Life as a Fish

Chapter six

Iggy and Mick stayed in the cave with Zan over night. Zan promised that he would help them find shark reef even though he doubted that it was real. When they woke up in the morning they looked at their map to find the shortest route. "What if we go through The Ghetto Getaway?" Iggy asked. "It's shorter and it's close by." "You kids know anything 'bout dat place?" Zan asked them. "No." They said in unison. "A long tunnel." Zan started. "Miles long. The roofs all gravel and its always fallin. It'll squish ya if you're not careful. And das not da only ting. You see any poor, mean, homeless fish in dat lil town of yours?" Iggy and Mick both shook their heads. Zan continued. "Das cuz dey all go to da Ghetto Getaway. We swim through dare and I wouldn't be surprised if they eat ya for dinner." Iggy and Mick looked at each other with frightened faces. "I'm not sayin we don't go. If anythin we should go. It'll save us at least a week of swimmin. It's up to you kids." They sat there in silence thinking it through. "We're tough we can do this." Mick said. "Mick! We could die!" Iggy exclaimed. "Sure we could but we could also live." Mick told her. "We could come home a week early Iggy." "Or we could not come home at all because we're dead." Iggy said still not convinced. "Well I dunno about you, but I'm going." Mick said. Why did he have to be so stubborn sometimes, Iggy thought to herself. "Fine. We'll go." Iggy said to Zan. "When do we leave?" Mick asked Zan. "Now." He answered.
They swam out of the cave and headed the opposite direction towards the Ghetto Getaway. They swam for 10 minutes until they reached it. They paused at the entrance. It was a big hole in the ground that disappeared into pitch blackness. A couple old back packs lay scattered around the mouth of the tunnel. Iggy wondered why fish would leave their backpacks there. "Kids dare each udder to stay a night in dere." Zan said answering her question. "They dont never come out." "The fish inside empty deir back packs of anythin valuable. Then they dump the packs out here." Iggy regretted coming through this way. They made it this far already and she wasn't going to turn back now. She followed Zan and Mick into the tunnel swimming right by their side. "I don't see any fish." Mick whispered. "Da fish are farther in. Probably run into them in a mile or so." Zan whispered back. They walked silently for a couple minutes dodging large clumps of gravel falling from above. They stopped suddenly when they heard the sound of metal scraping against rock. It came closer and stopped when it was about 4 feet away. Iggy could make out the shape of a fish and when she looked closer she saw a fishing hook pierced through its tail. It stared at them with an evil smirk across its face. "Hey Shanae! Come here now!" He screamed with a low raspy voice. A fish appeared behind him. This one was light purple with a piece of fishing string caught in her fin. "What is it Pax?" She said calmly with a high pitched country accent. "We've got us some guests." The fish now named Pax said grinning widely. "Hmmm. The two young ones here look quite tasty. What d'you think?" Shanae said loudly. "Ya. Which should we start with?" Iggy and Mick stood there not sure of what to do. Even Zan was clueless. They'd gotten themselves into some deep trouble and they had no idea how to get out of it.