Chapter Twenty-One #2
The bridge swayed. The front tire of the CRV lurched over the rail. Sassy’s car shifted. Nick gripped the roof of the Durango, planted his foot on the bumper and climbed. The frame groaned and metal shrieked as the dually shouldered heavily into the passenger side.
This chain reaction could only end in disaster. Nick had to get Sassy out immediately. Through the sunroof, he pointed to the right side of the back seat, then showed her how to cover her head.
She nodded and got into position.
Nick clipped the flashlight on his belt.
With both hands, Nick used every ounce of strength he had to bring the chunk of asphalt down into the center of the sunroof.
A crack spider-webbed outward. He brought the chunk down in the same spot and felt the glass give way.
It trickled into the cab below. He kicked away the sharp remnants around the edges before getting down on his hands and knees and peering into the back seat. “You okay?”
“I’m okay!” she answered.
He reached inside. “Take my hand!”
The bridge lurched. He grabbed the edges of the empty sunroof to stop his momentum. The Honda’s headlights were now shining on the water beneath, seconds from going over.
“Nick!” Sassy cried.
He reached into the cab again. “Grab on, Sassy!”
Her fingers slipped over his. It took a moment to get a decent grip. He dropped the rock and wrapped his other hand over hers. “Watch your head!” he insisted, tugging.
Her head and shoulders emerged first. There was a cut on her temple that bled down the side of her face. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her the rest of the way out.
Sobs racked her throat, but he had no time to hold her. They had to find a way out of this situation quickly. “Don’t let go of my hand!” he told her as the rain beat down around them.
“Okay,” she agreed, nodding quickly to show she understood.
“Can you walk?”
“I can walk.”
“Good. Stay close. If the bridge shifts again, grab onto me,” he instructed.
“I can do that,” she agreed.
Carefully, they backtracked over the roof. The lights from the emergency vehicles lit the scene before them. Every vehicle had ricocheted into the weak support of the left rail. The supports underneath wouldn’t be able to hold the combined weight of the cars for much longer.
As Nick shined his flashlight on the pavement, his feet came to a halt. The slope from the embankment had crumbled more, leaving a five-foot gap. He could see Ryan, Perez and others on the embankment, watching the scene play out. They couldn’t get across.
He turned back to Sassy. Rain had washed away the blood on her face and plastered her hair to her cheeks. She looked to him for an answer, her hand locked firmly in his. “What do we do, Nick?”
He eyed the fall to the river. Branches and debris had been swept up in the current. He remembered the flood-waters that had killed his father. The situation was so similar, it raised the fine hairs on the back of his neck.
Nick turned to Sassy and took both of her hands in his. “Listen. You remember that summer after high school when we went crazy and decided white-water rafting was something we should do?”
She squinted at him. “What does that have to do with—”
“We both got tossed from the raft and swept downriver,” he said. “We stuck together and made it out.”
Realization dawned. Horror struck her face. “Nick. You’re not thinking—”
“We can make it,” he insisted.
“We don’t have life preservers,” she pointed out. “This isn’t an excursion. This is our lives.”
“I’m aware of that,” he said, wrapping his fingers around her wrists and bringing her closer.
“If I had any other way of getting you out of this, trust me, I’d take it in a heartbeat.
But it may be our only chance, and we have to take it before the bridge goes out from underneath us. Are you with me?”
Her eyes milled between his before circling his face. “You won’t let go?”
“Not for a second,” he pledged. He kissed her brow. “We’re good swimmers.” He pointed downriver. “The river flows to the right. We’ll make for the bank there.”
She nodded, the muscles of her face firming in determination. “Got it.”
There was a break between cars where the rail remained. Nick tested it with his boot. When it didn’t give, he drew Sassy close to his side. “Hold on tight,” he said. “We’ll make it, all right?”
“I said I’d never white-water raft again,” she stated, “but let’s do it.”
“On three.” Nick counted it off. They launched themselves over the rail, jumping as far out as possible to prevent hitting any broken sections of bridge or vehicles directly underneath.
The surge swept them up in watery arms. Nick felt Sassy’s fingers slip from his grasp as it closed over their heads. He kicked for the surface, reaching for her frantically. “Sassy!”
“Nick!”
The strangled shout was downstream. She’d already been pulled away.
“Head for the bank!” he called, kicking toward the sound of her voice. He couldn’t see. Where was she?
Flashing lights from the shore blinded him.
The current pulled and tugged. The swollen river threatened to close over him again.
He was a breath away from becoming entombed in its shifting, wet heart.
Blindly, he groped for something, anything, to keep from being pulled like a rag doll into the depths.
He grasped something soft. Fabric. Wrapping his hand up in it, he pulled it toward him.
Sassy gasped as she reached the surface. She sputtered and coughed. “N-Nick?”
“Here,” he rasped. “I need you to swim.”
“Something rolled over my head. A tree, maybe?”
He didn’t like the lethargy he heard in her voice. “Just keep kicking for me, okay? The bank’s just ahead.”
“Nick…”
“Stay with me, Sassy,” he said, tugging her along in what he hoped was the right direction. “Fight with me.”
Her attempts to do so weakened with every moment they were in the water. Nick began to think they’d missed the bank and wouldn’t be able to fight their way back to it. Exhaustion settled in his limbs like weights, making him that much more sinkable.
He couldn’t let go of her and watch her slip away from him, as his father had done in Dark Canyon Wilderness years ago. It was his worst fears come to life.
A searchlight flashed over them like a strobe before it settled on their entangled forms. Shadows passed in front of it. Nick felt arms close around him. His arm torqued, trying to hold on to Sassy. “Her first,” he gritted.
A bright orange inflated ring splashed into the water before him. “Grab on!” a voice shouted from overhead.
“Sassy,” Nick said, working to keep his chin above the water level. He couldn’t keep kicking. His legs were killing him. “Take the ring.”
Her hand slid over the side of the ring and away. She tried again, making contact.
“Hold on,” Nick told her. “They’re going to pull you in.”
She was too tired to protest. Using a rope, the people onboard the rescue boat tugged her toward the starboard side while the rescue diver stayed with Nick, buoying him by locking his arms around Nick’s middle so his head stayed above water.
Two people maneuvered Sassy until her body was over the gunwale and safely inside the boat.
“Your turn, big dog.”
The familiarity of the voice finally penetrated Nick’s adrenaline-fueled mind. “Tony?”
Tony gave him a solid pat on the chest. “I can do more than dish up hot wings, and you’ve had more than enough heroics for one day. Let me take over.”
“Gladly,” Nick said and let Tony use the rope attached to him to bring them closer to the rescue boat.
“In you go,” Tony said.
Nick grabbed onto the lip of the gunwale. Hands were instantly there. They took him by the wrists, helping him drag himself out of the floodwaters.
Nick collapsed on deck, relieved to find Sassy already there beside him. He fought for air and rolled toward her, sweeping the hair from her face. “Still with me?” he asked faintly.
“Mmm-hmm,” she managed. She shivered violently and turned her face into his throat, burrowing into him for warmth.
He held her close, realizing that head-to-toe shivers had taken him over as well. He ran his hands over her for friction and heat as the river tossed the boat and the captain fought the waves.
Blankets were thrown over them. “This’ll keep you warm till we get you two to the hospital.”
“T-Tony?” Sassy said, squinting for the person behind the voice.
“Surprised, Colton?” he asked, tucking the blankets in around her for good measure.
“I—I think we’re ready for those h-hot wings now,” Nick quipped.
Tony laughed, patting them both on the back. His hand moved in circles, doing his best to generate heat for them. “There’ll be a wait on those, folks.”
“N…no…problem,” Sassy murmured through chattering teeth.
The searchlights cast everything around them in stark detail. Nick’s focus narrowed on Sassy until the boat bumped against the bank and they were transferred into the waiting arms of paramedics on shore.