A trickle of fear made the blood in my veins speed up.
I couldn’t afford to let it take hold, but my focus was already broken. I couldn’t hear him in my head anymore.
Fuck. I made a bad call.
Right as the creeping thought settled in, I found a micro air pocket, not even two inches big. But it was enough to stick my nose and mouth into. Relief filled me as I inhaled.
I’m going to make it.
Methane hit my nose,
Damn it.
A cough wheezed through, and I sank back into the water immediately. It was too late. The damage was already done.
The coughing fit sent a flurry of bubbles around me. My nose and lungs screamed as they filled with water in the process.
I paddled with every ounce of strength, knowing the clock was ticking faster than ever.
My heart pounded as I realized that I’d made a bad bet. There was a reason Levicy Rinah decided she was dead, whether the monster guarded the door or not.
Because it was impossible to get out without him anyway.
Don’t think about that. Eye on the prize.
The mouth of the tunnel widened just as the edges of my sight began to blur. The alligator family we passed on the way in, rested beneath me.
Alligators weren’t deep sea creatures. I was close to the surface. I refused to die right under the finish line
Air. I need air.
Flailing wouldn’t get me air quicker. I’d die quicker.
I used that reminder to use slow movements, with only my arms, directly up. Every involuntary instinct inside me begged me to inhale, but I kept the course.
Just a few more feet.
I didn’t actually know that. There were stories of alligators resting as deep as sixty feet below, but I wouldn’t let that little fact ruin the fragile composure I held together.
My sight grew dark in a way that had nothing to do with the murky water.
I was losing consciousness.
I went back to full speed knowing time was up, and hoped I was up high enough to not get the alligator’s attention. Either way, I was dead if I didn’t reach the surface now.
Panic, that wasn’t mine, thrashed through my mind like a wrecking ball. It shook me to my core, and I exhaled whatever tiny bit of air I maybe had left.
It wasn’t much. The water barely bubbled.
He was going to be the reason I died.
Terror flooded me, making my limbs flail. I wasn’t even sure if it was in a productive motion to get me closer to the surface. Everything was spinning and growing dark.
Was I even going in the right direction anymore?
This was it.
Fuck you, Defect #3. Suffer in hell.
