2136: A Post-Apocalyptic Novel by Thrush Matthew

Author:Thrush, Matthew [Thrush, Matthew]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Post-Apocalyptic | Dystopian | Infected
Published: 2017-02-11T06:00:00+00:00

≈ CHAPTER 25 ≈

THAT MOMENT WHEN YOU look death in the face and he smiles back. Yeah, I was there; and he wasn't smiling.

My face shot above the water rushing through the outlet work. The muddy water flowed like an avalanche through the concrete tube and into the cavern. I flailed my arms frantically to stay afloat. It felt like giant slimy hands grabbed my neck and dragged me below again. The current flipped me and twisted me like a rubber band. I tried to swim to the surface but the current held me down. My eyes burned as I scanned through the rushing water for anything to latch on to.

Something smashed into my leg. Immediately a sharp burn of pain shot up my thigh. My mouth opened to scream only to be muffled by a mouthful of suffocating dark, cold water. My chest heaved as the water struggled to pour down my throat and into my lungs. My head broke the surface seconds later when my body was thrust violently against another stalagmite jutting up from below. I blocked out the pain and fought to hold on for dear life. I wrapped my legs around the coarse mineral stone and flailed my arms from side to side to keep balance. If I lost grip I was a goner. The current would suck me under a third time, for good.

‘Parker!!’

The torch was still secured to my wrist. I pressed the power and shone it into the darkness. The walls vibrated with the full velocity of the turbines. The outlet work where we had been attempting to communicate with the outside world was a geyser of brown water. Parker was nowhere to be found.

‘Parker!’ I yelled again. A wave of water slapped me in the face. I gagged. The water level was rising fast. In a matter of minutes this cavern would be full of brown water from the reservoir and I'd be out of oxygen. The stalactites that hung from the ceiling hundreds of feet up were quickly descending on me.

Think, Willow! I cursed myself.

My brain wasn't working. All I could feel was the fire in my thigh, the current sucking at my back, trying to pull me to my grave, and the undeniable fear that this was the end. Then Parker's body broke through the water.

‘Willow!’ I heard him cry in the dark.

I spun the light in the direction of his voice. His head bobbed above the surface.

‘Parker!’

Oh my gosh! Thank God!

My joy was quashed when the water dragged him back under. Thirty seconds later he jettisoned back up fifty feet away from where I was perched like a stranded cat in a sea of dogs.

‘Parker! Give me your hand.’

‘Willow!’ he shouted.

‘Over here!’

He pumped his arms against the current in my direction.

‘You're almost there!’ I cried.

My fingers grazed the fabric of his shirt.

‘Come on!’ I leaned back from the mound of earth I was gripping and extended my arms as far as I could. My hand touched skin and I latched on as tight as I could.

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