Read Online Into The Darkness by Doug Kelly - Free Book Online

vehicles in the parking lot to assess any hidden threats. He did not
want to carry their equipment past anyone who might cause a confrontation. They
glanced back down at Richard once more. He was floating in the center raft and
not paying attention to their ascent up the hill. Richard was slightly slumped
over in the raft looking downward, not paying attention to anything.
    The
narrow road around the dam was steep. At the bottom, they stood in the parking
lot and looked back up at the enormity of the dam. Water crashing over the top
created a foggy mist at the base. They saw nobody around the dam and all the
cars in the parking lot were empty.
    Kevin
turned to Dylan and spoke. “I don’t have a good feeling about Richard. He looks
like he is really struggling with the raft.”
    “I
know exactly what you mean,” said Dylan. “He’s going to be a problem, and
unfortunately he’s a problem we’re stuck with. As time goes on our situation is
going to get worse and Richard isn’t going to be able to adapt very well. With
what we’re heading into, Richard might do himself in.”
    “Or
us with him?” Kevin asked, raising an eyebrow.
    Dylan’s
only response was to nod his head wearily.
    The
two men paced themselves going back up the steep slope of the road. On reaching
the top, they looked down to where they had left Richard with the rafts. The
rafts were gone. Richard had pushed a paddle into the muddy bank and had been
holding the paddle to maintain position. He had drifted off to sleep and let go
of the paddle. The paddle was still in the mud, but the rafts were floating
toward the strong current that plunged over the dam. Both men screamed at
Richard as they ran down the slope to the water’s edge. Richard remained
oblivious. At the water’s edge, Dylan and Kevin plunged into the lake and swam
frantically to the drifting rafts, which were getting dangerously close to the
swift current near the center of the dam. Kevin got to the drifting rafts first.
    Kevin
grabbed the rope on the side of a raft and screamed, “Wake up, asshole! Wake
your fat ass up! Paddle! Paddle! PADDLE!”
    Richard
jerked up, startled, and grabbed for a paddle that was no longer there. It was
still stuck in the mud on the riverbank. He fumbled for his remaining paddle
and clumsily tried to paddle from the front of his raft. Kevin pulled himself
onto a raft tethered to Richard’s and paddled with desperate effort. Dylan
reached the raft opposite Kevin, with Richard in the middle, and quickly pulled
himself up. The rafts were drifting closer to the dam.
    Dylan
yelled to Kevin, “Put the paddles in the oarlocks and row hard!”
    Dylan
and Kevin rowed in unison and slowly began to pull away from the dam. After
what seemed like an eternity, they broke free of the current and headed back to
the area on the shore marked by Richard’s paddle, which stood protruding from
the mud. Finally back to shore, Richard stretched forward and grabbed his
paddle from the muddy bank. Dylan and Kevin were too out of breath to speak,
and simply stared, fuming with rage, at Richard.
    “I
know I screwed up. You don’t have to say anything,” said Richard.
    Kevin
stood up in the raft, grasping a paddle firmly in his hands. “You screwed up?
No, asshole, you almost got us killed!” As he was yelling at Richard, Kevin
raised his paddle like a baseball bat, ready to swing, and angled his stance
toward Richard’s head. Kevin’s eyes were narrowed and filled with fury.
    Dylan
held up his hand and motioned for Kevin to lower the paddle. Speaking in a low,
menacing tone through clenched teeth, Dylan snarled at Richard, “Don’t do anything stupid like that
again, anything that jeopardizes me
getting safely back to my family. If you do, I won’t bash your head in with a
paddle. We will leave you behind, by yourself, and that’ll be a death sentence
for you.”
    “I
get the message,” mumbled Richard, sheepishly. He looked away, terrified to
make eye