Sink: The Lost World by Perrin Briar

Author:Perrin Briar [Briar, Perrin]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2015-12-02T18:30:00+00:00

36

A thick plume of dust rose up like a morning mist, obscuring what remained of the wall. The glow bugs increased their low level of light, fading up like a spotlight. A pair of shadows stepped through the dust toward them, entering their cave.

Zoe rushed forward and embraced Aaron, wrapping her arms around him tight, so tight he could hardly breathe. He didn’t mind. He hugged her back just as hard. Aaron peered out the corner of his eye to see Bryan and Cassie were doing the same. Then Bryan looked up and saw Aaron. He extended his arm to him and Zoe. Aaron and Cassie were squashed between their parents, looking awkwardly at each other. They made no attempt to hug.

They stayed like that for a moment, letting the relief wash over them. Then they broke apart.

“I thought I’d lost you,” Zoe said.

“Technically you did,” Aaron said.

“That was some wild ride, huh?” Cassie said.

She shook her head, and a torrent of dirt billowed like a tiny sandstorm.

“Now what?” Bryan said.

“Where’s your cell?” Zoe said. “Maybe it will work down here.”

“I doubt it,” Bryan said.

“Try anyway,” Zoe said.

Bryan reached into his pocket. He frowned, and then tried his other pockets. He looked at Zoe and shrugged.

“You had it on you this whole time and now you lose it?” Zoe said. “What about your other gear?”

Bryan sat his bag down on the floor and opened the top flap. He rifled through the items inside and came out with his laptop and internet device. He connected them up and turned them on. Somehow, they still worked.

“No signal though,” Bryan said.

“Big surprise,” Aaron said.

“How far down do you think we fell?” Zoe said.

Aaron shook his head.

“A long way,” he said. “I’m not sure how far.”

“There must be a way out,” Zoe said.

“I hope so,” Cassie said, “because we haven’t got much time left. We’re inside a giant hourglass.”

They all turned to look at what she was facing. In the other room, where Zoe and Bryan had been but a moment ago, sand spilled through a hole in the roof, caused by knocking the partition wall down. Large mounds were already forming.

“Great,” Zoe said. “Just what we need.”

“We need to figure out a way of getting out of here and back up onto the surface,” Cassie said. “Zoe, you’re a seismology thingy. You know about different types of rocks and dirt and stuff. Is there any way we can get back up to the surface?”

Zoe shook her head to clear the cobwebs.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I can’t think of anything.”

“Well, think fast,” Cassie said. “I don’t know how long we’ve got in here, but I don’t think we’ve got long. The amount of oxygen will soon run out.”

“I’m sorry,” Zoe said. “This is all my fault. If I hadn’t insisted on going on a camping trip we wouldn’t be here.”

“It’s not your fault,” Bryan said. “This could have happened to anyone, anywhere. We just need to focus on getting out of here.”

Aaron stood at a wall.

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