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Where were they?
She had came back a little bit earlier than she had intended, admittedly. She knew Noelle wanted to talk with Kris about something, but... something itched at her. Crawling around her brain, this... bad feeling. She didn't know why, she trusted them both obviously, so why would she be feeling bad? She got ice cream. Three cones. Two for her and Noelle, and then a third that she's got resting in her coat pocket. Kris would still like that, right? And yet... they aren't there. They aren't at the tables, they aren't at the beach. That can't be, right? She left Kris there, and there were no paths back to town that wasn't the one that came back the way she came.
Did they find some other pathway through the woods? She doesn't recall any hiking trails or anything fancy like that. So what the hell? She calls out a few times, walking around the beach back and forth, that feeling only getting stronger with each passing second. She turns to the lake again, the bright sun casting the waters in orange.
That's when she saw it. Saw them.
Kris and Noelle, their heads half submerged, both their mouths open wide. And then, they go under. Their hair hovering on the surface.
It takes her a moment, a single moment to freeze up and crack the cones in her hands as she grips her hands together, before she runs. The ice cream is unceremoniously dropped onto the ground, splattering as the world is drowned out by the sound of her own breathing and the pounding of her heart. "No." She wilts out. The water tries to slow her down, the cold liquid clinging to her pants but it does not stop her. It does not stop her when it begins to fight against her weight, trying to push her back. It does not stop her when she has to start using her arms to paddle forward. She does not know, realistically, how to swim. But she does not care.
She loses track of how long she's been swimming, gaze laser focused on the middle of the lake where she had last seen them. She can see bits of their hair still, but it's fading fast. They're sinking. She tries to scream out, but a small wave of water fills her throat and she hacks and coughs. Susie's arms lunge forward, and she feels Kris' hair dancing around against and in-between her fingers, as if to cruelly taunt her with how close she is. They're fading. They're sinking, and she can see from what little she can gleam with how blurry her eyes are from blinking out water that the darkness is crawling on their bodies, sees the shadow grow along Noelle's legs and-
All is muffled now, she can hardly see. It's dark. Darker than dark, and she feels her own weight. She reaches forward, eyes stinging as she gazes down at her friends through half-closed eyes and she thanks everything when her last bit of strength allows her to grab the two of them. One hand on Noelle's arm, another on Kris' leg. She is strong, but it still takes everything she has to kick back up to the surface and take the longest, harshest gulp of air Susie ever has. The weight of the doe and the human threaten to drag her back down, and her head does disappear time and time again as she slowly fights against the current.
Finally, she finds footing, her undeniably waterlogged shoe smashing against mud and some rocks. It's just a few more steps and she finally can stand, breathing quick before she summons the last bit of her strength to pull them with her. They are still underwater, and they are not moving, and after another few moments of panicked gasping and swearing under her breath Susie reaches to scoop up Noelle from under her with an arm. Under better circumstances, she wonders what it'd be like to hold the doe in her arm like this, but the thought is drowned out- no, it is stomped out and buried- FUCK, no, it is ignored. It is ignored, and she lifts Kris back up above the water with her other hand as she finally trudges out of the lake. Cold water drips freely off her while she sets the two down on their backs before collapsing between them. "Oh my God. Oh my God, oh my God-" She coughs, water splashing and staining the ground even more. She lurches towards Noelle, placing her fingers against the wrist, that's what doctors do right? She holds her hand, her cold wet hand and lets out another long breath when she feels the faint thumping of her heart against her fingertips. She does the same to Kris, and thank God, they're okay. They're both okay. They're gonna be okay-
"F-Fuck!" She can't do this on her own, and she looks between them both. She cannot carry them, not again. Her claws sink into the muddied dirt before she begins the frankly long and awkward process of getting back up, exhausted and soaked and on the verge of a breakdown before running away. She trips on her foot, and she looks back, before she's gone again. Yelling for help.
The why and how can be figured out later, she needs to save them.
She needs to SAVE them.