Scar made to follow, unsteady on the skates attached to his feet. He barely made it a few steps before the ice cracked again and Scar was plunged into the freezing pond.
It wasn’t likein the movies where a perfect hole was formed and water fills where ice once was. The ice was not thin from melting, nor were the cracks small. Once started, they created thick fissures through the entire pond from that single origin point. The spot where Scar had stood held a rocking chunk of ice that teetered as it slowly flipped and covered the watery hole. It wasn’t an exact match, applying pressure to the surrounding ice and causing more cracks and groans to sound.
The adults scrambled. No longer an assembly line, each grabbed a child or a teen and got them to the nearest sectionof land. Like dominoes, once the cracks started, there was no stopping them. Skate blades slid into gaps, making the exodus to land more of a trip. Those who had boots rather than skates grabbed arms, hands, and coats as they pulled people to safety.
Steel ended up on the edge of the ice, not caring that water was starting to flow over it as he grabbed Demo, whose leg had gone completely through as he balanced with Mikey in his arms. Others ran around, fighting in the snow to reach Tally, who still lay prone on the bank where she’d landed.
Ghost, Jigsaw, and Ranger, none of which had been on the ice, were trying to work their way to the hole Scar had gone through. All three were lying flat, spread out to distribute their weight on the weak ice.
Scar hadn’t immediately popped back up, soaked and pissed off. Parts of the pond were deeper than others. It wasn’t a uniformed, gradual depth to the center. Whatever underground spring that fed the pond provided enough of a current where little algae grew during the summer, and mostly around the grassy edges. The club had added more sand on the side closest to the clubhouse to create a beach of sorts, but it was mostly uneven ground below. They estimated the deepest points to be around eight to nine feet. The spot where Scar had fallen would be around six feet, if Steel remembered correctly.
As the women counted heads, Steel called for rope. Even as careful as Ranger, Ghost, and Jigsaw were being, the ice was still protesting their weight. Only years of training kept the panic in his soul from affecting his brain. He wanted to get onto the ice with them, to help, but the more weight on the ice, the more they risked adding to the water below.
Why hadn’t Scar reemerged?
Bulldog, his heavy breathing visible like puffs of smoke, was fighting back into his boots. The ol’ ladies were rushing the kids away. Tessa now had a medical bag in her gloved hands as shehopped and followed the footprints around the pond to Tally. She struggled and was slow going, but Steel could see Grumpy helping Tally to sit up.
Steel was still standing at the watery edge, where the ice had turned to slush at the trample of the mass exodus. He’d seen Aaron and Ollie get off the ice, and while there’d been close calls, no one else had ended up in the water. All were accounted for, except for Scar.
And unlike the last time Scar had gone into the water, they knew exactly where he was. They just couldn’t get to him.
Ranger got to the tipped ice first, but no sooner had he reached a hand out to try to move it, did the ice under him start to shift. His torso started to sink, causing him to have to shimmy his way back onto a more solid section.
“Scar!” came Tally’s frantic cry. She was trying to get back onto the ice, but Grumpy, Cage, and Tessa were holding her back.
Steel’s mind was working a million miles per hour, taking in the scene around him, the helplessness of knowing he couldn’t run out onto the ice to help, while also calculating the possibilities. The ice had been solid. This wasn’t their first time ice skating this winter. The kids had been out here, mostly Scotty and Lila, almost every weekend. It made no sense. Looking over at the chunk of ice that was blocking the hole Scar had fallen through, it wasn’t thin. The cracks had created a makeshift circle, weakening the ice where Tally had been skating. Scar must have seen the lines connect to have acted as quick as he did, and mute, he couldn’t have called out a warning to his blind fiancée.
The pond should have been safe. Today of all days, with their heavy snowfall and the mountain winds, the ice should have been as solid as ever.
A blade jammed up from under the ice, nowhere near where he’d gone down and in a section of the pond Steel knew was deeper than where Scar had fallen in. The blade disappeared below the surface, and a moment later a small tube, like a worm, took its place.
“There!” Steel and Bulldog called together.
“What is it?” Tally demanded from across the pond. “What’s happening? Where’s Scar? Someone tell me what’s happening!”
Steel stepped forward onto the ice on instinct. More cracks appeared below his boot. Bulldog pulled him back.
“He can breathe,” the SAA told Steel harshly. “We just have to figure out how to get to him without joining him.”
“One, ten, one,” Steel reminded Bulldog. “His ten minute timer started almost four minutes ago!”
Bulldog’s face darkened even more with anger and worry, but he kept his hold on Steel’s arm. “That water is warmer than it should be this time of year. The surface freezes, and the water below is still cold, but it should give him more time.”
Any time was too long, as far as Steel was concerned. Rescuers and the military spoke of a one-ten-one system when it came to icy water. The first minute you fall in was crucial because that’s when a person was more likely to panic. Being plunged into freezing water was a shock to the system, and while it might seem like common sense, some people forget to breathe. More deaths happened due to drowning than hypothermia because of that initial minute of panic. Once a person hits the water, there’s a rough ten minute timer for self-rescue, before the body becomes too tired and cold to continue. If you’re still in the freezing water beyond that, rescuers have an estimated one hour to get to you.
As Ranger, Ghost, and Jigsaw made slow turns to crawl to the section where the breathing tube poked through, a sound like a cracking moan shook the entire icy surface. Again andagain, until suddenly two skated feet burst through the ice, sending chunks and shards everywhere. A moment later, Scar’s head popped out of the water and Steel immediately saw what had likely kept Scar under the surface longer than he should have.
“Tessa!” Steel called out. Fuck, he hated this. He hated just fucking standing here and not being able to get to his brother.
Ghost got there first. As Scar started to go back down, Ghost grabbed for him. Chest to back, he kept Scar afloat until Ranger and Jigsaw were able to take hold of his legs and pull both of them backwards.
Even out of the water, the fight wasn’t over with. Scar’s body shook violently, but the worst of his injuries, came from the source of the blood coating half his face.
Things moved quickly.The kids were taken into the clubhouse, many too young to understand what had happened while others were scared or curious about what was wrong with Uncle Scar. The heaters the ol’ ladies had set up in anticipation of a cool evening of chocolaty fun were now Scar’s lifesavers.
Even injured, the man fought his brothers’ contact as they carried him to the pavilion. It wasn’t until Tally joined them that he calmed.
“Get his clothes off!” Tessa ordered as Scar was placed on a picnic table. She was in full ER-doctor mode. “Blankets! We need to get him warm and dry! His head injury is secondary. We need to get his core temp up first!”
