The cold was a physical blow. It punched the air out of his lungs.
Ryder waded in. The current hit him at the knees, trying to sweep his legs out from under him. He leaned into it, driving his good leg into the rocky bottom.
The water rose to his waist.
His cast filled with water. It became heavy, agonizingly heavy. It felt like a concrete block strapped to his shattered bone. Every step was a battle against physics.
Pain is just noise.
He pushed forward. The water was chest deep now. He was ten feet from the tree.
The current grew stronger. Debris—branches, ice chunks—slammed into him. A log hit his bad shoulder, sending a shockwave of agony through his torn rotator cuff.
He gasped, swallowing a mouthful of dirty water. He coughed, spitting it out.
"Leo! Look at me!"
Leo looked up. His face was white, his eyes huge dark pools of terror. He was shivering violently, his grip on the branch slipping.
"Ryder?" Leo mouthed.
"I've got you," Ryder yelled. "Reach for me!"
Ryder lunged. He grabbed a lower branch of the cottonwood.
The tree groaned. It shifted again, tilting downstream.
"No!" Leo screamed.
Ryder hauled himself along the branch. His legs trailed uselessly in the current now. He was pulling himself with his arms—one good, one torn.
He reached the fork where Leo was trapped.
Ryder wrapped his good arm around the trunk. He reached out with his bad arm.
"Grab my hand!"
Leo reached out. His small hand was wet, slippery.
Ryder grabbed him.
His hand—the hand that had held a bull rope for eight seconds against two thousand pounds of force—locked onto the boy's wrist.
The "Bull Rider's Grip." It was a reflex. Once he clamped down, nothing on earth could pry his fingers open.
"I got you!" Ryder roared.
He pulled.
He hauled Leo out of the crotch of the tree and slammed him against his chest.
"Hold my neck!" Ryder ordered. "Don't let go!"
Leo wrapped his arms around Ryder’s neck, burying his face in Ryder’s jacket. He was sobbing, shaking.
Ryder had the boy. But now he had to get back.
He turned. The current caught them instantly.
