The Land After Tomorrow (Completed)

Chapter 17: Held Captive

Drew looked down to what lied below him. He looked back in fright of the people approaching. His heart leaped with fear as he looked down below him once again. Out of the foggy vision from being intoxicated, he saw a ravine below. It was his only escape. He looked back once more and saw them feet away. His heart jumped once more before jumping off the ledge.

He felt the wind rush past him screaming into his ears. The brief seconds that he felt the air around him, he felt weightless. He became closer to the sight below him and a switch turned on inside him. In that instance, he realized what he had done, and fear overcame him. As he inched closer to the water below and the rocks that lied beneath it, he prepared himself for the possibility of death. He tensed as the water touched his feet before he felt it submerge him completely. A sharp pain ran through his body from the impact.

The chilling water pushed him farther down the ravine. The rapids sent him spinning under the surface. Drew tried frantically to break through the surface. He felt his lungs tighten and his mind go darker. He wanted desperately to breathe in, but the water fought him with all its might. He felt the water push him up against the rocks. Pain screamed in his shoulder as a red liquid oozed into the water. He kicked his legs as he looked up to the surface. He managed a quick breath of air that filled his lungs. The suffocating sensation was relieved for a quick second before he was sent tossing back under from the rapids. Water seeped into his mouth as he let out gasps trying to take a breath of air. The pain intensified through his body as he was sent hurling into the rocks. A trail of blood followed behind him. He was sent hurling into a rock smacking his forehead up against it. Drew clenched in pain trying to remain from screaming out and drowning. He was sucked back under the water that consumed him tossing and turning him with no remorse. Once again, his lungs turned to fire and his mind turned to a darkness. He struggled with the force that fought him to no avail. He felt himself lose sight of the water that sent him tossing and instead saw a cave full of darkness.

You know that instance right before you are about to fall asleep? Imagine that but your lungs are on your fire and condensing every second.

The second Drew couldn't hold on any longer, the rapids started to subside and released him from its rapid turmoil. He held his head above the water releasing his lungs from the burning pain. The rapids subsided leading to a calm current.

Drew's exhaustion grew as he fought through the water to the shore. His knees collapsed on the sight of the shore. He used his one arm to pull himself out of the water to safety. His other shoulder streamed blood onto the rocks. He coughed out water that seeped into his lungs trying to regain his breath. He collapsed along the shore staring up to the sky. Cuts and bruises were prominent up and down his arms and legs. Drew's head spun from the loss of blood and he felt weak to the point of collapse. He felt nauseous like a pit formed in his stomach wanting to come out. He rolled over onto his side and let the pit crawl out of him as he heaved in between for breaths. As Drew's shock had started to subside, the pain started to erupt all over his body. Drew felt blood trickling down his face and the massive sense of pain that it had originated from. He brought his hand to the source above the right temple of his eye. It was a gash the size of about an inch. He ached in pain before the sky spun around him and he closed his eyes in defeat.

Not far off in the distance, another soul watched Drew helplessly collapse. He hid among the shadows watching from a far. The man approached the body that lied topless and pale on the blood-soaked rocks before him. He knelt to turn the body over from its side examining the face. His face was pale and lacking a source of life. He was close to death from the experience he had fought. The man brushed Drew's hair back to keep it out of the gash that lied upon his forehead. Other men began to approach from the woods around them walking toward the pair.