The Fox finds a way

The inner tube floats around the bend, toward the waterfalls. The men can see it coming.

"What's that?" one of them asks, a stocky youth with a shaved head that's beginning to show stubble.

"One of those tubes they left on the banks," another one says. "Should we go grab it?"

"It might be a diversion - one of the girls might be trying to sneak past us," says the taller blond man. "Keep your eyes peeled on the other side, and back there behind us. I'll go check it out."

He steps out onto the bridge as the tube nudges up against it and seems to bump slightly upwards to float higher in the water. The man keeps his eyes upstream as he approaches the tube, and misses the sight of something flurrying underneath it, in the water. By the time he's standing over the tube, that's all that he can see, and the constant rush of the cascading water drowns out the sound of a small gasp for air right under his feet.

"What do you think, Carlos?" the stocky man calls from the bank.

"It must have broken loose and drifted," Carlos shouts back. "There's no one here."

"Grab it, it'll make for something good to sleep on."

"Yeah, I got it," Carlos says, hefting the tube up out of the water. He makes his way back to the other men and tosses it to the ground.

None of them can see the slim, pale, red-haired girl who clings to the underside of the bridge, holding her body sideways against the current to keep herself hidden. Well, that part worked, she thinks. They might have seen me under the tube, but they didn't and that was lucky. I can't count on that luck holding, though. This next part is all on me.

It is difficult to hold to the bottom of the bridge; there aren't any convenient handholds, and the wood is wet and slippery. Trying to "climb" along it is even more difficult, but the only way to get by the men is to go right under their noses. Not only does the stream take a gentler path on their side, it's also the one part where they might not be looking; after all, they wouldn't think that there was any way for someone to get there without being seen.

The space between the water and the bridge is very narrow, which gives Jade a touch of claustrophobia, but it also makes it easier to stay hidden. The only way to make progress is to grip the long boards which support the bridge across the water, her hands hidden by the planks on the top. If one of the men were to walk just five feet up or downstream and look back at the bridge, she would be spotted in a moment, but as long as they stay put she's out of their sight.

Jade's hands begin to cramp before she reaches the slower-moving water nearer to the bank. Her heels, which had been scraping along the bottom, drop down into the deeper water and touch the muddy streambed three feet down. The waterfall is no longer a constant roar in her ears, and with the water pulling at her less strongly, she's able to raise her head a bit more to get her ears above the water.

"...sure she's coming this way?" she hears one of the men say. "Maybe she went to go check out that crash... I still think we should've gone to have a look."

"You want to go, you still can," another man says. "I'm not keeping you here, and I'd rather not share her with you anyway."

"I sure ain't goin' off on my own," the third man says. "You guys saw what happened to Rico, that cunt beat him half to ****. Besides, Carlos knows what he's doin'... we're three for three so far, ain't we?"

Carlos, Jade thinks. That's the guy the Director said they'd be sending after me. They must have told him I was coming this way - they might tell him I'm here now! I've got to get out of here!

"It'll be even easier now," says the man with a faint trace of a Spanish accent (That must be Carlos, Jade thinks). "You guys know the drill, they've been doping the girls up with some kind of aphrodesiac. We had to fight for it the first day, but they'll be throwing themselves at us before too long, you'll see. We probably won't even have to trick her."

"Yeah... I don't know. You heard what them other guys was sayin'. They had her cornered, and she jumped off a goddamn cliff. And Anton said she was gettin' all the girls together, that she got six of them to take him by surprise. I don't remember what her name is... Jen, Jane, something like that. But they're calling her the Fox."

"Anton probably got caught with his balls hangin' out and she walloped him. He had to say it was six of them, he'd look like a pussy otherwise. Besides, I don't care what anyone says, she's a little cunt that needs fucking, just like the rest of 'em. If you're that scared of her, you can jerk off while me and Carlos take turns with her."

"Fuck you, Asshole!"

That's it, Jade thinks, taking a deep breath. That's the best chance I'm going to get!

She pushes down hard off the bridge, submerging herself under the water. Her back nudges the streambed, and a bright light hits her eyes as she drifts out from under the bridge and the Sun beams down at her through the water. They'll see me if they look, she thinks to herself, and quickly swims to press up against the bank, under the reeds. Her lungs begin to starve for air, but she doesn't dare poke her head above water, not yet.

Although the way down the stream isn't as rough as the waterfalls, it's still a rough, swirling current and difficult to navigate. A shallow part comes up and Jade dares to flip over onto her back and let her face briefly breach the surface, quickly drawing in new breath. Then, the current slows, and she's able to drift into a slowly swirling eddy that forms a pool. She swims hard to reach the opposite bank before raising her head above water, struggling not to gasp loudly, but instead to breathe in slowly and quietly.

The men and the bridge are some ten yards up the stream. I did it! she thinks, allowing herself a celebratory fist-pump under the water. She reaches up and adjusts the black bag which covers her hair, making sure it's all still hidden, and tightens the straps which hold her own green pack to her back. I doubt I could have done it without Malik's bag, she thinks. They'd have seen my hair for sure. And it's a good thing we're near the beach and the streambed is mostly sand, I'd have stuck out like a snowman in a coal mine otherwise. Okay, Fox, don't break your arm patting yourself on the back - they're still right there, and you still need to figure out how to get down to the beach without being seen! But, they probably won't be looking this way... I might be able to just stay low and make it down there on foot. There's no other way past the rest of the waterfalls, at any rate, and the stream gets too wide and marshy where it goes into the ocean. I'm on the wrong side of it, and that sucks, but I can probably make my way across down by the beach.

Slowly, as silently as she can, Jade pulls herself from the water and onto the sandy, reedy bank. The men have stopped their conversation, which troubles her, as she can no longer be sure they're staying put. The bank slopes slightly upwards, and from what she can tell, the beach is just beyond. She can hear the waves above the sound of the waterfalls.

I need to get over this bank without being seen, she thinks. I might be able to just roll over it, but there's no way of knowing that one of them won't be looking this way. I need to distract them somehow, throw a rock or something. Here's one... but I need to throw it really far, so they don't think it could have come from here.

An idea forms in her mind. Jade looks around and finds a straight stick about two feet long and about as thick as a broom handle. The next thing she needs is harder to find, but she spots it at the bottom of the pool - a mussel shell about three inches long and two inches wide. She opens her pack next and pulls out the first-aid kit, noting with satisfaction that everything in the pack is still reasonably dry. There's a tiny roll of medical tape, which she uses to attach the shell to the end of the stick. The small rock fits neatly into the shell.

If this doesn't work, I'll need to run fast, she thinks, drawing back her makeshift thrower. She whips it over her head with all her strength and then ducks down without looking at where the rock went. A long moment goes by, and she hears nothing. Damn. That one was too small to make a sound wherever it landed. I need something bigger... there!

The next rock is baseball-sized, and barely balances on the shell. Jade looks at it critically. If I don't throw straight, it'll slide off and probably land right here in this pond, she thinks, and that'll make them look this way. Not exactly what I had in mind! It's a good thing Dad made me play catch with him all those times...

Jade carefully maneuvers the stick into throwing position, keeping the rock poised on the shell, and then hurls it once more. The rock sails out over the stream, arcs down, and then -plops- into the water.

"What was that?" one of the men says, but Jade is already on the move, scrambling up the bank and rolling down the opposite side. She crawls for about twenty more yards before she feels safe enough to get up and run.

Oh, shit! she thinks suddenly. Shit, shit, shit... I left the goddamn first aid kit back there! Well, I'll just have to not get hurt, then... I'm sure as hell not going back for it!

The reeds and grass give way to open sand, and Jade keeps running until the waves lap at her feet. A three-foot-high breaker rolls in and she leaps into it, submerging herself in the salt water. Malik's bag slips from her head and she's just barely able to grab it as the wave recedes, leaving her on her hands and knees in the shallow surf. Another wave comes in and she swims into it, allowing it to pull her further out into the sea. Then, she starts swimming parallel to the beach past the marshy outlet where the stream ends, and on until she's just past the hut.

When the next wave comes, Jade allows it to push her toward the shore. It's much more of a struggle than she anticipated to swim into the shallower water, where she can put her feet down and finally struggle up onto the beach. Her arms ache from the hard swim as she continues on her hands and knees up to a grassy dune, where she lies down flat and peeks up over the top of it, back the way she came.

The men have found her kit, and they seem to be arguing with each other. The short and stocky one throws a punch at the taller blond man, which he dodges easily, shoving the shorter man into the pool. When he tries to pull himself out, the blond man kicks him hard in the face, knocking him back into the water again. The other man puts up his hands, clearly wanting no part of it, and the fight is over.

That's Carlos, Jade thinks, looking at the tall blond man. He's definitely the biggest and the strongest, that would be why the other two were following his lead. He's so tall, I would probably only come up to the middle of his chest if I were standing in front of him... he can't be a natural blond, he's too dark for that, but it looks really good on him... She doesn't notice at first that her hands are rubbing her own breasts, the salt water making her nipples tingle. A shiver of sexual excitement runs through her as she imagines Carlos laying her down in the sand, plunging inside her as the waves roll over them both, lovers in heat in their tropical paradise... her hands squeeze on her nipples, pinching them hard, and it hurts so good...

I can't help it! is her last rational thought, and she retains just enough presence of mind to slide down the sand dune to hide herself from sight as she plunges her hand between her own legs, rubbing her clit over and over again until she shudders in climax, clenching her teeth to keep from crying out loud. After a moment, the overwhelming lust begins to fade, and Jade's mind returns to her.

The safe house... I need to get inside, she thinks.

The door is on the side facing her, fortunately; she does not need to step out into the open for long. As soon as she sees Carlos and his companion turn their backs, Jade scrambles up over the dune, bolts for the safe house, and pulls the door shut behind her.