𝐅𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐄𝐑| 𝐋.𝐂.

21: Serious earthquake

"Aspen! Help!" I scream as I see her crouching behind a boat.

I'm sucked under for the third time and I blink a few times. I see a vision of my mom and my eyes widen as she starts to mimic my swimming. I shake my head and pull up from the water.

"Aspen, help! Help!" I shout at her once again.

"Valerie, I'm coming! Hang on!" I hear a voice shout from afar.

"Leo!" I shout as I pull up from the water again, meeting his face.

"Keep swimming!" Leo says and I nod as I paddle, with him wrapping his arms around my waist.

"Leo, grab the rope, I'm coming!" I hear Aspen yell as I see the blurry image of her holding a white rope.

"Uh." I pant as I keep swimming.

"Grab the rope!" Aspen exclaims as she jogs closer to us and throws it to Leo.

"Just keep swimming. You gotta keep swimming." Leo says to me and I nod as we both grab the rope.

"If I die, tell my brother I'm sorry." I say.

"You're not gonna die, Valerie. You're gonna make it." Leo says as we keep swimming.

                                         ||

"You okay?" Jackie asks as she puts her arm over my shoulder.

"Yeah." I sniffle, still trying to catch my breath.

"Valerie!" I hear Carter exclaim, speeding down the stairs with the rest of the Eagles behind him.

"Carter!" I cry out as I jump in his arms, burying my head in his chest.

"Thank god. I wouldn't know what to do if something happened to you." He says and I look up
at him.

"I'm fine. Are you okay?" I ask him.

"Yeah. A little bruised, but I'll be alright." He says and I nod, patting his shoulder.

"Oh my god, Alex." I say and he hugs me tightly, spinning me around.

"I'm glad you're okay." Alex breathes setting me down.

"I'm glad you're okay too." I sniffle and he wipes under my eyes.

"Here." Alex says, taking off his big hoodie and hands it to me.

"I'm not that cold, Alex. It's fine." I wave him off.

"Take it, Val." He says and I grin as I slip it on me, then thanking him.

I then walk back over to the Ravens and Leo stares as me as I limp back to Jackie.

"Alright everyone. Listen up. Come close, come close." Louis says, with Jason standing behind him.

"Don't think I've ever been so happy to see anyone in my entire life." Leo says to Aspen.

"Suzanne? Is everyone here?" Louis asks her.

"The rest of the Ravens are on their way back. Everybody's fine." Suzanne says.

"Okay, thank you. So, we got lucky. This was a serious earthquake. But everything happens to be okay." Louis says as Jackie rubs my back while sitting on the steps.

"Thanks." I mouth and she nods, grinning at me.

"We're all safe now. We'll schedule extra emergency drills this month. There might be aftershocks." Louis says to Jason.

"That's a good idea." Jason says, nodding.

"So, we should clean up and get back to normal just as soon as we can." Louis says and I nod as I walk over to Carter.