Page 95 of Madness & Mayhem

She looks at me in fear, her blonde hair flowing into her face.

“I love you so much, and I’ll see you on the other side.” I shove her over the edge, and she lets out a yelp, her arms windmilling as she flies toward the water.

Posie lets out a scream as Archer pushes her, and he jumps right after. Kyler goes next, and then I run and leap.

Bang.

Eloise jumps, and I glance up at her, my eyes widening when I realize she didn’t jump.

She was shot.

Blood pours from her chest as she lets out a cry, curling into herself with panic and pain.

I plummet under the water, shooting to the ground before swimming toward the surface. The water feels like glass shards, each one ripping through my clothes and across my skin. It’s so painful I don’t think I’d be able to take a breath if I had a choice. My chest constricts, my blood crying out in agony from the torture.

Eloise splashes beside me, and I grab at her, dragging her to the surface.

“What happened?” Archer barks.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

“Under. Now,” I holler, quickly going under the water.

I can hear the shots echo from above the water, the bullets whizzing through turbulent waves. The panic is evident in the water. We swim underneath, the current quick enough to drag us slightly down the river. We continue to swim, only coming to the surface to take a break before we go back under the water. It’s difficult to make it across when the current is consistently pulling us down the river. It’s never-ending, and I know everyone else is struggling because I can barely find the strength to kick my legs any longer.

It’s nearly impossible, and I don’t know how much longer I can go on.

With a kick to the surface, I see the other side becoming closer. A glance over my shoulder shows a line of police officers on the other side, their guns drawn, but no more bullets are fired.

“We’re almost there,” Archer wheezes, his face twisted in distress.

“I can’t do this anymore,” Posie cries out.

“Don’t stop now,” Kyler shouts.

I glance over at Lakyn, who has a look of exhausted determination on her face. She kicks hard, and every movement of her arm has her eyes twitching in pain. She tries to mask it, but it’s there.

Suddenly, a never-ending fire of bullets ring out, and my eyes widen.

“Get underwater!” Kyler shouts.

We all go under, swimming as close to the bottom as we can. We move farther down the stream, and my body becomes numb, almost an out-of-body experience from the cold.

Red starts to filter into the icy blue water, and my face scrunches as I glance at everyone’s faces.

It’s impossible to know. Everyone looks to be in intense pain, absolute agony.

I nod up, and we all start to swim toward the surface.

And right onto land.

I glance up to the other side, seeing no officers in sight. It looks as if we have turned a bend and are no longer in sight of the officers.

I grab onto shore, pulling me and Eloise up onto land. Glancing over at her, I expect her to be exhausted, wounded, and maybe angry with me.