The Battle of Zombie Hill: Defenders of the Overworld #1
2 below He was going to fall into the chunky waves he realized Suddenly debilitating fear knifed through him Gravity drew his body downward at a speed he had never experienced before even at the fastest gallop His desperate screams disintegrated into thin air perhaps because there was no one else to hear them As the shifting blue floor rose up to swallow him Rob felt rather than heard the all-encompassing splash Down down down he plunged his brain churning up a final if useless thought Travel ain’t all it’s cracked up to be Wicked fear the impact and a lack of oxygen had caused Rob to blackout but it couldn’t have been for long When next he was aware of his body he was still underwater surprised to be alive That shock activated his arms and legs and he began kicking and flail ing his way back to the surface Something brushed against his rib cage and he felt a long gelatinous body swipe past What the heck was that he wondered then answered his own question with a vague memory from science class a squid The next thing Rob knew he had popped above the churning waterline and was coughing and gulping Nancy Osa
3 in air He couldn’t pause to concentrate on breathing though As soon as he stopped kicking he began to sink Instinctively he resumed swimming hauling in ragged breaths until his heart stopped feeling like an exploding boulder Through watery eyes he peered in all directions seeing nothing but rolling blocks of liq uid He figured he had two choices panic or don’t He summoned up the worst scenario he had ever faced riding a bucking bronco through a nest of rattlesnakes and decided to do now what he had done then Just stay alive he told himself Best focus on the job at hand Rob rolled over and noted the position of the sun in the sky resolving to swim in the opposite direc tion until he found help He had lost his cowboy hat and boots but still wore his chaps shirt and vest which now clung to his body Funny this water seems warm too No just not cold At least hypothermia wouldn’t add to his woes He continued to make his way through the tepid waves away from the sun which was just past its high point in the sky Minute after minute he pushed himself on Every now and then he flipped over to rest on his back for a count of ten then resumed his slow but steady prog ress But progress toward what Anything at all He wondered if there were sharks stingrays or other animal mobs in this version of the world The Battle of Zombie Hill
4 Would there be dry land a boat or some other form of rescue As recent events had reminded him he would only find out what came next by encountering it Stroke after stroke Rob cut through the ocean chunks thoughts of his home on the range spurring him on The water gradually cooled as day slipped toward dusk and he wondered if he would have to spend the night at sea cold hungry and tired Could he survive that Can’t never could do anything he muttered He resolved to stay positive no matter how bleak the horizon might look He rolled over onto his back to rest for ten seconds and to ensure he was still swimming in the right direc tion It felt so good to float Maybe an extra second or two won’t hurt he thought admiring the deepen ing palette of the sky which had turned bronze and taken on pink and purple tinges The extra rest made it harder to flip over and resume paddling though he forced himself to do so In the distance a white stripe appeared to seal off the ocean Was he seeing things Gathering his fading strength Rob pulled himself up on the next stroke and gasped It was land Nancy Osa
5 Relief excitement and desperation surged through him propelling his limbs ever faster in an attempt to reach the end of today’s rainbow But hours of swim ming had taken their toll Rob could barely feel his fingers or toes And I’m so hungry he thought Luckily he didn’t know how low his food bar was He pushed harder his shortened strokes barely inching him through the surf But at last he saw breakwater The beach was real He would be safe for the night Once in the shallows Rob half-stood and half crawled his way to shore The ordeal was over He would live He lay on the sand gasping like a fish thinking he had never seen a more beautiful sunset The cool air dried the last drops of seawater from his shock of black hair but left his clothes damp Rob slowly rose from the beach and staggered in a circle The dunes stretched inland quite a ways but he could see square tufts jutting upward in the distance trees a forest or jungle of some kind There’ll be food and water there But he knew he didn’t have the energy to cover any more distance that day The sun’s light was fading and all he wanted now was to stop moving and sink into a deep sound sleep The Battle of Zombie Hill
