The route that was created by the PDA system kept us out of any kelp forest that were nearby. I am in front of Caleb as we swim, every once and awhile I dive under look at our surroundings just to make sure that we don't run into any new fun creatures that try to eat us.
I dive down and check our surroundings. Just as I dive down I see that we have swam to the edge of an underwater cliff. I quickly stop, Caleb bumps into the back of me because of my sudden stop. I poke my head back above the surface. "Okay you gotta see this" I say gesturing to the sight under the water.
Caleb grabs his mask putting it on and diving under the water, I go back under after Caleb. I look at the sight more carefully now, we are on the edge of a cliff where the ground has been 10 feet to 20 feet deep at the most. Due to the lack of light and the deepness I can't even see the bottom of the valley.
I look at our map and see which direction we have to swim over this valley. The map says we have to go northeast so I line the watch up with the exact direction to go. In the distance I can briefly see the end of the valley. It is probably 40 or 50 meters in the distance. I go back above the surface followed by Caleb. "Okay so there is ground over there but it's to far that I cant see what is over there and also the valley is so deep we have no idea what kind of creatures are in there. But I'm tired of getting injured by the things in this water. So I say we just swim as fast as possible along the top of the water until we reach the other side and deal with what is there when we get there." I explain my bad plan hoping my brother can come up with a better one so we don't have to go over that terrifying valley of blackness.
Caleb sighs "okay that's better than anything I have in this situation" Caleb agrees. Ugh man I wish I wasn't right this time. "Okay get ready because we are not stopping until we are there. Let's wear our mask in case of anything we can dive down. I'll give the signal to go" I say moving to the edge of the cliff putting on my mask and tightening the bag across my shoulder. I look back to Caleb to make sure he is ready. He gives me a slight nod of conformation. I turn back around and take a deep breath. I put up my left hand and count down 3...2...1…
I push my hand forward and start to swim as fast as I can possibly go. Water is hitting my face as I swim on the surface making me glad I wore the mask. I swim along the surface like planned, when I thought we reached it I dove down a little bit to see where we are. I was only greeted with the platform still 10 feet ahead of me and only darkness below me. I come back to the surface more scared and determined then I was when we started the cross over the valley. I keep swimming with all my might, I see the platform getting closer and closer. I keep swimming for another 2 feet pass the edge so there is room for Caleb.
I turn back out of breath to check on Caleb who is only a few feet behind me. He gets a foot away from me and I noticed he has his eyes closed and he swims right into me. I grab him trying to stop him and soften the blow. Caleb opens his eyes when he hits me. We both take off our mask and try to catch our breath. "Okay let's try to avoid that on the way back because that was scary as hell" Caleb said between pants. I just nod in agreement. I catch my breath faster than Caleb so I put my mask back on and check the area below us. It seems to be just rocky plains like we have had along the entire trip.
I come back to the surface and take off my mask putting it on my side. " okay good news it's the same plains-ish place for a while. Bad part is we still have some distance to go" I explain to Caleb that looks like death could take him at anytime. I haven't paid much attention to our condition until now. Now that I look ,my hands are shaking and sweat is building up across my forehead but my skin is cold to the touch. I am sure I have such a tired look on my face probably with a lot of other emotions.
"Okay let's take a break for about 5 mins. We should eat some of the bar we took with us and drink some of the water to get some energy back." I say turning the bag around so it was on my chest. I take out one bar and hand it to Caleb to open. I also take the water out and open it. I take a few sips of water while Caleb eats half of the bar, then we switch. I eat the rest of the bar and put the wrapper in the bag. Caleb hands me the water when he is done. I take one more sip to water down my throat from the bar, I close the top of the bottle and put it back into the bag. I close the bag and flip it back across my body so it is on my back again.
It only took 3 mins for us to eat and pack back up, so we both float for 2 minutes letting our muscles rest. I set a timer when we start to float so we knew when to go. Otherwise I fear we would never move. I start to float on the surface, I close my eyes and try to rest as best as I could. The 2 minutes was over so fast. With a grunt I stop floating and nudge Caleb to alert him the time is up. He sighs and stops floating.
I lead the swim again with Caleb right behind me. The break seems to have helped us a lot because we are moving a lot faster than we were a while ago. I check under the water a few times so we don't get any surprises. We follow the route on the map and were blessed with it being pretty much the same plains area where we crashed. The creatures that we ate the day before swarm around us from time to time but they mostly stay a few feet below us. I look up at the sky and notice there are two moons on this planet. I turn and swim backwards to avoid being run into. "There are two moons" I say pointing up to the sky. I turn back around and keep swimming. I glance back to see Caleb watching the moons move at different rates. I can tell he wants to record their speeds and write all about them but for now he will have to wait. My watch goes off making me stop abruptly
. Caleb heard the sound and stops as well. I look at my watch which is blinking white along the outside. I tap the screen and see that we are in the area of 40 by 50 feet of where the flare was sent from. "We are close!" I say with excitement coating my voice. I swim faster forward watching my watch as it scans for other heat sources that are human. The watch vibrates as a new screen popped up with an exact location of the heat sources. The heat sources are 40 feet away diagonal. I start to swim eagerly toward the area of the heat sources that were picked up. Caleb picks up his speed trying to stay with me.
With our now fast pace we quickly see a lifepod in the distance. It has to be close due to the darkness we can't see far ahead of us. I start to pick up my pace even more pushing aside my exhaustion, pain, and soreness. I hear Caleb losing ground behind me slowly but I pay it no mind and continue toward the lifepod. I reach the lifepod and quickly glance back at Caleb who is a few feet back giving him a look of acknowledgement. I see a slight nod from Caleb, I turn toward the lifepod once again and start to climb the ladder along the side of the lifepod. I reach the top of the lifepod and open the hatch. I slide down the ladder into the dark lifepod.
I feel a hard impact across my forehead and fall backwards onto the ground. I see a girl with blonde hair that is pulled back in a ponytail and bright blue eyes stand over me with one hand over her mouth and shock flooding her face her other hand is on the fire extinguisher. I start to black out. "Oh come on…" I mutter as I lose consciousness. The last thing I hear before I black out is the fire extinguisher hit the ground a small gasp and the feeling of warmth running down my face and a small point of warmth on my chest.