Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“ L ance. Lance, dude, I need you to wake up, man.”
He swallowed, trying to gather his chickens, which seemed to have flown the coop and gone God knew where. “I hear you.”
He didn’t know who was talking yet, but he did hear them. He was also cognizant enough to know that when he opened his eyes he wouldn’t be able to see anything but light. So he knew who he was.
That was good.
He knew he was wet.
That was bad.
But it was a cold wet, which meant it wasn’t blood, so that was good. Also, muddy, which was bad.
He put one hand behind him, pleased to discover his hands were moving good. When he pushed himself up to sitting, his head didn’t scream at him, which was also good, because that meant the chances of a serious head injury were pretty nil.
He still didn’t know who was talking to him, though, not with the rain slamming around them .
“Somebody give me a sitrep,” he snapped.
“Boone’s out. All the horses are gone. Chris has his backpack. I don’t have my arm, and that thing was fucking expensive.”
Brick. Okay, he knew Brick.
“It was your own fault. Boone told you not to tie it on with the reins.”
“Shut up, Chris. I’ll fucking?—”
Oh for fuck’s sake. “What do you mean Boone is out?”
“He hit his head, he’s bleeding, and he’s totally unconscious. You’re the only one of us with real medical experience, man. I need you to wake the fuck up and help.”
“I’m awake. I’m— I’m good. I mean, I, I can’t see.”
“Big shock.”
“Shut up, Chris. I don’t suppose you can walk again, asshole?” He called over, and Chris cracked up.
“Nope, still a paraplegic. Sucks to be me, man. Not as much as it sucks to be you, but still.”
He stretched and stood, sluicing the mud off his jeans.
Gross. “All right. Where are we?” He held up one hand before anyone could get all sarcastic and psycho.
“I mean, I know that we’re on the ranch.
I know where I am, but I’m asking are we under the trees?
Are we out in the open? Does anybody know what happened? ”
“We were heading down the hill to the trees. It’s like a lightning bolt hit, literally right in between you and Boone, and all the horses went absolutely batshit crazy. You went flying, and Boone went ass over teakettle, and then Chris went whoosh . I just got tossed over one side and lost my arm.”
“Well, that sounds like you.” Lance grinned to ease the blow of the words. “All right, so are we under the trees now?”
“No, I didn’t know if I should move Boone. I mean, it’s still raining.”
“Does it look like it’s gonna ease up? Can you tell? Does anybody have our phones?” That would be a light source, even if they couldn’t use them to call out.
“We all do, but we got no signal.”
“Yeah, but can you look at the buffered weather app? Just enough to give us some kind of an idea about what the weather was going to be? Do we have an emergency blanket in your pack, Chris? Somebody get me to Boone.” He had to take control of this situation sooner than later.
The irony here did not escape Lance. Blind dude with medical training. Still, he figured people had been medics in the dark for a lot of time. He could do this, but it was still a little bit aggravating.
Not to mention the fact it was damn near impossible to figure out what was blood and what was rain and what was mud in this fucking weather.
“I’ve got a basic kit in my backpack,” Chris called out. “I couldn’t use the saddlebags because of the legs. I don’t know what’s in it, though.”
“Well, get with the program, soldier. Try to keep everything as dry as you can and tell me what you’ve got. Water, food, any kind of covering, any kind of first aid. I need to know what’s in your backpack.”
“Okay. Yes, sir.” He swore he could hear Chris’s salute.
He knelt next to Boone, fingers searching carefully over the man’s skull. Boone had a huge lump in the back of his head, but it didn’t seem to be open. Boone’s eyes were closed, but moving underneath his eyelids by the feel of it.
“Brick. Come here. I need you to look. I’m going to open up his eyelids. I need you to tell me if his pupils are the same size. You can do that.” Lance got Boone’s eyelids open, trying hard to gentle.
“Yeah, yeah. I mean, he’s not in there. He’s not like looking at us, but they’re the same size. ”
“Well, that’s good. We’re making progress.” He closed Boone’s eyes. “Chris? What’s in the backpack?”
“I’ve got an emergency blanket—no, there’s two of them, two bottles of water, three granola bars, and like your basic first aid kit. I mean, it’s got some bandages and some gauze-type thing.”
Better than nothing. “Okay. All right, how far are the trees?”
“Thirty feet?” Brick answered. “Not far.”
“Fine. I think we have to move him so we can get him dry, because one of us is going to have to go back toward the house. You’re going to have to keep walking until you get signal or a person whichever. I’m assuming we’ll get signal well before we get to the house, but I don’t know.”
“Well, what? Are you going to do it?” Brick muttered under his breath.
“No, asshole, I’m not. You are, and we both know it, but let’s get Boone into the dry, and let’s get Chris over there, shall we? I don’t need this shit from you. Move, soldier.”
As far as he knew, he was the highest-ranked person here, and these men were his responsibility.
“I’ve got this. I don’t need help.” Chris sounded as if he were already moving.
“Good deal. Then Brick, help me with Boone. I need you to be my eyes, so you’ll have to go first, but don’t go so fast that I fall.”
“Yep. I can only take so much of his weight without my arm.”
“Okay, then we’ll do it like a lifeguard carry out of the ocean. We each take a shoulder and I stabilize his neck. We let his feet drag.”
“That’s doable.” Grunting and panting, they got Boone into a stabilized neck position, then dragged him, Brick counting off yards to him so he knew how much farther they had to go.
It wasn’t perfect under the trees, but the amount of shelter from the pelting sting and noise of the rain the cottonwoods provided was huge. It disoriented him for a moment, but Chris called to them.
“I’ve got the blankets ready. One is doubled up to go under him, so bring him here, Brick.”
“On it! Eight more feet, Cap,” Brick puffed out.
“Thank God.” Boone wasn’t a huge guy, and he always felt lean when Lance had to touch him, but unconscious, his muscle weighed a thousand pounds.
“Let’s get him settled and covered, then we need to get Brick ready to go.”
“I don’t love leaving you here,” Brick said.
“Yeah, well—we’ll give you a bottle of water, a granola bar, and whichever phone has the most battery. The compass and shit works without service.”
“It does. And I’ll head back up and toward the first cell tower I see.” Brick sighed and shook his head, lowering his voice. “You sure you got this?”
“Absolutely. Chris isn’t broke dick.”
“I’m not. I’m broke back, but I got this shit.”
“See? He’s got this shit.” This wasn’t fucking warfare, and they weren’t in the mountains or out on the ocean. This was a well-traveled ranch land with a bunch of folks who knew where they were headed.
His biggest concern was Boone. The guy hadn’t so much as moaned.
Brick sighed. “Okay. I’m on it. Seriously. I won’t let you down.”
“Good man.” He reached out, and Brick gripped his hand.
“Help will be on its way.” And then Brick rose to leave them, his boots squelching in the mud .
Chris came over, his effort plain in the sounds he made. “What do I need to do?”
“Let’s make sure there’s no other things on Boone we can see. Besides that, we just stay warm.”
“Okay. I know basically what to look for, but I’ll catalog stuff, and you tell me if I need to do anything.”
“Copy.” He nodded to Chris. “You’re okay—I mean, you took one hell of a fall.”
“I think my ankle’s broke, but I’m not using it.”
Fuck him. “Does it hurt?”
“No, and it’s swollen, but there’s no blood at all.”
“Okay, let me feel of it. I need to see if I need to immobilize it or splint it. You said we have wrap bandages?”
“It’s not life-threatening, man. Boone first.”
“Boone first, but I need to check it, after. No reason to lose it.”
“Yeah. You’re right. I don’t want to lose more than I have.”
For the first time, Lance could hear how young Chris was, how scared.
He found a grin, and he managed to hold it. “I’m not letting you lose anything. Just hang on with me here, fair?”
“Yeah. Yeah, Cap. You got my word.”
“Good deal.”
Chris called out things. “Cut on his left wrist, but it’s shallow. Here, feel.” And they worked their way through Boone’s injuries, and he was glad to note that, aside from the head injury, nothing else was worrisome. Cuts and bruises and maybe sprains.
“Okay, now your ankle, Chris.” He dragged his hands down the still, loose-muscled calf. The ankle was swollen and warm, but there was no blood, no extreme heat. “They’ll have to take it to the hospital, probably, but you’re going to be fine.”
“Will I walk again, Cap?”
“You got a better chance than I do to see, so let’s deal, sailor.”
Chris snorted, but let it go.
He covered Boone up, sighing as the sounds of rain turned sharper, louder.
Hail.
Just what they needed.
Fucking perfect.