Sorry it's such a short chapter. The next one will be longer.
Murphy's Law
~Cutting It Close~
-Third Person POV-
Clay rips open another set of doors and runs into a new warehouse. He zigzags around crates and random objects alligned within, searching for the one thing he desperately needed to find.
"Rhoswen!" He calls out and stops in the middle of the warehouse, looking left and right for the coffin. He couldn't believe that this had happened. He had told her everything was going to be alright, that this wouldn't happen. He couldn't even imagine what he would do if he didn't find her...or if he did and it was too late, "RHOSWEN!"
He runs around another crate and then heads back to th open door of the warehouse. He runs out from the warehouse, cursing lowly to himself. He stops in the middle of an open area and turns around in a circle. He had checked three warehouses already and hadn't found her. Maybe she wasn't here. Maybe she was somewhere else and alright...Did he really believe that?
He runs a hand through his hair and turns around again, trying to ignore his thoughts and figure out which way to go next.
"You find her?" Clay spins around and sees Pooch jogging up to him. Clay shakes his head and looks around again, hands on his hips. Pooch stops beside him and nods his head, "Me neither. I'm beginning to think she's not here."
"So am I." Clay replies and looks back at him.
"Do you think Roque might be right?" Pooch asks tentatively, not wanting to upset Clay. Clay stares at him for a long moment, having no idea what he was referring to, "Do you think she'd might of left us behind?"
"No. Rhos may be a lot of things, but disloyal and unreliable aren't one of them." Clay looks behind him, squinting because of the sun in his eyes and then looks back at Pooch, "She's like a Labrador. You yell at her over and over again, but she'll still come back when you call her. She's kind of a glutton for punishment when it comes to people she really likes."
"Alright." Pooch replies, eyes squinting behind his aviators. He looks back at Clay and smirks, "So she likes us huh?"
Clay gives a laugh and shakes his head. He looks over towards a warehouse he had already gone through and sighs. He had meant every word he said about her; loyal and reliable. Both were a good definition of her.
"Clay!" Clay and Pooch look over the open doors of a warehouse where Aisha stood with a fretful expression. She waves at them to come over to her, "She's in here! Hurry!"
Clay quickly runs to her, Pooch following closely behind, and passes her into the warehouse.
"What's going on!" Pooch stops in his tracks of heading into the warehouse after Clay and looks to his left at Jensen and Cougar.
"Aisha found her!" He calls to them and then steps inside the warehouse. Cougar and Jensen run to the warehouse and inside. They all run around a stack of crates and stop, Clay standing as stiff as a wall in their path.
They all see a pair of feet stick out from behind a long wooden coffin and metal table. They could see Roque behind the coffin every now and then when he sat up a little, panting while his brow held beads of sweat.
"Come on...!" Roque growls out as his head shows over the top of the coffin again.
"Roque?" Clay asks and takes a tentative step forward. Roque looks up and over the coffin for a brief moment, seeming to push down on something beneath his hands with force while he counts quietly to himself. After he finishes counting he looks to the others behind Clay.
"Stay there!" Roque calls out, but Clay takes another step forward, "Keep him back!"
Roque looks at the others behind Clay and then bows his head again. He plugs Rhoswen's nose and blows air into her mouth, her chest rising. He then pulls back and begins compressions again, "One...two...three...four...five...six...seven...eight..."
"Rhos!" Clay yells out and tries to move forward, but Jensen and Cougar both catch one of his arms, holding him to his spot. He struggles and tries to get free, but Pooch steps in front of him. Pooch tries to block Clay's view of Rhoswen and Roque on the ground the best he can.
"Clay, you gotta let Roque work." Pooch tries to grab Clay's attention, but it doesn't work, "It's gonna be alright. She'll be fine."
"Rhoswen!" Clay calls out to the unconscious girl as they all watch while Roque lowers his head and blows another breath into Rhoswen's mouth again. Her chests rises and then falls as the air escapes, but again there was no sign of life.
"How long has he been doing this?" Jensen asks, looking over at Aisha. She looks at him and then at the watch on her wrist.
"About a two minutes." She replies softly and looks over at Clay. Her face falls and she looks down at her feet, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Goddamn it...!" Roque curses in a low voice and clenches his hand, forming fists. He begins compressions again, his clenched fists giving more force then open palms as he slams them down upon her chest, "One... Two... Three... Four... Five... Six... Se-"
Suddenly, Roque springs back as Rhoswen lurches up slightly from the ground. She starts to cough, struggling to draw in breath between each one, as if she had had the wind knocked out of her. Tears fall from her eyes as she places a hand on her throat as though it would help her to breath easier.
"Ha-ha, she's alright! She's alive!" Roque looks over at the others and cracks a wide smile. Clay slips out of Pooch and Cougar's hold and kneels down beside Rhoswen. He places a hand against the top of her head and the other on her left cheek, forcing her head to turn towards him slightly. Her coughing begins to subside as she quietly mumbles something out.
"What?" Clay asks, unable to hear what she had said. He lowers an ear to her mouth as she takes a deep breath. She whispers again through a small cough. A small smile spreads across her lips, but after a moment she lets it go and breaths deeply as if to savor the feeling of air as it enters her lungs. Clay sits back up and stares down at her with an unreadable expression.
"What'd she say?" Pooch pipes up from behind Clay, bringing him out of his thoughts. He looks at Roque across from him and gives a small laugh, running a hand over his mouth.
"She said we cut it a little close." Clay repeats what Rhoswen had said and gives a small laugh once more. Pooch laughs and turns to Cougar, giving each other their made up handshake. Cougar gives a laugh of relief and looks to Jensen, who bends over and places his hands on his knees.
"That's our girl!" Pooch comments as Cougar pats Jensen on the back once with a laugh. Jensen takes a deep breath before standing back up and placing a hand on his chest, rubbing an invisible pain, "Are you alright there, Jensen?"
"Fine. I'm fine. Just suffering from a mild heart attack." He replies and closes his eyes. Clay shakes his head and looks back down at Rhoswen with a smile. She was breathing a little roughly and tears were falling from her eyes, but she was alright. That had been a close call. Just a few seconds more and they probably wouldn't have been able to revive her.