“It’s very important that you follow my directions. I’m going to position us back on our backs. <b>That’s </b>the easiest way for us to float so we can kick our way to the shore. I need your help getting you in a good position. You need toy on your back with your heads on my shoulders. You’re going <b>to </b><by </b><b>on </b>my arms while my hands support your bottoms. When I tell you we need to kick together otherwise


    we will only go in a circle. Do you understand what I need from?”


    I’m wheezing hard during my exnation and it doesn’t go unnoticed.


    “Are you okay, Cole? You don’t sound good.”


    “I’m okay, Maddie. We can’t stop sweetpea. Stopping will kill us.”


    Her eyes are wide with fear but I refuse to lie about the situation that we’re in. Madilyn screams <b>as </b>


    thunder booms close enough to shake the walls of the cave. This storm is way too close for us to be


    in the water.


    I work with the girls to get them in the position that I need. I start kicking first followed quickly by


    the girls. They sync their movements effortlessly and despite their inefficiency their valiant effort


    added the speed and floatation we needed to the situation.


    Just as we’re all tiring from our ordeal my feet scrape the bottom telling me the shore is near.


    “Grab my hands.” I direct them as I find my footing and stand up out of the water.


    I find that it’s up to my abs but seems to be quickly getting shallow the more I walk. It takes a great


    effort to get my legs to work while dragging two little girls through the water. I’m grateful when Madisyn realizes she can stand and walk, relieving the agonizing pain pulling her through the water


    is causing my broken arm.


    Even though I don’t let go of her hand, supporting her own weight is a huge relief that is soon


    followed by Madilyn making the same valiant effort.


    We all clear the water by several feet before I copse to my knees, wheezing hard from the ordeal


    that I know is far from over. It’s during this momentary break that my adrenaline drops enough to


    give me the warning I don’t want to feel<b>, </b>my arm and head are both screaming and I know I don’t


    have a lot of time to get all of us to safety.


    to


    “Girls, I need your help getting my coat off<b>. </b>My right arm is broken so I need you to start on the


    left.”


    I’mpletely lost as to how I managed to save them from the river and even more lost as to how to get them home. Madisyn finishes unzipping my coat as Madilyn gently tugs my left sleeve free. I use my left to gingerly remove the sleeve from my right revealing a revolting scene. My arm is twice


    its normal size from just below my elbow down to my fingers. My exam of my own arm stops at my wrist, which is misaligned in such a way that my arm is shorter than it should be.


    “Fuck.”


    I can’t help but whisper as Madisyn bursts into tears. Before I can even ask she’s apologizing through the hups of her tears as she realizes that was the hand she was holding as I dragged them through the water. I pull her gently into me, holding her until she calms.


    I sigh hard as I mentally curse the severity of thiste May storm pounding thend. I get the girls to help me create a sling for my arm and after a few adjustments, force myself off the ground with a wheezed groan. I hate the idea of leaving the safety of the cave where we are at least dry and protected from the lightning but I know I’m not far from cking out from the pain or even slipping into unconsciousness due to the violent double hit I took to my head. I’ll be lucky if my skull isn’t


    broken as well.


    I scan my surroundings again, standing and being out of the water giving me a different perspective


    as I search for any light source that could possibly lead us out.


    It takes several minutes for my eyes tond upon a well worn trail leading away from theke we


    were in.


    “This way.” I announce quietly knowing that they are beyond scared and the pain that my own words echoing off the cave walls would create.


    I amp myself up the best I can thinking of all the things I will have to go through to remove myself from the pack that was never my family. I have to stay strong. I can’t let them know how afraid I am, afraid of my own failure. Afraid that after I saved them from the painful, rtively quick death of drowning they now may be faced with the painfully slow one of dehydration and hypothermia.


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