Mcca

wipers swept frantically at their highest setting, yet the downpour kept swallowing the

main highway was flooded. The bridge leading to the wealt

to stop me. The world

he fire in my

ehind the abandoned Goldwater University campus. It was a rou

d the truck lurched off the paved

eld on, my knuckles white on the wheel. I fought the truck, wrestled it, using

I reached the creek that bordered th

ng, muddy torrent, a furious brown river that had already swallo

uld see the faint glow

't hes

I dragged out my old "bug-ou

a tightly packed bundle and a small air p

the raft from my hands as I pumped air into

e raft, stripped off the soaking

tole my breath. It surged around my waist, its curren

ambling onto the small raf

ck in the middle of a churning,

ed the version of events they had chosen to present. They were probably celebrating as though

Styx, and I was coming to

wn into the torrent. I clung to the sides, my fingers raw, my body screamin

Martha's cruelty. Sloane's smug s

came fuel. The pai

the raft slammed into the

tly I could barely move. I was soaked to the bone,

ket of bushes. From my bag, I pulled a small

ture stared back, her hair plastered to her head, her dress torn a

d the lights of the man