to follow Climb out onto the roof then carefully onto the hood You should be able to jump past the water from the hood He turned to look directly at Gabe Give me a minute to get outside then you climb out You probably won’t be able to see me but I’ll get you Okay Gabe said He watched his brother wriggle out the window He knew it would be easier for him He was so much smaller Gabe waited a moment after Ben was gone then scrambled into the front seat and stuck his left arm and head out the window Cold rain drenched his hair in seconds and stung his eyes He rubbed his eyes on his shoulder trying to clear his vision A hand grabbed his wrist Ben’s voice called from above I got you Climb on out As Gabe scrambled through the window Ben caught his other hand and hauled him onto the van roof Ben half shouted in his ear I’ll 8
lower you to the hood Be careful it slopes You’ll need to jump from the hood to clear the water but throw your backpack first so it doesn’t weigh you down How far is the jump Gabe asked nervously Ben didn’t exactly answer He patted his brother on the arm You can do it Go I have to help the others Ben lowered Gabe to the hood then let go Gabe had never felt as alone in his life as he did while standing in the pounding rain on the slippery hood He carefully edged out farther onto it Though it was only early evening the pounding rain made it much darker Gabe wiped his arm across his eyes then squinted trying to see the edge of the rushing water Something big and shadowy moved in the darkness beyond Gabe gasped sucking in enough rainwater to make him cough Whatever moved in the shadows slipped farther away out 9
of Gabe’s line of sight He heard a sound like a barking shout With the roar of the pounding rain he couldn’t identify it Suddenly Sean’s calm remarks that the Waheela would be out looking for higher ground came back to him Somewhere out there in the darkness a Waheela lurked maybe And maybe the legendary bear-wolf creature that bit off people’s heads was exactly what moved through the shadows in the spot Ben wanted him to jump Gabe Ben bellowed You need to jump so I can lower Tyler down to the hood Gabe considered telling Ben about the movement in the shadows But what could his brother do They were trapped and the floodwater was rising He really had no choice Gabe shucked out of his backpack and heaved it as hard as he could directly toward the spot he’d seen something move Nothing 10
yelped or growled But would he even hear the Waheela over the sound of the rain Jump Gabe jump Ben bellowed Gabe took a deep breath tensed his muscles and jumped flying into the darkness He didn’t land on the hard ground as he expected He didn’t even land in water Instead he hit something that grunted Gabe’s numb fingers sunk into wet tangled hair of some kind Gabe screamed 11
