After a long struggle, she breaks the surface of the water, gasping and coughing. Through her stinging eyes, she finds herself surrounded by thick gray smog.
Savanna takes a little sniff. The air around her smells like fuel storage tanks are on fire. It is hard for her to breathe. Her lungs are screaming for air. Savanna takes a shallow breath. Almost immediately, she feels a sharp pain shooting through her chest. She panics and stops breathing. After a few seconds, she forces herself to breathe in and out, even though her lungs are hurting.
The smoky smell of fires from the nearby villages burns her eyes and hurts her nose. Savanna tries to breathe through her mouth. Her throat feels constricted as she sucks in air. Her lungs feel tight each time she exhales. She gets short of breath and starts to gasp for air. Panting and wheezing, she takes many small breaths and blows it out through her mouth, trying to slow down her breathing effort. After a few minutes, her breathing becomes a bit easier.
Savanna scans the water, desperately searching for Isan and her friends. Her vision is blurry from the smoke. She cannot see very far through the smog. She looks for landmarks in every direction, but thick black smoke blocks out her view of the landscape.
Savanna is disoriented. She has no idea where she is or how far she has drifted.
There are lacerations on her forehead, but she feels no pain. Frightened, she calls out for her husband, “Isan!”
There is no answer. Savanna swims around, looking for him left and right.
About twenty meters away, Isan is trying to haul himself onto a wooden raft that looks like a small platform. He has built it himself and is glad that he has brought an extra raft on board. Somehow, he has managed to hang on to it after the explosion. The raft is big enough to carry at least one adult.
There are many ways people can use this wooden board when the boat is anchored at the dock. They can bathe or wash their clothes on it. Some people would bring along a small outdoor fire pit and cook their food on this floating platform. They can also use it to step on and off the boat like a gangplank.
For a few minutes, Isan struggles in the water, trying to get back on the wooden board. After several attempts, he finally climbs onto it. With a groan, Isan rolls on his back, struggling for breath.
Panting and grimacing, he puts both hands on his abdominal wounds and bites his lower lip, trying to control the pain.
Bright red blood flows from his weakened body. Isan hears his wife’s voice calling his name. He is filled with relief, knowing that she is alive and able to call out for help. Wincing in pain, he rolls on his side and attempts to paddle toward the sound of her voice. As he moves, blood gushes from his wounds. At the same time, he can feel something warm dripping at the back of his throat. His nose and his mouth are bleeding. Isan is choking on his own blood. He coughs weakly.
Savanna has swum perhaps one hundred strokes when she hears someone coughing behind her. Savanna turns around swiftly, bumping into the flotsam and jetsam. She pushes debris out of her way and swims in the direction of the sound. “Isan?” she cries out. “Money, Molly, where are you?”
She receives no reply, nor does she see anyone in sight. A tobacco bushel floats by her. She holds on to it.
Somewhere in the distance, Savanna hears a splashing sound. She throws a quick glance around. “Isan, is that you?” she calls out louder.
Savanna gets no response. “I’m over here!” she cries out at the top of her lungs, scanning the water left and right for her husband. “Isan, follow my voice!”
An eerie silence greets her. Nothing emerges from the smog. Savanna strains her ears to listen. All she can hear is the sound of a dull explosion in the distance.
Savanna paddles a few more strokes and looks around. In the haze of smoke she catches a glimpse of somebody splashing through the flotsam. She paddles after the blurry shape, but the current keeps dragging her away. A few minutes later, she hears a loud splashing sound again from somewhere ahead. It grows louder and more desperate like someone is drowning. Savanna pushes off toward the sound, yelling at the top of her lungs, “Hold on. I’m coming!”
Less than twenty meters away, Isan wakes up and finds himself breaking the surface of the water, gasping for breath. He is grateful that the fog in his mind has cleared enough for him to realize that he is drowning.
Isan thinks he might have swallowed a large amount of water because the inside of his nose burns, and his chest feels heavy and tight. He gurgles and thrashes in the water, clawing his way back up onto the wooden board. He does not remember how he has gotten himself into the water. The only explanation he can think of is that he must have fallen off the wooden board while he was sleeping.
Isan stays on his left side. It has taken so much of his energy to pull himself back on the wooden board. His muscles are on fire. His breathing comes out in rapid pants.
Isan feels lightheaded and cannot sit up. He wants to search for his wife, but he cannot spare the energy to propel the wooden board or call out for her. His only hope for survival is to stay on the wooden board until he gets rescued.
As Isan starts to doze off, he hears Savanna’s voice calling for him from a distance. With his energy almost gone, Isan cannot respond. He feels so weak that he can hardly breathe or move a muscle.
Isan drifts in and out of consciousness. For a moment, darkness almost overtakes him. He fights it with all his strength, but the forces of darkness are too strong for him. Within a few minutes, everything about him starts to slow down—his heart, his breathing, his thoughts.
Isan does not understand why his body keeps shutting down. He searches his mind for possible answers.
Maybe his body is telling him to go back to sleep so he won’t feel the pain. It makes a lot of sense. But if he falls asleep, he is likely to roll off the wooden board. If he does that one more time, he might as well make this river his grave for he knows he is too weak to swim and too tired to fight against the current. Then he will drown and never get another chance to see the sun again. As much as he wants to stay awake, he has no strength to fight it. Isan closes his eyes. Immediately, the world becomes silent and darkness comes over him.
Savanna kicks and pulls vigorously, propelling herself after the lone figure on the wooden board with all her strength. In a few moments, she manages to get near the wooden board.
A light breeze passes over the river. Now, the smog is getting thinner. Savanna can see and breathe much better. Right in front of her, about five meters away, Isan’s unmoving body drifts into her view. For a terrifying moment, she thinks her husband is dead or seriously injured. Savanna shrieks in horror, “Isan, hang on! I’m coming to get you!"
Isan jolts awake and spots the shape of Savanna’s head from the corner of his eye. He cries out to her, “Savanna!” and drifts swiftly downstream.
Savanna takes off after her husband, reaching out toward him. “Grab my hand!” she screams. “Come on!” She cries out, stretching her arm toward him. “Reach out for my hand!”
Isan is in severe pain. He closes his eyes and holds his breath. His wounds continue to bleed profusely. Now his body goes into shock and starts to shut down. Isan is not responding to her call. The swift current carries him rapidly away from her.
Savanna swims faster, trying to catch up with him. She kicks and pulls with all her strength, streamlining her position until she gets close enough to grab him. After a short struggle, she finally moves in right behind him and seizes the wooden board.
Isan turns his head to look at Savanna. His eyes gaze upward like he has already departed from this world. In despair she cries out, "God, please save him!”
Shallow breaths pump in and out through his mouth. He shuts his eyes, trying to block out the pain.
Savanna lays a hand on his cheek to console him. “Isan, come back," she begs. “Please, don’t give up.”
Isan