The second we touch land, I leap off and extend my hand to Bree. She grabs it and I haul her up onto the solid land. I heave Charlie out next. Jack and Penelope leap up on their own, and Molly, Ben, and Zeke are able to heave themselves out of the boat and onto the land. Together we grab the ropes and hold on for dear life as Ryan makes the leap out and onto land.

“Now what?” Molly cries, fighting against the power of the boat.

“Now we pull the boat onto land,” I shout back.

She gives me a look like she’s less than thrilled, but she doesn’t argue. Zeke, Molly, Ben, Ryan, and I begin heaving with all our strength. After rowing for so long, my arm muscles scream in pain. But I keep pulling. Finally, we edge the boat out of the water and onto the strip of land.

I fall back, exhausted, aching, relieved. We’re still alive. I can hardly believe it.

“That was a close call,” I say to the gray, drizzly sky.

Ben’s face appears above me. “Come on,” he says, extending his hand to me.

I take it and let him pull me to my feet, overwhelmed once again by the mere sight of him. Ryan must notice the way I look at him because he shoots a glare my way. He’s probably thinking that he was the one who just saved all our lives, that he was the one who came with me in the first place, and yet here I am swooning over Ben, the boy who barely spoke to me for six months and let me head off alone. I know it’s not fair, but I don’t fully understand my feelings toward either of them.

Zeke pulls out the map the Commander gave us.

“We should walk the boat to Lake Erie,” he says. “There’s three more waterfalls to get past in this part of the lake. We won’t have enough gas to power past them all.”

He’s right. Once in Lake Erie, we’ll be able to sail all the way to Toledo, but we won’t have the strength to pass any more rapids.

Despite our complete exhaustion, no one is prepared to take a break, especially when we’re on land and completely exposed. We all feel much more comfortable on the water where the chances of crazy and slaverunner attacks are closer to nil. Plus, we’re nearing Buffalo, which was a densely populated city before the war. If there’s going to be any slaverunner activity in these parts, that’s where we’re likely to find it.