Savage Island by Bryony Pearce

Author:Bryony Pearce [Pearce, Bryony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781847158710
Publisher: Stripes Publishing
Published: 2018-11-15T05:00:00+00:00

We scuttled along the edge of the river, but with every step away from Lizzie and Carmen, I panicked more. What if another team found them?

“Hurry, hurry,” I muttered and shifted into a faster jog, forcing Grady to match me, or be dragged behind.

We stopped at the water’s edge. To our left the river forked. A weir foamed a little further along the right tributary. Here, just before the junction, the banks were further apart, the water was shallower and studded with slippery rocks green with algae.

Will stepped out to the first one. It was barely bigger than his foot, and he quickly leaped to the second – wider, but more slick. He waved his arms for a moment, then stabilized.

I looked at Grady, swallowed and leaped out. My balance was good – I was a skateboarder, after all – but I was wearing two heavy bags. I landed on my good leg and left my weak one sticking out into mid-air. I thrust my arms out to either side and fixed my eyes on a curl of fossilized shell in the side of Will’s stone.

“OK, Will,” I called. The water’s rushing filled my ears and the wind seemed to become stronger. Splashes wet my shins.

Will leaped to the next rock; I followed him to the wider, flatter stone and felt the rope behind me tighten and then relax as Grady hopped on to the first one.

My foot slid wildly on the next stone, but I caught myself just before I went to my knees, managing not to grab the rope.

“OK?” Grady shouted.

“I’m good,” I replied.

Will jumped again. We were halfway across when I heard Lizzie’s cry. My throat closed and I turned to see her gesturing desperately towards the trees at the river bend on her side of the river. We were no longer alone.

The newcomers were still a couple of hundred metres away and they froze when they saw us.

I looked frantically between Will and Lizzie. “We have to go back!”

“No!” Will dived forwards, forcing me to follow him. Four more jumps that I barely registered and we were on the other side, Grady staggering into my back. I dropped the two rucksacks on to the thin line of dry sand that bordered the riverbank as fast as I could, and spun back round.

The other team had put on speed.

Will bounded back on to the stepping stones; I was a second behind him. “Stay with the bags, Grady,” Will yelled.

Frantically, Grady looked from us to the team that was now coming up fast. He hopped from foot to foot and eventually settled on grabbing his pick and pressing it to his chest.

I pulled my axe out of my belt as I bounded on to the bank, ignoring the last stone completely and landing half in the freezing water. We had to get to Lizzie and Carmen first. I put my head down and sprinted.

Without our bags, we were fast enough. I skidded to a halt between the girls and the oncoming team, raised the axe and yelled.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.