Novels2Search

The Phoenix - Chapter 7

When Buster had been a cub, his grandmother had a swimming pool in her backyard. When he was too young to know how to swim, he was splashing around in the shallow end and got a little too adventurous. He kept getting closer and closer to the slope separating the shallow end from the deep end, until finally he found himself slipping and sinking underwater. He tried to kick up off of the floor of the pool but only slid further down the slick slope into darkness.

In that moment, he suddenly realized that there was a very real possibility he could drown then and there. He might never leave this pool again. He felt his heart sinking just as surely as his body was sinking deeper into the pool.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

That was the exact feeling that Buster had in the moment he watched Kincade's video.

Back in the pool, kicking his legs in blind panic had been enough to push him back into the shallow end. As he stood up, gasping for breath, he realized that there was nobody around and if he hadn't saved himself he never would have left that pool alive.

Now he had no way of escaping what was coming. But he didn't have to do it alone.