Take your breath away

Posted on Wed Apr 17th, 2013 @ 1:20pm by Private 1st Class Trent Kushner
Edited on on Thu Apr 18th, 2013 @ 4:48am

898 words; about a 4 minute read

[ON]

~Perfection~ Trent thought as he drifted along the bottom of a coral reef.

He was currently at 150 feet of water, drifting along casually as the current pulled him along the side of a huge coral head.

"There is a HUGE lion fish back here." His dive buddy said through the comm. "You need to check this out."

Trent smiled. Him and his dive buddy had been on hundreds of dives together before and he knew that at all times they were only separated by a few good kicks of their fins. He turned almost weightlessly and watched as his dive partner stuck his head into a small patch of fans. His friends headlamps shed an eerie glow around his darkened frame.

Trent swam over to his dive partner who backed away as he approached.

"He isn't too happy about the lamps." His dive partner chuckled. He tapped twice on the side of his helmet where the large lights were beaming.

"I'd imagine not." Trent shook his head. He pulled along side his lifelong friend and peered inside the hole.

Nothing.

Trent's headlamps beamed at every corner of the small culvert and saw nothing besides the live-rock that enclosed it.

"Dude! Where is it? You didn't poke it, did you?"

No response.

"Dude?" Trent asked again as he turned around.

His dive partner had vanished.

Trent turned around a few more times to check his angles. "Found something else, have you?" He asked with a hesitant laugh.

Still, no response.

Suddenly the HUDD inside Trent's helmet glowed red. The image of the person inside his helmet had the distinct red slash mark of someone who was rapidly running out of air. "The hell?" He said through the comm. He had checked the air before getting into the water, There was no way he should be burnt by now.

"Uh...Something is wrong here, man." Trent said, feeling a surge of panic from within.

Nothing.

The HUDD itself started blinking red. "No. No, seriously something is not right here. I'm out of air!" He yelled. The panic was starting to become real to him. "Where the hell are you!" His head surged around a number of times as he floated, but no sign of his dive partner could be seen. "WHERE ARE YOU!?" He yelled.

His comms remained silent even as the water around him seemed to suddenly get darker.

Trent breathed through his helmet as he normally would but the air seemed restrained, almost as if he was breathing through a wet cloth. The panic inside him triggered a fight or flight mode. Only he knew that flight was the only solution.

Trent looked up to the surface, which seemed miles away. "I HAVE TO BAIL!" He yelled. "MAKING A RAPID ASCENT!"

Trent's legs kicked at the water as he surged upwards. The HUDD started blinking rapidly as his ascent exceeded the 60' per 60 seconds rule that is known to every diver. Still he pushed for dear life despite the consequences. He knew that when he hit the surface he would be in serious trouble from DCS but the alternative was far worse at the moment.

Every kick was burning the oxygen in his system at this point but he had no choice. He tried to reserve his breathing, but finally he chocked in the last amount of breathable air in his suit. It felt as if someone had grabbed him around the throat as he tried to take a deep breath, The air got stuck in his lungs only half way.

~OH NO!~ He thought has he pushed as hard as he could to the surface. He looked up. 20 or 30 feet at the most. ~I CAN MAKE IT. I CAN MAKE IT!" He chanted to himself as he extended his body upward.

The vision around his eyes started clouding.

"I CAN MAKE IT!"

A pin point could be seen through his eyes. His muscles agonized with every kick.

~ONLY FIVE MORE FEET~

He could feel a cold numbness overtake his body. Air! He needed Air!

~TWO MORE FEET!~

The kicks had slowed to the point of stopping. He chocked back in his helmet for some sort of relief, but found nothing but dead air. He had nothing left.

His hand swept forward to the surface of the water, breaking the pristine beauty of it's glass surface, before his body started drifting back into the depths.

~NO! NOT LIKE THIS!~ He screamed in his mind. The inky darkness swelled up his remaining vision as he stared up at the glowing surface.

~Not like this...~

Trent's eyes flashed opened and he shot upright so quickly that his head slammed into the bunk over his head.

"SHIT!" He squawked. His body flopped back into his bunk as his hand went to rubbing his forehead. The pain felt oddly good to his brain, it meant he was alive. He could feel the sweat on his brow but didn't care to acknowledge it.

"Oh man..." He said after a moment of taking in his surroundings. "Just a dream." He shook his head, cold from sweat. "A bad friggin dream."

His legs kicked over the side of his bunk and touched the cold metal floor. He sat there for a number of minutes just staring at his feet,

"Just a bad friggin dream..."

[OFF]

Private 1st Class Trent Kushner [Damon]
Marine

USS Calypso

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