Free Apocalypse: Underwater City (A Dystopian Novella) PART 1 (The Hope Saga) by Chrissy Peebles Page B

as we rode to the top of the Ferris wheel and then stopped, hovering in midair. I breathed in, relaxed, and listened to the distant screams, music, and laughter echo below us. Sherry set down the stuffed pink pig I’d won for her in the ring toss and folded her hands in her lap, enjoying the silence. I dared a quick look at the stuffed animal, fighting with myself whether to be proud or sink into the ground. The guys back at school surely would’ve suggested the latter, but I didn’t care. Granted, it wasn’t the giant teddy bear I’d spent twenty bucks trying to win, but Sherry seemed happy with her little plush pink prize nonetheless. She squeezed my hand, and I smiled.
    I rocked the cart back and forth with my legs.
    “Hey! Stop it,” Sherry said, twining her fingers through my hair.
    “But you told me you loved it when somebody shook the cart at the very top. And I do too. Love that adrenaline rush.”
    She smiled and batted her lashes at me. Her whole demeanor screamed flirty, so I inched closer and wrapped my arm around her to pull her closer. “Do you want to play games or make out?” she whispered suggestively.
    Her eyes sparkled like big onyxes as I gazed into them. We had liked each other for months, and we’d been shamelessly stealing glances at each other until I finally plucked up the courage to ask her out. It was our first big date, and I’d been dying to kiss her all night. “What do you think?” I asked with a smile.
    She inclined her head as though in thought.
    That same moment, a piercing scream echoed from below us. Forgetting our first intimate moment, I peered below into the darkness to the gathering mass.
    “What’s going on down there?” Sherry asked.
    “I dunno.” I squinted to get a better view, but the steel rods of the Ferris wheel blocked most of my view from where we were dangling. All I could make out were red and blue lights flashing in the distance, blinking in rhythm to the sound of blaring sirens. I leaned out until I could count five police cars speeding toward the midway.
    “What’s happening?” Sherry asked again, this time more quietly, as though she was talking to herself.
    I paid her no attention as I continued to scan the commotion below. A man tumbled to the ground. The same moment, a group of people pounced on him. From up above, they looked like they were attacking him with their bare arms and legs.
    Sherri grabbed my shoulder and gave it a hard squeeze to get my attention. “Oh my gosh, Dean! I think a gang of thugs are attacking the people in line.”
    I shook my head. It can’t be. We lived in a family tourist town, its biggest crimes consisting of kids stealing sweets from the local supermarket and old ladies complaining about Friday night litter on their porches; the crime rate was so low that misdemeanors made the front page. I couldn’t even remember the last time there’d been a public beating or any kind of vicious attack. “Maybe it’s nothing,” I said, my brain trying to justify the picture before my eyes.
    “It sure doesn’t look like nothing,” Sherry said. “You think they’re on drugs?”
    I shrugged, hesitating. I wasn’t naïve enough to think there were no drugs where I lived, but to see their effects creeped me out big time.
    Bang! Bang!
    Before I could answer, shots echoed from the nearing cars. I wrapped my arm around Sherry and forced her head down the way I had seen on television and in all those action movies. “It looks like the police are firing into the crowd!” I yelled.
    “No! They can’t be.” She clutched her chest. “My sister’s down there. I hope she’s okay.”
    The ride jerked forward. As we started to descend, Sherry leaned over me to peer at the blinking lights on the bar that rotated inside the wheel.
    I gripped her hand. “We’ll find your sister. I promise.”
    “Thanks, Dean.”
    A scream tore through the air, followed by growls and hisses.
    “What’s that noise?” Sherry asked, frantically