Chapter 47- Hole in the Wall
As the sun started to rise ever so slightly in the east casting very little light over them, the next moments happened so fast… and Willow and Danny spoke fast too…
"Scout!" Willow shouted.
"I gotta get 'er!" Danny yelled.
Willow started unzipping his coat and tugged it off him. "Take off your boots! Should I go with you? Get help?"
Danny ripped his boots off and slammed them down on the deck. "Stay here! I gotta hand 'er to you!"
She yanked off his shirt. "Take my flashlight, it's brighter!"
Fumbling, they switched flashlights. Danny stepped to the edge of the deck and stepped down.
"Be careful!" Willow yelled.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
Danny slowly walked along the ice, it cracking slightly below him.
"Take a deep breath!" Willow called out to him.
"I know!" Danny took the deepest breath he'd ever taken in his life, then jumped into the hole that Scout made.
And then, it felt like time froze along with every fibre of his body. He'd never swam in that cold of water before. He opened his eyes, everything dark except the light beaming from Willow's flashlight against the thick, thick, wall that surrounded V-Town and the two islands. Bubbles blew from his nose as he swam a little ways. He looked down and saw the light of Scout's flashlight. He swam down to the lake floor, but Scout wasn't with the flashlight. He grabbed it regardless and whipped his head around frantically.
He had no idea how long he or Scout had been under water… He used to be able to hold his breath for six minutes, but besides swimming in the pond before winter and the few times with Angelica… he hadn't been swimming like he used to in over three years and didn't know how long he could hold his breath now. And poor Scout… she barely learned be basics of swimming when she was three and she always wore floaties.
This couldn't be real… it just couldn't…. Where was Scout? Oh God, please me find her!
He suddenly had to shield his eyes when about three feet of light flared several feet below the surface. He looked again… was the sun beaming through a hole in the wall?
The darkness seemed to hide as the light shone through and beamed against Scout like a spotlight on a stage.
Danny's eyes grew wide and he powered through the water faster than he ever did before. Floating just above the lake floor, Scout's eyes were shut, face pale and lips blue. Danny slipped his arms under her shoulders and hoisted her towards the surface.
He breathed in the brisk cold air as his head popped through the hole in the ice and he lifted Scout's head above the water with all his might.
"Danny!" Willow cried out. Her eyes her red and wet, obviously from crying. She dropped her flashlight and crouched down at the edge of the deck. She reached her arms out as far as she could. "Pass her to me!"
Danny pushed some of the cracked ice and raised Scout as much as he could to Willow. "TAKE HER!"
Willow managed to grasp under her arms and hoisted her onto the deck. She wrapped Danny's coat around Scout, then she reached out to Danny.
He extended his hand, but it was slipped from her fingers.
"I c-can't hold on!" Danny said. "My h-h-hands are too c-cold and w-wet!"
She yanked off her hat and pulled it over her hand and reached out to him again. He seized it and she helped him pull himself onto the ice. And he grabbed onto the deck. Ice cracking below him, she clasped tightly to his arms and he hoisted himself up.
She yanked off her coat and wrapped it around him. Then she hovered over Scout pushing her hands over her chest, then applying breaths. Danny shivered wrapping Willow's coat tightly around himself.
"This isn't doing anything!" Willow shouted. "We have to get her to the clinic!"
Willow lifted Scout in her arms, and they darted to the stairs.
"H-h-how long… w-were… we un-der f-f-for?" Danny asked.
"You ten… Scout…" she choked up a bit. "Twelve minutes."
Danny's eyes grew wide.
The clinic was dead when they arrived. But fortunately, Patrick, Lucas, and Epiphany were working the night shift in case of emergency, which this most definitely was. And Lucy was sitting behind the desk working as a receptionist.
"What happened?" Lucas asked as soon as they ran in.
Epiphany pushed over a stretcher and Willow set Scout down on it and Patrick immediately started checking her over.
Willow pushed away some tears with the back of her hand. "Scout fell through ice on the lake. Danny jumped in and saved her… she was under for twelve minutes with no air."
Lucas' eyes grew wide. "Twelve minutes?"
"Piph, come with me," Patrick said. "Lucas, you check out Danny."
Patrick and Epiphany wheeled Scout away.
Lucas took Danny's arm.
"I'm f-fine!" Danny insisted. "Go h-help Sc-Scout!"
"Patrick and Epiphany are helping her," Lucas said. "You could be hypothermic."
"Danny, just go with him!" Willow insisted. "I'll go get Sam and Drew."
"No, you should stay here Willow," Lucas said. "Lucy, can you go get them?"
Lucy nodded and moved out from her desk. "Yes, of course."
Willow sat down in the waiting area and buried her face in her hands, and Danny went with Lucas down the hallway and to a room.