Chapter 9

"Some tried to kill you?" Chris questioned, suspicious. "Who the hell would
do that?"

Cameron shrugged in Chris's arms. "I... I dunno."

"Maybe you just, I dunno.... purposely locked yourself in there? So you
could get the complete tan?"

"Chris!" Cameron yelled, jumping back. "Why would I do that? Then how would
I get out?"

"I don't know... maybe..."

"Maybe what?" Cameron asked, more tears in her eyes. "You don't think that I
purposely locked myself in there, do you?"

Chris vehemently shook his head. "That wasn't what I meant..."

But Cameron wouldn't listen. "I can't believe you would think that!" Giving
Chris one more look, Cameron shook her head and turned around, leaving a
confused Chris behind.

Just as he was about to follow her, Chris changed his mind. It would only
upset Cameron more if he tried to talk to her now. Instead, he walked out of
the gym and looked outside.

That was when he noticed the storm outside. "Wait..." He thought to himself.
"Didn't John and Marie go out on a boat? In this....? Cameron!"

John and Marie swam underneath the boat, plunging to the suface, gasping for breath.

John looked at Marie and she looked scared-to-death. "It's okay Rie, I won't let anything happen to you." John said in between gasping breaths.

Marie took a deep breath and tried to calm down. She needed to be calm. If
she got all hysterical, that would only make things harder for her. She
wouldn't be any help to John like that. "Okay, what are we going to do?" She
questioned, making an effort to be of help.
It was difficult to try and swim in ice-cold water, not to mention the fact that there was lighting hitting the water every couple seconds, and there was rain that felt like
ice hitting his face... and he had to try and pull Marie along with him.

Marie could sense that she was making it harder for John to swim, so she let
go of his hand, trying to swim on her own.

John felt Marie's hand let go of his, so he instantly turned around to see
what happened. "Marie, what the hell are you doing?"

"I..." Marie started, but was interrupted by a wave coming over her, pushing
a bunch of water into her mouth, causing her to choke.

"Come on!" John yelled over all the noise surrounding them. "Don't let go of
me again!"

"But I'm just making it harder for you!" Marie yelled back, once she had
gotten the water out of her mouth.

"I don't care!" John replied. "I won't let anything happen to you! Now
stop arguing and try to swim!"

Marie just listened and tried to swim like John had told her. They didn't
get very far before they were both out of breath. "J... John!" Marie
yelled... feeling her limbs go numb.

"Yeah?"

"I... I can't feel my fingers or toes! And we're not getting anywhere! I...
I don't think we're going to make it!"

"We will make it!" John replied, though he wasn't really sure of what he
had just said.

"Cameron!"

"Chris... not right now," Cameron interrupted, sitting down on her bed, her
knees to her chest. She had a towel wrapped around her body, and she was
still crying.

"Cam, look.... I'm sorry... I never meant that how you took it. But... we
have other things to worry about right now."

"What do you mean?" Cameron questioned, looking up.

"Rie and John, they went out on that boat... remember?"

Cameron quickly jumped up, fear filling her eyes. "Oh my God... Chris, it's
so bad out there! I wonder if they're okay."

Chris lowered his head, not able to assure Cameron of anything. "I don't
know... but I do know that we need to do something. We can't just sit by
and hope that our friends make it back."

"What can we do?"

Grabbing Cameron's hand, Chris pulled her out of the room. "I've got an
idea!"