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He’s not there.
He didn’t make it.
That granite monument will still have two names etched in stone.
I lift my chin, reaching out to him with everything in me. “Please,” I whisper. “Hurry. Please.”
And then they’re there. They peak over the rise.
Aaron sprinting. Amy next to him.
The ground shakes again, a jarring roll, and they both stumble.
They’re fifty feet away. Another shudder jolts the island.
Forty feet. Another rolling jerk.
Thirty feet. Amy trips, slamming to her knees.
Aaron catches her arm and yanks her to her feet. Another crack, and then a giant, crashing roar sounds.
Twenty feet.
Sean lets out a piercing wail.
The ground shakes, shifts, spills sideways.
Ten feet.
Aaron clasps Amy’s hand. Sprints for the safety of the hill.
Then the ground disappears. The sand, the soil—all of it collapses in onto itself. The sea floods over the earth. It consumes. It devours. Where there were mangroves, palm trees, grass, and sand, there’s only the roar and rushing of water.
Aaron’s eyes widen.
Amy cries out.
Five feet away.
Three.
Aaron shoves Amy forward just as the ground sinks beneath them.
Amy rolls to the ground, hitting solid rock. The water reaches up and grasps Aaron. He catches my eye, holding my gaze for one split second.
He’s going down. There’s no way he’ll survive the flood coming, or the suction of an entire island collapsing. And so I do what I promised.
I thrust Sean into Amy’s arms and then I leap toward the water. Aaron reaches out to me, the maelstrom pulling at him. I clasp his hand. It’s slick with water. The sea pulls him under. I fall to the ground, slam against rock, and hold onto his hand. I grasp his wrist. He comes up again, choking on air.
The water is too strong.
It yanks him under and I’m dragged across the gravel. The ground cuts into me as I’m catapulted toward the churning water.
I can’t hold on. Aaron’s hand is slick. My grip is failing.
Another rumble, a giant tremor hits, and then the water reaches up and grabs me.
The water is cold and deathlike. It grips me, and I cling to Aaron as the waves threaten to bury me.
