Status: In Progress

Riptides

Chapter 1

Alex's POV:

Alex hadn’t intended to swim as far out as he’d ended up doing. He was a regular swimmer at the beach, the cooling water helped him to clear his head after a long day at work, particularly enjoying coming down just before dusk when the majority of people had packed up and gone home. Tonight was no different. He’d dumped his towel, wallet, and house keys before getting into the water; only now he was regretting it. It had taken a mere minute for him to find himself unable to touch the ocean floor which didn’t alarm him at first, (because sandbanks do move sometimes) until he glanced back at the beach and found himself a lot further away from solid ground than he’d thought he was. A pit of dread settled in his stomach as he attempted to get closer to the beach again only to end up even more out of his depth. Actually, when he focused on the shore line Alex could swear it was getting more out of reach with every second.

That’s when the panic set in. What if he couldn’t get back? He could drown. He cursed himself for swimming so late on in the day when there was barely anyone to notice him. But no, he was going to get back. He wasn’t going to let a little water be the end of him. Alex forced himself to swim harder back towards the shore against the heavy weight of the current that was surely trying to be the death of him. He couldn’t give up though. He had to get back. He just had too. He kicked his legs faster and tried to propel himself towards shore. But it was to no avail, as the drag of the water was making his muscles ache with tiredness. His eyes stung with tears as he continued to struggle and wear himself out, he felt like he couldn’t breathe as he gasped out working himself past his limits. Alex may have been a regular swimmer but it was only casual swimming. He didn’t know how to handle this.

On the brink of exhaustion he fearfully looked around, hoping to see anyone that might be able to get help. Out of the corner of his eye he saw three people to the far north of the beach sat to watch the sunset. On the promenade a few people were walking dogs or skate boarding by without a care in the world.

“HELP!” He cried out as loudly as possible. “SOMEBODY HELP ME!” He didn’t want to drown. The direful realisation that no one could hear him sent a dismal feeling flooding through his veins. He didn’t want to be washed up cold and dead on some beach miles away. He didn’t want this to be it. He waved an arm above his head as he tried to get someone to notice. Alex was still attempting to get back to shore while calling out and occasionally waving his arms around –the universal ‘help I’m drowning’ signal – when he first slipped under the water.

Alex wasn’t prepared for it and was shocked to find that he couldn’t breathe and it was dark. He’d winded up swallowing a mouthful of water before managing to sputter his way back to the surface. When his head hit the air again he coughed and it rattled through his body like an earthquake. This wasn’t good and he knew it. He was weakly almost doggy paddling against the tide when he screamed out again, to what he assumed was deaf ears. In a matter of moments he plunged back under and found it was more taxing to get back up this time - his muscles just wanted to give in. His mom would kill him if he let himself drown. That woman would find a way to drag him back to the living just to kill him again. He had to keep going, for her, for himself.

He feebly managed to get his head above the water long enough to get another breath before slipping back under. He didn’t know how long he’d be able to keep this up; the adrenaline from the panic was wearing off and giving way to something he hadn’t felt before. If there was one thing Alex was sure of it was that he was most definitely going to drown.
~~~


Jack's POV:

“Hurry up Zack I’m hungrrrry.” Jack whined childishly as Zack pulled the garage door up. They’d already checked the main station for Zack’s mobile and now they were still trying to hunt the damn thing down. “Why couldn’t we come back after? All the guys are waiting for us.”

Their boss had organized their work’s party purely for bonding time between the old and new crew and he wasn’t a fan of people not being punctual. They weren’t quite going to be late yet, but if Zack didn’t hurry up Riley would have the pair patrolling the promenade, answering the same questions over and over again. Sure, it was easy work, but the embarrassment of having to do a rookie’s job when you’d already made the cut made it undesirable.

“I’ve told you already, I need to have it ‘cause Helen’s gonna be wondering what’s happened to me. You know what girlfriends are like.” Jack snorted a smile dancing on his lips as Zack stumbled to get the right words. “Sorry, sorry partners. You know what partners are like. One minute you don’t reply, the next they think you’re dead or sleeping with someone else… can’t be uncontactable for too long.” Zack clambers into the buggy he’d been driving earlier and starts rummaging in the small front compartment that’s meant to be for the walkie-talkies but usually winds up packed with food wrappers.

“Yeah right.” Jack chuckled leaning against the garage wall looking out across the beach. “I know you and I know Helen –you only want it so you can sext each other during the meal.” He looks down at his freshly polished shoes and runs a foot across the sand smoothing it out beneath him -most people wouldn’t dream of going on the beach in their best clothes, but after two years of working on it you have sand on everything anyway.

“For your information, we don’t sext. We flirtatiously communicate about erotic subjects.”

Jack laughed. “Is that what they’re calling it now?”

He’s sure that Zack replied but his attention had focussed on something else, he’d heard something, a small noise coming from across the sand. “Did you hear that?” he asked a bit nervously, his senses on full alert as he scanned the waterfront. Then he saw it and his heart leapt in his chest. A person appearing from under the water and flailing their arms, upon hearing a croaky distant cry of ‘help’ it took less than half a second for Jack’s instincts to kick in. “GET THE SKI!”

He kicked his shoes off and grabbed the closest rescue board and set off at a sprint towards the water. The boy had already gone back under - it was a race against the clock. The only thoughts running through Jack’s head were focussed on finding him and doing so as quickly as possible. If he’d gone under and wasn’t coming back up he had maybe 90 seconds at best before he’d breathe in water - if he hadn’t already. Thankfully as he threw himself into the rip and began to paddle with it, another cry for help rang out and Jack saw the fear stricken boy slip back under for a second time. The riptides at this beach were notorious for tiring the uneducated swimmers while dragging them far out, especially by the cliffs. With the help of the rip, he reached the area he’d seen the boy and saw him suspended about fifteen inches below the surface his arms were moving slowly trying to pull himself up.

He didn’t need to anymore though.

Jack reached in, grabbing his arm and hoisting him back to the surface and towards the board. The kid immediately gasped and started coughing up water almost instantly after. Jack dismounted his board signalling back to Zack who was already moving the Jet Ski into the water that they’d need medical equipment.

“Hey, it’s okay. We’ve got you.” Jack got the kid to hold onto the board the best he could then held onto him. Normally he’d get the kid to lie on the board, but with Zack already on the way he just had to get him to stay above water and keep conscious until he got closer. The kid was struggling to keep his head up and eyes open which concerned Jack a lot, especially as he was still struggling to breathe. “Hey KID. KID you’ve got to keep your eyes open for me. Can you tell me your name?”

The kid mumbled something that Jack didn’t quite catch “What was that?”

“Yur baltmore.” The kid slurred, glancing up at Jack with dopey eyes. “Yur frum balmore.”

“Balmore?” Jack kept his grip on the kid as Zack sped towards them. “Do you mean Baltimore?”

The boy made a noise of agreement barely audible above the sound of the Jet Ski now approaching their side. “That’s right I’m from Baltimore, is that where you’re from kid?”

“Nots a kids ‘m tvwenty.” He managed to wheeze out before another coughing fit took hold.

Jack took a moment to look at the guy’s face properly and concluded he wasn’t as young as he’d first thought. Alex was probably about the same age as himself, so twenty wasn’t out of the question. Zack had pulled the ski to a stop, waiting for Jack to load them up. “Alright dude, we’re gonna get on the back, okay?”

Jack treaded water as he got a grip on the older man and carefully guided him to the ski’s rescue platform, then helped him get up far enough to lie down.

“What’s your name buddy?” Zack asked peering back as Jack hoisted himself onto the board as well –they’d get the rescue board later.

For the second time that evening he didn’t respond. Jack got a grip on the side rope by reaching over the boys back, securing them both on the board. He repeated the question again, hoping for a positive response. “Do you know what your name is?”

The guy glanced up, his eyes heavily lidded as he tried to focus on Jack. He raised a finger and opened his lips to speak. “Al-”

His body cut him off as he entered another coughing fit. At the close proximity Jack could see the faint blue tint around the man’s lip’s which concerned him even more. Jack looked up to Zack. “Okay just get us in.”

“I dun…I dun veel so good”

“You feel sick?” Jack got a small nod in response as Al made a groaning noise - still struggling to catch his breath. “It’s alright buddy, you’re gonna be alright.”

The second Zack stopped the ski in the shallow waters Jack dismounted the board, lifting the guy back to his feet. He secured one of Al’s arms over his shoulder, and the other around his waist before setting off for the sand. Before he’d even walked Al the short distance to the sand, Zack was halfway to the station for the medical equipment. He was glad one of the fastest runners of the team was with him.

They reached solid ground and were just a few steps from being entirely out of the waves reach when he felt Al’s head drop heavily onto his shoulder, and only just managed to catch his mumbled slur. “I veel weird.”

Jack was about to question ‘What sort of weird?’ when the man to his left went limp, leaving Jack to hold all of his weight. Jack carefully walked the last two steps and gently lowered Al onto the sand. With his eyes rolled back and his drained complexion Jack could’ve sworn he looked dead, his own heart faltered when his fingers didn’t find a pulse the first time. His hands were shaking slightly from the adrenaline as he tried again and this time he felt something. In a rush Jack planted his ear on the man’s chest and was relieved to hear a heartbeat through the pounding in his own ears. It sounded strange, but it was there, and that was all that mattered.

It was all a bit of a rush from that point on, Zack got back with the first response bag slung over his shoulder talking quickly on his phone as he tossed it down to Jack, who wasted no time in fishing the oxygen out and attaching the mask to the man’s face. He seemed to respond quite quickly with colour slowly returning to his cheeks. They worked together to get Al as stabilised as possible before the paramedics showed up. By the time they arrived and they were finally carrying Al on the stretcher up to the ambulance, a small group of people had gathered on the promenade to watch the scene unfold. With it being not uncommon to have people watching, they just got on with the job at hand of loading Al into the ambulance –they work at a world famous beach, of course people wanted to watch.

As the paramedics got ready to leave, Zack trudged over and engulfed Jack in a short, bone crushing hug. “Good job Jack-o, I wouldn’t have heard him.”

“Thanks, you did good too –you had the ski out pretty damn fast.” Jack’s focus was still on the open back door of the ambulance, as he watched the paramedic finish up sticking patches to Al’s chest. His mind started to wander to what they’d said in the water, Al was from Baltimore just like himself –Could their parents know each other? Why was he in Australia? How long would he be here for? With questions swimming around his head he almost missed the paramedic’s words.

“Thank god you guys were here; he’s a very lucky man.” She smiled, pulling the door to. “Keep up the good work boys.”

Then they’re gone, speeding off with the lights and sirens blaring - leaving Jack and Zack with the aftermath. They stand silently looking out to sea for a minute, giving themselves time to catch up with everything that had happened. The warm breeze brings Jack’s soaked and sand covered clothes to his attention. He’d been fully dressed when he’d thrown himself in the water without a second thought. He didn’t regret that in the slightest, but now his jeans were clinging in all the wrong places and his new shirt was looking a vastly different colour to when he’d started the night.

Zack wasn’t fairing much better but he’d had chance to rip his shirt off before throwing on the life jacket for the Jet Ski. Jack looked him up and down checking for anything noticeable “Are you alright?”

“I’m good, you okay too?” Jack nodded in response he was fine, he was just soaked and a little tired. It was all about teamwork. In this profession they couldn’t afford to not look after each other.

It didn’t take long to retrieve the rescue board and return the Jet Ski back to the garage. In what felt like a mere minute Jack found himself stood back in the garage doorway waiting for Zack to fill out the incident report for the two of them. The stretch of water was empty now and the people who had been lingering on the sand and promenade had left. Another quick scan of the beach had Jack trudging across the sand towards a bright blue lump. The beach towel lay abandoned, which wasn’t uncommon –people left stuff all the time. As he picked it up a set of house keys and a wallet clattered to the sand.

“What in the-” Jack frowned, picking up the items and brushing the sand off. It took him flipping the wallet open and yanking the identity card out for the penny to drop –All of it was Al’s, or should he say Alexander’s? He looked the ID over, noting how Alexander was actually really cute when he wasn’t drowning. He slid the card back into its slot and looked at the other cards for an address, frustrating all he could find was a couple of coffee loyalty cards and a bank card. Not doubting that Al would come back down for it all when he got released from hospital, Jack dragged his ass back to the station just as Zack was locking the garage door.

“Can you unlock upstairs, I’ve got to put this stuff in the safe –It’s Al’s” Zack nodded and they both climbed up the steps to the main station – it was eerily quiet at night without the hum of the computer screens and air conditioning. Not to mention the lack of constant talking was unsettling to Jack. Once he’d shoved the valuables into the safe and locked it, he looked up at the clock suspended on the wall –they had 3 minutes to get to the restaurant and both Zack and himself needed to go home and change before they could show their faces. “I think we’re gonna be late to the meal.”

Zack laughed. “Somehow I think they’ll understand.”

“We should call Riley and let him know what happened.” Jack tossed Alexander’s towel into the regular lost property box as they headed out the door. “At least then they’ll wait for us and Dave won’t eat our share of the pizza.”

“I swear all you think about is your stomach.” Zack teased, unlocking his phone to call ahead with their more than reasonable excuse.

“Hey that’s not true!” Jack whined but paused trying to think of something else that occupied his mind as much as food. “I mean, I definitely think about my dick too.”

Zack rolled his eyes with a smile dancing on his lips, but he wasn’t going to give Jack the satisfaction of laughing at his words. They took a turn heading towards Jack’s apartment as Riley finally answered his phone. With Zack explaining the situation, Jack had a moment with his own thoughts again and they wandered back to Al – rescuing people from the sea was a part of his daily life, but it wasn’t every day he winded up rescuing people after his shift ended. He was thankful that Zack had left his mobile at the station now, because if he hadn’t the boy with the pretty brown eyes wouldn’t have made it back to shore and they’d have been doing a body search in the morning. The enormity of the situation always took a while to sink in for Jack, and when it did an abundance of relief washed over him- they’d saved someone who’d hopefully live to see another day.
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This story is predominantly in Jack's POV, only the opening is in Alex's. Let me know what you think.