The Undoing Of Villains | ✓

fourteen

(a/n: chapter dedicated to the lovely cheritey for all the support! much love <3<3<3<3 thanks for telling me when we reached the goal ! (even if i updated a bit late, hehe) <3) 

fourteen

LASHING OUT with my fist, I struggled in the grip of my assailant. More air bubbles escaped me, and I felt a pressure building in my chest. Air was in tight supply, and I forced away the panicking thoughts which crept into the forefront of my mind.

Don't panic, Charlie. 

I wouldn't be able to struggle further, or fight to get free from the other creature's grip, since I was running out of air. My muscles were already screaming out in protest, and the dizzying darkness around me certainly didn't help. I felt silky seaweed caress the exposed parts of my skin, and I could feel goosebumps rise. 

My throat ached terribly, claws digging into my jugular - since I was still forcefully dragged through water, I didn't know if I was bleeding. I was hurting, though, and quite a bit. 

Turning lax in my captor's grip, I waited a beat while it continued dragging me along the riverbed of the Pyrth. I could barely make out the tips of Dynamo's skyscrapers through the dark water, the images blurry as the water stung my eyes. Flailing would be of no use, and it hadn't killed me yet - 

If I was lucky, the creature was only taking me somewhere. If it truly intended to end me, I expected it to drown me immediately, or turn my throat into another pair of lips. 

Or it's dragging you to its evil lair. 

In all honesty, it wasn't a farfetched suspicion. While I had previously been dragging my boots against the river's bottom, hoping to get stuck in a rock or a tangle of seaweed, I now retracted my feet from the sand and let them float above.

We sped up significantly, the creature keeping its grip relentlessly hard. By now, my entire body was aching, and I could feel my fast heartbeat echo in my bones as my oxygen supply ran low. Fatally low. 

My heart was by now beating in my ears, and the sounds of rushing water and the swish of fins faded as my own heartbeat grew more and more pronounced, the beats increasing in frequency. By sheer willpower, I clamped my mouth shut and refused the instinct to gasp for breath where I knew there was none. 

I couldn't keep myself still anymore, as my body's instincts kicked in so that I may be able to survive - as my lungs constricted, my arms flailed, legs kicking out. The surface was so far away, the pressure on my throat increasing - 

One of my arms connected with some part of the creature, and through my dizzy oxygen-deprived mind I thought I heard a wail somewhere in the water's depth. 

Bracing my feet on the riverbed, I pushed off, aware I would never make it. There was just no time, and even if I'd attempted to swim toward the surface it wouldn't have mattered, as the claws went back to my throat, then abruptly switched to grip my upper arms instead. They dug through the material of my suit, and I felt my skin puncture as they sunk in.

Involuntarily, a gasp escaped me - the last air. Water forced itself in my throat, my nose, my mouth - everything which had hurt previously stopped, and numbness overtook me. Eyes glazing over, my stare toward the surface was completely empty.