Chapter 15 Forks and fear
By Lunch time they'd gone six miles and Kendrix and Leo weren't' the only ones starving. They were very glad when they stopped though and as they headed for a slate pile Kendrix decided that this trip had definitely been worth the classes in river safety. She and Leo were having a blast racing the other campers. Sure they couldn't beat them all but they came in a close second.
Once Kendrix and Leo climbed the piles and were joined by the others they al headed over a rise where they came to a small valley. There they all found spots to sit, each carefully checking for snakes or other nasty critters. Then they munched on egg salad sandwiches and chips. They would have had Lemonade too but when the incident had happened with Misty that morning Jen had forgotten to grab the Styrofoam cups.
In any event Kendrix and Leo had a good time. As they ate they laughed about the time that morning when they'd come abreast of a bolder jutting from the water, a large black and green snake coiled asleep on its surface.
'Can you believe Tony?" Leo asked grinning at Kendrix.
"Hey some of us don't go for slimy crawly things." Kendrix punched him on the arm.
"Yeah well you're a girl." Another punch had him mock acting hurt and Kendrix rolling her eyes.
"And who says men are the stronger species?"
"I'm not afraid of snakes." He smirked and she shrugged.
"There has to be something your afraid of. Everyone is scared sometimes." She thought a moment and then said. "Even Babe Ruth was probably scared sometimes." She said triumphantly.
"Naw he was the greatest, why would he ever be scared?"
"Think about it, if he missed a swing what would have happened?" She asked.
"He would have missed." He shrugged.
"No, that's not true." She argued thinking a moment before suggesting. "Do you think the power rangers get scared?"
"Not the red ranger." Leo said smirking at her and she sighed.
"Hello if he can feel he's scared, unless there's a problem in his brain." She murdered thoughtfully.
"No way he's the leader, he can't be afraid, they'd all die."
"And if you were the red ranger? What would you do then?" She asked and for a second he stared down at his hand holding what was left of his chips and then he answered.
"I would have to take care of everyone."
"Well, you know if you were one of those guys I'd want to be one, maybe the pink." She said wistfully. She'd always loved Pink, it was so her favorite color. It was soft and yet gentle. She'd not noticed anything odd until she found Leo staring at her.
"What?"
"You just had this really dreamy look on your face." He murmured.
"I did?" She asked and he nodded and with his free hand he took hers.
'Yeah, you looked real pretty." He smiled and she blushed even as he began to thumb wrestle with her.
"No fair, I wasn't' ready." She argued a second later when he won.
"But I was." He smirked and she stuck out her tongue.
After they got back in the boats they were once more off down the river. Neither knowing what as yet to come.
***
It was around three o'clock when it happened, they reached the fork in the road and it came down to which side to take. Kendrix knew that both branches lead back to camp but still they really didn't want to risk getting busted for going rogue.
"What do we do?" Kendrix asked glancing back at Leo.
"Hey jenny!" Leo bellowed over the sound of the slightly racing current.
"Go to the left! The right current's to strong!" One of the counselors called even as she was helping get another kayak off of the rock it had gotten stuck on.
With that Kendrix and Leo were off again, with Leo navigating them in the right direction. It was only then that Kendrix spotted the stray vessel.
"What's he doing?" Kendrix asked glancing back at Leo who had also noticed that Tony and Ashley were headed towards the left.
"He couldn't hear her." He said frowning and she nodded, the outcome was nearly unavoidable unless…
"It will get them." She said wondering if they could get one of the other adults to go help. Still she knew that was not even a possibility, they were already too close to the rapids.
"Not if we can help it." Leo said and was reversing their path so they now veered widely for the right branch of the waterway.
"Tony!" They shouted one after the other trying to get his attention but he still couldn't hear them. Kendrix was the one to notice that they too were about to be sucked along with the current.
"Grab the branch!" Leo shouted and she was reaching out even as she realized their mistake. If they did they'd over balance… thus… thus was Kendrix's last thought as the icy water closed over her head.
TBC
Author's note: yes, this is possible; I've been in an adventure such as in the end of this chapter and the beginning of the next. Let me know if you liked it. I had a blast in the river. But much like Kelsey the yellow Lightspeed Rescue ranger I'm quite often told I'm crazy. *smirk*