The water was freezing. The shock from his impact with the water had knocked the breath out of Daniel, and was quickly becoming hypothermic. The fast currents sucked him in and he was helpless as the river pulled him with it. With no air in his lungs, he waited for the moment when his head would break the water surface. It never did. He was slowly losing consciousness. He willed himself to move, to flail and thrash around, but nothing happened. He was seeing spots dancing, almost hypnotically. His foot hit a rock on the river bed and pain shot up his body. He tried to scream but he had no breath to do so. Instead, water rushed into his nose.
With the pain from his foot and the burning in his nose, he recovered from the shock. A surge of adrenaline took over and he felt his body loosen. Daniel immediately began to adjust himself with the currents. Amidst the struggle, his head broke the surface and he took as deep a breath as he could before being sucked back into the river. The spots disappeared and his mind began to clear. Struggling again, he managed to get his head up a little easier than before. Holding it there and taking another deep breath, he examined his surroundings as he was being swept away by the current.
Trees densely lined the banks. The sky was a dull wash of grey. The cold air struck his face as he floated down the river. He couldn’t do anything to fight the current, so all he did was try to keep himself afloat. Just before his arms and legs were about to give up waving frantically underneath him, the river slowed down and became shallower as it widened. His hands and feet caught ground to stand on, and he could keep himself rooted against the slow waters. Heaving for breath, he got up on his feet and waded to the closest riverbank. He dragged himself on the smooth pebbles and stayed motionless, coughing and sputtering.
His head was still aching slightly from the blow he had gotten from Reid before. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering. He could feel his wet clothes sticking to his body. Droplets of water trickled down onto his skin, causing goosebumps. Piercing through the fatigue of his body was a sharp, consistent pain in his toe. He reached over to pull his wet socks off. On his right foot, he found the nail of his big toe cracked all the way down the middle and bleeding. He suspected that wasn’t the only reason his toe hurt so badly. He couldn’t even flex it. Something was broken for sure. He didn’t have the will to get up. He wanted to rest a little while longer, but he didn’t have time for it.
“You… Do you have any idea where we are!”
Daniel almost jumped up to his feet in surprise. He didn’t feel like resting anymore. He looked around, trying to find where the voice was coming from.
“I’m going to kill you, DANNY!”
Daniel finally found it. The guy he had kicked off the bridge came through the foliage, soaking wet and shivering. He must have found his footing the first chance he got and made it out, just like Daniel did. He was slowly walking towards Daniel with one hand on his stomach, and the other holding Mutt’s knife. Blood soaked his shirt and his pants. Daniel got up on his feet and put his weight onto his left to relieve his right foot from the pressure.
“Do you know where we are?!” he asked again, moving closer to Daniel. He left the soil and stepped on to the pebbles. “We’re going to die… because of you!”
Daniel actually had no idea where they were, and was extremely disturbed by the implications that the question posed.
“Why? Where are we?” Daniel asked. “What’s going to happen to us here?”
“What’s the point of telling you,” the man replied. “We’ll soon be dead anyway!”
Daniel heard a grunt coming from behind the trees. That was not a good sign.
“Look, you’ve got to keep quiet!” he whispered as loud as he could.
“SHUT UP!” screamed the man, ignoring what Daniel had just said. “I don’t want to hear a single word from you!”
Past him, Daniel could see a black worm-like thing poking out from the line of trees. It was so long… he couldn’t imagine that coming out from any human’s mouth.
“The leeches here…” the man continued as he closed in on Daniel by the river. “We don’t stand a chance!”
Daniel was extremely tempted to ask him why, but he shut himself up when he saw the body of the leech step out from the trees. The parasite in its mouth was so long that the tail almost touched the ground. Its movements were so unnatural, or rather, natural. Unlike the other leeches that seemed to struggle to use their limbs, this one was walking just like a normal human. He could’ve mistaken it for one if it weren’t for the clouded eyes and the rotting flesh. Daniel looked back at the man with the knife and pointed behind him. He didn’t seem to care.
“Even if I die later, I will do so with the satisfaction I get from killing you with my own hands!”
That was enough for the leech to pinpoint him. It ran, like a human, towards him. Before he could get any closer, the parasite’s long tail wrapped itself around him and lifted him up. He was taken completely by surprise. Aghast, he started to scream.
“Mercy, I beg you… Show me mercy!” he wailed at the leech.
It reeled him in, close enough for the leech to grasp him with his hands. The tail sucked itself into the leech’s mouth. It was over for him. Before he could stab it with his knife, the tail shot out again, straight into his mouth. Daniel could see his throat bulge as it occupied the space. His body started twitching and spasming. Tears rolled down his cheeks. He wretched and gagged as the tail moved inside his throat. The sight was horrific, and revolting. The dying man dropped the knife and it clattered on the pebbles. Almost playing monkey, the leech dropped his body too, which continued to convulse.
All the while Daniel had stood still, shivering in the cold air. He was trying his best to stop his teeth from chattering by pushing his lower jaw up with his hand. The scene was so disturbing, he felt bile rush up his gullet. He hadn’t felt so perturbed even when he had killed Mutt. He couldn’t hold it; he got on his knees and puked with a loud retch. The leech’s head perked up. For a while, it was absolutely still, and Daniel was even more so. He readied himself for what might be his final breath.
The leech walked towards the noise it had heard, straight for Daniel. The parasite’s tail whipped around, trying to find what had made the sound. He held his breath, waiting for the inevitable. He let his hands down so he was on all fours; he couldn’t bear to look. His hand ran over a pebble. What if he could distract the leech like he had done in the house?
He rose up on his knees to throw the rock but it was too late. The tip of the tail brushed past him, leaving a trail of slime on his cheek. He threw his pebble at the leech’s head before the tail could wrap around him. It staggered back and screeched in annoyance. It had found its prey. Daniel tried to get up, but he used his right foot first, forgetting about the injury. Wailing as his toe flared, he fell back to the stones. It was over. He tried to pick another pebble but the tail wrapped itself around his ankle and hoisted him upside down. As he was reeled in, he was turned towards the leech and he could see it stretch its arms to grasp him.
Suddenly he heard a whiz. Something went through the leech’s head. Coagulated blood splattered on his face. Though it was fazed for a few seconds, its tail still maintained its grip on him. It turned to the direction of the mystery projectile and was stopped in mid-screech. Something else went through the leech’s neck and it collapsed to the floor. The tail let go of Daniel and he fell on the ground. It writhed around frantically and then fell dead.
Daniel caught his breath, lying down on the pebbles. He couldn’t believe he was alive. He looked around to find who had killed it. He found the person responsible almost immediately, holding a silenced pistol and staring him in the face.
“I wasted two bullets for you,” she said.
Click here for Locked Down | Chapter 5
