Page 60 of All He Sees

"I have to go look for them," Nicky said.

"What?" Rachel asked. "No, you can't! It's too dangerous. You shouldn't go."

"I have to go," Nicky said. "You stay here."

Nicky's lungs had barely recovered from how much she'd just held her breath, and the last thing she wanted to do was get back in that water. But she had no choice. Nicky peeled off her clothes so they wouldn't hold her back, leaving herself in her underwear, then dove into the water and did a front crawl, hurling herself forward in the direction she'd broken the surface in. Ken had to be around that spot.

But he wasn't.

She kept swimming. The water was getting deep again. The waves were getting stronger.

Ken's dead. I failed him. She kept swimming.

Nicky's lungs burned. Her vision blurred. Her head was pounding. Her chest was constricting.

Then, up ahead, she saw it--a head in the water, surrounded by splashing.

Ken.

He was alive.

Nicky picked up her speed, swimming after him as fast as she could, no matter how much it hurt.

His head was bobbing above the water, but he was a long way away.

Nicky's belly burned. Her head was spinning. Her lungs were in agony. But she couldn't stop. She had to get to him.

Just a little farther. Just a little farther.

Ken was still fighting, still holding onto Danny.

Both of them were struggling.

They were both drowning, and Nicky was so close, she could just reach out, but she couldn't swim fast enough.

She couldn't reach them.

You've failed them.

She kept swimming.

Then, as if in slow motion, Nicky saw Ken reach out his arm, grabbing onto a piece of driftwood. He wrapped his other arm around Danny and held on, struggling to keep both of them above water.

Nicky kept swimming.

Please let him live.

She was a few yards away.

She could hear and feel the waves, the tide pulling her back.

She couldn't lose him.

"Ken!" Nicky said.

"Nicky!" he said, seeing her. "I thought you were dead!"

"Me too--you saved Danny!"