>>5619754The water is dark. Cold. Airless. Hauling the weight of a woman in a heavy plated vest, the distance to the surface seems a thousand miles away. As he struggles, Chien asks himself why he's doing this. Is it about The Rules? Is it about not wanting to see something valuable and inspiring extinguished, all that skill and daring and spirit snuffed out like a candle? Or is it that everyone's lost sight of what we're fighting for in the first place, and there's already been enough killing for one crime war?
Whatever the reason, Chien realizes as he fights that he's not going to make it. The water's surface is right there, but his lungs are burning, he can't keep down the stale air anymore, his mouth opens and the water rushes in. He doesn't have the strength anymore. Stupid. So stupid to die to just a few feet of water. What's the Kid going to think when she finds out I disappeared into the waters of the bay and never came out? Why would I risk my life for somebody trying to kill me? What could I have done differently so things never got to this moment? Why would I--
A hand reaches down, piercing the surface, bridging the last few feet. Chien desperately reaches with the last vestige of strength and grabs hold of the offered hand. The arm pulls with resolve.
Chien and Carmelita are hauled out of the water by Empress, onto the solidity of the dock. There they're both left to puke up the water they swallowed, along with most of their dinner as well. Chien just needs a moment to fight past his short circuits, get the electricity crackling in his nerves again, but Carmelita is done. She's alive, but there's no fight left in that bedraggled, bloodied, half-drowned dog.