The B Girls - By Cari Cole Page 0,72

the left side if the tunnel.

"Hold on," Lucy said.

"Like I have a choice."

With the extra bulk of the helmet, Lucy couldn't find the room to slither over Jane to reach the snag. She yanked the helmet off, propped it on Jane's right shoulder.

Jane was going to have to lower her head to make room for Lucy. "Take a deep breath and don't move."

Lucy took a breath of her own then rolled to the left and inched over Jane. She could feel the water running faster under her legs, climbing higher in the tunnel at an exponential rate.

Reaching as far forward as she could, she managed to slip a finger between the strap and the rock and pop the strap free.

The makeshift stretcher began to move again with more speed, sliding out from under Lucy. The water was now only six inches from the ceiling. She grabbed her helmet and light, shoved it back onto her head and started crawling again.

Every few ghastly feet, Lucy had to stop, tilt her head around toward the ceiling and take a gasping breath. Each time she wondered if the next time she'd find only water.

The stretcher continued to slide through the tunnel just ahead of Lucy's face. In between her own breaths Lucy crowded close to the stretcher and lifted Jane's head up above the water so she could get a breath as well while the stretcher slid forward stretching Lucy's arm to the limit.

Each time it was harder to muster the strength to lift Jane. Each time there was a smaller pocket of air at the top of the tunnel.

Lucy's arm quivered with the strain of letting Jane's head down gently. She'd lost count of how many times she'd repeated the maneuver but said a mental thank you to God and the cosmos that she managed it again.

She pushed the last air out of her lungs and levered herself up for another breath. Her hardhat scraped the top of the tunnel and she turned her head, straining for every fraction of an inch. The corner of her mouth broke the surface and she managed to sip a thin stream of air before the water finished filling the gap.

This was it. The last gasp. The last chance to save her friend.

Praying there was still enough of an air pocket for Jane to get a breath or two, Lucy pushed forward with her toes and her right elbow while she pushed Jane's head up with her left hand.

In seconds her lungs started to burn. She struggled forward a few more inches her left arm trembling with the strain of holding Jane's head up.

Lucy exhaled a puff of air to relieve some of the pressure on her lungs. The maneuver bought her a few seconds. Her toes slipped and Jane started to move away from her.

She let out more air as the stretcher moved out of reach and tried to dig her toes harder into the floor.

She didn't have any strength left.

Going limp, she fought the overwhelming urge to take a breath of water. Her mind and her lungs screamed for relief. Water would be better than the emptiness.

Her toes scraped uselessly on the floor.

She slammed her head into the ceiling searching for an air pocket that wasn't there.

Colored lights danced behind her closed eyelids.

She gave in and risked sucking in just a tiny bit of water. The lights disappeared and the world went dark.

Ryan's face appeared out of the black.

Lucy smiled and reached for him. The one good thing that had come from a life of playing it safe.

This Time I Know I'm Dead

A hand closed around the wrist of her outstretched arm.

Lucy tried to grab on but her hand slid free.

The hand clasped her wrist again and pulled.

In her struggle to hang on, the need for air beat out the rational part of her brain that screamed no. She sucked in a mouthful of water and Ryan's face disappeared.

A sharp, wet, smack landed between her shoulder blades.

Lucy gasped and choked and fought for air. Air that magically appeared to replace the water she retched up.

Why wasn't she dead?

Mae sat back on her heels. "Thank God. I thought you were dead."

Lucy flopped onto her side, propped herself up on one elbow and proceeded to hack, cough, spit and snort in an effort to finish clearing her lungs and airway of water.

Mae crawled over to check on Jane.

"Don't worry about me," Jane said when Mae came into view. "Make sure Lucy's going to be okay."

Lucy rolled