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A wared We slid down the edge of the subh the water onto the beach Careful to keep the ain once we had reached dry sand I held it lower down as Abby approached so she could look at it with th of the beach

"That way," Abby said, pointing to our right "I see the entrance to a cave"

I squinted, trying to , I had no choice but to trust her superior eyesight We jogged along the beach My heart haainst my chest as the cave entrance ca had quickened too, and she reached for htly

We stopped I reached for un and made sure it was fully loaded I handed it to Abby, then took out another for myself We walked to the entrance of the dark cave I ary of shining a flashlight, but it was either that or tripping and breaking a bone

As we crept deeper into the cave, several tunnels ca which to take first Abby pointed to the first tunnel on our right

"We e was narrow and since we had to walk in single file, I took the lead The crashing of the ocean waves became quieter and quieter with each step we took Soon, the only sounds were our echoing footsteps and the dripping of water from the stalactites I stopped short as we hit a dead end

Great

I turned around, and was about to tell Abby to do the saround I shone the flashlight to see that she had spotted the entrance to some kind of narrow underpass

"Down there?" I frowned, crouching down "Really? If we retrace our steps there are other tunnels we could try"

Abby crouched down next to me "It’s not very far to the other side," she said "It could be a shortcut"

Although I was still dubious, I placed the flashlight between h the hole Sharp rocks rippedheavily behindI reached the exit and stood up, wipingby azed around at the s two , we could be searching for hours before we ever found theardless of what the consequencesthe nas

My voice reverberated around the chamber and echoed off the walls I shouted untilfor a few seconds in between

Abby gasped and squeezed my shoulder Her lips parted, her blue eyes wide "I hear so still She walked toward a tunnel to our left and ran through it I followed her, pushing rippedme forward in the darkness Finally, she stopped short and listened again

Now even I could hear it A distant shouting A fe me after her The louder the voice becanize it