Page 110 of Exit Strategy

“Kurt!” Her voice was higher now.

The last thought I had was pulling the release and coming free from the spiderweb of nylon lines that connected me to the chute. Gotta get free of those when you hit the water or the current will drag you away.

30

Callie…

The water was warmer than I expected, but it wasn’t what would be consideredwarm.Maybe it was because the air rushing past us as we hurtled back to earth had been so bitingly cold through our meager clothing. Almost as soon as we hit the salty brine, the tangle of strings and the parachute disengaged from us, and Kurt? Kurt went alarmingly limp behind me and the weight of him dragged the both of us under. I struggled and kicked, fumbling at the buckles and straps of the strange and unfamiliar rigging locking us together.

“Kurt!” I screamed, barely getting my head above water and having just enough time to suck in a breath before being dragged under once more.

I fought for the surface and screamed again, “Kurt!”

He sputtered behind me, and I was loosened from the tangled web binding us together. I swished in the water, giving a swift kick, spinning and reaching, trying to keep his head above the surf. We were close to a spit of land, very close, but Kurt was having a hard time. I got behind him, shook him lightly, and cried out, “Float! Float damn you!”

He finally caught my meaning and stopped struggling and just lay back against me.

“Yes! That’s it! That’s it!” I kicked, powerful strokes that I hadn’t committed to since my days on the swim team. Kurt cried out and flinched when one of my kicks encountered one of his feet as I towed us bodily toward the shore.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” I cried. “Just stay with me, try to stay awake, let’s get on the ground, that’s it! That’s it!”

I got us to ground, but it was hard. Kurt was soheavy, and it was taking all of my strength which was quickly being sapped with the chill starting to seep in. Plus, I was small and he was so large it was a near impossible task to drag him bodily onto the shore of what was little more than a sandbar that was – well, I didn’t know where.

“Kurt?” I asked, and kneeled beside him, putting my ear over his soggy dress shirt, which was missing buttons. “Kurt?” I asked again, relieved at the steady thunder of his heart. I kneeled up and touched his face, putting it between my hands, lightly smacking him in hopes of somehow waking him.

“Kurt!” I cried and finally gritted my teeth and slapped him.

He jolted, jerking with a sound like “Ungh!” and demanded of me, “Did you just slap me?”

“Kurt, I don’t know where we are. I don’t know what to do!”

“Pocket,” he mumbled. “Left pocket, the beacon.”

I rifled through his pockets, found his phone, and pulled it out – it was wet. It wouldn’t work. I sniffed, and said, “It’s wet. It won’t work.”

“Twist it, they’ll be… they’ll be here soon.” His head lolled on his shoulders, and I looked up and out over the darkened waters, shivering with cold, the slight wind in wet clothes combining to create misery. The night was black as pitch, and I didn’t know what to do. How would twisting a phone do anything? I dragged Kurt into my lap and held him. I held him and despaired… how would anyone find us out here?

I finally gave into my weeping, and just hugged him close.If I were to die, at least it was like this, with him, free and not in New Eden’s clutches,I thought.

He stirred, and said, “The beacon, left pocket.”

“All I found was your phone.” I sniffed.

“Other left, Love,” he said, fumbling at his other pocket.

“Oh!” Curse my wretched brain and slow thinking for not having thought ofthatsooner.

I found it, twisted it, and it flashed brightly, pulsing into the night, chasing back the dark.

“Okay, okay!” I hugged him tight, and he almost cuddled back into me.

“Just going to have a rest,” he murmured, and I nodded.

“Okay… okay…”

Relief flooded me, but it was a fleeting one as the time dragged on and on. The night gave way to the false light of first dawn on the horizon, which shifted to full dawn, the sun crawling up from the horizon, clawing its way across the sky.

Kurt wouldn’t wake, both of us shivering violently with no protection from the elements. His lips were bluish in the morning, but the sun warmed us up marginally.

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