Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Fallon’s lips were turning blue.
“Breathe, baby. Breathe.” I begged her.
Her breath was wheezing in and out.
“Zarek! Where is that goddamn?—”
“Here!” He slapped one of the injectors into my hand with the cap already removed. I slammed the tip into her mid outer thigh and kept it there for ten seconds, then watched her face. She wasn’t showing any reaction. I placed her legs over mine to get them elevated.
“Zarek, give me your shirt.”
He’d already been taking his off. He knew the drill. He was tucking it around her before I had a chance.
“What’s happening? Can you save her? Help her. You have to save my baby.” Isla’s voice barely penetrated.
“We need to get Fallon to Sevierville,” I clipped out. It had the closest hospital that could handle this situation. I was still looking at Fallon’s face for any kind of change. Still nothing. Her lips were still blue, and she was barely getting any air.
“Zarek—” I raised my hand, and he slapped another injector onto my palm. I injected her with a second dose of epinephrine. Her body jerked upwards as she gasped in a deep breath of air.
“We’ve got her!” I moved to a squat and picked her up. My truck was a crew cab, but?—
“Bruno, you driving your suburban?”
“Yep,” he answered as he started running toward the front of the house. Zarek and I were close on his heels.
“Wait. Take me with you,” Isla called out.
I heard Zarek start talking, but I didn’t pay attention; my entire focus was the open door of the back seat of Bruno’s Suburban. I slid in, still cradling Fallon. Bruno had the motor running and just as he got it in gear, the front passenger door was yanked open and Zarek jumped in.
Good. I needed him making calls.
“How’s she doing?” he asked over his shoulder.
“She’s breathing.” I didn’t add that she was whimpering in pain and tears were streaking down her face and that it was killing me. I put my fingers to her neck. “Her pulse is thready.”
I listened as Zarek relayed that information to someone. Meanwhile Bruno was driving like he was trying out for a NASCAR team.
I bent down and started to whisper in Fallon’s ear.
“Stay with me, Baby. I love you, Fallon. Stay with me.”
“Michael!”
I jerked up to look at Zarek. “What?”
“Try to get her to tell us what kind of snake bit her. They need to know what kind of antivenom to administer.”
Shit, I knew that.
I looked down and saw that Fallon’s breathing was becoming more ragged. I could hear the whine as she tried to draw in air. Her face was swollen and her lips were twice their normal size.
“Fallon. Do you know what kind of snake bit you?” I asked loudly.
She was a Tennessee girl. We’d camped together. If she’d seen the snake, she’d know. But she wasn’t answering me, she was just struggling to breathe.
I tried a different tack. I bent close and whispered in her ear. “Fallon, I need you to help us. It’s really important. What kind of snake bit you?”
Still nothing.
I stroked her cheek—wet with tears and so hot to the touch that I wanted to cry. “Please Sunshine, open your eyes. I need you to open your beautiful eyes for just a moment.”
“Hurts,” she whispered on an almost silent exhalation.
“I know it hurts. We’re going to get you to a hospital real quick. We’re going to get you medicine to take away the pain. But, Baby, I need to know what kind of snake bit you. Can you tell me?”
She opened her mouth and gasped for air. Then, on the exhale, she hissed the word, “Copper.”
“Copperhead,” I yelled to Zarek.
Once again, he started talking on the phone, but I didn’t pay any attention. I started stroking Fallon’s throat as if I could ease air through her passageway. She moved a little closer into my embrace and I shuddered with gratitude that she found solace in my touch.
It felt like forever that I stroked her throat and whispered words of love, encouragement and prayer.
“We’re here,” Zarek yelled as the vehicle shuddered to a stop. Someone yanked open the two back doors and I was eye-to-eye with a man with a stethoscope around his neck standing next to a stretcher.
“We’ve got her from here.”
I opened my mouth to shout no when he said, “Let us help her.”
I blinked and it was as if I came out of a trance. Jumping out of the backseat with Fallon in my arms, I placed her on the stretcher. I ran beside her as she was whisked through the hospital entrance.
I tried to follow as they took her through another set of doors, but a woman, a nurse, blocked my way. “You need to stay out here. You’ve done a good job, now let us do ours.”
I took a step toward her, then a strong hand pulled me back. I didn’t need to look to know it was Zarek. The nurse turned and used a badge to go through the double doors.
“Come sit down. Let them do their jobs.”
“I can’t.” And I couldn’t. I needed to be in there with her.
“Think for a minute. You’ve done everything you can. It’s in their hands and God’s.”
I stopped still and looked at my best friend. For just a moment the veil lifted from his eyes, and I saw into his soul.
“Where’s the chapel?” I asked.
It seemed like forever before Bruno tapped me on the shoulder.
“She’s alive,” were the first words out of his mouth.
I bowed my head and thanked God before I got up and followed him out of the chapel and back to the ER waiting room. A nurse waited there.
“You all did a great job on your friend. She’s doing good, but we’re keeping her for at least a day or two until we’re sure her breathing has stabilized.”
“Can I see her?” I wiped my sweaty palms down the front of my shorts, realizing at that point I was wearing a Jasper Creek Construction polo shirt. I didn’t even remember putting it on.
“She’s being admitted into ICU. It’s a precaution since the swelling is above her knee. If it goes down, she can be released to a regular room. As soon as we get her into her ICU bed, I’ll come back and get you.”
“Thank you.”
She smiled, nodded and turned away.
“Wait a minute.” She turned back and looked at me. “I mean it. Thank you. Thank all of you. I can’t begin to tell you just how grateful I am.”
She gave me an assessing look, then smiled. “Oh, I’ve got an idea. And you’re welcome.”
I watched as she went back through the double doors.
I turned back to Bruno. “Where’s Zarek?”
“He went to get Fallon’s mom. We didn’t want her to come until we had some definitive news. We also didn’t want her driving.”
“Good thinking.” I looked over the waiting room and saw a row of empty chairs near the back wall and started toward them.
“I’m going to the cafeteria for something to drink. What would you like?” Bruno asked.
“Nothing.”
“Okay, then I’ll decide. I’ll be back in just a minute.”
I nodded, not paying any real attention. All I was focusing on was those last moments when I held Fallon in my arms and her struggling for every single breath. Those moments when I wasn’t sure that she would live.
It was time for a balls-out conversation. I needed to tell her how much I loved her, and how sorry I was for what I did, and beg for her forgiveness. Did I want her to take me back? More than anything. But having her alive and knowing she forgave me, that would mean everything.
But you want her back.
I slumped over, leaning my elbows on my knees. My inner voice was right; I desperately wanted her back. I wanted to go forward and build a life with her. Create a family with her.
Sweat bloomed on the back of my neck as I sat back up. I needed her.