1 . Trinidad State Beach, Northern California. About 50 feet from shore, two brothers were fighting for their ______. They had been swept out to sea in a rapid current, their mouths ______ able to stay above the water.

______, four surfers in wet suits were nearby. Weibel, Stratton, and York, all 16, along with Ortiz-Beck, 15, were on their surfboards when they heard the ______. “We looked at each other and knew these guys were about to ______,” Weibel told The Washington Post. York headed to the ______ to find someone to call 911 while the others paddled their boards toward the ______ swimmers.

As the surfers drew close, the brothers were struggling. “It was pretty ______, but there wasn’t any time to think about it,” Ortiz-Beck says. He ______ alongside the younger brother. Grabbing him under his arms, he ______ him up onto his board. Stratton and Weibel, ______, were trying hard to help the older brother. He was large, 250 to 300 pounds, and he was ______. “We told him, ‘Calm down — we got you!’” says Weibel. “He feared he was going to die.” However, York arrived ______ to help get the older brother on the second board.

“When we come across a(n) ______ like this one, it’s usually too late by the time we get there,” says Dillon Cleavenger, a rescue worker. “The four boys were willing and prepared to ______ their lives. I can’t say enough about what they did. ”