The Wolf of The Woods

Chapter Twenty Eight: The rescue

A/N: Wow, this fic is really coming to an end pretty soon, that seems so crazy cause I've been writing it for so long! But seriously, there's only gonna be like two more chapters after this (if I can fit everything in) and then that's it! Terminado, fini, finished! :,)
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Phil wished they could've stayed like that longer.

In that moment, wrapped around the man he loved, he'd felt safe. Safer than he'd felt in a long time.

However, Dan seemed to have other ideas. Which was strange, since he'd shown no interest in wanting to get anywhere anytime soon up until now.

Now he was tugging at Phil's shirt with his teeth and barking like a dog that wanted to go on a walk. Phil finally gave in and stood up in confusion as to what exactly was going on.

'What?' He questioned 'Do you want to take me somewhere?'
At that, Dan turned his attention away from Phil and bounded off.

'Hey, wait!'
He stopped and turned around, looking impatient as he gestured in the direction he wanted to lead them.

They were heading further downstream. In the complete opposite direction to home, which puzzled Phil even further.

Not only was Phil confused, but he was so exhausted too. He knew Dan must be also and yet he still kept moving further down the riverbank.
'Are we there yet?' Phil whined as if he actually expected Dan to reply.

It only just occurred to Phil that Dan didn't really seem to know where he was going any more than he did. He was looking all around him, much like Phil had been doing whilst looking for him earlier. Was he searching for something too?

It was at that moment that Dan decided to stop unexpectedly. Phil, not really looking straight ahead of him, didn't manage to stop in time to avoid walking right into the back of him.
'Ahh, I... sorry!' He spluttered.

Dan didn't respond, didn't even look at Phil or acknowledge his clumsiness. He just looked dead ahead. Phil, following his gaze, looked ahead and saw exactly what he was looking at. He gasped, gazing in awe.

There was a body in the water.

And not just a body, this appeared to be a boy who was still very much alive. Snagged on a branch, likely to be washed away by the current at any moment, he was rapidly trying to get away. It was...

'Seamus' Phil gasped, eyes going wide at his own words.

God, how was he still alive? Sure Dan had survived to fall too, but Seamus really hadn't deserved to make it this far after what he'd done. Phil almost wanted to snap the branch that was his only life line right now and just watch the water take him, not that he was actually about to do that of course.

Seamus didn't appear to be able to swim very well either, though being caught on a tree branch whilst being thrown about by a river might not be the easiest condition to swim in. It was a miracle he hadn't been knocked unconscious as of yet.

Phil averted his gaze for a second and looked back at Dan, who was still staring straight ahead at Seamus.

He had a certain look about him, it was a contemplative expression. And Phil might have been wrong, but it almost looked like he was thinking about saving the boy.

He was thinking about saving the boy.

'Dan...' Phil was panicking 'Dan, you're not going to...'
Dan didn't hesitate any longer, Phil's words doing absolutely nothing to stop him.

He jumped into the rushing water.

The cold hit him again just as it had before, if not colder. He could felt his body going numb.

He couldn't think about that now though, he had a job to do. He began to swim over to the branch and towards Seamus. Quite luckily from behind the boy so Seamus couldn't see him. Well, it was lucky for Dan anyway.

Seamus screamed (a not so manly scream) as he felt Dan grab him with his teeth and begin to drag him back.

The journey back was the hard part. Dan knew that Phil would be watching in horror from the sidelines but he didn't dare distract himself to look. The current was so strong but Dan knew he would have to work his legs faster. He just had to get to the riverbank. He could do this.

Seamus was yelling all sorts of curse words as Dan kept, perhaps by accident perhaps not, biting him when he lost grip and he needed to readjust. At several points, one of them would be thrust under by the current for a second, causing Phil's heart to stop for a moment as he watched nervously.

Despite the journey back being so much longer than the way there, Dan eventually made it to the riverside with both him and Seamus virtually unharmed, which was a miracle. Phil was at the edge to haul the two of them up. As he did this he threw his arms around Dan just as he had been doing earlier, not caring in the slightest how soaking wet he was.

'Daniel James Howell, you are the craziest, most insane, bravest person I have ever met' Phil panted, needing to catch his breathe after the immense amount of anxiety he'd just felt.

'This is cute and all but are you guys gonna fucking kill me for what I did to you already or what?' Seamus snapped. Phil paused, turning to face the other boy.

'Seamus, Dan just fucking saved your life, if we were going to kill you we would have left you in there to drown'

Seamus looked stunned.
'So you aren't going to kill me? You... actually want me alive?'
'Oh don't take this the wrong way here, I don't think after all you've done you really deserve to live. But if we let you die now then we would really be just as bad as you are for trying to kill us so...'

'Yeah but your psycho boyfriend already tried to murder me earlier, what's your point? Seamus interrupted.

'I think you'll find that that psycho boyfriend of mine just saved your life! The least you could do is thank him!'
Phil couldn't help getting angry, he really couldn't.

'Ha, yeah! Like I'm going to do that' Seamus smirked. He was either really good at hiding his emotions or he was just so cocky that he really just didn't care about what he'd just been through enough to be appreciative. Phil though, perhaps wasn't so good at concealing how he felt.

'You asshole! Just... just, get out of here before we change our minds and throw you back in the river!' He yelled, unwinding his arms from around Dan and trying to stand tall and intimidating. This didn't seem to be doing wonders. Seamus almost looked like he was going to approach the two of them again.

He probably would have too if Dan hadn't decided to get up as well. He rose to his feet and stepped in front of Phil. Then he let out a low growl and began barking intimidatingly at Seamus, much louder than he'd ever done before.

Growling and barking, even howling, he began to chase the boy and snapped at his heals as he turned to get away. Dan almost looked like he'd gone savage again, which was all just an act (this time) of course, but it definitely seemed to be working.

He continued to bark as he came to a halt. Seamus doing quite the opposite and running so fast to get away that he didn't even notice Dan had stopped. No doubt his screams and yells could be heard for quite a while even after he'd gone out of sight.

Dan felt Phil place a hand on his head as he came towards him, he scratched behind his ear gently and Dan leaned into the touch.

'So' Phil began 'I guess we won't be seeing him for a while'