spark

Chapter 18 : Sink or Swim

Yanking the back door open, Scott shoved Alex inside, urging the boy to get his seatbelt on as fast as possible. Glancing backwards at the shoreline, Scott grabbed his homemade medical bag, slinging it onto his shoulders and clipping it into place. "Scott? What's going on?" Alex questioned, looking to the Alpha werewolf, the terror evident on the young boy's face.

"There's a tsunami coming. No matter what, I want you to stay in the car! Don't get out unless your life is in danger!" Scott states, grasping hold of Alex's shoulder and leveling their eyes to stare into the werecoyote's.

"What about you?! Hurry and get in the car with me!" Alex pleads, tears streaming down his face as Scott looked back at the coast, the werewolf backing away from the car and slamming the car door shut, right as water came rushing in. "Scott!"

The car started rolling, near weightless from the sheer amount of water flooding the streets. Alex screamed as he saw Scott pushed against the vehicle, crying as he watched the man be pushed aside, losing him amongst the rushing water. The werecoyote was breathing erratically, clutching onto his seat for dear life as the seatbelt dug into his torso. A pained shout left Alex as the car came to a halt, ceasing its rolling as Alex opened one eye, feeling blood rushing to his head as realization sunk in; the car had ended up on its side, completely submerged within the water. Wincing at the constricting pain of the seatbelt, Alex plunged his thumb down on the release, the buckle clicking free as he yelped, tumbling shoulder-first into the window. Rising from his fallen state, Alex looked around at the car's interior, breathing shakily as panic warred with the boy's rational mind. Letting out another wince, Alex stretched out his right arm, feeling the pain from falling onto it start to dissipate as his healing took effect. Reaching upwards, Alex started climbing, using the front seats as a means to ascend. Keeping his sandal-clad feet on the center console, Alex reached up, smacking on the glass with his open palm.

"Help! Somebody help me! I'm in here!" Alex cried, the werecoyote sobbing as he pounded on the glass, not knowing that the sound was unable to pierce the foot of water submerging the vehicle, nor the rushing water pushing everything inland.

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Scott gasped, inhaling what felt like a gallon of water as he flailed his arms, fighting to break the surface of the water. As soon as fresh air hit his face, Scott heaved, coughing up the salt water as he clutched onto a telephone pole for dear life. Blinking back the stinging pain brought to his eyes by the salt water, Scott assessed his surroundings, panic digging a pit in his stomach as the sight of his car was completely absent from Scott's view. Catching sight of a ladder truck that was down the road from where Scott broke the surface, the werewolf let go of the telephone pole, letting the water guide him towards the emergency vehicle as Scott saw a distinct head of brownish-blonde hair putting a shorter figure on top of the vehicle. A collection of debris was drifting rapidly towards the man as Scott started swimming with the tide, maneuvering to the side of the debris and pushing it out of the way before it could collide with Buck.

"Scott?! What are you doing here?!" Buck questioned, raising his voice over the clashing rapids surrounding them. Scott glanced up at the ladder truck's roof, a soaked Christopher lying on top of the cab as he gazed at the two men. Scott turned his attention back to Buck, and if the stench of salt water wasn't flooding Scott's senses, he would have picked up on the immense amount of guilt emanating from Buck.

"I could ask you the same thing!" Scott shot back, helping the man get onto the ladder truck alongside Christopher. "I was at the beach with Alex, I wanted to tell him about what happened last night, but he already knew."