Lost

Chapter 17

The jungle ended abruptly, replaced by sand. This was very good, but also extremely bad. It was good, because now we had a chance to figure out where we were. It was bad because we had nowhere to run and the monsters were gaining. The gap between death and us was shortening rapidly.

"What should we do?!" Alex let go of my arm, panic flaring on her eyes.

Ideas flew through my mind. We could slog into the sea and try to hide out in the lost ships. No. The beasts would catch us while we were swimming. We could scatter across the beach and confuse the monsters. But then we'd be split up and that's always a terrible idea. It was like the cliché horror film plot. We couldn't do that. I tried to grab onto another thought, another idea. Capture it. Examine it. Decide if it would work. But I was too terrified to think straight, much less diagonally or any other way I needed to think to come up with a solution.

"Ava! What do we do?!" Alex repeated.

I realized it had been a split second of time in which I had come up with the two options. Scatter or run for the boats. But then I caught it! An idea!

"Uh...we could attack those things?" Will said right behind me.

We had all clustered together, brandishing what small weapons we had. The monsters were just a few yards away and slowly advancing in perfect formation.

"Try to make it to the lost ships!" I screamed suddenly. I hadn't quite developed my idea so we were going to wing it. They didn't need to know that though.

"Wait, what?" Drew didn't budge. None of them did.

"Come on! I have an idea!" I was already dashing to the crystal clear waves, sand and pencils and socks and coins of all currency flew up about my feet.

"Is it a good idea?" Kate yelled after me, torn between protecting a very vulnerable me and staying with the rest of the group.

"Uh...it's an idea?" I hit the warm tropical water a second later, sloshing into the waves.

"Give Irene to Alex." Kate instructed Bradley.

Alex easily picked Irene up, handing her machete to Bradley.

"Now run for it!" Kate yelled.

I could see her plan. She'd send the weakest ones first while the group distracted the monsters. Then the strongest ones would follow us once we were safely on a ship.

I scanned the lost ships, looking for something. Anything. There! I saw the perfect ship. I splashed towards it, knee deep now.

"Bree. Go." Kate said, motioning to where Alex, Irene and I were making our way through the surf .

Thigh deep now. Only a little further.

"Jewel. Rachel. Nadia. Go." Kate said, her face set with determination.

Waist deep. I reached for the ship, it's ropes dangling over the edge, old and caked with salt and grime. The only ones left on the beach were the four boys and Kate. The monsters were starting to take notice of us.

"Hey! Monsters! Over here!" Will shouted, throwing a rock in their direction.

The monsters turned, hissing, their dark faces filled with contempt. They advanced as one, and I couldn't help but wonder if their brains were connected.

I pulled myself onto the decaying ship, nearly falling into the water below. I wanted to stick around to help the others up but once again we were running low on time. The group on the beach could only distract the monsters for so long.

I raced across the rotting deck, heading for the trapdoor which I knew lead to the hold. My leg suddenly crashed through the decaying planks of wood and I fell. I tried to pull my leg out but it was stuck fast. Alex had roughly pushed Irene on board and was following as well, climbing up the ropes like a monkey. Bree, Jewel, Nadia and Rachel weren't far behind. Irene pulled herself over, her ankle still swollen and bloody. She dug he hands into the rotting wood around my leg, her face twisting with disgust. I wiggled my leg. Only a little further... Suddenly someone jammed their hands under my arms and pulled, dislodging black, decaying wood. I popped free.

"What do we do now?" Alex still had her hands under my arms.

"Uh...the hold. Trapdoor. Go." I managed, my thoughts flying out the window as I saw the four boys and Kate warding off the beasts with a rain of pebbles.

"What?" Asked Bree, pulling herself over the side.

I made my way to the trapdoor and tugged. It wouldn't budge. Rachel made it over the side of the ship and helped me pry open the old door. Below, only darkness met us. Too bad our lantern got left behind, buried under tons of dirt.

We descended. As soon as we reached the floor of the old boat, a foot or two of water engulfed our feet. The old ship was run aground. I hoped we wouldn't find anything too gruesome down there. Chinks of light shone in from where old cast iron cannons sat dormant.

"Cannons! Load the cannons and shoot the monsters!" Shouted Jewel suddenly. She caught on fast.

"I know. That was my plan but...I don't know how to load the cannons." I twisted my salt stiff hair around my finger.

"Uh...gunpowder. And something to light the fuse and cannonballs." Rachel felt around in the dark hold, the water splashing with every step.

"I found a box of matches!" Nadia cried suddenly.

"Are they wet?" Rachel's voice came from far in the darkness.

"No and there's about a hundred of 'em" Nadia shook the box and they rattled around.

"Ow!" Alex tripped over an iron cannonball and fell headfirst into the shallow, stagnant water.

We all felt around with our feet, finding many more cannonballs.

"There's a barrel of gunpowder back here! It's dry too!" Rachel called from the pitch black.

"Run!" It was Drew's cracked voice, filtering into the boat.

I peered through a small hole to see them all take off toward our ship, the beasts loping after them. They scrambled up the ropes, hauling Isaac and his wounded leg up as well. But as soon as they were safely up, the monsters stopped. Maybe they couldn't climb. Maybe they were extremely stupid. At any rate, they just started circling the ship. We were safe for the time being.