Read Apollo and Val: #5.5 (Luna Lodge Book 0) for Free Online

It didn’t match anything he’d ever heard before. It was like running water but rougher, deeper.
    The ground shifted a little, and he sat up quickly.
    “What’s going—” Val said, yawning.
    “Get up,” he shouted and shoved them both to their feet. He grabbed their packs quickly and moved outside to assess the situation.
    Val shot up.
    Without a word they scrambled out from under the rock. Apollo pulled her back as it shifted slightly and sunk in.
    “What the fuck?” Val whispered.
    Her words gave his own thoughts life.
    “Run,” he said, looking up the hill they had been resting on.
    The land at the top shifted slightly just as the rock they had slept under had done. Slowly, the side of the large hill was making its way down to them. Gravity would speed it up sooner than later.
    Apollo grabbed her hand and pulled her along behind him.
    “Back to camp,” he said quickly and slung the two packs over his shoulder.
    They rushed down the hill diagonally, keeping just ahead of the landslide.
    The damp air hung around them as they ran, and he was already regretting the trip. The humidity alone would make it hard for them to walk, let alone run. It didn’t help that the rain had brought out all the bugs hiding the day before. Swarms of them hung over puddles.
    Apollo came to an abrupt stop.
    “I don’t remember this being here,” Val said from behind him.
    “It wasn’t.”
    The once small trickle had turned into a raging river. A tree swept down the channel and bounced around the rough waters. Apollo had heard of flash flooding, but this was more than he could have ever imagined.
    He watched as parts of the land encasing the water broke off and rushed away in the muddy water. They couldn’t stay there, or the very ground they stood on might disappear into the rapid current. He was confident that he could make it out fine if they slipped in, but it wasn’t likely that Val could.
    She was small, and a current that fast would push her under like she was nothing. That is, if she wasn’t slammed against something else. At that speed, broken bones would be the least of her problems.
    His stomach tightened at the thought. Apollo turned and looked back up the giant hill. The land was still slowly slipping down. The best thing they could do was follow the water and get as far away from the hill as they could. Once they were, he’d be able to assess the situation.
     
    Her feet sank into the ground as she walked and made loud sucking noises with each step. Val hadn’t been too excited about the tough boots they had given her, but she was glad for them now. They came up to just past her ankle and protected against the soft, slippery mud.
    “We’ll take a break in a minute and radio Sol our position,” Apollo said.
    They had been walking at a brisk pace for some time. The focus of getting out of the landslide had taken over all her thoughts, but now that the threat seemed to have passed, she felt the burn of dehydration and hunger setting in. Getting sick yesterday had been rough on her, and she’d still not had time to replenish.
    She looked up to the sky, but the dense canopy made it hard to see the clouds above. By the rumble in her stomach, she knew it must be close to midday. It was almost amazing they had been able to nearly sleep through the night.
    A clearing came into view, and sun streamed into the wet grassy area. Apollo stopped near a rock sticking out of the ground and gestured for her to have a seat.
    “Take a break,” he said and touched the button on his earpiece.
    Val sat on the rock and pulled a few things from her pack. She watched as he called the others and swatted at the bugs that had followed them. With all the loud birds around them, she would have thought it would have been a bug buffet.
    “We had to move,” he said and stared out at the jungle around them.
    She pulled out a meal bar and took a long drink off her water. Val wondered if Sol was angry with them for staying out all