"What the fuck happened?" Brian yelled as they got closer, close enough to see that Mikey and Gerard were lurching along with Ray's arms hooked around their shoulders, that Ray could barely stand, that Mikey and Ray were soaking wet and bleeding, for fuck's sake. "Did you fall in the creek?"
Ray shook his head, tried to say something and started coughing, deep wet hacking sounds that made Frank wince in sympathy. Bob reached them first and moved Mikey out of the way; took most of Ray's weight on himself. Mikey stumbled over to Frank, who caught him, and Brian went to help Gerard on Ray's other side.
"What happened?" Frank asked, getting Mikey's arm around his neck. "Why are you bleeding?"
"Rocks," Mikey muttered.
"What rocks?" Brian spluttered, but Gerard said,
"Let's just get them inside, Brian!" and so they hurried as fast as they could back up to the house, getting Mikey and Ray down on the couch while Bob called for Craig.
"Now somebody start talking," Brian demanded, when Craig and Bob came back with towels and a first aid kit. "What the fuck, you go for one walk without me and this happens?"
"We went down to the creek," Mikey started, clutching at the towel Frank draped over his shoulders. "We wanted to see where it came from, like, if we could find the source? And it seemed like it was coming from underground, like, this cave thing."
Bob was kneeling in front of Ray, looking at his hands. "Toro, what the fuck did you do, wrestle a razorblade?"
Frank looked over and his stomach turned when he saw Ray's hands, all cut to shit and bleeding like crazy from the palms.
"I told you, there were rocks," Mikey said tearfully. Frank rubbed his arms, trying to warm him up. "He was trying to find me."
Craig whispered anxiously to Brian, "I was joking about the spelunking."
Frank looked at Gerard. "Can you make any more sense than these two?"
"I don't know what happened," Gerard said helplessly. "One minute they were just exploring the mouth of the cave, and the next Ray was in the water calling for Mikey, and then I guess the current pulled him further into the cave, or something, and he couldn't get out."
"You can't swim!" Bob said furiously. "What the fuck were you thinking, getting in the water?"
"I couldn't see Mikey!" Ray said shrilly, his voice rough with coughing. "I couldn't see him anywhere, I thought he'd been sucked under and I had to find him!"
"But I was right there on the rocks!" Mikey insisted, shaking with cold or remembered fear. "I was right there yelling your name and it was like you couldn't see me at all!"
"I couldn't see you!" Ray said, waving his wounded hands around. "I thought you'd drowned!"
"Well, you pretty much did!" Mikey shouted. Frank held him tighter, rubbing his back. "You almost died!"
"I had to find you," Ray shouted back, and then Mikey scrambled out of Frank's arms and over to Ray, curling his arms around Ray's shoulders and pressing his face into his wet hair. "I had to find you," Ray repeated. He turned his face into Mikey's shoulder and awkwardly braced his arms around Mikey's waist, hands held out stiffly at the ends.
Frank looked at Gerard, who was wringing his hands. Gerard said in a small voice, "Mikey pulled him out of the cave and he wasn't breathing. We had to give him CPR."
"You guys sure love your near-death experiences," Craig said in a hushed tone.
"Why didn't you call for help?" Brian asked Gerard.
