Chapter 249: Chapter 249 - Crossing The Bay
Aljun’s voice broke through the water.
"We did it!"
He was crying when he said it. "We fucking did it."
No one cheered.
The bay pulled at them from the side, cold and strong. It did not move like a river, but it dragged anyway, steady and mean, catching their boots, bags, and tired legs. The opposite bank looked close until Iyisha tried to swim for it and felt the water shove her sideways.
"Keep together!" Arnulf shouted from ahead. "Angle left! Don’t fight it straight!"
They pushed farther from the shore.
The Long Island bank slipped behind them. The tank stood there like a pale broken statue, watching from the mud and concrete. Walkers kept falling into the water near its feet, vanishing, surfacing, then sinking again. The horde crowded the bank behind it, but the bay held them back.
For a few minutes, there was only water.
Cold water. Hard breathing. Splashes. Choking.
Then they reached the middle.
That was where everything got worse.
The shore behind them was too far to return to. The shore ahead was still too far to reach fast. The group had stretched into a ragged line, each person fighting the tide at their own weak pace.
Someone screamed.
One of the men near the front thrashed hard, one arm slapping the surface while the other clawed at his own leg.
"Cramp!" he shouted. "My leg! My leg!"
Arnulf turned back. "Float! I’m coming!"
The man tried. His body rolled halfway, but the tide caught him and turned him wrong. His face dipped under. He came back up choking, eyes wide, fingers clawing at the surface like he could grab the water itself.
"Help him!" Aljun shouted.
No one was close enough.
That was the horror of it.
They were all near each other, but not near enough. Every person who tried to reach him got shoved sideways by the tide. Every stroke toward him pulled them farther from someone else.
The man went under again.
A hand broke the surface.
Iyisha kicked toward him on instinct.
Malcolm’s arm caught her around the waist.
"No."
"He’s drowning."
"You won’t reach him."
Iyisha bit her lip and looked away.
There was nothing she could do.
The man surfaced again, mouth open, no sound coming out this time. His hand lifted, slapped the water, then disappeared.
The bay closed over him.
No one stopped.
That was the worst part.
They could not stop.
Harry was behind Iyisha with the wounded woman under one arm. Archie had her from the other side. She was barely conscious now, her head tipping back, lips blue, blood spreading in the water around her in thin, dark ribbons.
"She’s sinking!" Harry shouted.
"I’m holding her!" Archie snapped.
The woman’s mouth opened.
Water went in.
Harry cursed and shoved his arm higher under her chest, trying to lift her face above the surface. Archie kicked hard, but the tide caught all three of them. They went under together for half a second.
"Harry!" Iyisha shouted.
Harry came up first, coughing. Archie surfaced behind him, eyes wide and furious, one hand still gripping the woman’s sleeve.
Then the sleeve slipped.
The woman sank between them.
Harry dove.
Archie grabbed him by the back of his shirt before he disappeared fully.
"Let go!" Harry shouted, twisting hard.
"She’s gone!"
"She’s not gone!"
"She’s gone!"
Harry hit him in the water. Weak. Slowed. Desperate.
Archie took it once, then grabbed him around the chest and hauled him backward.
Harry fought him. "Let me go!"
Archie’s face twisted. "You’ll drown too!"
The woman did not come back up.
Iyisha stared at the place where she had vanished.
Only bubbles rose there now.
Then even those broke apart.
Malcolm pulled Iyisha forward. "Move."
Her throat closed.
She moved.
The City Island bank came closer in pieces.
First, the broken line of buildings in the distance.
Then the dark rocks.
Then the cracked concrete edge with weeds hanging low over the water.
Iyisha did not remember the last stretch clearly. She remembered Malcolm’s hand at her back. She remembered the tide pulling her sideways every time she tried to go straight. She remembered swallowing water and coughing it back out while her arms kept moving because stopping meant sinking.
Arnulf reached the bank first.
He hit the rocks with one shoulder and clawed for the concrete. His fingers slipped once. Then he caught the edge and dragged himself up with a sound that was almost a growl.
"Here," he rasped. "This way."
One by one, they reached him.
They slammed into the bank like bodies thrown from the water.
Marybeth and Aljun shoved Lance toward Arnulf first. Lance barely moved. His head dipped under once before Marybeth grabbed his hair and pulled him back up, swearing through chattering teeth. Arnulf caught Lance under the arms and hauled him onto the concrete. Lance rolled onto his side and coughed water until he gagged.
Aljun crawled out after him and collapsed on his stomach. He did not even lift his face from the mud. His shoulders shook as he dragged air into his lungs.
Tilly reached the rocks with Chanse behind her.
She grabbed the edge, pulled once, then her strength went out. Chanse shoved her from below, and Arnulf caught her wrist from above. They got her onto the bank, but she did not sit up. She rolled onto her side, eyes half open, mouth parted, and went still.
"Tilly," Chanse said.
He crawled up beside her and shook her shoulder.
She did not answer.
For one terrible second, Iyisha thought she was dead.
Then Tilly breathed.
A thin, broken breath.
Chanse bent over her and pressed his forehead to her wet hair. "Okay. Okay."
Archie came out next.
He made it to his knees before his body folded. He vomited hard onto the rocks, one hand braced against the concrete, the other pressed to his stomach. Bay water poured from his mouth. He coughed, spat, then vomited again until nothing came out but strings of spit.
Harry crawled up behind him.
He did not stand.
He did not speak.
He dragged himself onto the bank, turned once toward the water, and stared at the place where the wounded woman should have come up.
She did not.
No one did.
Harry’s mouth moved once, but there was no sound.
Archie wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and looked away.
Iyisha reached the edge last with Malcolm behind her.
Her fingers scraped over wet concrete and failed to hold. Her whole body slid back into the water.
Malcolm caught her by the waist and shoved her upward.
Arnulf grabbed her arm.
Pain shot through the scrape on her skin, but she did not have enough strength to cry out. She got one knee onto the bank, then another, then crawled until her body cleared the water.
She dropped flat on the concrete.
For a moment, she could not move.
Her chest hurt.
Her arms would not answer.
Her stomach cramped, and her hand went there before she remembered not to.
Malcolm climbed out behind her. He landed on one knee, breathing hard, water running from his hair and jaw. He stayed down longer than usual.
That scared her.
Then he forced himself up.
He turned and counted.
Iyisha watched his eyes move over them.
Arnulf.
Archie.
Harry.
Marybeth.
Aljun.
Lance.
Tilly.
Chanse.
Two others.
Then her.
Then Malcolm.
Eleven.
There had been sixteen of them.
Only eleven survived.
The number sat on the bank with them.
"We’re safe for now," Marybeth said.
Her voice sounded empty.
Iyisha nodded, but the deaths replayed in her head. The man under the car. The man swallowed by the bay. The woman sinking between Harry and Archie.
Arnulf sat back hard against the concrete wall behind him. His knife was still in his hand, but his fingers had gone loose around it. He looked toward the bay, jaw tight, eyes fixed on the water like he could pull the missing back by staring hard enough.
Harry finally stood.
Only halfway.
His knees shook under him. He turned on Archie with wet hair plastered to his face and grief burning through his eyes.
"You let her sink."
Archie spat water and bile onto the rocks. "I pulled you out."
"I could have saved her."
"You couldn’t."
Harry shoved him.
Archie stumbled once, then caught himself. His face twisted, but he did not shove back.
"You saved me," Archie said. "Isn’t that enough?"
The words came out broken.
Harry froze.
Archie’s eyes filled. The guilt hit him late and all at once. Harry had saved him. Harry had been bitten because of him. Now Archie had pulled Harry away while the woman drowned.
"Enough," Arnulf said.
He stepped between them.
Harry looked back toward Long Island, one hand going to his bandaged arm.
Archie dropped to his knees and pressed both hands to his face.
No one comforted him.
No one had anything left.
Iyisha pushed herself up on one elbow, coughing water from her throat. Her whole body shook now that she had stopped moving.
Malcolm crouched beside her.
"Can you stand?"
She looked at him.
His face was pale under the dirt and blood. His breathing still had not settled. His eyes dropped to her stomach for one second before he forced them back to her face.
Iyisha swallowed.
"I don’t know."
He held out his hand.
She took it.
Behind them, City Island waited quiet and ruined. It looked deserted except for a few walkers already turning toward them from the road.
Malcolm took out his machete. "You still got a gun?" he asked Arnulf.
Arnulf shook his head.
One by one, everyone else did the same.
The weapons were gone.
The bags were gone.
The bay had taken almost everything.
Malcolm looked toward the walkers.
"Get weapons."
