Regardless of what Elmo had thought might happen, having Jonas thrown into him was not anywhere on that list.
It wasn't until he'd breathed in a mouthful of water that he even came to his senses and struggled to climb to the surface. He couldn't think of anything beyond that, but as soon as he reached the surface of the river, he realized that Jonas didn't come up with him.
He wasn't sure how long it was before he was able to clear his lungs of the water that had invaded them. Only that he wasn't able to think of anything else until he managed to clear them. Though, his lungs still let him know about their displeasure even when they were clear of the water.
Looking around, he felt a surge of panic as he tried to figure out where Jonas was. He didn't understand why Jonas wouldn't have surface when Elmo had felt like he'd been hit by a freight train when Jonas had collided with him. Elmo could only be thankful that he hadn't had the wind knocked out of him and wondered if maybe that had happened to Jonas.
Taking a deep breath, he dove hoping against hope that he'd be able to find Jonas in the murky water. He didn't know what to expect, but desperately kept his hands stretched out as he floundered in the water, trying to move deeper as the current continued to sweep him forward.
Whether it was luck or something else, his hand briefly grazed something that didn't feel like it belonged in the river. He couldn't say what it had felt like, just that it was out of place in the water.
Using that as a direction to focus on, Elmo started to move in the direction with more deliberate strokes than he had up to the point. With being unable to see in the water, Elmo could only hope that it was Jonas and wasn't Kim or Elin who might have been knocked into the river as well.
When Elmo encountered what had felt in that brief moment a minute later, he could feel that whatever it was, it was humanoid at least. So, he threw an arm of whoever it was around his shoulders and held the person with his left arm and struggled to swim with the dead weight towards the surface, his legs kicking furiously.
Elmo didn't know how deep he'd gotten, but it wasn't until he started to try to surface that he realized his lungs were starting to burn with the strain of holding his breath. Not to mention the pain he still felt from having breathed in water earlier.
It felt like the surface kept getting farther away, but he couldn't be sure if that was his imagination or not. All he could say was that his lungs were screaming at him for air.
When he broke the surface, he gasped for air, unable to keep from a little bit of the river water from going in as well, resulting in him coughing for a minute. Even as he felt the person slide back under the surface, he couldn't do anything other than try to clear his lungs.
He couldn't believe that he had to go through that process again. Though, fortunately, he felt like he was able to deal with clearing his lungs faster this time than before. He wasn't sure if it was because less water had gone down or if it was merely his imagination again, but he wasn't going to complain.
He merely dove again under the water and quickly encountered the person again who had merely started to slowly sink again. As he put the person's arm over his shoulders again, the light suddenly went out. Elmo wasn't sure what was going on, but he still felt like he should try to reach the surface. Somehow it also felt like the current had picked up speed, even though he couldn't say If that was true or another item that his imagination was affecting.
Only when he started to swim back in what direction he was certain was still 'up,' he quickly ran in to something much more solid than the last time. Something that clearly wasn't the surface.
In fact, when his hand first encountered it, he felt a sharp pain in his palm as his hand slid over it as the current moved him along. Instinctively, Elmo retracted his hand, unable to comprehend what had changed, right then. All he knew was that the surface seemed to have disappeared.
A moment later, when his mind was able to start processing what information he had, he was suddenly, not only around some breathable air, but also was falling. He didn't have much time to think about it, and had only been able to take in a single breath before he felt himself plunged into flowing water again.
However, somehow he was able to manage to hold on to the person he'd brought with him. He also was satisfied that he was close to the surface now, so he made another push to reach the surface and was able to not only breach the surface, but also to reach a bank of the river. He threw himself and the person he'd been trying to pull from the depths of the river.
As he felt the river trying to pull both other them back in it's watery embrace, Elmo crawled forward, with his passenger, to be certain that the pull wouldn't be strong enough to actually draw them back into the water. At least not unless they chose to return to its depths.
Elmo wasn't able to understand why there wasn't any light around them, but was at least grateful for the air that was present. When he stopped crawling forward, he was hanging on the edge of the bank, still in the water from the waist down, letting his lung calm down from the period of not getting air in them.
Elmo wasn't sure how long he spent on the bank, letting his lungs enjoy having air flow in and out of them. Only that the water wasn't going to pull him and whoever he'd saved from the river to wherever it led.
When felt his strength return to him, he carefully got up and looked around. Not that he could see much. However, what surprised him most was that he was able to see anything. The source of light wasn't very strong, but it was distinct.
Elmo only took the time to pull the person fully out of the river before he made his way over to the light source. It was a bluish-white light that almost felt like it would pull heat towards it rather than giving off any heat. He didn't want the person to happen to slide back in the river without warning, but he also needed to investigate the source of light. He hoped that it might be enough for him to see if he could identify whoever it was that he'd save.
The cool air in the air around him made him start shivering as he slowly walked towards the light. He didn't feel like it was safe to go full speed and worried that he'd get hurt by some creature waiting in the dark, or merely stepping in a small depression that could twist his ankle.
If nothing else, he couldn't afford such a simple injury like that at this time. He didn't know if there was another way out of wherever he was, aside from jumping back in the river, but he wanted to try to find another way before taking that route. As he couldn't say how far it would have left to go.
The fact that there was breathable air here was at least good to know, even though he couldn't say how long it would last or if it actually indicated there was a way for them to get out. There was just too much that he didn't know about this whole situation.
He forced himself to focus on the light ahead of him, not knowing how far away it was. The more steps he took, the harder he found it to ignore the shivering of his body, which he knew was only enhanced by the clothing he wore that was still dripping with water from the river.
He was so focused on walking towards the light that he didn't even realize how close he was to it until her was almost on top of it. What it looked like to him was a kind of luminescent moss. The moss gave off light equal to a candle. While it wasn't that much, it was better than he had a moment ago.
He reached out and was disheartened to see the light that the moss gave off would go out if he pulled it off of whatever it was growing on, so he looked back to where he could hear the river merrily flowing along, then back to the moss. He felt like he needed to bring the moss with him, but unless he brought whatever it was growing on as well, he knew he wouldn't be able to see who it was that he'd saved. He definitely wouldn't be able to carry the person over. Not considering how Elmo had barely been able to bring the person to the surface with the water helping him support the person's weight.
Turning back to the moss, Elmo took a deep breath and felt along to see if there was some moss growing on something that he could in fact lift and carry with him. He didn't allow himself to speculate on what would happen if he failed at this endeavor. He knew he wouldn't be able to afford such considerations.
Fortunately, he was able to find some moss growing on what felt like a small rounded rock. Feeling like his spirits were buoyed with this find, he made his way back to where he'd crawled out of the river and found the person still laying on the bank.
Elmo carefully set the rock down, not wanting to disturb the moss, before he turned his attention to the person. As he moved the person's face towards the light, he was able to determine it was Jonas whom he'd saved. However, now that he'd determined that fact, he suddenly realized that Jonas wasn't breathing.
Feeling panic start to overtake him, Elmo looked around frantically, as if the answer might be somewhere nearby. Yet, aside from the luminescent moss, he could only see darkness.
Forcing himself to focus, he quickly recalled what he knew about CPR. Which in this case was largely along the lines of the Heimlich Maneuver. Elmo had never been CPR certified himself, but he had once seen someone perform the procedure in person and seen it a few times on TV.
What he needed to do was to make sure that Jonas was laying on a firm surface. Which was pretty much already accomplished, aside from the fact that Elmo needed to pull Jonas the rest of the way out of the river before he was satisfied that the requirement was met.
As he did so, he couldn't help but wonder if it was the light that made Jonas have more of a bluish color to his face or if he was running out of time before he could save the man that he had wanted to like him back.
When Elmo was satisfied with Jonas' position on the rock, he then placed his hands in the center of Jonas' chest, hoping that Jonas' wet clothing wouldn't create a problem, before pushing against his chest. He knew about mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but also remembered someone had asked about that the one time he'd seen it done by someone certified. The response was that it wasn't done anymore. That they would use a device to simulate it, if possible, but the risk of communicable diseases was otherwise too great.
Elmo continued the chest compressions, hoping that he hadn't started this too late, but unable to dispel the doubt in the back of his mind that he was already too late in doing this. That he wasn't going to be able to get what he had so desperately wanted.
Elmo felt his arms tire as he continued compressing Jonas' chest. He didn't want to give up, no matter how hopeless it was. He refused to accept he'd screwed up and lost his chance to do this earlier and save him.
It wasn't until Elmo felt his own vision start to blur and his consciousness start to fade that he felt Jonas react. That he heard Jonas starting to cough out the water and begin breathing on his own.
Elmo collapsed next to Jonas for what he thought was a minute but when he opened his eyes, he felt like he might have fallen asleep for an unknown amount of time. Not that he knew how long he would have been down here in the first place, even if he hadn't taken a nap.
The cold air let Elmo know that they weren't out of danger yet. So, Elmo took off his clothing and did the same to Jonas. He couldn't say that this would help either of them, but he knew that they needed to warm up, and wearing wet clothing wasn't going to help with that. Though, there was also the fact that if their bodies were pressed together, that they could shake some warmth.
Elmo hoped that Jonas wouldn't be upset when he woke up to find both of them in that kind of position, but Elmo couldn't stop his body from reacting from just the idea of being like that. Not that he had time to worry about that sort of thing. All Elmo knew was that it was the only option he could think of that would increase their chances of surviving this ordeal.