Attempted Rescue
"To try to save from harm or danger."
Somewhere in an empty room a phone rings. On the other end of the line a teenage girl mumbles to herself in silent terror as she waits.
'Pick up the phone, Kai. All you have to do is pick up the phone.' Kai's welcome voice cuts her off.
'Hey…'
'Kai' she starts but pauses again with a growl of disgust when she hears the rest.
'This is Kai's phone, I'm…' She hangs up the phone and glances down at the phone book that she had been flicking through.
'Lets see, Maria… Miriam, no… ah Max, of course.' She quickly dials the number of his mobile.
'Hello?' Answered Max cheerfully.
'Max?'
'Yup?'
'Hey, it's Zephyr here. Look, do you know where Kai is? It's really important.'
'Sure. I was on my way to find him just now. According to Rei, he's up on the cliff.
'Oh thank God. Max I need your help.'
'What is it?'
'Kai is in great danger. There's a plan to murder him…'
'WHAT?'
'I can't explain right now but we need to find Kai and get him somewhere safe as soon as possible and you're the closest to him.'
'Don't worry, I'm on my way right now.' Max hung up and slipped the mobile back into his pocket. Then he started running. He was at the bottom of the hill leading up to the cliff.
On the other end of the line, Zephyr dropped the phone and ran out the door without bothering to close it. To save time, she vaulted over the fence and sprinted across the road narrowly avoiding being hit by a car and killed even as she was trying to save someone she loved from the same fate.
Max was halfway up the hill and, spotting the side trail, He ducked through the hedge and onto the shortcut. At the bottom of the hill a black car appeared and started up the road. An out of breath Zephyr followed as fast as she could.
The men in the black car watched grimly as she panted upwards.
'Isn't that his girlfriend?' murmured one of them.
'Yeah, but she's too far away to help him now' the others nodded, reassured.
'Kai!' The blue-haired boy turned quickly, startled out of his reverie by the shout.
'Max. What are you doing here?' The young blonde skidded to a breathless halt in front of Kai.
'You have to…get out of here…great danger…' Kai raised his eyebrows in surprise.
'Uh…okay?' Max soon got his breath back and was about to start explaining when he noticed a black car driving round the bend up to the car park at the top of the cliff.
'Oh no, there's no time. Come on' With that he grabbed Kai's arm and together they jumped the only route left. Off the cliff.
In the black car, the man looked over the top of his gun to stare in confusion at the empty path.
'Where'd he go?' the others just groaned.
By the time Zephyr reached the top of the cliff it was empty. There was no sign of either Kai, Max or the car. A fluttering caught her eye and she walked to the barrier at the edge of the cliff face.
Peering fearfully over the edge, her eyes immediately caught on a scrap of white material caught on one of the rocks.
It was Kai's scarf.
Zephyr stumbled slowly back, her hand over her mouth in shock. She shook her head in disbelief and cast about for some form of help. There was no one about and she moved cautiously back to the rails and peered down at the water. A sudden movement caught her eye and she gripped the rail with reborn hope.
Far below, struggling in the seething waves, was Kai. He was holding Max's still form in his arms.
'HOLD ON KAI! I'LL GET HELP!' Screamed Zephyr. There was no answer from Kai. He was fighting for his and Max's life.
Zephyr began to run again, this time in the direction of the beach.
Terry lay back in his chair. So far his day had been pretty quiet and he was taking a short break while his friend did lookout duty. His quiet break was suddenly interrupted by a desperate banging on the door of the beach hut. Getting up quickly, Terry pulled the door open to be confronted by a breathless and panicked girl.
'Please…My friends… fell off the cliff…they're still alive…you have to help them…' she managed to gasp before fainting clean away. Terry picked the girl up and deposited her on the old sofa before calling all the lifeguard units and an ambulance just in case. Then, running out the door, he and two others who had been near at the time when he put the call through pushed the lifeboat out into the waters and started towards the cliff. On the way, Terry filled his companions in on the details.
'If the girl was right, then they should be at the place where the guard rail is, if they fell from they're then I'd be surprised if they even survived the fall.' He said grimly. The others nodded agreement.
The boat continued on in silence. They were getting nearer to the cliff where they thought the two friends might be and Terry and the others were on the lookout for anything strange.
'Hey! Did you see that?' Cried out Terry suddenly. To the right, quite near the boat, there was a splash and they got a small glimpse of blue, before a boy emerged from the water. Quickly moving the boat next to him, they grabbed the blonde's arm and hauled him into the boat. He was unconscious.
'Shouldn't there be another one?' asked one of Terry's friends, as she watched them reviving the blonde kid. Terry looked up.
'Shit, Your right.' Keep that going okay? I'm going in.' He pulled off his buoyancy aid and dived into the water.
Pushing his way through the dark water towards the sandy bottom, a sudden glint caught Terry's eye. He swam towards it and soon the shape of a boy came into view. Grabbing the kids arm, Terry struggled towards the surface, desperate for some air.
On the boat, Max woke up just in time to glimpse Kai and a lifeguard being dragged on board. The lifeguard coughed a bit but seemed to be okay. Kai was a different matter. His body was still and lifeless and the lifeguard checking his pulse didn't look too optimistic.
'Kai?' croaked max fearfully.
Zephyr awoke in the white sterilised light of a hospital to the sound of Max crying miserably.
'Max?' she sat up slowly and looked across at the boy. 'Max, what happened?' Max looked up with tear filled eyes.
I…It's Kai…he…he died in the ambulance. They were almost at the hospital and…he died.'
