Knockdown Read Online Free Page A

faces.
    Dylan shook his head.
    “Shove off.” Cole climbed aboard. He hurried to the wheel. The engine sputtered and roared to life. Jervis untied the dock lines.
    Dylan seized my cart. “Leave this. Get on.”
    I glanced down the dock. The people were almost to the top of the ramp. The children slowed them down.
    “We’re loose. Everyone on board,” Cole shouted and shoved the gear in reverse. The boat began moving out of the slip.
    I stared down at the box of tampons. We needed this stuff. “Help me!” I threw the diving gear, tampons, and toilet paper onto the bow.
    Dylan and Nick joined me. A bottle of liquid cleaner bounced and ended up in the water. A wet suit got snagged by the anchor, but most of the rest made it on board.
    Whistler continued backing away. Jervis climbed back aboard and ran to the bow to untangle the dry suit and secure our supplies. The families calling to us were only three boat slips away. I could finally hear what they were saying.
    A woman cried. “The cruise ship left us here.”
    “We can’t find any cabs ,” a man yelled.
    “We’re trapped !” Another voice called out.
    Cruise ship? I could see the giant ships that sailed to Alaska docked a short ways from our marina.
    “Come on!” Dylan ran down the slip, following alongside the slowly moving, Whistler .
    I wished I could do something, but we just couldn’t take that many people on board with us. I left the cart and ran after the guys. When they were alongside the boat, the guys leapt, caught hold of lifelines, and heaved themselves up and onto the decking.
    I reached for the neare st lifeline, jumped, and grabbed hold. I tried to pull myself up and on board, but I just hung there, my feet trailing in the water. I scrambled for a foot hold alongside the slippery blue hull. I tried to get my leg up above the boat edge, but couldn’t. My shoes splashed in the icy water.
    The boat picked up speed. My legs were going to be crushed if the boat got closer to the dock we were backing alongside. “Cole! Dylan!” I screamed and pulled myself up a little ways, only to fall back again.
    “Please. Help us!” a voice from the crowd screamed.
    My shoes were soaked. The water made the side slicker. My hands began to sweat. My fingers were opening. I gave up trying to get on board and focused on just holding on.
    T he support piling at the end of our slip was coming right at me. It was covered in barnacles. The side of the boat and I were going to rub against it. My left hand lost its grip. I dangled and swung back and forth, holding on with one hand. My entire leg was now immersed in the water. My shoulder ached. I shrieked.
    I wasn’t going to make it. The piling was less than a foot away. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth. My fingers were slipping.
    Someone grabbed my arms. I flew in the air and landed in a wet puddle on the boat deck. Jervis stood over me and winked. “Welcome aboard.”
    T ears welled in my eyes.
    “You okay? ” Dylan asked, and then left before I could answer. He shoved the bow away from the barnacle piling.
    The families gathered on the dock still called to us.
    “Wait up.”
    “How’d you get here?”
    I lay on the teak deck and forced myself to breathe in and out. My parents hadn’t made it. I’d almost died just getting the boat out of the slip. We were leaving families with little kids behind. How were we going to survive all this?
    W ater puddled around my ankles. My tennis shoes sloshed. Nick walked over the top of me while he untied the puffy blue fenders and stowed them in the rear locker. I crawled to the top of the cabin. A wave hit and the boat rocked. I gripped the teak hand rails and tried to tune out the desperate people on the pier.
    We’d almost made it to the marina exit. The group that had been following us now stood in small groups at the end of our pier. They were all screaming at once.
    Then one voice carried over the rest. “ Your keys,” a woman screamed. “Please. Throw us