Chapter 10 - THE COLD CURRENTS
The freezing Atlantic water swallowed them whole, shocking Julian's lungs with bitter cold.
He fought his way to the surface, gasping for air amidst the dark waves under the pier.
Emily surfaced a few feet away, swimming powerfully toward the wooden pylons hiding them from the shore.
Up on the dock, flashlight beams swept back and forth across the water's surface.
"Did you hit them?" a voice shouted from the dock.
"Check the downstream current! Nobody survives that drop in this weather!" another man barked.
Julian and Emily held their breath, staying submerged under the mossy wooden pier until the voices faded away.
Ten minutes later, they dragged themselves onto the muddy shore near an abandoned shipyard.
Julian collapsed on the wet gravel, shivering violently from hypothermia.
Emily knelt beside him, checking his pulse with cold, wet fingers.
"We need to get indoors before your body temperature drops any lower," she urged, helping him stand.
"I... I can manage," Julian stammered through chattering teeth.
They found refuge inside an empty shipping container, huddling together for warmth under a wool blanket Emily found in a supply crate.
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"Why are you doing all this for me, Emily?" Julian whispered, looking into her steady green eyes in the dark.
"Because your father saved my life when I had nothing left," she confessed quietly. "Now it's my turn to protect his son."
