Mallory Is Medusa

Chapter Five

"How's your shoulder?" Ben asked, a little while after they had woken up the next morning. It was cloudy, much to Mallory's disappointment, and he was worried that it was going to rain so they were already packing up the tent.

"It still hurts." she said, quietly.

"Of course it does!" Ben laughed. "You were shot in the shoulder yesterday. It's not supposed to heal in one day."

Mallory nodded, picking up the backpack and putting it on. "How much longer until we get to Alabasta?"

"I'd say five days if we keep going at this pace." he said. "Three more will be walking, two will be on the train."

Mallory nodded, and then they were walking. She was already tired of all of this walking because the swamp looked the same wherever they went. She had no idea how Ben could navigate them, but she was glad that he was there.

The swamp was definitely preparing for something, and Mallory was going to trust Ben's judgement and say that it was going to rain. She only heard a few birds singing, and there was less rustling in the leaves around them than there had been in the past few days. She wasn't worried, however. It would be her first time feeling rain, and she was excited to get to rinse off a little in the drops.

They talked a little about Ben's childhood, including the fact that he'd never been to Lake Concowa. Mallory had laughed and said "Don't worry, neither have I."

It was odd. Mallory felt so at ease with Ben. She wondered if it was because he was her first companion so she had nothing to compare it to, or if he really was such a nice person and she liked that. Who said that it couldn't be both? He really was the story book boy, she thought. She couldn't help but giggle at the idea that Ben might have a girlfriend. He didn't seem like the type of boy to care about having one, but it was an interesting thought nonetheless.

When the first drop landed on the tip of her nose, she recoiled in shock. At first, she wasn't entirely sure that it had happened at all, but then it started pouring and she realized that it was raining.

Rain. She'd always heard it knocking on the roof of her old house, and it made her feel warm inside. That wasn't a feeling she knew very well, but there was nothing more comforting than a long, dark thunderstorm. Yet, Ben seemed less enthralled.

"Ugh, the swamp is going to get choppy." he said.

"What does that mean?" Mallory asked in response. He looked at her like she was joking, and then realized that she really didn't know.

"When it rains in this swamp, the water that we've been walking in begins to swell and grow. It's pretty, but it's a pain to travel through. Especially since this storm might be violent." he said.

They kept going, though they were both thoroughly soaked. The lightning and thunder were plentiful in this storm, and they were more frightening to Mallory this time than beautiful.

About an hour and a half after the storm had started, the water was so high up on her legs that it was sloshing into her boots until they were full of water and aquatic plants. She felt something squirm in there at one point, and looked down just in time to see a frog slide out and swim away.

Ben suddenly shrieked, disappearing under the water. Mallory froze before reaching down into the water to try and grab him. She slipped on the mud below her and fell into the water. After that, she couldn't get herself back up. The current was fast, though before she fell in she hadn't even realized that there was one, and it was pulling her along.

Her fingers brushed along a rock, and she scrambled to grab onto it. Clinging to it for dear life, she pushed her feet into the mud and tried to get stable on her knees. Her head was just barely above water and she was taking in fast breaths and trying to push out any water that was slipping into her mouth.