Chapter Three: The Eppeses Vs. Old Man River
After about thirty seconds, Charlie realized he was holding his breath and he released it in a rush. Resisting the urge to climb into the raging water himself and try to get into the car, Charlie settled for leaning as far over as he could from the steadiest branch he could find.
His head was pounding and he was almost certain his wrist had been broken from the sudden jerk of Don's weight when he was wrenched from their car. Assuming he didn't fall into the intense torrent, Charlie was confident that he could do this…...but Don had been bleeding. There was a steady stream of blood on the side of his head, most likely from hitting the steering wheel.
Charlie was about to revert to running the numbers he had read about flood related deaths involving cars when Don's upper body slide back into view. He had unbuckled the entire baby seat and was trying to maneuver it under the front seat and out of the open door.
Lifting the car seat over the raging current and looking for a place to brace his legs for the handoff, Don hoped Charlie was up to this.
"Keep her out of the water!"
"I'm good, Don. Give her to me."
His younger brother reached out and grabbed the back of the seat with his left hand and pulled it toward the tree. Once the rain started hitting the child in the face, she began to cry.
Balancing precariously on a thick branch and leaning back into the large tree trunk, Charlie fought to elevate the baby seat with one hand. Pain was shooting up his wrist, so he wrapped his right arm around a limb to brace himself. Somehow, Charlie managed to wedge the seat between two of the larger branches. Casting a glance at the car first, he paused to pull a small blanket out from under the child and pulled it over the top of the car seat to cover her head. Once the water stopped hitting her in the face, the panic in her cries was reduced. Charlie patted her gently on the leg.
"Don't go anywhere, kid."
Just as he turned back towards the car, Don's arms emerged with another child. This one was about five or six. Her blond hair was hanging in limp, wet pig tales and her head lolled against Don's body. Giving up any hope of being gentle, Don grabbed the child's shoulder with one hand and shoved her out the door and into Charlie's waiting arms.
"One more, Charlie…..and I'll try to get the driver on the way out!"
Don quickly ducked his head back into the car.
Pulling the small child into his arms and leaning back up against the tree trunk again, Charlie noticed a pair of headlights approaching on the road.
A light-colored sedan pulled onto the bridge and came to a stop just in front of the bent railing. Holding the child tightly to his chest with his right arm and bracing himself with his legs, Charlie released his death grip on the tree branch that held the car seat.
"Hey…..HEY!"
Frantically he waved his arm, trying to get the drivers attention. A young man who appeared, from a distance, to be in his late teens or early twenties stepped out of the car.
"HEY! HELP US! WE NEED HELP!"
The boy's eyes found Charlie and he waved back in his direction. He yelled something, but he was upwind and Charlie couldn't hear the words over the roar of the wind and water.
The girl in his arms moved and groaned slightly.
"It's okay, honey. Help is on the way."
He watched the bridge for a moment and as the young man flagged down another car, he breathed an audible sigh of relief. They would call 911 and someone would come to get them out of the water.
Turning his attention back to the suspended BMW, Charlie could see Don just inside the door, struggling to keep his own head above the water. The car was upside down, so there was no where for him to sit the third child while he tried to unbuckle the drivers seatbelt. He was lying in the water between the seats with his legs still in the back of the car. He had the girl resting on his chest, but was having trouble keeping her face out of the water and working the fastening mechanism on the seatbelt at the same time.
He turned to his younger brother, yelling loudly to be heard.
"CHARLIE! I CAN'T GET HER! NEED YOU TO TAKE THE OTHER KID."
Glancing down at the child in his arms, Charlie was surprised to see another set of those same sapphire blue eyes staring at him.
"Sophia?"
The child's simple question brought Charlie a new, stronger determination.
"We're gonna get your sister, Honey. I need you to hold on to this branch, okay? Can you do that?"
The little girl nodded her head automatically, her frightened eyes never leaving his. Lifting the child as high into the tree next to the car seat as he could, Charlie squeezed her hand reassuringly.
"Hold on tight, Honey. And don't move."
Tears had welled up in her eyes and she wrapped both arms around the branch, nodding at him.
Turning from the two children, Charlie stepped down, hanging tightly to the trunk until his feet found a solid branch just below the surface of the water. The current was too strong for him to let go, but he was able to use the same branches Don had to work his way closer to the car.
"DON!"
Reaching the edge of the car, Charlie knelt as low as he could on the large tree limb that was supporting the car. Leaning forward, he stuck his head and shoulders through the door.
"Don?"
His older brother was still trying to unbuckle the jammed seatbelt. Stopping, Don lifted the girl back up in his arms and passed her to Charlie.
"Get out of here, Buddy. This car keeps shifting; I don't think it's gonna…."
Before Don could finish his sentence, a surge of floodwater hit the back of the car and knocked it forward. Automatically, Charlie pulled his head back, but he wasn't quite fast enough and the side of the door frame slammed into his head, knocking him and the child into the violent current.
If it hadn't been for the instant rush of cold water in his nostrils, Charlie might have lost consciousness from the blow. When the undertow grabbed him, panic pulled him back into full awareness and Charlie twisted his body around. Instinctually, he struck out with his feet fighting for the surface. Coming into contact with a cluster of branches, Charlie wrapped his legs around them. As he jerked to a stop in the strong current, the water tried to pull the child from his arms. Fighting against the flow, Charlie tightened his grip on the girl. Just as he lost his foot hold on the branches, he grabbed another limb that had brushed against his face and used it to pull his head above the water.
Charlie surfaced, gasping for air.
Trying to keep the child's head above the water as well, he looked frantically around. The next tree trunk was only a few feet away and he released his hold on the bough and grappled for the next one.
Pulling himself and the child up out of the water with his broken arm was an impossible task and finally Charlie gave up. The water was colder than he had realized and after the blow to his head and the ride in the current, Charlie's shoulders had begun to shake violently.
The girl was still unconscious and Charlie wrapped his right arm tightly around her middle. Using his left arm, he maneuvered them up against the tree's trunk and was finally able to pull himself higher into the thick branches.
The girl was out of the water now, but his lower body was still mostly submerged in the frigid water.
"DON!"
Twisting his head around, Charlie looked back upstream. He could see the car seat and the small blond child still perched in the tree where he had left them. The current had carried him and the other little girl about twenty yards further into the trees.
Looking for the small car, Charlie was suddenly struck with a surge of panic as powerful as the water raging around them.
The car and its driver were gone. And so was Don.
………………………………
Authors Notes: I am seeing so many new readers leaving comments! I am so pleased to hear from all of you! Thank you for taking time to read and review! It is much appreciated! (And useful too! I fixed my title. Thanks)
I hope everyone is still enthralled. I'm trying real hard to get one more chapter written around the woes of Football Friday!
Typing feverishly in an attempt to keep Curtisbrothersfan alive!
Chapter Four: Going Under
