Blinking the water from my eyes, I saw the black horse ahead on the riverbank, muscles straining as it held its ground against the muddy edge. Just below its head, the cowboy clung to the reins, half-submerged in the churning torrent. One hand gripped the leather like a lifeline, the other stretched toward me.
"Help!" I cried, thrashing with my good arm.
"Swim to me!" His voice cut through the chaos.
I tried, but my arms were useless, and my boots were like anchors. A throb of agony pulsed through my elbow with every heartbeat. I fought, but the river was winning.
"Grab my hand!" he bellowed, green eyes blazing through the rain. "Charlie! Now!"
I lunged with one final, desperate surge.
Our fingers touched, then slipped away.
He roared and lunged forward, clamping his hand around my wrist like a vise. A shout tore from his throat as his muscles strained and the reins snapped taut. The horse reared slightly, its strength anchoring us both.
The current ripped at my legs, trying to tear me from his grasp, but he held firm.
"I've got you!" he shouted over the roar of the flood.
Rain pounded between us, and the storm howled around us. Yet, when our gazes locked, everything else fell away for a heartbeat. His green eyes burned with fierce focus, and I knew he wouldn't let me go.
He no longer wore his cowboy hat, and his dark hair clung to his forehead, with one lock falling across his left eye.
"Help!" Doug's panicked scream tore across the water, followed by a violent splash. He surfaced upstream, arms flailing wildly. "I'm drowning! Help!"
I twisted in the cowboy's grip. "Doug, swim to me."
He thrashed in wild strokes that barely kept him afloat. The current grabbed him like a plaything, dragging him closer to the outer bend.
"Doug!" I shouted again, reaching out my left leg toward him.
His eyes locked on me, wild with terror. He kicked toward us, then was sucked under again. When he resurfaced, he lunged and grabbed my outstretched leg.
I screamed as his weight yanked me sideways, nearly tearing me from the cowboy's grip.
"Son of a bitch!" the man snarled, arm straining. "Let go! The horse can't hold us all."
The horse shrieked above us, hooves scrabbling against the mud as more of the bank gave way beneath him. Clumps of sodden earth tumbled past my head.
Rain lashed my face, sharp and cold. "Doug. Let me go."
"I can't swim," Doug wailed, climbing up my body as if I were a damn ladder. His hands clawed at my leg, nails digging into my thigh.
"You'll pull us all in, including my horse!" the cowboy bellowed. “Let go!”
"No! I'll drown." Doug's nails dug deeper into my thigh.
The roar of the flood was deafening.
The cowboy's grip on my wrist was brutal.
Above us, the horse let out another high-pitched shriek as his massive body shifted dangerously forward, dislodging chunks of dirt that rained onto the cowboy's head.
"Fucking let go!" the man yelled.
More sodden earth gave way, tumbling past me in huge clumps that slammed into the water as heavy as cannonballs.
"Doug, let go of me!" I yelled, kicking my legs, trying to shake him loose. "Or we'll all drown."