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fine.”
    Irina raised
her face from the tangle of Rachel’s long hair, realizing she had been crying into
it.
    “I think you
saved me,” Rachel said, gently lifting Irina’s arm off her body but not
scooting away from the warmth of the other woman.
    “No more
than you would have done for me,” Irina replied.
    “How did you
find me?”  Rachel asked a moment later, sensing Irina’s mood.
    “I was
already out of the water and saw your head bobbing.  I ran along the bank
after you until you made it to shore.”
    “Thank you,
again,” Rachel said.  “I haven’t exactly been kind to you.  I’m sorry
for that.”
    “Emotions
have been running high,” Irina said, finally releasing her hold on Rachel and
sitting up.  She scooted a foot away and crossed her legs.
    “Did you see
John and Katie?”  Rachel asked, sitting and turning to face Irina who
crossed her arms to conceal her bare breasts. 
    “No.  I
do not even know if they made it into the tunnel.  It is fortunate that I
saw you,” Irina answered.
    “We need to
look for them.”  Rachel reached for her wet clothes.
    “If you put
those on they will draw out your body heat,” Irina warned.  “We must wait
until they are dry.”
    “We don’t
have that much time,” Rachel said.  “They could be in real trouble, just
like I was.”
    Despite
Irina’s warning, Rachel dug through the pile until she found her pants. 
Rolling back on her ass, she stuck her feet into the legs and pulled them over
her knees.  That was as far as she got before peeling them back off.
    “Oh
shit!  They’re freezing,” she breathed.  “Can we start a fire to dry
them?”
    “With
what?”  Irina shrugged her shoulders without removing her arms from over
her breasts. 
    “There’s
ways to start a fire without matches.  Aren’t there?”  Rachel asked
in a plaintive voice.
    “Yes, there
are.  But those ways only work if you have dry wood, tinder and a source
of heat.  We have none of that.”
    Rachel
stared back at her, finally shaking her head.
    “Then we
should put them out in the wind.  They’ll dry faster.”
    “It is still
raining,” Irina said.
    “You’re not
helping,” Rachel grumbled even though she realized the Russian woman was
right.  “But we can’t wait.”
    “Wet clothes
in the wind will drain body heat very fast,” Irina said, reaching out and
placing a restraining hand on Rachel’s arm when she reached for her discarded
pants.  “We cannot help them if we are incapacitated by the weather.”
    Rachel
cursed, knowing Irina was correct, but still reluctant to give up.  She
racked her brain, trying to come up with a way to dry the clothes faster.

4
     
    I came awake
feeling like I was frozen to my core.  My hands were so numb I had no
feeling and I was shivering violently.  At least I didn’t feel warm, which
would have meant my body had shut down and I was about to die. 
    It may have
been seconds, or minutes, but the current situation finally dawned on me and I
tried to sit up.  Tried.  The mind told the body to do it, but the
body told the mind to go pound sand. 
    The side of
my face resting on the wet ground seemed to have some feeling, but the other
side was fully exposed to the rain and wind and all it registered was… numbness. 
I couldn’t even tell it was still raining by feel other than when an occasional
drop splashed into my eye.
    Finally, I
forced my battered body to start moving.  Slowly, with every tiny motion
causing a cry of agony from a muscle or joint, I managed to lever myself up
onto my hands and knees.  Behind me the water was still rushing.  I
was lucky it hadn’t risen and washed me away while I was unconscious.
    I turned my
head to check on Katie, momentarily confused when I didn’t see her. 
Confusion turned to panic and I frantically checked the sling that was attached
to my belt.  It was still there, the loop that had been secured around
Katie’s wrist pulled open and lying on the