Please. Please, Please.
And then I pushed…
And it floated open like magic.
I went dizzy for a moment, wondering if it really just did that.
Oh, fucking yes. Thank God.
I dove out into the river, pulling Winter and reaching inside and grabbing Will.
He kicked his legs, swimming out and fighting for the surface, and I followed, taking Winter’s hand off my belt but not letting go as we swam.
We all popped up to the surface, hitting the air and coughing, sputtering, and gasping for breath. The cold water stabbed like needles in my skin, but I couldn’t feel my wound at least. One pain at a time.
We needed to get out of this water. I looked around for Anderson and his partner, but there was no one. Nothing else on the surface of the river. He was under.
He was gone.
Good fucking riddance.
“Can you swim?” I asked Winter. She’d been in the pool with Will, but it wasn’t deep.
“Yeah,” she choked out. “I’ll follow you.”
I turned on my non-injured side and did the side-stroke toward the river bank, watching her behind me to make sure she could follow my sound and movement in the water.
Will swam next to me, the current pulling us, but we made good strides, and I started to feel the ground under me. My fucking body was done.
We reached the river floor, crawling out of the water and onto the bank, breathing hard and relief washing over me as I collapsed.
“Fuck, we did it,” I breathed out.
Winter grabbed my leg, pulling herself up.
“We can’t stay here,” she said, her voice shaking. “We need to… get somewhere warm.”
I rolled over, groaning at all the aches and pains, and I needed ten-thousand things right now, but I was so fucking happy they were here and we made it. Raising my head and looking up, I saw a single light through the trees and knew…
Just fucking knew.
St. Killian’s.
Damon
Present
We stumbled toward the church, freezing and covered in dirt as Will crawled up a ravine, and I followed with Winter in tow.
Jesus, it was fucking freezing.
There was no telling if my father knew we had Michael and Winter back or if anyone was on our tail, but we had to get inside and get warm.
Our breath clouded in the air as the wet clothes molded to our skin, but I stayed charged.
We were almost there.
Will hung his head, looking ready to collapse, but it was like he was possessed, almost as if he was trying to get away from something as he crawled and scurried.