Chapter 62: Escape
Lincoln and Jack made their way back to the car and drove away from the bus stop. Lincoln pulled out his phone and dialed a number.
"Who you calling?" asked Jack.
"Sucre," muttered Lincoln as he waited for him to pick up.
Sucre did not answer and the call transferred to voicemail. Lincoln sighed in frustration.
"Sucre?" he asked, leaving a message, "Where are you!? We're counting on you to be there! If you're not…we're dead!"
A couple minutes later Lincoln's phone rang.
"Yeah?" asked Lincoln, desperately hoping it was Sucre.
"It's McGrady."
"Are you where you need to be?" asked Lincoln.
"Yeah, I'm at the truck…I found the keys you left in the wheel well."
"Good. See you soon."
Several minutes later, Lincoln and Jack drove up near the place on the beach where they had buried the cooler. Lincoln and Jack sighed in relief as they saw Michael come running up to them.
Lincoln and Michael embraced in a hug. Jack glanced behind him, looking for Alex.
McGrady came up next, followed by Alex and Whistler. Whistler was limping badly and clinging on to Alex.
"Alex!" cried Jack, happily.
Whistler moved to the side to give them some privacy.
"What happened to you?" asked Lincoln.
"Twisted my ankle," muttered Whistler as Lincoln and Michael began to dig up the cooler.
Meanwhile, Alex and Jack embraced in a hug. Alex buried his face in her hair and tried desperately to choke back his emotion.
"You made it," whispered Jack, hoarsely.
"So far," said Alex, pulling away, "But we've got a lot of ground to cover before we're really out of the woods."
Jack smiled as a tear ran down her cheek.
"I'm just happy you're okay…and out of that place."
Alex smiled back and wiped the tear off her cheek with his thumb.
"Everything's going to be okay," he murmured, "I promised you a long time ago that I'd get you out of this and that I'd take care of you, and I will."
Jack nodded, too emotional to talk anymore. Alex moved in and gave her another hug. He murmured lovingly into her ear while Lincoln pulled the cooler out of the sand.
"We might have a problem," said Lincoln.
Alex and Jack glanced over at him.
"What do you mean?" asked Jack, dread in her voice.
"We've only got five tanks…we weren't counting on Michael bringing in a stray."
They all glanced over at McGrady. His eyes grew wide with panic.
"It's okay," said Jack, suddenly, "I'm a good swimmer. I'll share with someone and he can take mine."
"You can share with me," said Alex.
Jack nodded in agreement while McGrady sighed with relief.
Michael glanced around at each of them in turn.
"Good…then let's go!"
After what seemed like hours, the escapees made it out to a buoy in the ocean. They were gasping for air and clinging on to the buoy for dear life.
Alex glanced over at Jack and saw that she looked worn out. He came up behind her and pushed himself against her for support. Jack smiled weakly back at him and muttered a quiet "thanks."
McGrady's legs began to cramp up. Michael moved over to help support him as well.
"Where is Sucre?!" cried Lincoln, panicking.
"I don't know…he was supposed to be here," said Jack, also looking rather panicked.
"We won't last much longer out here Michael," said Alex, "What's your backup plan?"
Michael shot him a terrified look.
"There isn't one…"
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