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her bucket before time was up, but it was a sobering moment for everyone. She could have really gotten hurt. By now, the path was wet from the earlier heats and was starting to turn into slippery mud. It wasn’t inconceivable that someone could come around the corner and slip and fall into the river. It wouldn’t be deadly, the river wasn’t that deep, and wasn’t moving very swiftly. There also weren’t many rocks around the side of the river, but it certainly wouldn’t be a pleasant fall.
    It was heat four’s turn. Sam, Jennie, and Courtnee were racing down the path toward the bucket. Sam suddenly understood why the women were all wet when they came back with their fish. The bucket was filled to the rim with water and was about three and a half feet tall. In order to reach the fish that were “camped out” at the bottom, you had to lean all the way in and put your head under the water in order to reach the fish. Jennie was the first to arrive at the bucket.
    She soon had her first fish and was heading back to the pail to deposit it. Courtnee was next and she also came up with her first fish and was off and running. Sam was in no hurry to get her fish and head back. She stood there, looking down at the fish in the barrel. It was actually kinda sad. She knew that fish were killed every day, but this was different, these fish weren’t going to be eaten, they were being killed for a stupid TV show.
    Slowly, Sam took a deep breath and reached in and grabbed one of the fish. It was surprisingly heavy and very slippery. She heard Jennie running back up the path for her second fish. Sam headed down the path toward her pail. She didn’t want it to look like she was deliberately not trying to win, but this was ridiculous. She put her fish in the pail. Then she picked up the pail and walked toward the river. She bent down and filled it with water, then carried it back to the clearing. If she was going to have to collect these fish, she was going to keep them alive until the ten minutes were over and then she was going to set them free into the river again.
    After about eight minutes, most of the fish had been collected. Jennie and Courtnee were neck and neck in the fish department. There were two fish left in the barrel. Sam retrieved one of them and was headed back down the path toward her pail when Jennie and Courtnee came running up the path. They were both determined that they were going to get that last fish. Whoever got it would be the heat winner with eight. As it happened, Sam, Courtnee, and Jennie reached the bend in the path at the same time. Sam couldn’t move out of the way fast enough and when Jennie brushed past her on her way to the barrel Sam lost her balance and slipped down that same slope that Kimmie almost went down. But this time, Sam went sliding into the river.
    It’s cold, was Sam’s first thought as she went under. The water wasn’t very deep, maybe about four and a half feet, but it was freezing. Sam looked up at the path and saw Kina pointing her camera down at her. Great, just great, I know this is going to make the show. Since the fish she’d been carrying was long gone, having been dropped as she tumbled into the river, Sam looked up at the bank and tried to climb up. She figured out pretty quickly that she wasn’t going to be able to get back up to the path the way she’d come. It was pretty steep and covered with mud and rocks. Sam knew there were rocks under the mud because she could feel her side throbbing. She’d obviously scraped herself on those rocks on her way down. In order to get out of the river she’d have to go upstream and see if she could make her way back to the clearing and climb out that way.
    She heard Jennie and Courtnee go running back down the path making enough noise to wake the dead. It sounded like Jennie had retrieved the last fish because Courtnee was bitching that Jennie had cheated as she followed her down the path toward their pails. They didn’t even