Prehistorica

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

The Twisting Coils of Darkness

The boat crashes through the rapids as we hang on to the pillars for dear life. The boat experienced countless crashes into rocks and the water from the rapids shoots straight at us. Allie and I hold onto dear life as the rapids send us flowing roughly down to the river. Daric is having trouble trying to steer the boat while the rapids are pulling us down. I turn to the back and see that everybody is still here. Up ahead, there was a large rock up ahead.

"Brace for impact!" Daric shouted.

I held on to Allie's hand as the boat goes straight for the rock. As we crashed against the rock, the entire boat shook. I turn back to see the gasoline tanks have fallen out of its chain. The tanks start to flow down the river as the rapids turns the boat backwards. The boat starts to spin out of control as Ian gets out from his chair to hold onto the last tank on the boat. Up ahead, there is a small waterfall leading down to the river. The rushing water sends the boat down to a final plunge into the river. The boat sends water splashing upwards and toward the bow. Everybody got drenched from the river water. I found it kind of refreshing seeing how we've been out in the sun for too long.

We have all survived the crazy ride down the rapids. The good news is that the boat is still buoyant despite the dents created by the rocks. The bad news is that there is only one tank of gasoline hooked on to the back. It is not enough to get back home to California, but it is enough to travel to the Hawaii islands. Everyone is soaked from the rapids. Godfrey is the one who got drenched the less, and the most fortunate out of all of us that his work didn't get destroyed. He has his notebook sealed in a plastic bag and stuffed it into his bag. Stephen gets up from his chair and smacked Daric across the head.

"You idiot!" Stephen shouted. "We could have the avoid that, now the fuel is gone because of you!"

"Me? I lost the fuel?," Daric questions him. "Well aren't you the bloody genius. The current was too strong. The breaks are useless when the wheels have no contact with the ground."

"But you were the one who got us into that!" Stephen shoved.

Daric and Stephen begin to shove each other and then Stephen throws the first punch. The two of them proceed to engage in a fist fight. Barlic and I jump forward to pull them away from each other. Daric has proven to be tricky to pull away until Grant and Albert joined in to pull him away. Barlic managed to pull Stephen away, but as he continues to struggle he manages to break free. All of the sudden, we hear gun shots that is near by. We all turn to our left to see Allie with her pistol smoking from the barrel.

"Enough!" Allie demanded. "Fighting each other is not going to get us off the island any faster. If we keep our heads cool for the next hour, we should have no problem."

"She is right," Barlic joined in. "Look over there, the open ocean just a mile away."

"But we have one gas tank left, it is only good enough for 150 kilometers," Ian tells us.

"If we can head up north, we can make it to the Hawaii islands," Ed informs us. "That is only a 100 kilometers away."

"Oh yeah? What makes you so sure," Eris asked.

"Thanks to Allies map and Stephens iPhone, we are able to pin point our location," Ed answered. "If we pass through that swamp over there, we can get out of here in no time."

Everyone turns to the front of the boat and spotted a large swamp right in front of us. This swamp is heavily covered in shadows and vines are hanging around the leaning trees. The water is more stagnant over in this area of the island. At the end of the swamp is the river flowing into the Pacific Ocean. Daric returns to the drivers seat and starts driving into the swamp. As we go straight into the swamp, Stephen taps me on the shoulder.