We are offered choices throughout life. I’m faced with a big one now.
Option 1: Wait for Sniper’s broken elbow and bullet wound to weaken him enough for me to slip free of his grip so that I can hold him at gunpoint and get some answers. I’ve probably got thirty seconds before losing consciousness, so his energy needs to flag quickly. Considering he appears to be a full-blooded manimal, this option is coming off as risky.
Option 2: Shoot him again. And again. Until he lets go of my delicate little throat. This option leaves no chance of getting answers.
Option 3: Elbow him in the bullet hole I just put in him until he lets go. That could solve both my needs. I’m going to try that one first.
I bring my left arm up and slam it back as hard as I can. It’s not that hard since we’re so close and I’m on the verge of passing out, but I hit him in his bullet wound. He instinctively moves away, his grip loosening enough for me to get my chin down between his forearm and my neck. I can’t breathe yet. But I’m on my way to an open airway.
The spots in my vision grow. I blink water out of my eyelashes. Then slam my elbow into his wound again. Sniper makes a strangled kind of noise but doesn’t relax his grip.
My vision starts to pinpoint. Oh hell to the no. Time for Option 2. I push my gun under my left arm again and pull the trigger. I angled more into his body this time. The heat of the muzzle burns through my jacket. His hold loosens and I slip free, dropping to the ground, coughing.
Sniper stumbles away. I twist to aim my gun back up at him. My lungs gasp for air. Sniper’s broken right arm hangs sickeningly wrong by his side. Blood seeps through his fatigues. His hand covering the stomach wound is painted red. Lightning cracks and thunder rolls.
I’ve got my gun on him, but the gleam in his eyes tells me he has no more fucks to give. Sniper lunges for me. I fire, hitting him in the right shoulder; it twists him but he keeps coming. I pull the trigger again and nothing happens. Oh fuck me.
I scramble to stand. Sniper’s long reach pays off. He backhands me with his good arm. I follow the blow, stars dancing with the spots in my vision. My shoulder slams into a boulder. My mouth fills with the coppery taste of blood.
Sniper keeps coming. I duck. His fist slams into the boulder. I twist, using my back and core to bring all my weight into a hook punch to his abdominal wound.
Sniper stumbles back. I push my advantage, bringing an uppercut to his jaw. Sniper’s head snaps back. I kick out with a hook kick, slamming my foot into his chest.
The rumble of thunder grows closer. Wait…that’s not—
Water rushes around the boulders, spilling into the tight space, twisting and turning into whirlpools as it fights to be free to follow gravity down the grade. It rises blindingly fast, wrapping around my ankles, twisting up to my knees in a heartbeat.
I stumble. Sniper puts his head down and comes at me. He strikes out with his left fist—the size of a cantaloupe, but slow enough I can roll my shoulder, letting the strike glance off it. Sniper follows his fist, his big body falling into me. The water is too high for me to move fast enough to avoid his shoulder slamming into me.
We both go down. The freezing, swirling water welcomes me, filling my nose and mouth; the weight of Sniper holds me to the ground. Fear spikes. The water drags Sniper’s body off me. It picks me up and spins me. My ass hits something solid. Is it a boulder or the ground? I have no idea. I struggle to get my feet under me. Fuck, which way is down?
Stand the fuck up, Joy! My brother’s voice screams inside my head. I trust it, putting everything I have, everything I am into finding purchase on that surface and pushing up. My head breaks free. My chest heaves, I retch up flood water, my stomach tightening. I suck in air and water, coughing again. But I remain conscious.
The flood water is up to my waist, pinning me to a boulder on the downgrade of the slope. The torrential rain and my lack of air makes it hard to see. The water is rushing through the opening in the boulders, pouring down the hillside. I flatten myself to the surface, refusing to be taken by it.
I don’t see Sniper. Did he get washed down the hill?
Rain whips into my face, making it hard to breathe. I let my head hang, my arms and legs spread, my chest heaving. Lightning cracks. Oh shit, I am in water up to my waist in a lightning storm. Here we go with the decisions again.
Option 1: Try to climb the boulder, getting up to the top and making myself more likely to get struck by lightning, but less likely to drown or to get electrocuted in flood water. Risks also include falling.
My fingers tense on the stone and I glance back at it. The surface is rough enough, I could find finger holds…I think. The rain won’t help.
Option 2: Stay where I am and pray.
I’m not a big believer in higher powers so I’m going to have to go with Option 1. First step, turn around. My limbs are shaking from the cold and adrenaline. My heart is pounding in my chest like it wants out. The force of the water grows as I turn. I press my chest to the rock and bring my hips around.
Rain stings my eyes and cheeks when I look up; the boulder’s rough surface arches away from me. Okay, come on, body, let’s do this. I flatten my hand on the rock surface, inching my fingers up, searching for a crevice. My fingers dip into a thin hold. That’s one.
Running the fingers of my other hand along the surface of the rock, I find another. I scrape my booted foot up the side of the boulder underwater, searching for purchase. A thin lip catches the side of my sole. I take a deep breath, tense my arms, and start to climb.
My fingers scream, my shoulder blades lower as my biceps shake. I find another purchase with my other foot. I’ve climbed two feet. We can do this. Come on, come on!
The combined sounds of rushing wind, rain, and flood water are white noise punctuated by cracks of lightning and the drum roll of close thunder.
Reaching up with my right hand, I go for another crevice. This one is a little deeper and I get more of a grip. I raise my right foot, just freeing it from the rushing water, scraping it along the rock, finding a hold.
The top of the boulder is only about four feet away now. I can do this.
Something wraps around my left ankle—the one still in the water. Fear races up my leg, tensing my body. Oh fuck. The thing tightens, forming into fingers, a closed hand locked around my ankle. It pulls.
I scream with the effort not to be dragged down into the water. Pressing my face against the boulder, I look down into the swirling, debris-riddled flood.
Sniper’s head breaks free—water pours off him like some kind of swamp fucking monster. His good arm releases my ankle, the muscles of his shoulder bunching. Sniper’s going to try to grab my jacket and drag me in.
Using the one good handhold I have with my left arm, I let my right go, pushing off the rock, to swing my right leg out of the water and into his chest. The blow is weak but enough to stop him from fisting my jacket.
The water is lowering, the initial torrent working its way out of the tight space. Sniper stumbles back but doesn’t fall, the water only up to his mid-thighs.
I find my right foothold so I’m hanging off the boulder from one hand, fully above the water line, the left side of my body facing Sniper. The taste of blood and grit of sand coats my tongue. Rain pounds my skin, adrenaline floods my veins.
He slides a knife from his belt, a wicked smile cresting his lips. Our eyes meet. Lightning slashes, painting the world bright white. Decision time again.
Jump down off the boulder and fight this knife-wielding manimal in the quickly receding flood waters or—
Lightning cracks again, the ozone scent of electricity overpowering every other sensation. Sniper’s body jerks, his limbs flailing, and he makes a strangled pained sound. Steam explodes from his skin, shredding his clothing.
Electric pulses zing across the surface of the foaming water. Sniper falls back, his body still seizing as he disappears.
The lightning fades, leaving the world blacker than before. I take in a stuttering breath. I might need to re-evaluate my stance on higher powers…