Something banged and screamed. It took me a moment to realize the noises came from inside me. My panicked heart and desperate lungs. The sounds of my body dying. My mouth gave a twitch like it wanted to open, but I clamped my teeth together to keep it shut.

But I needed air. Now. That need swept through me and sounded alarms inside my head.

My arms. They'd moved. Heavy mud suspended them above my head, as if I'd raised them to block the falling death sentence. The ...