Journey By Fire by Bruce W. Perry

Author:Bruce W. Perry [Perry, Bruce W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Web Dispatches Publishing
Published: 2016-08-30T21:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

He pushed away from the heavy raft and swam along with the current. It was easy and there weren't any rocks and he kept the raft to his righthand side. "Don't stray!" Jonesy yelled out. Wade knew why he was nervous. If they lost touch with Wade, Jonesy wouldn't want to pull to the side to get him, and if Wade lost the raft, he would have to survive in the desert alone.

He swam hard to the raft and grabbed the side again, and he noticed that Phoebe had stripped down to shorts and a bra. She had an ornate tattoo on her belly, in the shape of a dark green embroidery, that he hadn't noticed before.

"Can you swim?" he called out.

"Yes!"

"Well?"

"Of course!"

"Just asking." Then he let go again and let the current take him. He looked up and saw a hawk or an eagle floating above the canyon. He watched it until the bird disappeared behind the high ledges, with the sky dark blue and empty. You never saw aircraft anymore, he thought. The cliffs were steep and fragile looking, and they had small washed out beaches beneath them. He wondered when they were going to stop the raft for the night.

Leaves floated in the water, which sparkled and riffled in the sunlight. As he swam, he could see just over the water surface and he thought of swimming with Kara when she was small, dog paddling bravely in the current of a Vermont river, her chin set and out of the water but her eyes merry, and he thought of his daughter and his heart sank some, and he stopped making himself forget everything by immersing his head in the cold river.

He heard a splash and Phoebe came up out of the open water laughing and he heard Jonesy say "Dammit, this isn't a holiday. I need you to stay close to the raft!" He had a rope coiled close to his feet and Jonesy tossed the rope close to the edge of the raft, but Phoebe had one hand on the edge and seemed to be in control.

Wade could see Wiley sitting off the side sulking, beside the mast. He missed his truck, and Wade figured that he liked being in control. He'd locked the vehicle and hoped to return to it sometime; he was going to make his way into Arizona and see if the outfit he worked for still had any operable vehicles left. Unlike Wade, he'd had no one at home he'd abandoned.

# # #

Phoebe let go and floated with the current, her head above the surface. She shook the water free of her eyes, smiled, and kicked to the middle of the river. Wade looked downstream and he could see a bend in the river and it was still calm. He moved over closer to the side of the boat and hung on to the side. The sun was bright on the water and when he squinted against it in Phoebe's direction she just seemed like a chunk of formless floating debris.

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