Monstrum Read Online Free PDF Page B

the splash of that foul water, praying, pounding, as though someone, somewhere, is trying to open a door.
    â€œJesus, please,” shrieks a voice from the back. “Don’t let me die like this. Don’t let me—”
    â€œMami!” It’s Espi, her voice raw and shrill. “Help me, Mami!”
    â€œEsperanza.” Her mother’s voice is calm and controlled amid the chaos. “I’m coming. You hang on for me, okay?”
    â€œMami!” Espi is choked with sobs. I wonder if she is capable of absorbing her mother’s instructions.
“Mami!”
    â€œEspi!” I shout when her despair overwhelms my ears. Fumbling my hand through the space between the seats, I reach for her shoulder and squeeze it. She’s shaking like she’s been clamped inside one of those paint mixing machines at the hardware store. “Mami’s coming, okay? Right now I need you to get unbuckled and stand up so we can get out of here. I’m not trying to do a
Titanic
and sink to the bottom of the ocean, okay?
Espi!
”
    â€œOkay,” she says weakly, and I feel her body shudder and tighten as she begins to move.
    â€œOkay.”
    â€œMacy?” I say.
    A moan answers me. She’s either shocked or has an injury of some sort.
    â€œEspi!” I bark, and the words come out of me as though I’ve had a long and distinguished career as a drill sergeant. “Get Macy, okay? You’re in charge of her. That’s your job. Okay?”
    â€œOkay,” Espi answers.
    â€œGet out of the way!” someone else shouts, and the mass of bodies in the aisle surges, as though a full-fledged stampede is one misplaced elbow away from becoming a reality. “You have to move! You have to move!”
    The plane tips to the left, setting off a new wave of hysteria. It’s unsteady, rising and falling with the ocean’s tempo and doing a very poor job of impersonating a boat.
    Inside me, the repressed panic inches higher. My mouth is open, sucking at the air, but none of it makes its way into my lungs. Maybe that’s a good thing, though. Lack of air is the only thing keeping me from shrieking.
    And the water is now up to my knees.
    â€œMove, people!” I shout at these faceless fools, losing control and nudging at one of the bodies blocking me. “It’s not that hard! Haven’t we all been trained to walk calmly and quietly in single file since we were in kindergarten?”
    â€œBria!” calls a male voice that sounds like it’s not too far away.
    Oh, thank God. “Gray?” I answer.
    â€œHang on. I’m coming.”
    â€œWhere’s Carter?”
    â€œHere,” Carter says.
    The plane tips again with an ominous creaking of metal, as though something important, like the entire fuselage, is about to give way. I am desperately considering our options and wondering whether we have enough room to climb over the seat and into Espi, Macy and Sammy’s row, where the exits are, when something wonderful happens.
    â€œHey!” someone in the aisle yells. “There’re more exits in the back! Let’s try one of those! Come on! Come on!”
    And a big chunk of the group breaks away. Like lemmings, they hurry toward the rear of the plane, opening up just the space I need to work my way into the aisle, with Maggie and An right behind me.
    Someone grabs my arm with the unyielding force of a manacle and yanks me forward.
    â€œThis way,” Gray says.
    I reflexively reach back for Maggie’s hand and tug her along with me.
    â€œGet An,” I tell her. “Don’t let go.”
    â€œI won’t,” Maggie says.
    â€œWait!” I cry, a snippet of safety info coming back to me just in time. “We need our seat cushions. Grab one! Maggie, An—grab them!”
    We all fumble for the cushions and I keep a hand on Espi’s seat back so we don’t somehow lose our place and get lost in the bowels