Chapter 6
SIX
MAX
I lunged toward her, but a pair of brawny arms wrapped around me and held me back.
“Let me go,” I growled, but Connor’s forearm was like a steel band.
“Stop,” he hissed. “We need to check that there are no traps around her and that whoever did this is no longer in the area.”
“She needs help!”
“And the sooner you stop struggling, the sooner she’ll get it.”
“Fuck!”
I stopped trying to break away from him, and, after a moment, he released me. When I didn’t run forward again, he put some distance between us and scanned our surroundings.
Nothing moved.
There were no sounds except for the birds in the trees.
Connor picked up a fallen branch and used it to poke the ground around Bailey. When nothing happened, he dragged it along the earth, then tossed it aside.
“Go on,” he said, motioning me forward.
My throat was tight, my breaths loud as I dropped to my knees beside her. She was on her back, the personal locator beacon resting on the ground beside her hand. Her eyes were closed, her hair coming out of its tie and sticking up all over the place, with twigs and leaves tangled in the strands.
But what jarred me most was the crimson blood smeared on her face and palms. There were little splotches of red all over her, but I suspected most of it had been transferred from her head and hands.
“Her chest is moving,” I said, ducking my head to listen to her breathing. It was shallow, as if it hurt for her to breathe deeply, but it was steady. I shrugged off my backpack, pulled out my stethoscope, and listened to her chest. “Airways sound good.”
“She’s lost some blood,” Asher said, checking her face and scalp for cuts.
“There are a couple of gashes that may need stitches. The bleeding has slowed, so I doubt it’s cause for concern unless she has internal bleeding.
I’ll clean the deeper cuts and cover them until we get to the hospital. Do you think she has a spinal injury?”
I scanned her body, not wanting to move her until I was reasonably confident that doing so wouldn’t cause her any harm. Her face was beginning to swell and was patchy with red and purple. It would bruise heavily.
The fronts of her arms were scratched—although the injuries didn’t look like defensive wounds.
More like what I’d expect from someone barreling through the brush and getting cut by wayward twigs or thorns.
Her palms were raw. They’d been scraped on something rough and would need a thorough cleaning to avoid infection.
Raising her shirt, I checked her torso.
“There’s a lot of bruising. I wouldn’t be surprised if at least one of her ribs was cracked or broken. Considering that it looks like she crawled here”—I gestured to the scuffed earth behind her—“I’d say it’s unlikely she has a spinal injury. We can’t be sure until she’s been X-rayed, though.”
“I agree,” Asher said.
Carefully, I slipped my hands beneath her and palpated her lower and upper back. She was hot to the touch, which indicated more swelling, but I couldn’t feel any open wounds or signs of broken bones.
When I shook my head, Asher gestured at Liam. “Lay down the stretcher.”
Liam set the stretcher down, unfolded it, and clicked everything into place.
“Are you all right with us moving her, doc?” Asher asked.
“Yeah.” I was grateful he was clearing it with me when he’d be within his rights to make the decision himself. He took hold of Bailey’s shoulders while Liam grabbed her legs, and they transferred her onto the stretcher.
“Should Connor and I help carry her?” I asked.
“We’ve got this,” Asher said. “It’s easier if we just do it rather than trying to walk two abreast down a narrow trail.”
That was fair enough, so I didn’t argue.
I carried Asher’s bag as well as mine while we descended the hill to where an ambulance was waiting at the base.
Connor must have radioed ahead. I’d hardly been able to take my eyes off Bailey, watching to make sure she didn’t take a turn for the worse, so I hadn’t paid attention to the conversation around me.
With practiced ease, Liam and Asher loaded her into the ambulance. Asher’s partner, Maia, was already inside, and I climbed in without asking permission. It wasn’t unprecedented for a doctor to accompany a patient in the ambulance, so no one questioned me.
The drive to Queenstown Hospital seemed to take forever. I sat back and allowed Asher to do his job while Maia drove us, volunteering information when he asked for it and helping him monitor her.
I hated to see Bailey so still and gray when she was usually a bundle of fun and joy. She should always be smiling, always be in motion. This… wasn’t right.
Once we reached the hospital, Asher and I both gave our reports to the doctor taking over her care.
Asher and Maia left soon after because the ambulance needed to be returned to Destiny Falls in case of other emergencies, but I stayed in the waiting room until Liam, Summer, Kennedy, and my parents arrived.
Another hour after that, the doctor emerged and gathered us for an update.
“Bailey is very lucky,” she told us, her smile strained but kind.
“None of her internal organs were badly damaged. She has two cracked ribs, a broken finger on her right hand, and a sprained wrist. There was a laceration just below her hairline that required a stitch, and we had to reset her nose because it had been broken. I think that’s where most of the blood came from. ”
I nodded, having suspected the same thing.
“We gave her a mild sedative but she’ll need to be closely monitored because she probably has a concussion.”
“I can do that,” I assured her.
“Excellent.” Her smile relaxed slightly. “Obviously, as a doctor, you know she doesn’t need to be woken every few hours because of the concussion, but you should check on her breathing and restfulness regularly, and keep in mind that she’ll be in a lot of pain when she comes around.”
“I’ll manage it.” The last thing I wanted was Bailey hurting if I could do something about it.
“Will she need to stay the night?” Mum asked, glancing from the doctor to me.
“At this moment, we’re not certain,” the doctor replied. “We’ll monitor her for a while before deciding.”
Dad leaned closer. “Can we sit with her?”
The doctor’s expression softened. “Of course. Don’t try to wake her, though. Let her come around on her own.”
She gave us Bailey’s room number and left. We went straight to the room where Bailey lay motionless in a hospital bed, her tanned skin looking sallower than usual against the white sheets.
They’d cleaned her up, thank God. If she’d still been as bloody and muddy as she had earlier, Mum might have broken down. As it was, she whimpered and turned into Dad’s chest.
He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. “She’ll be all right.”
“Has someone told her parents?” I asked Summer, kicking myself because I should have thought of it earlier.
She didn’t take her eyes off her best friend as she murmured, “Yeah, I did. I told them I’d call them again with an update.” She moved closer and lightly touched Bailey’s hand. “I should have gone with her instead of cycling with Asher.”
“Don’t blame yourself.” After all, she’d had other plans. I hadn’t. I should have gone with Bailey, but instead, I’d worried about overstepping or making a fool of myself by being too obvious in my feelings for her. Now she was paying for my hesitation.
Next time, I’d choose differently.