BETTER SAFE THAN ZOMBIE

OZTS 11| Master plan

"Ryn, hurry up!"

I've never been good at skating, and this was a particular moment that it came to bite me back in the ass. I tried to catch up to Mitch, but if I went too fast, I'd lose my balance.

"Ryn!"

I glanced back and swallowed, my heart pounding loud enough to be heard. Sweat trickled down my cheeks, despite the cold temperature.

The person chasing us was starting to catch up.

A hand suddenly pulled on my arm, and I let out a gasp. I exhaled a relieved sigh when I saw that it was only Mitch.

"Hurry up!" he told me, voice rich with anxiety. "You're slowing down both of us. And dad will kill me if I left you behind, so skate a little faster."

I inhaled and exhaled, my breathing ragged. "I-am-trying," I said, each word causing my chest to ache. It was too hard to breathe in, that cold winter air, and forcing it to enter your nostrils. Not to mention that I was getting stitches in my sides, even in my snail-like pace.

Mitch pulled me forward, gliding easily across the frozen lake. He was looking straight ahead, eyes focused. His chest rose up and down in a controlled rhythm, and I couldn't help but admire my brother despite the situation we were in.

He had always been my hero. The one I always looked up to.

"Don't you have a cellphone?" I asked him. "We could call dad to pick us up—"

A growl.

Right behind us.

Mitch suddenly slipped, and I screamed as I was pulled back down with him. The deranged person who had grabbed my brother's leg was drooling, and I caught sight of blood-red eyes looking at us with hunger.

My elbows hit the ice hard, and I heard something crack as I lay there, catching my breath. I could hear Mitch shouting, and I tried to sit up.

"Ryn!" he yelled. "Don't make any sudden moves."

Too late.

I heard the fracture branch out, its tendrils spreading fast on the ice below us. I glanced down and saw the branches and the cracks on the ice, looking eerily like the roots of a tree, before everything below us disintegrated and we went under.

Cold.

It was the first thing that popped into my head as water rushed towards me, caging me in. It felt like a thousand knives were stabbing me all over, and I flailed.

I kicked out, trying to get to the surface. But I couldn't find the hole where we had fallen through, and even as I moved my whole body, I could feel the cold soaking me to the skin and weighing me down. My hair surrounded me, bright flashes of light against the black water.

My head bumped onto something, and I looked up to see sunshine. I gasped, bubbles coming out of my mouth, and pounded against the ice.

'Someone let me out!' I screamed, mouth open. 'Let me out!'

It was cold, so cold.

'Let me out!'

"Let me out!"

My eyes snapped open, my mouth still open in a scream. I could feel the wetness of tears on my cheeks, and the sweat that plastered my hair to my face. Warmth emanated from the body that was hugging me, and for a moment, while I was still trapped in that nightmare, my arms went around him as well, hugging him tight.