Sink or Swim by Steve Watkins

Author:Steve Watkins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

The shock of landing took my breath away, and I plunged in a lot deeper than I thought I would, so I had to claw my way back up to the surface, still praying the whole time that somebody had heard me shouting. If not, then it didn’t matter what happened because Woody and I would both be dead soon in this churning ocean.

More lightning lit up the sky and I saw him between waves, still thrashing wildly, twenty yards away. It was hard to swim with my life vest on and hold on to the ring, but I knew I had to get to Woody fast, as panicked as he was.

Except another wave crashed over us, and then another. I spotted him again, but then he went under all of a sudden. My heart just about stopped until he came back up, trying to yell but spitting up salt water coughing and gasping. I finally made it to him and grabbed his arm to hook it over the life ring, but Woody seemed oblivious to what was happening, caught up in his panic. He pulled his arm away and flailed around, nearly hitting me, and then, somehow, he got behind me and wrapped his arm around my neck, pulling us both under.

I fought as hard as I could, kicking, twisting, anything to get away. But Woody was a lot bigger than me, and even when I was able to pry myself free of his arm, and even with my life vest on and hanging on to the life ring, the weight of him on top of me pressed me deeper underwater. I kept fighting until I managed to wriggle free and kick for the surface, somehow still holding on to the buoy. We probably hadn’t been under for more than half a minute, but I was desperate for air when I finally came up. I wasn’t in the clear yet, though, because another wave crashed over me as soon as I got there and I swallowed a lot of water.

Sputtering, I gasped for air and was so scared that I just wanted to get away from Woody. Before I could get any distance from him, Woody came back up, too—still panicking and trying to take hold of me again. I was afraid he’d drown us both this time if he did, especially if he got me around the neck from behind, but I was getting weaker, worn out from being underwater, from the cold, from swallowing so much salt water, and from fighting him off while at the same time trying to hold him up out of the water.

And then out of nowhere, on the other side of a wave, I heard somebody call our names. “Danny! Woody! Where the heck are you guys?”

“Over here!” I yelled. It was Straub. I’d have recognized that big voice anywhere.

The wave crested and suddenly there he was, swimming wildly toward us, splashing so much it was like another wave crashing. Woody was

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