Getting Air by Dan Gutman Read Free Book Online Page A

back there.”
    “God works in mysterious ways,” David explained. “On Judgment Day, we’ll understand.”
    “I’ll tell you what I think,” Henry said. “I think we all become worm food when we die.”
    “I believe in God,” said Arcadia.
    “I don’t know what I believe,” said Julia.
    I looked over at Mrs. Herschel. She was being quiet. I guess I figured that somebody her age must know something the rest of us didn’t. She must have gained some wisdom in all those years.
    “I don’t know if there is a God, or an afterlife, or whatever,” she said. “There’s no way any of us can know. Anybody who claims they know is a liar or a fake. But I’ll tell you one thing. I’ll find out before any of you.”
    It got quiet again.
    “We’d better get some rest,” Arcadia finally said.
    She finished wrapping the vines around Julia’s leg to hold the splint in place. Then she cleared a little spot on the ground and tried to make herself comfortable.
    “G’night, y’all,” she said, closing her eyes.
    It was dark now and almost impossible to see. I found a smooth spot to lay down on. If the wolves or mountain lions were going to come and eat me, I guess there was nothing I could do about it. The others lay down too and said good night. Somebody was sobbing quietly. I couldn’t tell who it was.
    I wasn’t going to cry. Whether it was God’s will or random chance, the six of us had survived. In all probability, somebody would be there to rescue us by the time we woke up in the morning. Life would return to normal.

CHAPTER 9:
The Least We Could Do
    I couldn’t sleep. The ground was hard. The noises were creepy. We had been through a lot. There were bugs crawling on me.
    Maybe I dozed off a little at some point. When I woke up, I didn’t open my eyes right away. I wanted to remember the incredible dream I’d had. I was in a plane crash with my sister and two of my friends. We survived, and so did this old lady and a really cute flight attendant. Great dream. It felt so real.
    Soon I’d wake up, go downstairs to get a glass of orange juice and say hi to my mom and dad. Maybe one of them would be able to give me a ride to the skatepark at the mall if they didn’t have too many errands to run. If not, I’d just get together with the guys and we’d skate the ledges over by the middle school.
    I was lost in these thoughts when a squirrel jumped over my legs. I screamed. This was not my bedroom. I wouldn’t be going skating today. I was in the woods. It wasn’t a dream.
    There was no sound of helicopters waiting to take us home. There were no friendly rescuers with food and water and clean clothes for us. No news media to interview us about the ordeal we had been through. There were just the six of us lying in the dirt in the middle of the forest. David was already awake, fussing off to the side of our little campsite with some sticks. The others were opening their eyes and stretching, probably only awake because I screamed. Julia got up and hobbled around despite the splint on her leg.
    “Zimmerman, you scared him away!” David complained. “I was gonna eat that squirrel for breakfast.”
    “What are you doing?” I asked David.
    “I call it the Deathtrap,” he said. “I dug this hole in the ground and covered it with leaves. If an animal runs over the leaves he falls in. There are even sharp sticks at the bottom to stab him.”
    “That’s lovely,” I said. The thought of killing and eating a squirrel for breakfast made me feel sick to my stomach.
    “Any sign of a plane or rescue team?” asked Arcadia as she got up and brushed the dust and twigs from her flight attendant’s uniform.
    “No,” David said, “and I’ve been up for over an hour. Arcadia, grab some of those branches from that tree, will you? We need to build some kind of a shelter. Henry, maybe you can see if there’s a brook or stream or source of water nearby. And Julia, why don’t you and Jimmy look around for nuts or