By that time, Johnson had reached the halfway mark, yelling and screaming as he battled the current in Krakauer's arms.
It was getting harder and harder to breath and his heart was about to explode.
“NOOOOO!” he screamed aloud at every incoming wave.
He could hardly move anymore, and his hands were barely able to hang on.
Fate was about to get revenge for what it hadn’t been able to do only months earlier. That time, when he was supposed to drown in that tiger cage.
Everything made sense in Eddie Johnson's head.
In fact, his cry was a long and horrible one.
-
“Call Coletta back. We need him too,” Ortega said.
“I am receiving some Hueys” said Messner.
“But they don't hear me. Our signal is not strong enough”
“And the F4s?”
“Nothing. I can't find the frequency”
-
The other side was there, clearly in front of Johnson, but the pain in his arms was too strong to move them anymore, and fear was about to take over definitely. It was as though Krakauer wasn’t even there with him.
He could see the world slowly turning into an indistinguishable form of blurred colours and sounds.
He couldn’t move anymore.
He screamed over how difficult it all was, and this time it truly was otherworldly. He clung on to the rope with his legs too, to keep from being pulled under by the current. He just couldn’t believe that the safe hook was enough to hold him there. The moment he did however, the water current immediately turned him upside down and he ended up under water.
Johnson re-emerged, coughed and spit up water
One of his hands slipped off the rope terrorizing him even more.
“AAAAARGH” he screamed to hold off the pain.
He couldn't keep his head out of the water anymore because moving had become impossible.
It wouldn’t be long before his harness snapped and the under tide swept him away.
It was over.
“Hey man look, I’m here” said 'Tiger' Krakauer from behind him.
“We’ll do the rest together from now on, okay? We’re almost there and I can help you. I know you can do it”
Krakauer grasped the prisoner's collar lifting him over the rope and above the water, giving him a hand as he straightened out and clung back onto the rope.
“Don't let it go,” he said.
Krakauer put his arms around Johnson, wrapping the cord around him and then secured his own hold.
Johnson couldn’t help noticing just how strong that man really was. He managed to not only hold him upright, but move him forward, all at the same time.
-
That’s it, that's the way to get it done – thought Ortega from the riverbank.
That's how we’ll get those damn prisoners across
From now on that’s exactly how we’re all going to do it.
Getting a few meters past the middle is all it’ll take for the river to start flowing more slowly.
Only a few more arm lengths later and Berry 'Snake' Delmore was already stretching out his arms to help them climb over the riverbank.
Chester finally felt the ground under him.
Once out of the water he could feel the cold air slicing through his wet clothes and it stung like hell. Nevertheless, he was alive.
He’d made it out alive.
Tiger' Krakauer let himself fall down beside him, completely exhausted.
Johnson, who was observing him, went ahead and did the same.
Each watched the other but said nothing as they caught their breaths.
Eventually, Tiger Krakauer gave Johnson a pat on the shoulder and laughed.
Eddie Johnson smiled back. He was happy too.
He had never been that happy before in his whole life.