We had hiked up to a camping area, set up the tent, and then spent the next three days playing cards while sitting on top of damp sleeping bags. Eventually, the trench we dug around the tent wasn’t enough, and the whole place flooded. The sound was annoying, and I ended up punching one of the other kids for getting his muddy feet all over my pillow. When we got back to civilization, I was sent back into group care again.
I moved my head from side to side, enjoying the tickling feeling of her hair under my chin. Some of the strands were stuck in my beard. That was all right, too. I felt light and…well…kind of happy, which I didn’t really know how to handle. She felt good against me, and I wanted her to stay there. It was probably trying to figure out happiness that made me realize something was really wrong here. It could have been that plinking, plopping, dripping sound as well. It seemed to be a little louder. Raine’s breathing didn’t sound quite right, and her heart was beating awfully fast for sleep. Raine needed something – something important. I needed to know what the strange, reminds-me-of-camping sound was, and I needed to remember what Raine needed. Her name provided me with the single answer to both questions.
“Rain.”
I pushed with my hands on the bottom of the raft while my mind raced in abrupt, sharp focus. If the collection system was working properly, it should be collecting the rain pelting the top of the canopy. We should already have water to drink. Raine needed the water. She was going to die if she didn’t get it, but the muscles in my arms groaned and argued with me, refusing to hold me up.
I dropped back down again, trying to cradle Raine’s body against mine so I didn’t crush her. The rest of my body gave up, too, and I lay on the floor, hugging her to me and feeling the slow rise and fall of the waves underneath us. I tucked my forehead back into her hair and tried to breathe normally. Being here felt good – much better than trying to move. If I just rested here for a little while I could go and get…whatever it was I was supposed to get…or do…whatever. I’d do it later. I needed to rest now.
“Get the fuck up.”
“Screw you, Landon,” I grumbled at him. “We’ve been at this for five hours. I’m taking a fucking break.”
I heard the soft click of his Glock and slowly opened my eyes to see it pointed between my eyes.
“You rest, you die,” he said. His voice was cold and emotionless. “You think they’re going to wait for you to wake up for a fair fight? If you aren’t up for this, just say the word and I’ll end you right now. I’m not going to waste my time on some * who needs a fucking nap.”
I shoved against the floor of the raft again, cringing a little when Raine’s head dropped off of my arm and onto the floor. My stomach lurched, and my head pounded. I had to force my eyes open and look down to my legs to make my muscles move. It wasn’t that far to the collection containers, and the first one was already nearly full. Through the haze of the pain in my brain and the shaking muscles of my arms and legs, I switched the valves so water would run to the second container and pulled out the nearly full one.
In the event of loss of cabin pressure, please place the oxygen mask over your head before assisting children or other passengers.
In other words, help yourself first, even if you don’t really want to. You can’t help anyone when you’re dead. I had to have enough strength to help Raine drink, or neither of us would make it.
The hardest part of extreme thirst is convincing yourself that a little water is better than a lot. Your body doesn’t believe you no matter what the logical part of your brain is saying. I sat down slowly, tucking my legs in and holding the cup in my shaking hand. I poured slowly, just the single cup, and took a sip.
My throat was dry enough I don’t think the water actually reached my stomach. It hurt to swallow. I sipped again, swishing the water around in my mouth first and licking my lips afterwards. I drank half a cup, and then sat unmoving for a while. I wasn’t sure how long it was exactly – my “waterproof” watch had stopped working after my second fishing expedition – but I tried to wait at least fifteen minutes before I drank the rest and brought the second cup to Raine.
She wouldn’t wake up, so I had to hold her up by her shoulders to get her head in the right position to drink and tilt her chin up to get her to swallow. Honestly, it was probably easier that way than having to fight with her to keep her from drinking too much at once. I got half the cup into her before lying her back down.