Sorry that it's been so long, I've had writer's block and have been writing other fanfic (The Food Delimma)...this story still has a while to go, but this chapter had been the biggest obstacle.
Faramir surfaced slowly from his pool of sleep and scratched his face. As he regained consciousness, he felt extremely itchy; tingling pricks seemed to crawl over him. As he felt something crawl over his lips, he knew something wasn't quite right.
"Aaaiiiiiiiii!"
He jumped up at Goldie's scream of terror. She was jumping and stamping furiously, slapping her face at unseen enemies. Faramir soon saw what they were: ants. He looked at his own arms and saw a black multitude swarming around.
It should be clear to note that Hobbits are not huge fans of insects, by any stretch. The reason why is because bugs seem a lot larger to hobbits than to us. A story about a house spider would send a full grown hobbit into the quakes; Sam's encounter with Shelob gave Faramir nightmares for weeks. An ant to us just fits on the tip of our little finger; to a hobbit child, it nearly takes up a joint of the little finger.
All the children we're up and dancing around in panicked circles. It seemed to be that they had been sleeping on a nest for most of the night, and all occupants of the colony were attacking the hobbits and pillaging the food.
"Ah! They're all over me!" Gary cried, and then sprinted off. Faramir didn't know where he was going, but followed any way. They ran blindly through the large tussock grass, hoping the whipping leaves would rid them of the foul insects, but to no avail.
Suddenly and abruptly, he found himself at the edge of the river they had crossed the night before. Teetering slowly over the very high bank, he already saw the twins dive in with ease. Being Brandybucks, they had no fear of water and had an unnatural love for swimming. Faramir could swim, but was still apprehensive about diving in. Finally he decided that it was either him or the ants, and greeted the cool water lovingly. The cool water unfortunately turned into ice and he was paralysed for a heart stopping second. With a sudden push, he broke the surface and gasped clean air, grappling for the large river stones by the bank. He clung on and looked around for his peers, his teeth chattering in the early morning light. Gary and Pip were already out, looking like woeful bedraggled puppies, the dye in their clothes running in brown rivulets down their legs.
He heard two shrieks above him and two large splashes behind him. He guessed that both Goldilocks and Frodo had jumped into the river as well. He turned and waited for them to break the surface.
And waited.
He let out a huge oath (one that he had learnt off Mr Merry) and dived back under the water. He had forgotten that none of the Gamgees could swim, it was almost impossible to think that they would jump into the water, ants or not.
Faramir did not have time to think, as he saw Frodo's straw coloured hair drifting in front of him. Grabbing the floating mass of hair, he hoisted Frodo above the surface. Frodo gulped in air as Faramir grabbed a passing tree root.
"Stay there!" Faramir ordered.
"Goldi-locks," Frodo coughed.
"I'm getting her!" Faramir shouted as he paddled back into the river. He was suddenly caught by the current and was swept along at great speed. Panicking, he tried to swim out of it, only to be dragged under.
He saw suddenly, Goldilocks' still form caught on a submerged log. He paddled quickly over and descended on the log. Her boot was wedged between the log and a rock, and he noticed (slightly relieved) that her eyes followed him blankly. His lungs were screaming for air as he pulled her free; he pushed towards the surface, dragging them both; but her weight was tremendous and the current was too strong.
I am going to die here he thought, as his lungs filled with water. It was a disturbing feeling, not peaceful as some hobbits had said, but his brain was screaming, yet drowsy at the same time. Before he blacked out, he saw a giant shadow explode above him Perhaps this is death.
TBC