Alex

Darkness and pressure surround me.

I try to move but something has my leg caught. A small hand reaches down and pulls me up. When I look to the side, I see it's the woman whose car I decided to hide in.

"Hey! You awake! We have to get out. The stream is moving the car, we have to move!"

I try to move but I'm still stuck. A large splash of water slams into the car and suddenly I can't breathe again. I wait for a long while for the water to clear, but it doesn't. Finally, after a few seconds the woman pulls me back up and I can see her crying.

"You have to help me! Tell me what to do!" She screams at me.

I try to pull my leg again, but It doesn't budge. I blink the dirty water out of my eyes and do my best to get a feel of my surroundings. Looking out the window, I see the trees flying by. The car is in the same stream that was moving slowly just a little while before. Now it's strong enough to push a car with myself and a small woman down the river. There's no massive waterfall or anything that we're going to fall off, but this stream can get very rough. There's no way that we're going to make it trapped in the car.

"You have to get out. Climb out and try to swim to shore." I order her and slip back under the water. She grabs hold of my kutte and pulls me back over the water. My weight is pushing the car down on my side. The second she gets out of the car, I'll drown. I'm going to die here today no matter what. I'll be damned if I'm responsible for her death as well.

"What? What about you?" She asks as her hands struggle to keep me up.

"You have to leave me. The river is moving too fast, and this car is just going to keep sinking." I sputter out some water that gets into my mouth.

"No! I'm not going to leave you. You jumped into my car for a reason. I'm supposed to help you." She rationalizes.

"I jumped into your car because it was open. I made a play, and it was the wrong one. You don't have to have the same fate as me. Get the fuck out of here!" I scream at her.

At that second, her hand lets go and I dunk back under the water. I can't breathe and, in a panic, I try to pull at my leg again.

She grapples for my vest and hauls me back up again. "I'm sorry, that wasn't on purpose. I can't feel my fingers." She shakes her free hand, before she grabs hold of me with that one too. "I don't care what you say. I'm not going to leave you here. Why can't you move?" She asks me. I see the desperation in her eyes and the strength behind that. There's nothing I can say that's going to get her to leave. I know that even if I don't understand why.

"My leg is either trapped or hooked on something." I try to pull futilely.

"Is it broken? Or just caught?" She yells just as another large wave splashes into the car. This time instead of bobbing back to the top the car sinks further on my side. Now she can't pull me back up and she's underwater herself. Her eyes find mine in the water and I push her away trying to force her not to die.

She's good. She's everything that's good about my death. I can't let her die along with me. She pushes herself up and her face rises above the water. Just as my body starts to give in to the lack of oxygen she pushes herself down to me and presses her lips to mine. She blows air into my mouth and goes back up for air for herself. A second later she is pulling herself down to where my leg is. I feel her trying to pull and push things where my legs are, but I can't see what she's doing. A few seconds later she goes back to the surface for more air, but I can see her struggling. Every second that the car is tossed downstream the deeper we get. She comes back down to me and breathes into my mouth before she goes up and gets more oxygen for herself. She pulls herself toward the back of the car, but I don't know what she's doing. I hate feeling so fucking helpless.

She comes back with something hard in her hand. I don't know what it is but when she pushes it towards my foot, I realize it's a hammer or mallet of some sort. She shoves it in between my leg and the part of the car that's keeping me pinned. She tries to pull but I stop her immediately. I can feel the metal, hard object pressing into my ankle. She'll break my leg before she frees me if she does it that way. I point up and she goes up for more air. She breathes into me and I start to get dizzy being underwater so long and only getting a little bit of oxygen from her. She's giving me mostly carbon monoxide. I'm going to pass out soon anyway.

She gets more air again for herself. This time when she tries to put the tool in the right space, I adjust it, so she has to push and not pull. She sits with her back to my door and uses her feet to push against the object. Slowly, I feel the warped metal moving and a few seconds later I can pull my leg out.

There's no time for celebration.

I push her to the other side so she can get air and try to follow, but the more weight I put in that direction the more the car sinks. I push towards the back where the window is busted out. She swims out and I pull myself behind her.

My head breaks the surface of the water and I suck in the sweet oxygen. I hear her squeal in fear and when I locate her, I see the current is pulling her away fast. I swim with it and grab hold of her.

"Hold onto my neck. Hold on and don't let go!" I order her and she latches onto me.

I can feel the bottom with my feet.

"Take a deep breath, I need to go under." I tell her and she complies. I take another deep breath and dive down to grab hold of the rocks and branches sticking up from the stream floor. The fixed objects make it easier for me to pull us across the width of the stream. This far down the small brook has opened into more of a rushing river. I have to come up three times before I make it to a point where I can stand and walk. She lets go of my neck and I have to hold her waist to make sure she can get the rest of the way across.

Once we get to the other side of the stream, we fall to the ground and breathe deeply. She hacks up some water a few times and part of me is concerned that she might still be drowning.

"Hey, are you okay?" I ask and roll over to her. I put a hand on her shoulder and she slaps it away.

"No! I'm not okay. I've been shot at, in a car chase, almost drowned, and almost swept away by a fucking river. Nothing about what just happened is okay! This isn't okay. Tengo miedo." She lets her head drop to her hands and cries.

This is my fault and I feel like utter shit for getting her involved in this mess. If I knew what was going to happen, I wouldn't have done it.

"Hey, you don't have to be scared. They're gone. No one here's going to hurt you now. We made it. We survived, right. I'll make sure you get a new car if that will help?" I move closer to her again and when she doesn't stop crying, I pull her to my chest. I wrap my arms around her, and she collapses against me to cry some more.

"Shhhh, no llores. We're going to be safe now. We're going to be fine." I promise her, hoping that's enough to get her to stop crying. I lean down and a muted smell of spices and fruit wafts up my nose. "You smell like good food." I say and she jerks away from me. She blinks a few times before she starts laughing.

"I can never get it out of my hair. I'm a chef."

"Makes sense. Well, chef, what's your name?" I ask her and move back slightly.

"Laura, you?"

"." I reply

"Well, , I have no idea where I am, nor do I know how I'm going to get home. What's the plan?"

Now it's my turn to laugh, "I figured the second you calmed down enough you'd be on your way."

"Nah, you seem more than capable to lead me. Let's go. I'm right here with you." She says and the words, though simple, strike a chord inside of me.

She didn't have to help me. She didn't have to stay with me in the car. Hell, she doesn't have to stay with me now, but she is. That type of trust, even if she doesn't know she has it, is humbling.

I need to get her to safety. No matter what.