A Chance Meeting

Chapter 1

Wet Beginnings

This is a prequel to the Family Ties series that I am writing. You can read the first book without reading this one but by the time I get to It's Not Suppose To Go Like This, you will have wanted to have read this one. But until then enjoy.

'I got one, I got one!" Hazel called to her brother. They had been fishing in the Niceville River for two hours, and so far nether of them had caught squat. Until now that is.

The river was about two miles across and if you wondered to far into it, the current could whisk you away. But Hazel and Max had been fishing and playing in this river ever since they were little. They knew it like the back of their hands. They knew where the best fishing was and where it was safe to swim.

Hazel pulled on the rod as Max came up behind her with his own rod. "Reel that bastard in Hazel. Oh come on, you wimp. You need me to do it?" Max started to reach for the rod, but Hazel jerked it away from him.

"I got it twerp. No side seat fishing." She grinned, gave the fish some slack then started reeling. She could see it flipping about in the water. It wasn't huge but it was big enough that she knew she wouldn't have to throw it back. "Get the net twerp." Max did as he was told, sticking his tongue out at his sister.

Hazel was three years older then her brother but Max still towered over her. A fact he loved to bring up. He reached over her head with the net and Hazel hauled the fish out. "I got something and you didn't," she sang to him. She stood back and admired her catch. "Oh I am so damn good."

Hazel looked up at her brother who had pulled a face, but her eyes weren't on him. They were looking up river, there was something rounding the bend, heading towards them making a lot of splashing. Hazel turned her brother around as another figure rounded the bend running along the bank. It looked as if whoever it was, was trying to follow the thing in the river.

As the object got closer Hazel realized what it was, "That's a person!"

Max squinted his eyes against the glare of the sun. "How can you tell?"

"Sam!" The figured yelled at the thing in the river. "Sam!"

Hazel tossed the rod onto the bank, "Max, bikes, Sutter's Cove, NOW!" She didn't stop to see if Max understood her, she trusted her brother, and wadded into the river. The water swirled around her and she knew that if she went too much farther in the current would sweep her off her feet. The object, Sam rushed past her and she jumped the rest of the way in.

The water was cold but it being summer Hazel didn't mind. It was kind of like being on a water slid going really fast. She and Max had once tried to float all the way to Belleview, before their dad had found them. Hazel started swimming as best she could, using the current and pushing her feet against the bottom of the river when she could. If the water wasn't moving so rapidly it would have probable only come up to her armpits. She saw Sam go under and swam faster. Sutter's cove was the last peaceful spot before the rapids got really bad. If she couldn't get to Sam to pull him to it the rocks in the rapids that followed would crush him.

Hazel got to the where she figured Sam should have been but couldn't see him. She planted her feet on the bottom and used the water to flip herself around, so she was traveling backwards. That's when she saw him. He was face down and a good four feet from her. She started dragging her feet along the bottom to try and slow herself down, letting the current bring Sam to her. It worked. He ran head first into her and knocked her off her feet.

She wrapped her arm around him and flipped him over, letting him rest his head on her shoulder. There was a bleeding gash on his forehead and it looked like something had struck him. She glanced around and knew right away that Sutter's Cove was coming up fast. Using her feet and trying not to fight the current she started pushing herself towards the banks. Sutter' Cove was right there and she wasn't going to get there in time. She looped her arm under Sam's, which was a feat in and of itself, the guy was huge, and kept pushing. If she couldn't make Sutter's, and it looked like she wouldn't, there was a fallen tree she could grab and hopefully hold till Max got there.

Hazel saw Sutter's Cove pass them and also saw the fallen tree. She bunched up her legs; gripped Sam tighter and at the right moment pushed up to grab the tree. She was able to grip the tree but not very well, holding on to Sam was harder then she thought, the water seemed to be tugging him out of her grip. She glanced around for Max but saw no sign of the bikes or her brother. She felt her grip slipping on both the tree and on Sam.

Max didn't argue with his sister. He dumped the poles and made for the bikes. He nearly ran into the person Hazel had seen rounding the bend. The stood about eye level with Max and his hazel eyes were still scanning the rivers surface.

"That's my brother in there."

Max nodded to Hazel's dirt bike, "Follow me and try to keep up." He didn't wait for the guy to answer, but hopped on his own bike and took off. Sutter's Cove wasn't very far and if he knew his sister, she wouldn't let this guy's brother hit the rapids. Even if it meant she would go with him. Granted she stood a better chance of surviving them.

Max hit a jump and glanced back; a little surprised to see the guy was matching his speed. Impressive. Max thought. He took a hard right and hit the brakes. He was there. Jumping off the bike he glanced up the river, looking for Hazel. The other guy was beside him in two heartbeats. They stood for a moment looking up river when the other guy slapped Max in the chest and took off down river. Max realized that the other must have spotted them and followed him to the Fallen Tree. He saw Hazel gripping both the tree and an unconscious guy in the middle of it. The guy's brother started to walk across the tree but Max stopped him, "Wait."

The guy jerked his arm back, but Max stood in front of him. "That's my brother," the guy said pointing towards Hazel.

"And that's my sister. That tree isn't as sturdy as it looks." He turned back to Hazel, "Hazel! Hold on, I'm getting the rope."

He saw her nod, "Hurry up! I'm losing my grip!"

He darted back to the bikes, tossed out all the fishing gear, and grabbed the twelve feet of rope Hazel always made him carry. "Thank God for anal sisters."