AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I choked on a sob-laugh, and I knew he’d said it to make me laugh and attempt to release some of the fear that had its claws sunk into me.
“Ready?”
I inhaled three deep breaths. I nodded. “Yeah.”
He nodded once, then we dove beneath the surface.
Vic
I swam through the tunnel, using my hands to push on the walls and propel myself forward.
I blocked everything out. This was a mission. Get out or die. Simple.
It was how I’d survived. How I kept the demons away.
But there was nothing simple about holding the woman I love and knowing I was taking her to her death.
Because I knew she couldn’t hold her breath that long. The house was a good football field and a half away. Too far for anyone untrained. I’d done countless breath-holding drills in Special Forces training. I could stay under water for almost three minutes.
Macayla couldn’t.
I gritted my teeth and propelled us forward. Pushing past the demons of my brother that played with my mind. Him sinking. The darkness.
Then staring into the sewer, water spilling out of it. My brother’s body floating to the surface and hitting the grate. Eyes wide and staring. Lifeless.
No. I wouldn’t let her go. I’d never let her go. No matter what, I wasn’t letting her go.
I kicked harder. But she couldn’t keep up, and the cable tying us together grew tighter.
Fuck. Come on, baby.
I slowed my pace, but I knew her lungs were screaming for air. Her body fighting.
The next time I pushed off the wall, I was jerked back by the cable.
No. Fuck, no.
Don’t think. Do what needs to be done.
I stopped swimming and quickly reached for the cable tied to my ankle. I pulled her toward me, but I didn’t look. I couldn’t look at her. If I saw her, my world would collapse, and there’d be nothing left to fight.
I pulled her body to me and wrapped my arm around her waist. I kicked and pushed forward, using one hand on the wall. She was going to make it. I wouldn’t let her die. I couldn’t look at her, or we’d both die, and I needed to live in order to bring her back.
My lungs burned. Muscles strained.
The faint shimmer of sunlight illuminated the water and the grate twenty meters ahead.
Almost there, baby.
Suddenly there was movement in the water on the other side of the grate. A flashlight shined into the tunnel, blinding me for a second, before it dropped away. I saw two figures pulling the grate from the opening of the tunnel.
I swam harder.
The figures disappeared for a second, as if they swam to the surface to get air and then they were there again.
Fuck. It was Saint and Jaeg.
I reached the mouth of the tunnel, and they both grabbed me by the vest and jerked me and Macayla the rest of the way out and up at least ten feet to the surface of the water.
