Part 55 (2/2)

”We're going over,” she shouted. Jenny clung on to her tightly. There was nothing to do but wait until they were suddenly falling through the air under the water and then splas.h.i.+ng down into a deep pool. They were sucked underneath and torn apart from one another.

Annja searched the depths and then felt herself floating upward, finally breaking free of the water again. She gasped.

”Annja!”

She turned in the water. The roar was subsiding and she saw Jenny sputtering in the smaller waves. Annja swam over and grabbed her, then dragged her over to the beach. Joey lay on the wet sand, coughing and hacking up the water he'd swallowed.

Jenny collapsed on the sand and vomited a clear stream of water. Annja coughed some out of her lungs and then turned over, letting the sun warm her.

”I'm freezing,” Jenny said, her teeth chattering.

Annja looked at Joey. ”We need a fire and quick. We'll die from hypothermia if we don't get out of these wet clothes.”

Joey nodded and shook some of the water off himself. ”I'll get the wood. Give me a second.”

Annja helped Jenny up. ”You need to get out of your clothes.”

Jenny looked at her. ”What about Joey?”

”What about him? He needs to get warm, too.”

”But he'll see us naked.”

Annja took a deep breath. ”We can't care about that now. If we don't get warm, we'll die. All of us.”

”Fine. But I'm only stripping down to my underwear,” Jenny said.

Annja nodded. ”That's fine.”

Joey came back with a bundle of wood. Annja could tell from the way he was walking that the cold had affected him badly. ”I just...need a minute to get it going,” he said through chattering teeth.

”You sure you can do it?” Annja asked.

He nodded. ”Like one of the tests...my grandfather set up for me in the winter...trying to stay warm...” He used one of his shoelaces and set up a bow drill. He stroked it furiously, and within thirty seconds he had a small coal that he tipped into the bundle. It started to smoke and he grinned. ”Fire.”

Annja helped him build the fire into a raging blast of heat. ”Get your clothes off, pal, you've got to get warm.”

He nodded and yanked off his wet jeans followed by his s.h.i.+rt. He didn't seem the least bit fazed by the sight of Annja and Jenny standing there in their underwear.

After a few minutes, Annja could feel the heat returning to her bones. She and Jenny started draping their clothes nearby. ”They have to get dry before we can put them back on or we've just wasted our time,” Annja said. Fortunately, Joey had found enough wood that the fire soon had their clothes steaming and drying in the sunlight.

Jenny looked a bit worse for wear. It was the second time in as many days that she'd been exposed to the threat of hypothermia. And nearly drowning in the freezing water hadn't helped boost her morale, either.

As they stood warming themselves by the fire, she turned to Annja. ”Is this what your life is usually like?”

Annja nodded. ”More or less.”

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