Riptide by R. T. Martin

Author:R. T. Martin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Athletes, Extreme Sports, Hi/Lo, Nature, Sports, Survival, Action & Adventure, Survival Stories, Survival, Survival Story, Sports, Sports & Recreation, Extreme Sport, Extreme Sports, Darby Creek, Fiction, R.T. Martin, Riptide, Shark Attack, Surfing, To the Limit
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
Published: 2018-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

Maya spent the next twenty minutes scanning the water with each flash of lightning. The sloshing water and the rain made the task difficult. Everything was hazy at best, but she focused hard on the water in front of her. After maybe two dozen more flashes, she hadn’t caught sight of it again.

A part of her wanted to tell Paige what she’d seen. But Paige was looking worse and worse. Not only was she pale, but her lips were definitely blue now. She looked sick—like she had pretty bad case of the flu—and her eyes were fluttering as if she were actively trying to keep them from closing. The last thing she needed was to find out there might be a shark in the water. Besides, Maya had only seen it for a brief second. She didn’t want to worry her friend over nothing.

She stared hard, scanning the water to the best of her ability, but Maya didn’t see the fin again. She remembered what Paige had told her on their way to Ripper’s Cove—the news about the windsurfer who’d been attacked by a bull shark not long ago.

I’m just imagining things, she told herself. The idea of a shark was planted in her mind, and now she was just projecting the image onto something harmless in the water. I saw driftwood or some kid’s arm floatie. Nature wouldn’t be cruel enough to make this situation worse. She almost believed herself, but she continued to scan the water for the fin. Sooner or later, they were going to have to make their way across the waves and onto land. She wanted to be as sure as possible that there wasn’t a dangerous predator blocking their path.

It took what felt like at least an hour, but eventually the lightning flashes became less frequent. The rain began to get lighter, the sky turned from almost pitch black to a deep gray, and the wind began to die down.

“Okay, I think it’s safe,” Maya said. “I’m going to go for it.”

Paige didn’t respond.

“Paige?” Maya said, looking to her friend. Paige was unconscious, lying motionless beneath the surfboard. “Paige!” Maya shouted, shaking her gently. Paige didn’t wake up. Sometime during the storm, she must have passed out from pain or exhaustion. Either way, Maya needed to get her medical attention as soon as possible. Maya ran into the water, jumped on her board, and began paddling as fast as she could. Normally, she would have surfed into the shore, but this was no time to take unnecessary risks. She was far past the point where she and Paige had agreed to bail off their boards for fear of hitting the rocks below. She’d paddle until she could run.

It wasn’t easy. Her head felt as though it was full of cotton and the water wasn’t helping much either. There were still some swells and waves that Maya didn’t anticipate. They threatened to push her off the board, or at the very least, farther down the coast.

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