Chapter Thirty Three

Once to the shore they collapsed against the soft sand of the embankment, completely exhausted; and frozen to the bone. Randy could barely move as he laid there; his entire body one big stuff muscle that jerked and tensed as it fought to retain heat. But it felt hopeless. The water had been so cold, too cold that his entire body actually throbbed in painful convulsions and shivers that stiffened his spine and forced his teeth together hard. Fuck he'd never been so cold like this. His body never felt so heavy, so hard and uncooperative! But fuck at least they'd made it ashore! And if he could catch his breath the next step was getting up and getting the fuck out of there. Easier said than done. He literally couldn't move his legs high enough to even put himself on his knee's. They were so heavy, so numb yet aching cold to the bone that it actually fucking hurt. And that went for the rest of him too. But still he had some fight left; still he had enough sense left in him to know that they weren't quite out of the water yet, so to speak...

Cold, completely exhausted, and barely coherent he tried to push up but the soft earth only squished away beneath him and he lost the fight and sank into the ground. His arms shook and gave him nothing as he tried again. Fuck he was too god damn COLD! And shit shit SHIT! where the fuck was his GUN?-! His fingers stretched out and searched the ground but found nothing but more dirt and soft sand. Fuck he must have dropped it in the water when his hands had gone numb! Fuck fuck FUCK! Good going Randy! Fucking idiot! And fucking hell how could he leave his other guns behind at the hotel anyway?-! Why did he think only one would be sufficient when chances were he wouldn't even have enough fucking bullets for all of Michaels goons that might come there way?-? Jesus what in the hell was he thinking?-! How could he be so fucking STUPID?-! Why couldn't he pull it together?-! They needed him and he was a total fucking let down! He groaned as he tried rise again and collapsed before he even got off the ground. Fuck he wanted to go HOME. Home to a small town in Missouri. Home where he was used to certain heartaches and hardships that he could actually deal with like a normal, full functioning person. Unlike Las Vegas where he failed and fell to pieces left and right. Unlike fucking here where he driven off a fucking bridge into some of the coldest fucking water in the United State. Fuck he'd really messed this up. He knew that. He'd known that. But, to what point though? To what extent? Could he actually save them? Or was all of this just completely and utterly useless?-?-?

He just didn't know anymore.

But, with Cody by his side he wouldn't stop trying; wouldn't stop fighting for them until the bitter end. That much he still sure of. "Cody?-?" He called out and looked beside him to his lover who was struggling just the same, trying to get up and failing repeatedly. "I'm-I'm okay." Cody whispered as he stopped for a second to catch his breath, visibly shaking, his teeth chattering. "Just-Just cold."

"I-I can't even get up." Randy admitted in hope Cody would know what to do. He was premed right? Maybe he knew something Randy didn't know?-! His fingers reached further across the sand and found Cody's cold wet skin, curling his fingers around Cody's forearm. "Warm." Cody nodded and panted, "We-we-we have to get WARM!" Shit. Get warm? HOW? They were both freezing and the air was chilled with oncoming rain as dark clouds hid the sun and its natural warmth behind their massiveness! How in the hell were the going to get warmth unless they made it to their feet and got the fuck out of there?-! They fucking weren't!-!

Shit shit shit!

"ORTON!" He jerked hard even though it was a familiar voice, his head snapping up with strength he didn't know he'd had but was so fucking glad he did because he could have sworn he just heard his partner's voice! "Hunter?-!"

"Oh my god I thought you guys were goners!" Oh fuck YES!-! It WAS Hunter!-! "DUDE?-!" He couldn't believe it! He looked up the hill and tried but he couldn't see him yet; he only heard his heavy foot steps in the dirt getting closer and tried to blink away something suddenly sliding around the corner of his eye. What the hell? He brought a weak hand up from the sand, smearing it away his eyes and seemed to clear whatever was there enough for him to see his partner hurrying down the steep hill before the embankment above. "Hang on Orton! I'm coming!"

"Cody?" He reached out again and didn't feel him there but heard him groan not too far away, "I'm okay." Good he hadn't passed out. Yet.

"Are you guys alright?-!" Hunter called out. He had reached the bottom of the hill, running towards them fast. "We're alright." Randy replied, breathless, his voice almost lost. Fuck he was just so cold! "God damn it Orton you scared the shit out of me! I thought you were fucking dead!" Hunter finally reached them, skipping over Randy and bending over Cody first as he seemed to know that was what he would want anyway, "Holy shit dude I don't even see your car anymore!"

Fuck the car. They were just lucky they made it out of the damn thing before it took them down with it!

"I don't know how the two of you did it!" Hunter blasted, "Jesus dude that water has to be fucking COLD!"

"Like ice!" He agreed and again he tried to rise, pushing up on his hands and only made it a few inches before his elbows shook like before and gave out and sent him back down with a grunt. "Damn it!" So frustrating! Why couldn't he just, get UP?-!

"Hey man just relax!" Hunter said gently, still standing over Cody only now he had his jacket draped over his back and was carefully taking his shoulders into his hands. "I'm helping your guy first and then I'll get to you." Randy could only nod to that as a hard fit of shivers suddenly quaked his spine and almost made him curl onto his side. Although it was such a relief to know Hunter wasn't letting his personal feelings stand in the way because if he had said anything derogative at that moment Randy just might have gone back into the water for his gun and put a bullet in his fucking knee cap. Seriously now was not the time for Hunters hang ups and thankfully his partner didn't disappoint.

Which made him wonder if maybe he should have given Hunter a little more credibility than he had? Fuck maybe he'd had his partner all wrong and just wasted an entire year keeping him at a distance?-? Shit, probably. Fuck, most definately. He'd just been too stubborn to see it.

Fuck he'd been wrong about way too much!

The tension left his back just as quickly as it set in and he nodded again once he could and resumed trying to get up on his own; determined to get to his feet before whoever ran them off the bridge came back. Surely they would! Surely each second that passed brought them closer and closer to an altercation they were likely to fucking lose! He pushed up hard and only managed to get to his knees; wiping away more blood from his brow that thickened and stung as it spread into his eye. He swayed as he came up; fuck he was getting dizzy. Shit they so didn't need that right now! Fuck he needed to be coherent, on his toes, hell, on his fucking feet at least!-! "Did you-Did you see them?-! Did you see where they went?-!" Maybe they had a little more time than he was predicting? Maybe he was wrong about that assumption as well?-!

"Yeah but the bastards took off." Hunter answered in a strained voice as Cody left out a soft groan. "Just as soon as you guys hit the water they peeled around to head down here but saw me hauling ass and headed off in the other direction. Good thing I was following you guys!" He said the last part in a higher tone as if he'd been holding something heavy and finally got to set it down; a large breath escaping him from such strain. "I knew those guys standing outside the diner were suspicious for a reason!"

Guys?-! Randy fell forward and clawed his fingers into the sand and would have jerked his head back at that if he'd had the strength because, what guys? There had been guys standing outside the fucking diner?-! Fuck fuck FUCK!-!-! He hadn't even noticed them!-!-! God damn it what the FUCK?-! How could he be so careless and MISS something like that?-! Especially NOW when they were fucking HIDING from Michael and his goons! Stupid stupid STUPID! He pushed back up onto his knee with a snarl and shook his head and almost fell over as the world spun entirely too hard. Fuck fuck fuck. So dizzy! So cold! "We-We should hurry!" Now he KNEW they were coming back! The fact that Michael had them run off the road was enough to suspect he knew something was up but knowing that they'd had actually had his people following them only assured the fact that Michael, knew EVERTYHING. And they didn't have time to think about who or why or how he found out. They just needed to get the fuck out of there and worry about the rest when they weren't about to slip into fucking shock.

Or possibly get shot execution style right there on the river.

He swayed again and to steady himself he grabbed his head with a shaky hand, wincing as his fingers landed over what felt like a small gash above his temple. Shit so that's where the blood was coming from! His fingers gently prodded, feeling that the opening wasn't too deep or too long but it was just enough of both to bleed profusely and even more so now he was out of the water it seemed as it steadily seeped out in a thick stream over his eyebrow, and into his eyes. "Shit!" He swiped at them, desperately trying to clean them as more and more hot wet blood burned and blinded them to the point of insanity. "Fuck!-!-!" It just hit him so fast!

"Alright I've got Cody." Hunter annoucned and he barely heard him over his own frantic heartbeat pounding in his ears. His eyes just burned so fucking bad! "I'm taking him up the hill to the car so you just hang tight-"

No wait! "I can't fucking see!" He reached out blindly, "Wait!" If they left and something happened and he didn't see then he couldn't help! And he couldn't help himself either! He was fucking USELESS like this! Hunter just couldn't leave him so defenseless! "Hunter!-!" Oh god he needed water and he needed it NOW! "Fuck!-!" He started to crawl; towards the water he wasn't sure anymore but it didn't matter because he had to do something. Just sitting there waiting wasn't fucking helping! "Fucking hell Hunter, HELP ME!" He halted after a few feet and gave up on his eyes, clenching them shut tight as he realized his cries went unanswered. "Hu-Hunter?-?-?" What the hell?-!

Silence. "Hunter?-!" Fucking asshole must have gone on without him! He must have just ignored him and done what HE thought was best! "YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME HERE LIKE THIS!-!-!" But how could this be best?-! How was Randy being fucking blinded and stuck on his knees while they were gone for the best?-! "GOD DAMN IT HUNTER COME BACK!-!-!" He screamed loud but still there was no answer. And suddenly the world got very quiet; only the sound of rain finally breaking free from the clouds and hitting the ground; that sobering sound alone echoing threw his ears and nothing more. "Cody?" Had Hunter waited?-! Oh god had something already happened?-! "CODY!-!-!" He clawed at his chest, ripping off his shirt and wiped his eyes with it frantically. "CODY?-!"

Something zipped over his head, singing past his ears. And seconds later there was a loud distinct thud.

Oh god! What the fuck?-! "CODY!-!" He desperately rubbed at his eyes with his shirt as he scrambled and stumbled to his feet. "HUNTER?-!" Oh god why weren't they answering?-! They should be able to hear him shouldn't they?-! "CODY!-!-!" He pried his eyes open as he tripped and stumbled one last time and dropped to his knees. And he wished he hadn't as a huge amount of sand hit him hard like it was kicked or thrown into his face and he jerked back with a shriek. "FUCK!-!" He landed on his back, gasping and choking on sand and dirt as he rolled and tried to scream in outrage. That was no fucking accident! Someone was standing over him now! He could feel it! Their weight sank the sand in around them, their body blocked the rain! Hunter?-! Cody?-! Whoever it was wasn't saying a fucking word!

Whoever it was just kicked fucking dirt down his throat!