Rise An Eve Novel

as I started inside. I hit the ground, the water nearly up to my hips. When I spread my arms out, both hands grazed the sides of the cavern, the walls pitted and rough where the rebels had chipped away at the concrete. My pants clung to my legs, and the edge of my sweater was heavy with water. My boots filled, anchoring me to the floor.
    I could see very little beyond Sarah’s back, just hear the sloshing of the water against the walls as the girls pushed through. Somewhere in front of me a girl was crying. “My shoe is stuck,” she yelled. All movement stopped. I could hear her labored breathing as I unzipped my boots, clutching them against my chest. There was whispering, quiet coaxing, and then we began moving again, farther into the blackness.
    I glanced behind me, watching the dim light that filtered down from the motel room. Shadows came over the surface of the water. “It’s another passageway,” I heard a soldier call out. One jumped in, the water hitting him just below the hips. He waited there, squinting into the dark, trying to figure out just how far away we were.
    “Hurry,” I whispered. They were no more than ten yards back. I struggled to pick up my feet, my legs burning from the effort. Each step was strained, the current pushing against us.
    We continued on. The group would start, then stop, and I followed along, listening to Sarah somewhere ahead of me, the water splashing up around her as she tried to get traction in it. Occasionally Beatrice asked for her, making sure she was still right there. I let out long, slow breaths, but nothing could keep off the chill or the sick, panicked feeling as the water rose to my ribs.
    The soldier wasn’t behind us anymore. As far as I could tell he’d stalled at the edge of the tunnel and then turned back, disappearing into the room. Keep going , I told myself, feeling my energy draining, my legs numb and tired from the cold. Just keep moving. But the water was rising faster, the surface coming up to our chests, and the few girls in front of me struggled to stay afloat.
    “It’s the end,” I heard Clara say, somewhere ahead. “Up here—just a little farther.” The tunnel widened, the passageway nearly six feet across in places. The rough concrete wall scratched at my skin. I pressed my palm against it, trying to steady myself.
    I couldn’t tell exactly where Clara was, just that she was a few yards off, past a bend in the corridor. When the water reached our shoulders I struggled to keep hold of my bag and the boots. My clothes, soaked through, were too heavy to move faster than a crawl.
    “We have to swim,” I said, trying to keep my chin above water. I could sense that Sarah had fallen behind me. Her legs kicked frantically below the surface. I reached out my hand, pulling her forward, toward the end of the tunnel. “Take the biggest breath you can,” I explained. “Then we’ll go under. Use your arms—like this.” I held on to her wrist, pulling it down beneath the water, miming the simple stroke Caleb had shown me months before. In front of us, light filtered in from above. I could just barely see Beatrice floating, pushed forward by the sudden swell. She reached the edge of the tunnel, a set of legs disappearing above her as another girl was pulled out.
    I took a deep breath, waiting until Sarah did the same, and we both went under, her fingers squeezed around mine. I kicked furiously, pulling her along in my wake, swimming toward the tunnel’s end. My shoulder grazed the tunnel’s rough walls, the skin rubbed raw. The rush of water surrounded me.
    When I opened my eyes the water was murky. A few bubbles rose up in front of my face. Dim light spread out in a circle above us, just a few feet away, signaling the tunnel’s end. When I reached it I stood, but the water had gone above my head, the room somewhere above me. I struggled underwater, hoisting Sarah up with my hands. Voices called out from somewhere beyond the surface, muted and low, like a distant song.
    I pushed off the bottom and was up, taking in air, the rest of the girls huddled in a small storage room. I threw my boots onto the floor and gripped the rough edge of the opening. Clara tucked her hands under my arms and pulled me up onto the concrete. A metal grate was half closed over the entrance, shutting out the rain. The single backpack in the corner was fat with supplies. A few cardboard sheets floated in two feet of water.
    “What are we supposed to do now?”