Chapter 2
The truck shook and I almost fell but Jens caught me and threw me to that lady.
But then
fell.
We couldn't find him.
He didn't come up for air and-"
"Hey, hey, it's ok." Alex stifles the panicked words with a hug.
"Shh.
Breathe, baby.
Just breathe."
It takes a moment to get his heart rate under control and the exhaustion seems to be setting in. "I lost him, Dad...
We gotta find him."
No one has the heart to make that promise.
The steady bob of the ocean rocks him in his conscious limbo, half awake and half not.
Not even the distant humming can make him open his eyes, nor the voices mixed in with it.
"Turn the spotlight over there, I think I see something." The beam is blinding, even behind his eyelids, and that alone drives his hand up to shield his face.
"Oh my god, he's alive.
Hey!
We're coming, just hang in there!"
The humming turns out to be the engine of a boat and it slowly creeps behind him, both men yelling instructions back and forth.
They're calling to him with words of salvation when one of them curses loudly.
"Wait, wait, wait!" The grip on his bicep drops and the loss of that warmth makes Jens want to cry.
"Fuck, dude.
Look.
The branch."
"Oh, shit...
What do we do?"
Most of their debate hardly registers in his mind as the lull of the ocean tries to pull him under.
However, the sudden splash wakes him right up.
"JESUS, it's cold.
Ok, man, it's ok.
I got you.
Leo, shine the light down lower!
It's pitch black down here." Jens blinks his vision into somewhat of a focus, watching this stranger clasp his way along the tree truck and towards him.
"Hi.
This might suck, but I'm gonna try to cut you free, ok?
We don't have a real saw so I'm gonna use this knife.
It might take a while, so bare with me.
And try not to move, we don't want to dislodge the branch from your stomach.
Also...
I don't want to accidentally stab you."
The man--
kid,
really -- talks as he works, breathing deeply a few times as he powers through the cold.
He introduces himself as Marcus and tries to ask Jens for his name, but he couldn't even offer a gesture at this point, let alone speak.
Marcus doesn't seem to mind.
He's clearly nervous as he rambles on, Leo adding a comment every so often to ground him.
They're on summer break, just finished their first year of college as Pacific State.
He's a biomedical major, Leo's a chemist.
They want to work together to save the world someday.
When they saw what happened on the news, Leo stole his dad's boat so they could go and look for bodies, and hopefully find some survivors.
"I know how it sounds, but," Marcus huffs, taking a second to rest, "I lost my dad a couple years ago.
A storm hit his vessel and capsized the thing, so I-" A hard frown bends his lips, teeth grinding as he continues to cut.
"I know how it feels to lose someone and never have a body to bury.
To never have that physical proof that they're really gone.
So we came out here to bring as many people back to shore as we can before they sink.
Their families deserve closure."
The stretch of his vocal chords feels like rubbing sandpaper, but he wants to say something.
Anything.
Before he gets his chance, he's slipping backwards, the snap of the branch dropping him from it's grasp.
His head dips beneath the surface for just a second before someone's catching him.
"Woah, woah.
I gotcha.
We gotcha."
Leo's hand returns around his arm and he's too relieved to fight his tired eyes, letting himself drift as the boys pull him to safety.
Not a step goes by where he isn't kicking up rubble and debris, his legs leaden and arms dead.
Still, he raises his hands to his mouth and keeps moving.
"BUUUCK!" There's a harsh raspiness to the sound, his voice failing him after so many hours.
"BUUUUUCK!
WHERE ARE YOU?
ANSWER ME, P-" A violent cough strips his throat and he has to stop to breathe.
Please...
"Alex."
"The sun's coming up.
It's time to go."
"I'm not leaving without him.
BUUCCK!
BUUUUUUCK!"
"Dan is waiting for me to bring Jens
home
waiting
for someone to find him.
It doesn't have to be you." Gabe reels in his frustration.
"I'm leaving a name and description for the next crew-"
"-along with a list of Jens's medications so they know what to expect if they find him."
"And what if they miss him?
What if he's right there and they walk right past him?
What if he's dying and the medic doesn't have enough experience to save his life?
I can do it, Gabe.
I know I can!"
"You have to trust that they'll make the right call."
"NO!" His eyes go wide and he knows he's pushed too far.
He has to say it.
"This is my fault, ok?
That's why I can't leave.
I pulled Jens out of bed.
I told him to get over himself.
I pushed my own son onto him so he couldn't refuse.
This is on me!" The words tumble from his lips and he falls to the floor with them.
"If I'd just left him alone to sulk like he asked me to, he wouldn't be-"
The sob breaks from his throat without his permission and it hurts more than anything he's screamed all night.
Gabe wraps around him, holding him tight, and Alex lets himself have this, even if he doesn't deserve it.
"Listen to me," he says, and he sounds more like a father than a captain.
"I'm going to drive you home to get some sleep, then in 10 hours I will personally be back to pick you up so we can go search again.
We are not giving up on him, understand?"
He blows out a long, steadying breath.
"Yes, Cap."
Jens comes to with a gasp, the searing pain on his stomach begging to be itched.
It's only until he tries to move that he registers the tubes sliding down in his arm.