Disclaimer: Not mine, no copyright intended.
Connor had a huge grin on his face, despite the fact it had been raining non-stop for the best part of 10 days. Most of the town was flooded, and unless you had a boat, you were confined to your home. As government employees, Connor had been delighted to discover that he and Abby could apply for help with transportation. He had hoped for a nice high powered speed boat, and had been a little disappointed when their two man inflatable with a small outboard motor arrived. However, it proved quite fast, and he looked for any excuse to go out in it.
Abby sighed. Connor's driving led a lot to be desired at the best of times, and she would have preferred to have taken charge. He had insisted that they at least took turns as both their names were on the paperwork, and today it was his turn. They were the only ones on their street with the means to get about, so they went out several times a day to check their neighbours were OK and to get much needed supplies from the shops and so on.
As they approached the road leading out of town, Abby could have sworn she heard something. "Did you hear that?" Abby's hearing had always been finely tuned, she'd had to listen for the approaching footsteps of her drunken mother as a child. "Stop the engine, Connor." She said. Once the engine was silenced, they could both hear something, or someone, crying. "It sounds like a child, Connor. Where's it coming from?"
"Over there, I think." Connor said. He took the boat towards a sort of bridge where the road ran parallel to the river below. This part of the road was above the water line, so they were able to get out and onto the bridge itself. "It's coming from below." Connor leaned over the railings to get a better look. Below the bridge was a metal grill covering a hole in the wall.
"It's one of those overflow drain outlets." Abby said. "The water drains from the streets into it and out into the river." The crying was definitely coming from down there.
"Hello?" Connor called.
"I want my mummy!" came the response.
Connor leaned over further. "I think there's a kid trapped inside, Abby!" he said. Abby was already on her mobile, calling the emergency services. Connor listened as she was obviously being told it could take a while for someone to get there. He had to do something, and quick. He climbed over the railing and lowered himself down onto a small ledge just by the grill.
"Connor! What are you doing?" Abby yelled.
"I'm not standing around waiting for the fire brigade, Abby." He was edging along the ledge.
"Be careful." Abby knew there was little point in trying to stop him. In situations like this, Connor never gave a thought for his own safety, he just got stuck in and did what he could to help. It wasn't showing off, it was just who Connor was. She wished the boat had been better equipped, she'd have felt happier if he'd got a rope tied to him that she could fasten to the railings. If he was to lose his footing, he'd fall straight into the fast flowing river below. His life jacket wouldn't be much help if that happened. All she could was watch and hope the fire brigade would not be too much longer.
By now, Connor was at the grill and could see inside. The child, a small boy, was sat on a slightly raised ledge inside, fast flowing water below him pouring out of the grill into the river.
"Hiya little fella! I'm Connor, what's your name?"
"Sam. I want my mummy!"
"Don't worry, I'm going to get you out and then we'll find her eh?" Connor said. He began pulling at the metal, feeling it give a little. It was pretty rusty, and he hoped that with a little more force, he'd be able to make a hole big enough for him to get through. Connor shifted along a little more and could get a better view of Sam. At a guess, he'd be no more than five or six years old and he was soaked through to the skin. He was shivering and obviously very frightened. He must have been trapped there for some time.
Connor pulled and bashed the grill, and within a few minutes he had managed to make a hole that he could squeeze through. The water was flowing quite fast, and it almost swept him off his feet as he tried to make his way over to the ledge where Sam was. He looked up. Sam must have been swept off the street and sucked through into the drain. It was pure luck that he had ended up on the ledge, he could so easily have been thrown against the metal grid and broken through it into the river.
"OK, Sam. Are you ready? We just need to go through that hole and it's a little climb up onto the bridge. My friend is up there and she'll help us get back up." Connor held out his arms. Sam shook his head.
"What's wrong?"
"My mummy said I shouldn't go with strangers."
Connor groaned. "Your mummy is absolutely right, she'd be proud of you for remembering that. But if you don't come with me, you'll be stuck here." Sam would not budge, in fact he backed further away. Connor was desperate, how did he persuade this frightened little boy to trust him? "Abby, my friend, she's called the police and the fire brigade to come and help us. Would I let her do that if I was a bad man?"
Sam shook his head and seemed to relax a little. Connor took off his life jacket and put it on Sam. "Ready to go now?"
"I'm scared." Sam said, sobbing a little.
Connor needed to take his mind off things a little and gain his trust. "Do you like dinosaurs?" he said. Sam smiled at him and nodded. "Cool. I'm a scientist, I study dinosaurs."
"Like Jurassic Park?" Sam said. Connor winced, and resisted the urge to start off on one his rants.
"Yeah, sort of like Jurassic Park. And Abby is a zookeeper, she looks after the lizards at the zoo."
"Lizards are like dinosaurs, they're related." Sam said. Connor breathed a sigh of relief. Sam seemed calmer now, it was working.
"That's right. When all this rain has gone, perhaps you could go to the zoo and Abby will show you round the reptile house. She might even let you help her feed them." Connor hoped Abby would pull that one off for him, she did owe him a favour or two. "Shall we make a move now?" Sam nodded.
Connor slid off the ledge and turned to lift Sam off. Suddenly, there was a loud crash as several large branches and other junk came hurtling towards them. Connor just managed to leap back onto the ledge in time. The junk wedged itself against the grid, blocking the hole Connor had made. More debris followed and the grid was completely blocked, plunging the outlet into darkness.
-O-
Abby had heard the crash and feared the worst. She leaned over the railings and could see that the hole had been blocked. "Connor!" she yelled. "Connor!"
"We're OK, Abby." She heard him shout back. She let out a sigh of relief. "Although, can you find out how long the fire brigade are going to be? That junk is blocking the outlet and the water can't get out." There was a slight air of panic in his voice, and Abby could sense he was holding back just how scared he was for the sake of the little boy. She rang 999 again.
"I'm sorry, but we do have an unusual volume of calls at the moment, and the units are struggling to get out to people. They will get there as soon as they can."
"You don't understand! They're trapped and it's filling with water!" Abby was getting angry and frustrated. She cut the call off in anger and decided she had to take matters into her own hands. She knew exactly how Connor must be feeling right now, she had been in a very similar situation herself not so long ago when the Mer creature had taken her. The only thing that kept her sane was knowing that Cutter, Stephen and Connor would be looking for her, and that they would help her. Connor needed to know she was there for him and that help was on its way.
She climbed over the railings and dropped down onto the ledge. The rushing water of the river below her made her feel slightly dizzy, and she had to grip onto the wall and catch her breath for a moment before shuffling along the ledge towards the grill.
"Connor?" she called.
"Abby? What are you doing?" Connor called back.
"Maybe I can move some of this rubbish from this side." She began pulling at a large branch, but it was pretty firmly wedged. She had little room to move, otherwise she'd have tried kicking it. "Are you pushing from your side?"
"Yes, but its not easy. The water is up past my knees." Connor said. He was getting very frustrated and concerned. The water level was rising rapidly, within fifteen minutes this place would be completely filled and both he and Sam would drown. He was also extremely cold, his feet numb and he was shivering. "Abby? Is anything moving at all?"
"No. This is hopeless Connor. We need more help, someone with ropes and tools." Abby could hear the fear in her own voice and tried to take a deep breath, if she panicked now she would be no use to Connor at all.
"Go and find someone, there were houses just a little way back." He said.
"I'm not leaving you, Connor!" Abby sobbed.
"You have to, Abs! Please! This water is rising all the time." His throat felt tight as he spoke, and hearing Abby's sobs tugged straight at his heart and stomach.
"Are we going to die, Connor?" Sam's little voice said. He was sat curled up into a ball on the ledge, just above the water level.
"I won't let anything happen to you, mate." He said. "Abby, please. You have to leave us and get more help."
She pulled herself together. He was right. It was pointless just standing there trying to do this on her own. "OK, I'll be back as soon as I can. I promise." She took a deep breath. "Connor, I …" she stopped herself. This was not the time. She shuffled back along the ledge and pulled herself back up onto the bridge. The nearest houses were on the dry part of the road thankfully, and she ran towards them.
-O-
Connor was now really struggling with the cold. The water was up past his waist, and he couldn't feel the bottom half of his body at all. He shook and pushed at the rubbish again, letting out a cry of anger and frustration, before turning to Sam. "The fire brigade will be here in a minute. We'll be OK." He wasn't sure who he was trying to convince.
"Connor!" Sam began to cry. Connor sat on the ledge next to him and allowed Sam to climb onto his knee. He wrapped his arms around the terrified boy, whilst fighting his own tears. He couldn't get any higher, and he estimated it would only be a few more minutes before they ran out of air. He closed his eyes, thinking of all the things he wished he'd said and done, whilst holding as tight as he could to Sam. His thoughts were mostly about Abby, and he wished he hadn't been such a coward after he'd finally said that he loved her. If he died now, she'd never really know for certain how he felt.
"Connor?" Abby's voice broke his thoughts. "Are you OK?"
"Yes, just about! Up to our necks in it, almost literally, but apart from that…" he said, trying to sound upbeat.
"I've got help. We're going to try and make a hole for the water to escape." She said. Connor could hear several voices, followed by banging and what sounded like sawing. It was a beautiful sound. The nightmare was almost over. He shifted position to hold Sam up as high out of the water as possible, his own body almost completely numb with the cold now.
"There's water coming through!" one of other voices called. "Keep working at this spot." Connor could have kissed whoever that was! The water was still coming in, but at least some was going out now so the level wouldn't rise further. His arms ached, but he refused to let Sam drop deeper into the water.
"Hang in there mate, almost there. The fire brigade are just pulling up now" came another voice.
"Thank you, thank you!" Connor muttered through his chattering teeth. Moments later, there were sounds of activity, banging, sawing and men shouting to each other.
"OK, Connor. We're going to pull away the debris. The water will rush out, so you'll need to hold on tight to stop yourselves from being swept out into the river." A male voice said. It was relief to hear someone sounding so confident.
"This is it, Sam. Hold on to me as tight as you can." Connor said. He felt the little boy's arms grip around his neck tightly, then braced himself against the wall. He wasn't sure how strong he was, his body was too numb. He just had to hope for the best. "We're ready!" he shouted.
There was a loud bang, and most of the debris fell away. The water began to gush out. If he wasn't so cold and numb, he'd have cheered. The next few minutes were a blur as the cold finally took its toll on him. He remembered passing Sam to a fireman, and someone putting their arm around him to help him climb back up to the bridge. Hands grabbed his, and he was pulled up the last few metres. A paramedic came over and wrapped a foil blanket around him, and led him to the back of an ambulance.
"Connor!" Abby was at his side in an instant, wrapping her arms around him. She looked at him. His lips were blue and the usual warmth she felt when she hugged him wasn't there. "You're freezing, we should get you home and out of those wet clothes."
The paramedic was behind them. "You should really go to the hospital and get checked over. Hypothermia can be dangerous."
"I'm OK. Don't want a fuss." Connor said, his voice almost non-existent.
"Just take it easy, get dried off and warm up slowly. Some nice warm blankets, a mug of tea and a few hugs from your favourite girl should do it." The paramedic said with a wink, leaving him and Abby sitting on the back step of the ambulance.
Abby grasped Connor's hand. "You did good today. A real hero."
Connor shook his head. "I only did what anyone else would have done. Where's Sam? Is he OK?"
"They took him to the hospital. His mum reported him missing two hours ago, she's on her way there now." Abby said. They sat in silence for a few minutes, Abby's fingers entwined in Connor's. Eventually, Abby stood up, still holding his hand, and pulled him to his feet. "Let's go home, Connor."
"That sounds good, Abby. Do I get everything that the paramedic said?" he said hopefully.
Abby laughed. "I can get warm blankets and make you a nice mug of tea. Can't speak for your favourite girl though." She began to head towards the boat.
"Abby. You do know you're my favourite girl don't you?" he blushed.
Abby turned to face him. Without a word, she hugged him, holding him tight. Despite the fact he was wet through, she didn't want to let go. She suddenly felt overwhelmed and her eyes began to sting as she blinked back tears. "I thought I was going to lose you." She whispered.
"You don't get rid of me that easily!" he said, stroking her hair. He would have stayed there lost in this moment forever if it wasn't for the fact the wind was making him even colder and his body had begun to shake.
"Come on." Abby said, breaking off the hug. "You'll catch your death if we don't get you dry and warm soon."
The two climbed into their boat in silence, both thinking about how exactly Connor was going to get warm again.