Chapter Fifty
Minus Twelve
~Earlier That Night~
The event at the Home ran on into the night. People were merry and they drank and ate happily. They talked and pondered about the great ideas that came from the anonymous survivor. He left that night just shy of eleven. Walking the New York streets in the cold and wind. He started the night with twelve cigarettes.; smoked four during the event and two as he walked around. He collected his suit jacket and two letters from his grand, beaten wooden desk by the window in the office and locked the door behind him. People wished him good-bye and good-night when he left. He was out of Lower Manhattan by one 'clock.
It was easily minus ten when he hopped over the walkway of the Brooklyn Bridge and over the road. The Bridge was silent. No cars. No people. The shoelaces on his polished shoes were untied and slipped off. Neatly, they were sat side-by-side at the railing. The rough wind lifted the laces out of the shoes and over the sidewalk. Next to come off was the vest and suit jacket with his two letters inside. They were folded with an Army precision. From his trouser pockets, he lifted out the pack of cigarettes and matches. One match left. It was struck off of the pack against the wind, hands shielding the breeze. With the cigarette lit and in his mouth, he climbed the railing and leaned back, with his arm wrapped around it for now. The cigarette melted away slowly in the gusts of icy wind and fell back onto his shirt. The city was pitch-dark. The lights glittered on either side of the bridge and reflected onto the water. It was peaceful. He was relaxed. He had no other thoughts for the world. There was no old world. Not anymore. There was nothing out there for him. The Home would survive. His workers didn't even know who he was. He was liquored up for days on end and rode the subway until he was escorted off. In perspective, the war finishing was the worst thing that could've happened to him. He had no way of connecting with Rick in Atlanta. Was he even alive? And Beth. Beth was home. With her sister. Maybe Maggie persuaded her; begged her to stay and wait for the world to be normal again. Carol, Tara, Carl. They had their lives and the people surrounding them. Daryl only found himself caring for the children in his Home. Barely for himself. He knew they were like him. Alone. Forgotten.
The butt was tossed down into the icy water below and he took a sharp inhale of breathe. His lungs were cleared, his eyes blinked. The air shook him through to the bone. His fingers were white. His hair had growing ice-crystals on the tips. It was colder. And getting lower. It was well below freezing but it barely shook him. His arms weren't outstretched and his head wasn't held high. Instead, he stepped off one foot at a time. Until nothing.
Her guitar on her back started to feel like a tonne of weight against the cold breeze as she reached the Bridge. She pulled her ha down lower and fixed her gloves, clutching to her jacket as she walked on. The walk ha been long and with the chill, she felt as though her legs were going to fall off. It had been a fun night in the bar, she was really looking forward to a deep sleep. In a dark patch of the Bridge, she stopped, admiring the work laid out. She presumed it was art. A modern revival. She swung her bag around from her side and fished out the camera she had saved. It was beautiful. She looked over the side afterwards to make sure that it was just art. It wasn't.
"Oh, my God!" She gasped. She sprinted back down the side of the bridge and took a sharp turn, climbing the barrier just by the park and running down to the sandbank where she shed her clothes in panic and fear. "HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!" Her voice was sharp and clear for all those around to pick up. She screamed again, ankles wading into the water. It was freezing. closerHer entire body was numb in seconds. It took the wind from her chest and made her pant loudly, moving deeper into the water. She fought against the strong current and swam over, her body seizing up and her bones grinding with each move closer. Before long, she was by the floating body.
She fought with the body, trying to overturn the unconscious man onto his back. She struggled against the current, one arm paddling and the other around the man's neck.
"Y'r'e not dyin'! Nobody has to die!" She told herself quietly. She gasped and breathed loudly, dragging him ashore to the sandbank by her clothes. It was dark and he was an obvious hue of blue in the dark night. She shook at his shoulders, his body was rigid and stiff. Her hands searched for a pulse anywhere she could find. Her hands were too numb to do anything. Sirens came closer and she tried to bring the water from the man's chest. His beard hid his mouth and ice was already forming around his nose and lips. Quickly, she put her lips to his, pushing air in. There was a loud gurgle and the man brought up the frosty water. Raspy breaths were drawn in but he said nothing. His eyes didn't open. Almost immediately, he fell rigid again. She panicked and screamed as best as her frozen body could for help. Shaking the man didn't work and screaming didn't make him flinch. One by one, paramedics ran down the way that she came, bags upon bags of supplies with them. They shouted orders, to get the mans clothes, to tell them her name and his name. But nothing.
Half naked, she was escorted back to the Bridge where the ambulances were parked. She refused help and ran as best as she could to the area where his clothes lay. Everything was gathered up into her arms and thrown into the ambulance where he had been moved to. She was escorted into the other ambulance and was immediately wrapped in blankets and protective sheets.
"Is he alright? That man? Is he alive?"
"He's practically frozen from the inside out. He's alive. There's a pulse." The paramedic explained, trying to warm her up.
"What's his name? Who is he?"
"We don't know. He's pretty out of it. Rambling all kinds of nonsense. Talkin' about getting a drink after work!" The paramedic chuckled and his partner brought out a clipboard. The ambulance door was shut over and it took off for the nearest hospital.
