Sorry for the long wait! Things have been a little crazy lately. Thanks for all of the reviews and the continued support!
The force of the freezing water was like a frigid hug assaulting Cap and Daisy from every side. They sank to the bottom of the river where Cap planted his feet on the watery ground before propelling their two heavy bodies up into the frenzied current. Daisy's teeth chattered wildly in her mouth, the blood in her arteries and veins congealing into long shoots of ice. She felt the coldness deep down in her bones as the unyielding tide conveyed the two further and further away from their hunters. There was no use in fighting the force of the current; all Cap and Daisy could do now was hold on to one another and hope that somewhere down the river a hand would extend out towards them in the form of a boulder or wayward branch.
The two bobbed in the black water, Daisy's body pressed tightly against Cap's, her fingers digging into the rope that circled her middle. Under the roar of the waves Daisy thought that she heard someone calling to her from the distance and imagined that it was the men who had been hunting them. But when Daisy felt Cap's hot breath against her cheek, she realized that he was the one speaking to her. Even in their proximity she could not decipher his words, nor the stricken look upon his face. He was panicked about something, and that panic took hold of Daisy, too, threatening to drown her. The water became wilder, like a dark and bubbling brew, causing Cap to tighten his grip on Daisy. His nails dug into her skin.
Up ahead was a slight bend in the river, and as Cap continued to scream at Daisy, his hands nearly drawing blood in their anxiety, Daisy understood the worry in his form. The rope that bound the two of them together was slipping, unraveling itself from around Daisy's stomach, threatening to rend their bodies apart. Daisy attempted to turn towards Cap and envelope him in the same desperate hug he was giving her, but the current pushed against her twisting. She tried to rewrap the rope back about her midsection, but it turned to a slippery serpent in her hands. As the curve in the water neared closer, Daisy realized that her only hope was the protection and assurance of Cap's arms holding her in an iron grip.
From above came a loud crack and a flash of light, either an angry gunshot or a tiny bolt of lightning. In that moment of sparse illumination, the rope finally pulled itself free of Daisy's body. Cap could not wrap his legs around Daisy's wet skirts, and when the river decided, it grabbed Daisy by those same skirts and tore her from Cap's grip. She was tossed forward by the water, her head undulating in and out of the current. She lost all sense of direction, all sense of where Cap had gone. She knew only that her layers of skirts were dragging her deeper into the depths.
Daisy's numb fingers frantically worked at the buttons of her dress, fumbling over the smooth surfaces. She popped one free, and then another, working her arms out of the sleeves while still attempting to stay afloat. Soon Daisy was exhausted from the dance, her entire being depleted of any shred of energy, and still she fought against the current and her dress. Finally, through twists and turns and somersaults, Daisy shed her garb like a second skin. The greedy water seized the offering, sucking the flowered fabric down into the angry deep. Daisy was left with only her wispy underclothes. She was cold and tired and halfway towards dead, but she was unencumbered and alive.
With this new sense of freedom, Daisy regained control of her fate. She reached her arms out towards the shore, waiting for her fingers to snag any form of solidity. Her nails scraped against slimy rocks, discarded twigs, even one or two objects that felt solid yet soft like the head of a man. As Daisy's head continued to work in and out of the water, her vision watery and obstructed, she thought she spotted a great tree hanging over the river in the distance, its limbs dipped down like delicate fingers. With all her might Daisy kicked her way to the side of the river, calculating the moment of impact. She would have only a few seconds to take hold of the branches.
The tree loomed closer, like Thornton standing over Daisy in the night, and as she floated near the trunk, Daisy was momentarily stunned by the sight. She panicked, her weary mind frightened by the memory of the man. But then the lightning flashed again, this time a brilliant white that lit up the whole night, and Daisy saw that the tree was just a tree; a tree that was her salvation; a tree that was nearly gone. With her energy vanished, her anger the only fuel left inside, Daisy drove herself forward one last time, her hands wrapping around a soaking branch. She hugged the limb in quiet triumph, her arms and legs crawling up the thing towards the beautiful brown ground that lay just a few feet away. She plunged her nails into the bark, let the rough surface scratch her belly, dug her knees into the mud at the base of the tree, and collapsed upon the earth, her face turned towards the sky. She had survived.
Daisy's body heaved as she regained her breath, her stomach rolling up and down beneath the now sheer fabric of her dress. She was practically naked in the night, but she could muster no worry in her heart. She smiled up at the big open sky and the soft pelt of rain that began to fall onto her cheeks.
It was only after Daisy was somewhat composed again that she remembered where she was and how she had arrived there. The image of Cap's fearful expression floating in the water sent Daisy shooting upward from where she lay. Her exhaustion was replaced with a fierce and primal worry for Cap. Oh please, oh please, oh please, Daisy begged to the heavens that had shown her so much mercy. It did not make sense that Daisy should live while Cap perished.
"Cap!" Daisy screamed over the mingling sounds of the river's current and the quickening pace of the rain. There was no answer save the rumbling of distant thunder.
"Cap! Cap!" Daisy began to trudge through the mud in a sort of daze, hardly noticing the way she tripped over her soaking skirts until she was sent sprawling to the ground. She picked herself up quickly, looking like some wild and savage being dressed in mud and water. Her hair fell around her pale face in a tangle, her eyes huge with concern. She looked every bit the witch.
"Cap! Dammit Cap, where are you?" Daisy was crying now, suddenly hopeless and abandoned in a dark and scary world where nothing existed beyond the river and the trees. She could not tell which water belonged to her and which belonged to the river and the rain. Befuddled, Daisy climbed down over an outcrop of rock that formed a tiny cave, her back turned towards the opening. Her arms hung limp at her sides as she howled into the night.
"Cap!" she roared, her voice breaking over the word.
A strong hand grabbed Daisy from behind, wrapping itself around her mouth and dragging her back into the cave. Daisy began to writhe in the powerful grip, ready to bite down on the palm that nearly suffocated her, until she heard Cap's reassuring voice press against her ear.
"You keep yellin' like that and you're bound to get us both killed," Cap whispered. He moved his hand from Daisy's face and she sighed into him, letting every weary ounce of herself be taken over by the comfort of his presence.
"Oh thank God," Daisy breathed as she turned in Cap's arms. His hat was gone, his hair plastered to his face in what Daisy imagined to be a similar fashion to hers. His saddlebag lay beside his feet, the wayward rope that had thrown Daisy from its grip still partially snaked around his thigh. In one quick motion Daisy unwound the thing from Cap's leg so that she could press the entirety of her wet body against his. Cap emitted a low growl from deep within his throat.
"I may be half dead, Daisy," Cap said quietly, holding his hands away from Daisy's body. "But I'm still a man." Daisy looked at Cap in embarrassment before taking a step away from him. She met his eyes and prepared to apologize when there came the heavy stomp of feet above the outcrop. In one quick motion Cap reached for Daisy and wedged her behind him between the cave wall and his body. He put a single finger to his lip as he raised the gun in his hand. Daisy prayed that the weapon had not been damaged by the river.
"I know I heard somethin'!" A deep voice drifted down to Cap and Daisy from up above. "I swear I heard screamin'."
"Maybe you were just rememberin' the last woman you fucked, Earl," another voice answered. There was the sound of a momentary scuffle.
"Enough, you fuckin' idiots," a third party intervened and the world fell silent again as if the men were waiting for Cap and Daisy to make a sound. Daisy readied herself for the emergence of the men, convinced that they would drop down and find their hiding place. She violently gnawed at her lip, working over the possibilities in her mind. It was three against one. Why hadn't Daisy kept that damn knife?
"They ain't here," the third voice finally decided, "and I am sick of gettin' fuckin' soaked in this rain." He stomped away from the outcrop, the two sidekicks following.
Cap and Daisy hovered in the cave for a few long minutes, suspended on the precipice of worry. Daisy became anxious, convinced that the men were playing a joke on them, waiting to jump out from above and pounce on their prey. She also suspected that Cap was only being so cautious for her benefit, and had he been alone, the wait would not have been so excruciating. Slowly Daisy worked her hand down towards Cap's. He had thrown his free arm back around her for added protection, and Daisy took hold of it now, hugging it to her body until Cap turned his head to meet her eye. She smiled shyly and he returned the gesture, spinning in a half circle to properly face her. He worked his arms around her small body.
"You did good, kid," Cap said softly as he rested his head on top of hers. Daisy listened to the slowing rhythm of his heartbeat. "Do you think you can do just a little better now?" Cap asked, and Daisy pulled away to look up at him.
"What do you mean?" she said, her face screwed up in concern. Cap smiled resignedly and pulled further away from Daisy's shivering body. He shrugged his left arm out of his jacket, wincing with the motion, and pulled himself free. Below Cap's arm an angry red spot was growing on the side of his abdomen, staining his shirt like a bloody sun. Daisy gasped at the sight.
"I do believe I've been shot," Cap stated woozily before falling to his knees.