Page 98 of Stranded

I don’t usually let things bother me. I know Reece will find us. I know we‘ll get out of here. But Zee brings something new to the equation.Caring so much for another person leaves me feeling vulnerable and on edge. Though I wouldn’t change it for the world.

I love having her in my life, she doesn’t make it harder, she makes it better, bigger.

We march forward, and I decide to take the lead, hoping it will help clear my head. We go through some parts that are extra muddy and have to slow our pace to get through them without losing a shoe.

I start to wonder if we perhaps chose a bad day for this when Zee suddenly yells, “Bower, look out!”

But it’s too late, my foot lands heavily in a puddle of mud. Except it’s not a puddle, it’s fucking quicksand, and I immediately sink into it, right up to my armpits.

“Fuck!” I yell, trying to claw my way out. They try to reach out to me, but somehow I’m out of reach of any of their outstretched hands.

“Stop moving! You’ll sink faster!” Zee yells in a panic. With only my head, shoulders, and arms out of the water, I look up at their panicked faces.

“What do I do?” I ask, trying to stay calm, but internally freaking the fuck out.

“Hold on, we’ll toss you some vines!” West yells, and they all scramble to cut some down. It doesn’t take more than thirty seconds for them to toss me a vine, and I luckily haven’t sunk any further. I wrap the vine around my knuckles and the three of them pull.

“Ahh! Stop!” I yell. “It’s not working, it feels like it’s gonna rip my fingers off!” I unwind it, breathing heavily as we try again with just my grip to hold on, but it keeps slipping through my fingers.

“It needs to go around your waist,” King tells me.

“Okay, I’ll try.” I don’t feel good about putting my arms underneath the mud, but I lower them anyway, and as soon as my elbows touch it, I start to sink faster. Everyone yells for me to stop and I lift my arms back out. But I’ve clearly sunk another two inches. “Fuck.”

“Stay still, Bower,” West calls, watching me intently. “We’ll get something for leverage to lay across the pit.”

“Okay, try to hurry though, I’m… not sure how long I can stay above it. I can feel myself sinking.”

“Hold tight, we’ll get you out of there,” he says with a determined tone. I watch as he and King start looking for downed branches or trees, but nothing they grab seems long enough.

Where’s Zee?

I slowly move my head, trying to see where she’s gone, and catch her in a tree to the side, cutting down handfuls of vines. Then she jumps to the ground and begins to braid two long vines.

What is she doing?

I decide not to bother asking, she seems frantic and we don’t have time for explanations right now.

“Shit, they’re all too short!” King yells in frustration. His panicked eyes meet mine, and the fear I see there has me realizing that I’m probably not getting out of this.

I swallow the lump in my throat. “Take care of them,” I say, just loud enough for him to hear me.

His eyes go wide with fear, then he narrows his gaze and points angrily. “You donotfucking give up on me right now. We are getting you out of there! You need to stay positive, I can’t deal with your defeat on top of your rescue. You will stay alive so we can get home to Reece. You can’t leave him. It’d destroy him. You hearme, brother?”

I nod my head, trying to stop myself from panicking even further. King and Reece have been my best friends for most of my life, I couldn't imagine losing them, either.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get you guys home if it’s the last thing I do!” Zee yells. My eyes turn to her and I watch in absolute fear as stares at me with a determined glint in her eye, her legs bent as if ready to jump.

What on earth is she doing?!

“Zee! No!”

She takes one step then leaps into the air, landing right in front of me, as mud splatters across my face.

She’s already waist deep in the mud as I try to grab her. “Zee! What have you done?!” I say in a panic, trying to keep her up.

“Stop moving, you’re making it worse!”

“What are you doing?” I ask again.

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