Aiden strapped his rucksack back on and took her hand again, tugging her into the deeper water. “The river is pretty shallow,” he whispered, “but I’m going to swim us upstream until we hit something we can’t get across. I need you to hold on to the straps of my bag, down low so my arms are free.”
She nodded. He was her hero and her Aquaman. If anybody could keep her safe, it was Aiden.
She wrapped her palms around the straps of his bag, down by his hips. He plunged under the water again and within moments was propelling them upstream. Melene kept trying to kick to help out, but her legs were exhausted. She kept her head above water while Aiden took even, regular breaths every three strokes. His style, endurance, and strength were more impressive to her than ever.
They made fast progress up the river. She tried to keep her head low to minimize the drag and make it easier on Aiden, but she constantly listened for anything out of the ordinary. Shafts of moonlight lit up the river and the banks on both sides. They passed what looked like a zipline park, the lines going over and into the water. They passed a few roads, and she even saw the lights from some houses in the bushes at times.
From the bulrushes on the side of the river, she saw two red glowing orbs. She blinked to clear her vision. She must be going insane. What would be dark red and glowing and … slowly gliding across the water toward her?
The shape got more defined and the glows brighter, and her stomach threatened to claw its way out of her throat. The glows were reflected moonlight in something’s eyes, and unless she was hallucinating, the ugly, bumpy head of a crocodile was coming straight at them.
“Aiden,” she screamed, yanking at his bag. She scrambled away from the crocodile and over Aiden’s back.
He was pushed deeper into the water for a moment, then burst up. “What?”
“Crocodile,” she cried out, forgetting to be quiet in her horror.
The river was only up to Aiden’s neck at this spot, but she couldn’t touch. Melene splashed backwards away from the creature as Aiden whipped out his pistol. She thought he was going to shoot the beast, but he didn’t. She wanted to get out of this river right now, but she watched in frozen panic as the crocodile sliced right up to Aiden and opened his jaws wide.
Melene screamed. Aiden shot his pistol right into the beast’s cavernous, horrifying mouth and the beast reared back. Aiden flung himself to the side and brought the butt of his pistol down right into one of those glowing red eyes. The glow disappeared. The crocodile made the most terrifying growling sound Melene had ever heard. It was a loud, deep-toned roar that seemed to reverberate from inside the creature and pulse through the air and the water.
Melene bit down on her own scream. If anyone was indeed following them, she’d probably alerted them to their location, or the gunshot had. Who cared who was following them when a crocodile was going to rip them apart?
The crocodile thrashed at Aiden, hitting into him from the side with that awful jaw and pointed, nasty teeth. Aiden aimed the gun into that cavernous pit of death and pulled the trigger again.
The crocodile let out another awful roar and then flung itself to the side and sank into the water. Had he finally killed it?
Aiden quickly swam to her and tugged her toward the opposite bank. “Time to get out of the water,” he murmured in what sounded like an almost-teasing tone.
Melene’s eyes were wide, and her entire body trembled. Were there more crocodiles? Probably. Her eyes darted around as they swam for the bank and then waded onto it. Aiden stowed his flippers under some brush and then took her hand and walked at a quick pace along a semi-broken trail. Rocks and twigs poked at her feet, but she said nothing. Desperation and fear drove her on, but Aiden somehow steadied and comforted her. She could hardly believe he’d beaten a crocodile without breaking a sweat. He was some kind of superhero, maybe even more than Aquaman.
The river had been quietly running downstream, but the rushing of water became pronounced the farther up they went. Melene’s legs were exhausted, and she couldn’t stop shaking. She clung to Aiden’s hand, her only source of comfort and sanity at this point, and just kept putting one foot in front of the other.
The rushing water grew louder. Her eyes had adjusted to the dim light and she could make out a waterfall above them. It was a different waterfall than she’d ever seen, with lots of boulders and pools interspersed up the gradual falls. It looked as if it had been landscaped and as if you could climb right up it.
“Let’s go up it in case someone finds and tracks our footprints, or they bring dogs,” Aiden instructed.
Dogs? Tracking footprints? Melene’s heart raced. Her gaze darted around, but she saw nothing.
She had never climbed a waterfall, but she followed Aiden’s path and he assisted her often. She was amazed that it wasn’t too hard, and the rocks weren’t slick. They made it up the waterfall, and the water was waist deep in the river above it. Aiden kept going through the river, not exiting it. She looked around desperately for more crocodiles and noticed Aiden’s head swiveling as well. It was better on her feet to go through the river with its smooth rocks, but it was more tiring and nerve-wracking.
When she thought she couldn’t move one more inch, Aiden finally guided her to the bank and they climbed out of the water. He directed her a short distance through thick trees and undergrowth and into a small clearing. He sat next to a large tree and rested his back against it, tugging her down next to him.
Melene all but collapsed, leaning against the tree.
“You okay?” he asked softly.
She tried to nod, hoping it looked convincing and hoping he couldn’t see the fear and exhaustion in her eyes because of the semi-darkness surrounding them.
Aiden took his pack off and sorted through it. He pulled out his phone first and sent off a lengthy text. Apparently, he still worried someone would hear them because he wasn’t speaking. If no one had heard the crocodile event, she assumed they were pretty safe. But she’d assumed they were safe talking to those boys and look where that had gotten them.
She was thirsty and hungry and scared and exhausted, but she was also so grateful. They’d escaped from a bunch of thugs with machine guns and from a crocodile. She was grateful to and for Aiden, and grateful to heaven above.
Aiden pulled a thick black water bottle out of his pack. He set the pack to the side, stood, and walked back to the river’s edge. Unscrewing the lid, he filled the bottle and then screwed the lid back on as he walked back to her.
He settled down next to her and flipped the water bottle’s lid open. “The straw is a filter,” he said. “You thirsty? It’s safe.”
“Yes.” She wrapped her lips around the straw and sucked in the water. It wasn’t cold, and she didn’t care how clean or dirty it was. It tasted wonderful. She sucked down several long drinks, then handed it back to Aiden. He drank his fill and then went and refilled it.