Another novel excerpt, aptly titled
'Storm'

She was halfway across the ravine when the storm broke.
She should've known better, after a week of scathing heat she should've expected it.
But she hadn't been paying enough attention, and now the rain pelted down in torrents, soaking straight to her skin and drenching her pack.
She needed to find shelter, and fast. Lightning flashed, and she jumped, blinking furiously as she tried to readjust her eyes to the darkness and see through the pelting drops.
Readjusting her pack, tucking her cloak tighter around her body, she tried to scale up the edge of the ravine faster, her feet slipping as the muddy side of the empty riverbank gave way. Make that once empty, for a river was once more beginning to form between the cut of the landscape.
Crash. The thunder startled her off balance; she lost one of her boots in the mud. The rain poured harder. She looked back over her shoulder - the river was quickly gaining on her. The realization sunk in: FLASH FLOOD. She had to get out of the ravine, NOW.
She bit her lip in an attempt to keep panic at bay; her heart beating heavily. Her hands clawed at the muddy riverside, plants that she grabbed in her hand released their hold on the soil; she tumbled backwards into the raging water.
She struggled up to the surface, vainly trying to cough out the water in her lungs before she was dragged under the tormented water again.
Her pack. It was too heavy. Now completely waterlogged, it dragged her to the bottom, kept her from reaching the surface of the water which contained the air she now so badly needed.
She released herself from its deathly weight, pushed herself to the surface as the last of her oxygen expired; gasped in a sweet mouthful of air before the current swept her away again.
It dragged her down the river, over rocks and smashing her into deadfall that had washed into the ravine by the powerful rain. Something hit her in the head, and her mind reeled. Releasing her pack was not enough; it had given her oxygen, but it could not keep her afloat.
She splashed wildly in the water, using the last of her will to stay alive, praying her strength wouldn't run out before this ordeal was over; before she'd had the chance to truly be alive.
And then she lost consciousness.