The Perfect Swimming Spot

Chapter 8

Alyssa stood up in the water, positioned in the middle between either bank. It was luckily only up to her thighs in depth. She almost managed to let out a laugh before she was ripped sideways back underwater.

"Alyssa!" Lexie screamed as she ran to help her friend.

She darted to the creeks edge and followed the wake made from Alyssa being dragged. It was taking her downstream towards the opening of the flooded billabong. Tristan was running behind Lexie, piking up small rocks to throw in the direction of whatever was dragging Alyssa. It had to be another crocodile, if not. The one from before had surely stalked them up stream.

Miraculously it had let go of Alyssa and she floated to the top. Lexie and Tristan, both retrieved her as quickly as possible, dragging her onto the side of the creek and far from the edge.

They placed her on her side to get the water out of her mouth. They placed on her back and tilted her head to open her airways. Tristan pinched her nose and breathed into her mouth; he started pumping her chest at her heart and repeated the process.

Alyssa coughed up water and vomited almost straight onto Tristan, who jumped back and then helped Alyssa lie back on her side in order to not choke.

She was alive. She was barely conscious, but she was alive. She appeared to have a severely injured leg where she had been clung onto by the crocodile. Her fingers also looked to have been broken while attempting to grab onto anything else to stop her from being dragged further. Tristan immediately tried to reach the emergency line but still couldn't call out.

"There must be a tower down somewhere, I should be able to call this number by now." Panicked Tristan.

Lexie was sat on the ground with Alyssa's head in her lap, keep her head tilted in case she vomited again.

"We need to dress her wounds, what can we use?" Lexie's emotions were starting to be felt now. She didn't want to lose her only real friend in town. Alyssa was the only person Lexie could be around and feel like herself and she'd do anything to help keep Alyssa alive.

Tristan opened his bag and retrieved his spare shirt, vodka and a few small round bundles of gauze bandages.

Alyssa's eyes shot open as Tristan poured the vodka on her leg. She screamed with agony as he pressed and wrapped the gauze around her leg until it was tight.

"Just leave them like that!" She cried as he went to set her fingers in place.

"If I don't do it now and wrap them together, they'll set like that, and you won't be able to use them." He replied.

Alyssa obliged and bit down on a stick while Tristan bent her fingers back into place and wrapped them together.

"Do you know if you can walk? I've wrapped your leg tight enough that you won't bleed out. The quicker we get somewhere that I can call out, the better chance you have of keeping your leg." Tristan sternly explained the situation to her, she needed to walk. If she didn't walk, she may never walk on both legs again.

She nodded and painfully rose with the aid of Lexie. Tristan had pulled out his retractable hiking poles. He pulled out two more U-shaped objects from his bag and attached them to either hiking pole.

"What are they?" Alyssa asked, head gesturing to the attachments.

"I made these a while back, they clip onto the poles that I bought. They turn them into crutches." He replied.

"That's genius." Lexie praised. "How'd you come up with that?"

"I broke my ankle while hiking once. I didn't have much but a hiking pole and some tape, so I taped a sturdy stick to the top of my pole. I wrapped my shirt around it all and then taped that together. When I got home, I had time sitting around waiting for my ankle to heal. I bent and welded some stuff together and made these little beauties. They slide right on top and get held in with a bolt. I added some waterproof cushion on top too." Tristan explained, quite proud of his work in that moment. It took him away from the turmoil before him. In that moment he was back at his desk drawing the design for his inspiration.

"Good thing it's just the two fingers broken, or I wouldn't be able to grasp the pole handles." Alyssa looked at her fingers, astonished by still being alive.

They made their way back, slowing reaching closer to the billabong and wider connecting creek that Alyssa was being dragged to moments before.