Author's Note: Thanks for the review! Keep them coming please!
Chapter 61: Going Down
"What do we do?" Davy asked, terror filling his voice. Micky tried to remain calm, but knew they had to figure something out fast.
"Just stay calm," Mike said. "Just do it. Fast."
"He's right," Piper said. "Micky, just do it. Push. We have to just do it." Micky nodded as Piper pulled Peter's head back a little and breathed into his mouth. Micky placed his hands on top of each other and in the center of Peter's chest and pushed 5 times like she told him to. Piper breathed into his mouth again a few times just as the ship cracked even further. Micky was thrown a little, but quickly recovered to help Peter again. They did this a few more times before Peter finally started coughing up water. Piper rolled him onto his side a little so he could cough up more water and he finally started breathing on his own.
"Peter?" Micky asked just as the ship cracked again. This time the ship leveled out and they were all knocked over and slid across the floor. The water rushed out of the room taking tables and chairs with it, crashing them into the walls and shattering them into pieces.
"Everyone ok?" Mike asked pushing himself up. He looked a little woozy still, but still a little light on his feet.
"I think so," Micky said rushing over to grab Peter who was still groaning a little, but looked like he'd be ok, "but we need to get to the end of the ship fast. This thing is going down now. We don't have time to wait." Mike and Davy nodded and each grabbed the Devil and carried him between them as they ran from the room. Piper ran in front of them and used her magic to move objects out of their way as they ran towards the back of the ship. Other people were scrambling towards the same place and they had to fight amongst the throng to get there. Once they'd finally reached the aft of the ship, they finally looked back and saw the ship sinking again.
"Now what?" Davy asked terrified.
"We wait," Piper said. Peter finally stopped coughing the water up and was able to stand.
"What's going on?" Peter moaned holding his head. Micky could see a bright red welt already forming there from where the door hit him.
"You got knocked out by the door and nearly drowned," Micky explained pulling Piper close to him. No matter how brave she tried to seem, he could still see fear behind her eyes.
"Piper and Micky gave you CPR," Davy finished.
"And now we're all about to drown," the Devil moaned as he came to.
"Shut up," Mike said firmly holding onto one arm while Davy gripped the other arm tightly to keep him from escaping.
"It's the truth, isn't it?" the Devil said. "Look at the water. The ship is sinking fast and we're still here." Micky did look at the water level quickly reaching them and was gripped by worry. He trusted Piper wholeheartedly, but was already soaking wet and didn't know how long they'd have to deal with this before being shipped to their next place in time. Hopefully their next stop would be home.
"You keep your mouth shut," Davy said very coldly, "or else I'll knock you out again, are we clear?"
"You idiots are going to just stand there and let us die," the Devil said.
"Well, there is no escape now anyway," Mike said. "All the lifeboats are gone. There's nothing we can do about it."
"Then you've doomed us all," the Devil moaned.
"Shut up!" Davy exclaimed as the water came rushing toward them. Most of the ship was now underwater.
"What do we do?" Peter asked worriedly.
"Hold on as long as we can," Piper said grabbing the railing with one hand and clutching Micky with the other as the boat tilted precariously on its side with the aft in the air. Within seconds, the ship was completely upright and they were all literally hanging on by the tips of their fingers onto the railing. The ship just kind of bobbed there for a few seconds in the water, dozens of people screaming and falling into the water, before it began a fast plunge downward.
"Hold your breath," Mike ordered just before they were engulfed by the freezing cold water. The force of the ship going under pulled Micky and the others under the water. Micky held tightly onto Piper, refusing to let go as they were pulled deeper and deeper into the water. He heard more cracking and creaking and felt pain erupt through his whole body as the water started to freeze him and his lungs ached for air. He didn't see the piece of steel debris hurtling his way until it was too late; he was knocked loose of Piper's grip by the steel and immediately saw stars.
The next thing he knew he was lying on soft ground and his entire body was sore and achy. But he could breathe. He took in a sharp breath of air, despite the fact that his lungs stung having been partially filled with frozen water. He painfully rolled onto his side and started coughing up water and realized he was lying on mud. It also took a second for him to realize his friends surrounded him and were calling out his name.
"Micky, are you ok?" Piper asked holding onto him again. He looked wearily at all of them now that he was able to breathe.
"I think so," Micky groaned. "What happened?"
"We got transported again right after we went underwater," Mike said. "I have no idea when or where we are yet, but the Devil ran off in the chaos. You've been out for a few minutes. We weren't sure if you were ok."
"Yeah, I got hit by a piece of the ship," Micky said. "I'm ok; just a little sore. Go ahead and try and figure out where we are."
"At least we're on solid ground," Peter said.
"Micky, you sure you're ok?" Piper asked softly.
"I feel like I got hit by a truck," Micky admitted suddenly feeling as though he were gonna be sick.
"Ok, we'll find a place for you to just rest," Piper said. Mike and Peter helped Micky stand just as they heard a plane fly by overhead. They watched it fly by and soon felt the ground shudder and shake with a nearby explosion.
"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Davy asked. Micky finally got a look around them and they looked to be in a field outside a city where the explosion had just taken place. The city looked as though it wasn't the first time it had suffered from an explosion and Micky guessed the plane overhead had something to do with it.
"That was a bomber plane," Mike confirmed. "I hate to say it, but I think this is World War 2."
"That's really bad," Peter said. "What do we do?"
"Worse than going down with a sinking ship?" Davy asked.
"Well, we can't stay out in the open like this," Mike said. "We have to get somewhere safe and hide. We have no idea what country we're even in. Could be enemy territory for all we know."
"Right," Micky said. "Let's go."
"Toward the city that just got bombed?" Davy asked.
"What choice do we have?" Mike asked. "I don't see anything else but farmland. I guess we just gotta hope when we get there we can find a safe place to hunker down or find some sort of transportation to get somewhere safe." The five of them walked toward the burned out city slowly because the pain Micky felt intensified with each step. Peter kept holding his head in pain as well, but he was able to walk a little better.
When they finally made it, Micky and the others looked around them. Dozens of buildings were either on fire or had completely fallen apart and there was only the sound of more bombers and the crackling of the fire. There was no one anywhere near this town; it had been completely abandoned. Mike tried to push them on to find a safe place for them to stay, but Micky felt like he couldn't move anymore. His stomach roared in pain and he doubled over nearly dropping to his knees.
"Micky?" Mike asked when he realized that they'd all stopped to check on Micky.
"I need to rest a little," Micky said. "I'm ok."
"You don't look ok," Piper said. "You actually look pretty pale."
"Here," Mike said wrapping his arm around Micky's waist and hoisting him up, "come on; we can't rest out here, but you need to lie down. Pete, get that door." Peter nodded and opened the door of one of the few still standing buildings that was clear of any fire. It would be safe for them to rest in for now. Inside the house, everything was still in place. Some things had fallen on the floor from the shock of the bombs, but the couch still looked very inviting to Micky. Mike helped him over to it, and Micky collapsed it with Piper moving the cushions under his head as a pillow.
"What's wrong with him?" Davy asked.
"I told you I'm fine," Micky said. "I just need to rest a little."
"Micky, you're not fine," Mike argued. "Where does it hurt the most?"
"My stomach," Micky answered. Mike moved to lift Micky's shirt up, but as soon as Mike put pressure on his stomach it felt like someone stabbed him. He screamed from the pain and Mike instantly jumped back.
"Micky?" Piper asked warily.
"Ok, maybe I'm not ok," Micky relented as Piper gingerly helped Mike lift his shirt without touching his stomach. But the shirt was wet and still rubbed against his stomach causing him to inhale sharply.
"That does not look good," Davy gasped.
"What?" Micky asked trying to look at his stomach only to feel pain shoot through him.
"Just lie down, Micky," Piper said pushing him back down. "Davy, Peter, go upstairs and find some dry clothes for us. Mike, can I talk to you over there for a second?"
"Don't do that," Micky said as Mike nodded and started to follow her into what was probably the kitchen. Peter and Davy went to go upstairs but stopped.
"Do what?" Piper asked.
"Don't go over and talk about me behind my back," Micky said. "If something's wrong, just tell me. I deserve that." Piper and Mike exchanged a glance with each other as though they didn't want to tell Micky what was going on.
"You're right, Mick," Mike said. "You're stomach is a very dark purple and swollen."
"Which probably means you're bleeding internally," Piper added.
"That's really bad," Davy said.
"Yes, but that also means that we need to get you to a doctor," Piper said. "There's not much I can do for internal bleeding. We need to find a hospital."
"How do we do that?" Peter asked in a very panicked tone. "We don't even know where we are! Other than in the middle of a war in a bombed out city in some county in Europe! And Micky...he's..."
"Peter, calm down," Mike said grabbing Peter by the shoulders and shaking him a little. "Just go get us all dry clothes. Be careful because you probably have yourself a nice concussion, too."
"I'll keep an eye on him," Davy said trying to force himself to sound calm, though Micky could tell he wasn't.
"He has a point, you know," Micky said. "How are we going to find a hospital and get me there in time?"
"Leave that to me," Piper said. "Mike, watch over him."
"No," Mike said. "I'm not letting you go out there alone. We have no idea where the hell the Devil went off to and no doubt he'll be looking for payback for what we did to him. Not to mention we are in the middle of a war."
"I'm a witch, Mike," Piper said.
"Not the point," Mike answered. "I'm not saying you can't defend yourself against a demon or two, but this is war. World War 2. Safety in numbers. Witch or not."
"I agree," Micky said and started coughing. When he looked into his hand, he saw a little blood there.
"Ok, we don't have time to argue this," Piper sighed seeing the blood. "I have an idea and it requires magic which means breaking a lot of rules, but I really don't care at this point. You have to do what I say when I say it, got it?"
"Got it," Mike said.
"We got a some clothes," Peter announced coming down the stairs. His and Davy's faces paled when they looked at Micky.
"Why is there blood on his mouth?" Davy asked.
"Because he's bleeding internally," Piper said grabbing a dress from Peter and handing an outfit to Mike. "We're going to get help. We won't be long."
"What do we do?" Peter asked as she walked into the kitchen to change. Mike just stripped off his clothes there in front of them; it wasn't anything they hadn't seen before since they all lived together.
"Watch him," Piper said. "Make sure he stays on that couch. He'll probably be coughing up more blood so just make sure he doesn't pass out and choke on it. And Peter, you need to rest as much as you can, too. You nearly just drowned. I want Davy doing most of the work. Change him into dry clothes and don't let him drink water and no food. Just make sure he's comfortable till Mike and I get back."
"How long with that be?" Peter asked. "Who know how far the nearest person is! Or if there's even any working vehicles here!"
"We aren't traveling by vehicle," Piper said emerging from the room pinning her wet hair up and out of her face. "We're traveling by magic."
"Lock the doors," Mike instructed. "Davy, when you're done with Micky, make sure the windows are shut and no one can get in here. Keep an eye on Peter. Make sure he stays awake and talking normally. I'm counting on you, Tiny."
"Don't worry," Davy answered trying to sound as courageous as possible. "I've got this. Just bring back help. Fast."