herself. She said a silent prayer for her new friends as she heard the splash of the boat from down below.
The boat hit the water and rocked as it settled. Everyone looked around in shock as they realized they were finally on the water.
“Guys we gotta go!! Can you see Keeley?” JC asked as he started grabbing for the paddles.
“I can’t see her, I’m going in to get her,” Justin said as he started pulling his shoes off. Just as he was just about to jump in, a sputtering Keeley broke the surface of the water.
“There she is! Grab her other arm J,” Joey said forcefully as he reached for Keeley’s arm and pulled her to the boat. The two men pulled her onto the raft and laid her down in the center. She was still coughing, her eyes squeezed tightly shut.
“Lance, grab the other paddle, we’ve gotta get out of here!” JC cried as he plunged his paddle into the water trying to put some distance between him and the men who were after them.
Justin leaned over Keeley and rolled her onto her side so she could rid the icey water from her lungs. When her coughing subsided, she slowly opened her eyes. Tears sprang to Justin’s eyes when he saw her staring back up at him. He pulled her into his arms and rubbed her back soothingly.
“I thought I was going to lose you when we couldn’t find you in the water.”
“It’ll take more than a little water to keep me away from you,” she replied with a little smile.
The three men looked around frantically as their prey was getting away. One of them noticed another life raft near the one that had just left. They ran over to it and quickly got in. They braced themselves as one on each side hit the lowering mechanism and released both sides of their boat. The boat fell to the water with a thud. Two of them grabbed paddles and started after the other boat. They could barely see the other one; it had to be at least 100 yards ahead of them. The only light was that from the cruise ship. The sky was pitch black. Thick clouds hid the stars and the moon in the night sky.
“Damn it, hurry up, you know we can’t just let them go!”
“Shut up and keep paddling! Don’t worry, we’ll catch up to them.”
Joey and Chris took over paddling for JC and Lance. They weren’t sure how long they’d have to keep this up and they didn’t want anyone to get too tired.
“You guys, what are we going to do, we don’t have any food or supplies,” Monica said as she looked around the boat. Her eyes fell upon a first aid kit tucked in the corner. “Hey wait, what’s that?”
Cari reached over and passed the kit to her. Monica carefully opened it to find all sorts of first aid equipment for emergencies. She also found blankets, some water and a couple days worth of food. Justin reached over and grabbed one of the brown blankets and wrapped it around a shivering Keeley. “Ok, well we aren’t dead yet, we have some stuff,” Monica said glumly.
“Don’t talk that way, we’re going to be fine…” Lance started to say, but he was interrupted by a lightning bolt that shot through the sky. No more than a second later they heard the earth-shattering boom of the thunder that followed. “Looks like we’re in for some bad weather.”
The group scrambled to put up the tent-like cover over the raft. They got it tied down just as raindrops started to fall from the sky. They rushed to get underneath cover. “Great, how are we supposed to paddle from in here?” Joey said as he pulled his paddle inside behind him. Chris dug through the kit that Cari had handed to Monica earlier and grabbed some matches and a lantern. He lit the lantern so they would not be in total darkness.
“Chris wait!” Justin yelled when he realized what his friend had done. “We can’t light that! They might see us!” Justin lunged for the lantern but Chris yanked it out of his reach.
“Justin look at the cover over the raft. There’s no way they could see the light through this thing, it’s too thick.”
Justin looked around the raft with a scrutinizing stare. Finally satisfied that their location wouldn’t be compromised he gave a slight nod.
“We’re just going to have to wait this storm out. Besides if we can’t paddle, they probably can’t either.” JC replied.
They sat in silence inside the raft. They could feel the once slow roll of the waves becoming more turbulent. The sound of the water splashing up against the sides of the raft became more insistent. Monica, who was leaning against the side, let out a scream as she was hit from behind by a fierce wave. She rushed over towards Lance and grabbed his hand.
“You guys, we’re going to have to remain calm if we want to get through this storm,” Justin said sternly as he shot Monica a look. “As soon as this weather dies down we can start paddling again. Hopefully it will be calm by morning and we’ll be able to see where we’re going. Meanwhile, why don’t you girls try to get some rest, you’re going to need your strength.”
“Good idea,” Keeley said drowsily as she curled into a ball and pulled her blanket around her tighter. Her little swim lesson earlier really drained her. She could really use some rest. She trusted the guys to keep she and her friends safe.
Monica reluctantly looked at Lance who gave her a little nod. She curled up and laid her head in his lap before closing her eyes.
Cari tried to get comfortable and soon her breathing became slow and regular.
JC looked at his friends with worry. “Guys, we don’t have much food. We need to conserve as much as possible. We have no idea how long it will be until we get rescued or find land.”
“I’m sure those sisters have already called for help. At least people know we are missing,” Joey said quietly.
“Well it’s not going to do us any good sitting here worrying about things we have no control over,” Lance said. “Let’s all try to get a little rest, there’s not much else we can do at this point.”
The other four men reluctantly nodded their agreement and tried to get comfortable as they lay down. Chris turned over and blew out the lantern. Outside the wind howled angrily at their little raft. They just hoped someone was watching over them.
A couple of hours went by and the storm had not let up at all. The eight were still sleeping, but it was not a peaceful sleep for any of them.
> Meanwhile in the other life raft the three men were cursing the weather.
“Damn it! Is the storm EVER going to let up?” Brian, the blonde headed man screamed as thunder rumbled.
“Don’t worry Bri,” Anthony said as he patted the blonde’s back. “Soon enough it will all be over, it will be light, we’ll find those eight, and then…” he trailed off. All three men began to laugh. The small lantern they were using flickered and cast an eerie glow on the three men’s faces.
When the laughter subsided, Steven spoke up. We might as well try and get some sleep. When it’s light we’ll need the energy to track them down!” The other two agreed, blew out the lantern, and then the trio settled down for a nap. This group fell into a deeper, more satisfied sleep.
Justin, who was a light sleeper, woke, up when he heard sea gulls outside. At first it didn’t make a difference to him. He was so tired; he just wanted to go back to sleep. Then his mind began to race. It dawned on him where he was and what was going on. Suddenly he realized the only sounds he could hear were the gulls crying and the waves gently slapping against the side of the boat. “Oh my gosh, it’s over,” Justin whispered. He tried to sit up, but soon discovered Keeley’s arms were wrapped around him. His movements woke her. She opened her eyes and squinted, trying to see Justin. It was still pretty dark under the cover of the boat.
“Go back to sleep Justin,” she said sleepily and closed her eyes again.
“No, Keeley wake up,” Justin whispered.
“What do you want?” Keeley whispered, clearly annoyed.
“Listen, the storm stopped.” Keeley listened and soon heard the same calming sounds Justin had heard moments before. “Wonder what time it is?” Justin thought out loud, but still trying to keep his voice down.
Keeley brought her wrist up to her face to look at her watch. She squinted trying to make out the numbers on her watch and where the hands were. “I don’t know J. It’s too dark to see my watch.”
“Does anyone have one of those watches that light up?”
Keeley thought for a second before she answered, “ Um…yeah…JC does.”
“Ok, I’m going to try to see his watch,” Justin said. When he got to JC, he scrunched up his eyes trying to make out where JC’s arm was. Justin finally made it out. It was protectively draped over Cari’s stomach. Justin quietly reached over and tried to press the button that would light up the watch face. He was not as careful as he thought he was being. In the process his fingers brushed against JC’s arm, causing JC to jump. This action instantly startled Cari out of her sleep and she gasped. Both sat up quickly to see what was going on. Justin didn’t have time to react and Cari’s head collided with his own.
“Ow!” Cari cried out. Justin reached up and covered her mouth.
“SHH!” Justin said and began to rub his head. Cari reached up and did the same to her own. Justin pulled his hand back from Cari’s face. “Geez, I swear. Girl you have a hard head. What is it with you people and my head?” Justin said referring to the incident when they first found out about the hijackers,
“Justin! What the hell are you doing?!” JC said in an angry whisper.
“I was trying to see what time it is,” Justin said. He explained to him what was going on and told him why he had to come to find out the time. JC glanced down at this watch as he hit the button. The greenish-blue light illuminated his face.
“It’s almost five. Do you think the sun is up yet?”
“I was wondering the same thing.”
“Guys we need to get this cover off and start paddling again,” Cari spoke up.
“She’s right J, we need to wake up everyone else,” JC said.
“Too late,” Joey groaned.
“Yeah Cari already took care of that problem,” Chris grumbled as he reached over and lit the lantern.
“Aww guys stop complaining and help the three of us get this thing down,” Monica scolded. Keeley, Lance, and she had already started untying the cover. The other five quickly joined in. Within minutes the cover was completely off the boat.
“Does anyone see any signs of our stalkers?” Chris said and began to look around. The others did the same. They searched in every direction, but the other boat was no where in sight.
“I don’t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing that we can’t see them. But we are going to pretend it is a good thing,” Keeley said laughing.
The sky was just beginning to peek up on the horizon. The sun sparkled on the crystal blue water making it look as if it were covered in diamonds.
“Wow,” Cari started as she looked out over the ocean. “You know any other time this would be a beautiful.” She sounded exhausted and sorrowful. Keeley looked over at her and nodded.
“Here I was worrying that our biggest problem may have been screaming fans. I never would have guessed that our vacation would end with us being lost out in the middle of the ocean!” Lance sighed.
“Um…Lance, we may not be at lost as you think we are.” Justin said.
“What are you talking about,” Lance mumbled. By this time Lance had put his head down in his hands.
“Lance, you might want to look at this,” Monica said and placed her hand on his arm trying to nudge his hands away from his face. Finally he looked up and saw what the rest of them were staring at. Off in the distance they could make out land.
“My advice is we paddle like hell and then try to find some help on that island!” Joey said seriously.
“I think you’re right Joe,” Lance said as he grabbed for one of the paddles. Joey reached over and took the other one and together they thrust the ores into the water. After a few moments they found a good rhythm and their raft was streaming towards the island.
“Man I hope we can find some help,” Cari said from the back of the raft.
“I hope we can find some food!” Justin said as his stomach growled loudly. They all turned to look at him before cracking up. “What?” he said sheepishly. He rubbed his stomach and turned away from his laughing friends to look towards land. “We’re almost there you guys.”
As they neared the shore Justin, Joey and Lance jumped out of the raft to pull it the rest of the way to shore. JC jumped out to help and within a couple minutes the raft was on shore. The girls jumped out and stretched.
“Dry land! This rocks!” Keeley exclaimed as she jogged down the coast.
“It is nice to be on solid ground,” Monica said with a smile.
The group took a moment to look at their new surroundings. There was no sign of civilization anywhere. There were a lot of trees of different types. They were very dense; it looked sort of like a jungle. The terrain went up steeply to a peak that looked like it was about 1000 feet above where they stood.
Joey turned around to look back out at the waters that had thrown them around the night before. He searched the water for any sign of their predators. The water looked fairly peaceful as dawn was setting in. He scanned the horizon. As his eyes trailed across the water he thought he spotted something several hundred yards off shore. Then it disappeared. “Must have been my imagination,” he thought to himself as he continued to look around. He saw something out of the corner of his eye and jerked his head around just in time to see a glimpse of another raft identical to theirs.
“Uh guys, I think we’ve got some company,” Joey said as he extended his arm towards the ocean and pointed at the little yellow raft steadily making its way towards the island.
“We’ve gotta get out of here! Grab a side of the raft, we’ve gotta get it hidden somewhere!” Justin exclaimed as he rushed towards the raft. He picked up the edge of it and without waiting for the others he started frantically trying to pull it into the thick brush ahead of him. Chris and Joey rushed over to help and soon all of them had grabbed a piece of the raft. They were able to pick it up and they rushed into the treed area to look for a place to hide it.
“There’s no place to put it, what are we going to do?” Monica cried. She was starting to panic because the only thing around them was palm trees and some other taller trees.
They all began to panic as they searched for somewhere to hide it, or something to camouflage it. Keeley’s eyes fell to the ground and she saw some fallen palm branches. “Hey why don’t we use these to hide it,” she said as she picked up a branch to examine it. "They probably fell in the storm last night."
“That will work,” JC said as he joined her in picking up the branches and placing them on top of their raft. After a couple minutes the raft was covered and unless someone ran into it, they probably wouldn’t know it was a raft.
Joey ran to the edge of the trees to look for their stalkers. “They’re almost to the shore,” he exclaimed as he ran back to his friends. The men were only about 50 feet off shore and they would be there in a matter of seconds. “Ok, we’ve hid the boat, now what about us?”
“Why don’t we climb into the trees?” Chris exclaimed as he looked up at the tree towering in front of him.
“Um guys, I can’t climb trees,” Keeley said as she looked down with embarrassment. Justin stepped up to her and wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders.
“I don’t think that will work, that’s the first place they’ll look right? Besides that, if the did find us, we'd be cornered.”
“I think we’re going to have to make a run for it. Grab the first aid kit and lets go,” JC said. The group gathered their things and quickly took off towards the rising hill of trees in front of them.
“Hey you two, jump out and pull this thing in,” Anthony snarled at Steven and Brian. The other two quickly jumped in the water and began to hastily pull it to shore. When they reached land, Anthony stepped out of the boat and looked around the island. “Where the hell did they go?” he exclaimed angrily. Their targets were no where in sight.
“They couldn’t have gotten far,” exclaimed Brian as he ran towards the trees in front of him. The other two followed and soon the tropical jungle surrounded them all. They all looked in different directions, hoping to catch sight of them. Steven walked backward to try and get a different view. In mid-stride he tumbled towards the ground. He let out a holler as he fell, expecting to hit the hard ground. Instead of crashing into the sandy floor he hit something and bounced. “What the….” He exclaimed as he turned around to see what had broken his fall. He reached out his hand and felt something cushy. He brushed the leaves away that were covering the ground to discover a raft. “Looky what we have here!” he said with a gleam in his eye. “Looks like their trying to cover their tracks. Well if they want to play cat and mouse I’m certainly game!” Anthony and Brian bent over as they laughed.
“Well they couldn’t have gotten too far ahead of us,” Brian exclaimed as their laughs subsided. They continued to search the area around them for any sign of the fleeing group. Anthony walked over to a nearby bush and examined its branches. He picked up several branches that had broken off.
“Hey guys check this out. I think they went this way.” Following the path in front of the bush they discovered some faint footprints in the sand. “Come on, this way.”
They steadily made there way through the trees as the hill in front of them got steeper and steeper.
“They couldn’t have gotten far.”
“Guys I’m really thirsty,” Keeley exclaimed as she wiped her forehead with the bottom of her shirt. She looked around the group and saw several heads nodding in agreement.
“Me too. Let’s stop for a sec and get a drink. Who’s got the water from the first-aid kit?” Lance asked. JC raised his index finger motioning for them to hold on as he reached into his backpack and produced a bottle of water. He passed the bottle to Keeley, who took a sip before passing the bottle around the circle. Once all of their thirsts had been satisfied they passed it back to JC who put the water away and they started off once again.
It was the middle of the afternoon and the sun was blazing down on the eight young adults. It was almost one hundred degrees and that was in the shade. Random thoughts were running through all of their heads, thoughts of possible escapes, thoughts of how to cool down. None of them were going to be able to last much longer. Though they were all too scared to slow down, they had no idea were the hijackers were and that worried them. Their energy was quickly draining. Their hope was dwindling.
“So has any one come up with a brilliant plan that is going to save us yet?” Justin asked hopefully. A chorus of no’s could be heard from the group.
“Ok…here is my theory,” Monica spoke up after a couple more minutes of walking. “There HAS to be people on this island somewhere. The captain said that we were traveling through populated islands, this is probably one of them.”
“Yes, but the question is where are they,” Chris retorted.
“I don’t know…but we have to find them. If we can find people we can get help.”
“You make it sound so simple,” Cari laughed and shook her head. The group fell silent again as they kept walking. The terrain was getting rough. There were tree roots everywhere. They all had to be careful not to trip over them. They were also getting into areas that had some smaller trees, so the group often had to duck to avoid being hit in the face. They all stuck together and helped each other through the mess of foliage.
“Watch out you guys, that looks like poison ivy,” Joey announced. Justin sort of snickered. “What is so funny?” Joey asked confused. He thought that they would appreciate him pointing that out.
“No, Joey. I’m not laughing at you. It’s just it is kinda ironic that we are running for our lives and yet we still have time to look out for poison…” Justin was cut off short when he slammed into JC who had stopped dead in his tracks.
“What’s up wit dat yo?” Justin asked looking at JC.
“Justin…” JC started.
“Dude, you shouldn’t just stop and not tell anyone,” Justin continued.
“Justin…” JC tried to interrupt.
“Yo that is just rude.”
“JUSTIN!” the entire group shouted. Finally Justin shut up.
“What?”
“Look!” Keeley said and grabbed his head turning it to look in front of him. In front of the group was what looked to be a mini-tropical paradise. There was a rather large natural spring, out in an open area. They hadn’t even noticed that the foliage around them had thinned down.
“Can you believe this!” Cari said excitedly. She quickly rushed over and leaned down to feel the water. “Oh my gosh it’s so warm!”
“Aww man! I want to get in there! I bet it would ease my muscles from rowing that boat,” Lance said. Justin looked over at Keeley.
“Hey…um Keeley.”
“Yes J?”
“Do you um remember that night before we went clubbing?” Justin said and wiggled his eyebrow with an evil grin.
“Don’t even think about it lover boy,” Chris said as he pushed Justin and Keeley apart. “She doesn’t have a hair dryer with her!” The entire group burst into laughter except for a shocked Justin and a red-faced, very embarrassed Keeley.
“You just aren’t going to get over that are you?” Keeley finally asked Chris.
“Probably not,” Chris said laughing.
“You are just jealous because you think you were missing out on some action Chrissy-Poo!” Justin said sarcastically.
“J man that was just cheesy,” Chris retorted.
“Velveeta all the way!” Keeley said as she cracked up.
“K-dawg, that is even chessier.” Keeley gave a sideways glare at Chris.
“What the heck? You have never ever called me K-dawg. Where in the heck did that come from?” Keeley asked Chris very confused. Chris just chuckled.
“J…K…what is the difference.” Chris just continued to laugh.
“I am surrounded by Mo-Rons!”
“Mo-Rons?” the other three asked perplexed.
“Yes not just morons…but Mo-Rons! A Mo-Ron is even worse than a moron,” Monica said as she shook her head and walked over to sit next to Cari who had her feet dangling in the water of the spring. On the way over she decided that was her new favorite of all her made up words. It was just too cute.
Meanwhile the men were still frantically hunting their prey. They knew that they could not be far. They were walking towards the direction they figured the group had probably gone.
“They thought that they were so clever putting those limbs over that boat didn’t they?” Anthony growled. The other two men agreed.
“Now it is just a matter of finding them,” Steve answered.
“Gee you think,” Anthony said and smacked him on the back of the head.
“OW!” Steve cried out.
“Oh shut up you big baby, you deserved it. That was a stupid comment.”
“Hey now Tony,” Brian stepped in. “No need to take your anger out on Steve.”
“You’re right. I am just frustrated,” Anthony said and stopped walking. The other two also stopped. “I am sorry Steve. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. We all have to stick together in order to pull this off. There is no way we will succeed otherwise.” He offered his hand to Steve who quickly accepted.
“Ok guys let’s get going. We have some pesky kids to take care of,” Brian said and the group started walking again. They were beginning to enter the dense part of the forest.
“Oh geez, that sounded like a line from Scooby Doo!” Anthony started laughing. Brian turned to scowl at him. Brian took his eyes off where they were walking just long enough to trip over a root that was sticking out of the ground.
“Uhmf.”
“Yo, Bri you ok?” Steve asked. When he and Anthony both bent down to help Brian up, they realized the Brian’s foot was still lodged under the root. As Steve reached over and began to pull Brian’s foot out, Brian cried out in pain.
“What in the world?” Anthony asked the blonde. “Don’t tell me you are going to be a baby about this.”
“Man, I am in major pain!” Brian whined.
“Here let me look at your foot,” Steve told him and Anthony and himself set the now freed Brian down on the ground. Steve quickly unlaced Brian’s tennis shoe and pulled off his sock. The ankle was already beginning to swell.
“Great,” Brian groaned. “Now what are we going to do?”
“Don’t worry about it Bri, we’ll think of something. I know we need to get some kind of splint or brace on that ankle though.” Anthony said and began to think of ways to make a makeshift support.
“Man this feels really good,” Cari said and sighed as she leaned back onto her hands and stretched her back. Monica quietly sat down beside her after she pulled off her shoes and socks and placed them next to the bush were everyone’s stuff was already left. It was out of the way, not near the water, and wouldn’t easily been seen. She plunged her feet into the warm water.
“Geesh, my feet are killing me. It feels like we have been walking forever.”
“We might as well have been. We have really only walked for an hour or two, but the heat is what makes it so bad.” Both girls let out a sigh.
“Hey…where are the guys? I haven’t seen them lately?” Monica asked as she looked around. She was still in fear of the guys’ safety and was secretly wondering to herself if it was really a good idea that they had stopped moving. Her mind told her that they were not safe and that stopping was a bad idea but her body was steadily protesting any movement. Before Cari had a chance to answer her question, Monica got her answer from elsewhere.
“HEY GIRLS!” JC suddenly yelled. Monica began to look around, but still didn’t see them. Then she looked at Cari and saw Cari looking up, waving. Monica slowly followed Cari’s line of sight and saw the three guys. They had climbed to the top of a large ledge and were standing at the top waving. The ledge had to be at least 15 feet off the ground.
“HEY BABY!” Cari called back with a big grin on her face.
“Watch this,” and with that JC jumped over the edge and began his plummet towards the water. SPLASH . Water went everywhere and completely soaked both of the girls.
“Thanks a lot C!” Cari complained when JC resurfaced. JC just laughed at her.
“You know you enjoyed it.” Then he looked over at Monica who didn’t look much happier than Cari did at that moment. “And you liked it too, don’t try and deny it.” JC chortled and splashed some more water at Monica.
“Hey now!” Monica giggled. “I didn’t even say anything.”
“But I am sure you were going to,” Keeley added cracking up. Monica turned to find the “Mo-Rons” standing behind her.
“Well it is good to know who’s side you are on,” JC called and then added, “too bad there are no friends in my game!” He let out an evil laugh and began to splash Keeley who was the closest of the newly arrived group.
“YEEHAW!” SPLASH
“Please tell me that was not my boyfriend and that he did not just yell yeehaw,” Monica groaned. The group all laughed. Lance resurfaced seconds later. He looked around in puzzlement when the laughter became even louder as he turned and looked at them.
“What did I do? Did I lose my pants?” Lance reached down and checked. He still had his shorts on. This made the group laugh even louder. “Ok what did I miss?” Lance asked, still confused.
“Lansten man do you not realize what you said before you jumped?” Justin asked his now blushing friend.
“Oh that!” Lance snickered. “You enjoyed that huh?”
”Oh that,” Monica mimicked and then rolled her eyes. “You are insane my dear,” and then she kicked some water at her boyfriend who was coming towards her. He had an evil looked in his eyes and a sly grin on his face. “Lance what are you doing? Lance don’t even think about it. Baby I’m sorry,” Monica giggled as Lance reached out towards her. She tried her best to back away from him but it was too late. He grabbed her ankles and quickly pulled her into the water. Monica fell into the water with a splash. At about the same time Joey had finally decided to join the group as he did a cannon ball into the water. Monica resurfaced before Joey did and came up right in front of Cari. Cari was laughing so hard she was crying.
“I am soooo glad you find this funny Cari.” Then she looked over at JC and motioned him closer. He got right up beside her and then she whispered something in his ear. He quietly giggled and nodded her head as she spoke. Cari began to get suspicious.
“C, don’t you even think you are going to pull me into the water like Lance did to her.”
“But we both think you are beginning to dry off a little too much,” JC said calmly and began to slowly make his way towards Cari. In the meantime Justin walked over behind Cari. Before JC had the chance to pull her in, Justin had pushed her. With lightening fast reflexes she grabbed his ankle and pulled him in with her.
“WATER FIGHT!” Keeley screamed and dove into the water along with everyone else except for Chris who was still standing and was the one dry one of the bunch.
“Chris man aren’t you coming in?” Joey asked as he looked expectantly at his friend.
“You guys, this might not be the best idea in the world,” he said, looking kind of embarrassed. Monica wondered if he was having the same thoughts that she had had.
“What’s wrong Christopher?” Justin called out. “Can’t swim?”
“J, you know damn good and well that I could out-swim you any day, but I am just worried. Those guys can’t be far behind us. I just don’t want us to be goofing off and let them catch up with us because we were being stupid.”
“Chris man don’t worry. We aren’t going to stay long. We just need to cool off. With the slight breeze that is blowing this water feels awesome!” JC reassured his friend.
“Ok, but we have got to hurry.” Chris said as he dove in. Lance had to laugh at the sight. Chris the one that was normally the first to slack off was now being the worrier. And the worrier, JC, was having too much fun to worry about it. This is how Lance had imagined their vacation…the eight of them goofing off and cutting up, not having a care in the world. He knew that their harsh reality would catch up with them soon enough, but for right now he was going to enjoy what little fun he may be able to have.
Suddenly Keeley’s laughter began to fill the air again. He turned to see what was going on and found Keeley pointing at Justin and snickering.
“What is so damn funny Kee?” Justin asked his girlfriend.
“J…um…how do I put this nicely? Oh hell…I can’t! Justin you look like a drowned rat!”
“WHAT?!? I know you didn’t just go there. You’re dissing on the hair again girl. I think not!” With that Justin lunged at Keeley, but she quickly ducked out of his way. He turned to try and find where she had gone. He didn’t see her though. Unexpectedly Keeley popped up behind him and dunked him under the water. She quickly swam away laughing the entire time. Games like this continued throughout the entire group. Splashing, dunking, a couple more dives off the ledge even.
“I am going to go dive one more time!” Joey announced and started to make his way out of the water. As he began to pull up out of the water he thought he heard a rustling in the bushes…the bushes from which they had emerged from earlier that afternoon. “It’s just an animal or my imagination,” Joey though to himself. Then the rustling got louder.
“Guys did you hear that,” Chris asked and the group froze. Joey was completely out of the water now and could see a higher point of view then everyone still in the water.
“Oh my gosh!” Joey whispered and ducked. “Those guys that are after us are heading this way.” Keeley gasped.
“Joey get back in the water…quietly!” Lance whispered. Joey quickly and quietly slipped back into the water.
“What are we going to do,” Cari looked around the group hoping for answers. She looked and could now see them herself. They did not have time to run. It was too late.
“Everyone duck…maybe they won’t see us. It’s the only chance we have,” Justin said and the group all took a deep breath and disappeared under the water.