Tuck Everlasting, The Continued Story.

Chapter 5

"I don't see them anymore!" Winnie said to Miles as they floated down the river. Miles looked over his shoulder back upstream, and the soldiers were out of sight.

"I think we're safe..." he replied. He looked softly at Winnie. "For now."

Winnie nodded, her eyes filled with fear. She held the log a bit tighter, and rested her chin on her arms. "Are you ok?" Miles asked. Winnie bit her lip, and watched the green trees pass them on the side of the river.

"Yes. It's just..." She sighed. "I've never been shot before."

Miles smiled a little. "Was it what you expected?" he asked.

Winnie laughed. "It felt odd." she admitted. "I always thought that it would hurt more than it did. It was faster than I thought, too." Miles laughed with her , knowing all too well what it felt like to be shot. "What happens to the bullets when they hit us?" she asked. Miles shrugged.

"I honestly don't know." he said. "I think they disappear. Evaporate somehow. Look at your shoulder." Winnie looked to where she had been shot. There was a hole on her sleeve where the bullet had hit her. She unbuttoned her dress a bit and slid it off her shoulder to examine the wound, but it was gone. Her arm had completely healed, as if she had never been shot.

"Amazing!" she whispered. She looked back at Miles, but he was looking ahead, with an alarmed look on his face. "What is it?" she asked. Suddenly, as if waking from a trance, Miles broke his gaze, and began to look around frantically.

"Not good!" he said.

Winnie squinted her eyes to look ahead, but only saw the river. Then, she heard it. 

The sound of a waterfall. 

She then noticed that the river was suddenly picking up speed, and she began to panic. The river was too deep for them to dig their feet into to slow them down, and their wasn't much to grab on to. Miles had started to grab onto the various rocks that lined the river, but they were all too slippery to keep a grasp on.

"Miles! What happens if we go over? We can't die! We will be okay, right?" she yelled, trying to hide the panic in her voice. Miles still grabbed at things.

"Well." he said, as the water picked up more speed. "It's gonna hurt. Especially if there are rocks." He grabbed a branch that stuck out from the side, but it broke off. He groaned. "But! What I'm afraid of is, uh-" He tried to grab another rock and slipped.  "Infinitely drowning. Being stuck forever beneath the water..."

"Is that a real thing?!" Winnie yelled. Miles shook his head.

"I don't know! I hope not!" The waterfall quickly approached. "I guess were about to find out!" 

"This is a terrible thought to die with, Miles!" Winnie shouted over the rush of the rapids. 

"If we live, you can say I was wrong!" He shouted back. 

"Sounds good to-" Winnie couldn't finish her sentence. Her words formed into a scream as the water quickly pushed them over the edge of the waterfall, into the dark unknown.

Winnie hit the water and quickly sunk beneath the icy surface. The rushing water pulled her and pushed her under the surface, and she felt her lungs fill with water. She frantically tried to push her way into the sunlight glistening above, when she was forcefully pushed into a large rock. She hit her head hard, and saw the glistening surface above her begin to blur.

All that was left, was darkness.