Andante con Brio

LII

"Okay, you guys ready?"
Todd's voice was steady and Eddy wanted to step back so bad, back onto the dry sand and chicken out of this race altogether. He could picture himself doing it now. It would only be rational, right? Everyone knew that there were rips, all around the Aussie coast, he knew that, he had been warned of them plenty of times, and he had seen the news reports about people drowning on unmanned beaches. 
In fact, he had seen plenty of news reports about people drowning on manned ones too. 
He firmly pushed the thoughts to one side and stepped forward until his toes were sinking into the wet sand. He was so not pussying out of this now. No way. 
"Yep!"
Ian just nodded beside him, his eyes already fixed on the outcrop.
"Right then! Three! Two! One! Go!" Todd screamed. 
They both ran and dived into the water at the same time, going smoothly under the first wave and up the other side. Then he settled into a fast-ish crawl.
Oh, but this was going okay! The water was lovely and quiet and he found himself enjoying the bunching of his muscles as he swam. A new wave rolled towards him and he ducked his head down, allowing the wave to roll over his head, feeling his arm muscles working as he came up on the other side. A few more strokes and he was looking to be about halfway there already, with Ian still level with him, a little bit to his side. He was sailing this! 

The second the rip caught him he wanted to freak out.
Shit! It was strong, very strong, too strong, he could feel it flowing sideways quickly, but he knew what do to and he managed to keep the panic down. 
Calm down, mate. You'll be fine. Just swim through it and out the other side. 
"Rip!" he shouted to Ian. "Just go straight on, Ian!" 
Fuck, this was hard work, he could feel himself being sucked out further to sea every second, but he forced his muscles to clench and unclench and with one more giant stroke of his arms the ocean calmed around him as if nothing had ever been wrong. 
He was through, he was fine, and the outcrop was quite close now.
Phew. 
He swam calmly back in the direction of  the shore as he got closer to the outcrop. He had a moment to look around him. Ian was through too and he was swimming strong, right behind him. 
"Shit, that was scary!" Ian called out to him. "Thanks for the head's up!"
 "Yeah!"
Eddy made sure he stayed ahead of his violist friend as he swam as close as he could to the outcrop, but the closer he got the closer the rocks were as well. He could feel the harsh stones now, underneath his feet, and the swell was quite big here. He had no desire to be slashed open by rocks and barnacles. 
"Up to here, Ian, okay?" he called. "Don't get yourself hurt!"
"Okay!" 
He swam away from the outcrop and started to make his way back to the beach, swimming closer to shore this time, trying to find a better path through the currents. 
Avoid the rip. Don't kill yourself, now. 
Surely, this close to shore it wouldn't be so bad? 

He knew he was in serious trouble when the rip caught him again, but twice as bad this time, quickly dragging him out to sea, clearly not intending to ever let him go. He was completely helpless against it as he was carried further than he had been before, choppy waves all around him now, Ian nowhere to be seen anymore. 
Panic was swelling up in him, despite the lessons he had taken as a kid, telling him exactly what to do once you got into a rip, despite the solutions he knew, and stupidly he started swimming against the rip, he didn't even really know in which direction anymore, his arms working as hard as they could. 
Mate! Stop! You know what to do!
The thought was so loud in his head it almost felt like it was someone else's voice, like it wasn't even his own thought, but he reacted instantly and let himself be carried by the rip for just a moment. 
Okay. That's the direction. Now swim. Eddy. Go!
He started swimming, but his time perpendicular to the direction of the rip. One giant stroke, his lungs bursting, his heart beating faster than it ever had before. Two strokes, three, four, and he had taken on a little water now, he coughed as he swallowed the salt. 
Don't stop. Swim! 
Five hard strokes, six, and he was exhausted. How long would he be able to keep this up? How many more strokes did he have in him?