Chapter Two. #2
“No probs,” the stranger replied. Good. No offence, but he needed to find Natasha. He looked like the type of man who’d walk into burning flames and survive.
“My friend Natasha is here somewhere. We were eating when the floor fell out. There were explosions, she might be hurt,” I spat the words out and gave him Tash’s description.
“I’ll look for her,” he promised.
“Your name is Vortex,” I muttered, and my rescuer nodded as he wrapped an arm around me and began leading me away.
Nearby, something exploded, and I dropped to the floor and curled up.
Why were explosions still happening? How long would things keep blowing up?
Vortex’s voice gradually penetrated my fear, and I realised he was trying to calm me down and get me back up.
Slowly, I allowed Vortex to help me up, and he hauled me to his side.
Vortex was providing a barrier between me and the nightmare I was living.
As we walked, Vortex tried to shield me from things, but we passed two bodies of women. My feet refused to move until I saw they weren’t Natasha. As heartless as it was, relief swept over me; Natasha wasn’t dead. She was out there somewhere.
Vortex led me to a tent and helped me up onto a gurney. A paramedic, whose badge read ‘Cassie,’ hurried over and began asking questions. Vortex retreated, and I reached out in panic. My hand grasped his arm.
“Don’t leave me, please don’t go,” I begged. Vortex held my gaze and then moved closer to me. He was going to leave; I could see it in his eyes, and panic swirled inside me. Vortex had found me and saved me from the nightmare outside. He couldn’t abandon me now.
“Rage and the other MCs are searching. Local search and rescue teams are also piling in. They don’t need you, Vortex,” a guy said from two spaces away.
Gratefully, I silently thanked him. Vortex could remain with me. “Please,” I whispered as tears began spilling. If Vortex left, I’d probably freak the fuck out. No one was familiar, and he was it until we found Natasha.
“I’ll stay, honey, don’t worry,” Vortex murmured.
“You did your duty, Vortex. You brought her out safe,” Tiger said and frowned.
As Cassie started taking my blood pressure, Vortex and the stranger talked. I soon discovered that his name was Tiger and that he ran a motorbike club. Why was an MC out here? The paramedic was taking my temperature when two more men arrived.
“What happened?” Vortex demanded, worry in his voice, as one was dumped on a stretcher.
“He fell down a pothole and twisted his ankle,” the person who’d been carrying the other stated. I watched because Vortex clearly cared about the wounded man.
“I did find another survivor,” stretcher man argued.
“That he did,” the other guy motioned to where another carried an injured woman. In desperation, I peered over and saw red hair, not blonde. That wasn’t Natasha.
“That’s three women, one kid and two men found,” Tiger said.
“All alive?” Vortex asked.
Shock rolled over me when I realised that it made only six people. Six. There’d been two hundred and fifty guests on board, and I’d seen at least ten children running about. That figure didn’t include the staff.
“Yup. We’ve found a lot of dead out there.”
Those words sank into my bones. Was Natasha among them or wandering the field looking for me? Had Tash fallen from the sky like me, or had she burned in the crash? How would I tell her mom, Mari, that Tash had died?
“Titanic of the Skies,” I said bitterly. “They named it well. Natasha and I shouldn’t have been on it. A friend won tickets and decided she didn’t want to go. Said she had a bad feeling about it. She wasn’t wrong. Who’d have thought it would explode?”
“Nobody, honey,” Vortex replied. Poor guy looked uncomfortable.
But I couldn’t shut up. Near the huge blaze, dwarfed by its flames, fire engines tried to fight it.
I didn’t get the point. Anyone who’d been inside was dead.
If the crash hadn’t killed them, the resulting inferno would have.
Those children, had they died instantly or had it been slowly?
Had their parents managed to protect them from the worst? Bitterness and anger rushed through me.
“How many died inside that thing? How many didn’t even have a chance once the explosion happened?”
“What do you do, Amy?” Vortex asked, and I wondered why. Without being rude, I wished to be alone—apart from Vortex. Cassie looked concerned as she checked my eyes with a pencil torch.
Vortex waited, and I decided it wouldn’t hurt to answer him.
“I worked in a kindergarten and also arranged child-friendly events. I was a teaching assistant, and recently earned my degree to become a teacher,” I responded with a chuckle.
Unsurprisingly, I was starting to feel slightly hysterical.
Okay, maybe more than a little. I longed to rock back and forth and cry, shriek, and laugh at the same time.
“Don’t flake out on me now, brave girl,” Vortex ordered.
Brave girl. Was that me? What had I done that was so courageous? Not succumbing to hysteria might be considered strong, I guess. But I hadn’t found Tash. She was still somewhere out there.
“Vortex, I have to find Natasha,” I whispered and shunted forward.
Cassie shook her head. “You’re going to the hospital, Amy,” she replied.
“When I’ve found her,” I argued.
“No. Now.”
“But—”
“Amy, do you trust me?” Vortex asked.
I looked at him. Did I? The truth was, I didn’t know Vortex from Adam. He could be a serial killer. But Vortex had brought me to safety instead of whisking me away in the field. Nobody would have known.
“Yes,” I finally muttered as Vortex waited patiently.
“The clubs will search for Natasha,” Vortex promised. Tiger nodded his head too.
“If you can lay down…” Cassie began.
“No, I’d rather walk, if you don’t mind.” Vortex and Cassie swapped glances before nodding.
“Let me support you,” Vortex said, and I agreed. His muscled arm wrapped around me, and Vortex walked me to the tent flap.
“Stay strong,” Tiger called out, and I smiled briefly.
Directly outside was an ambulance, and Vortex helped me in. Once inside, the paramedics got me onto a gurney and, once I was strapped in, drove off. It seemed like only minutes passed before we reached the hospital, but the images we’d driven past stayed with me.
I’d seen people walking around. The fire was still blazing out of control, but the white sheets on the ground haunted me.
Dead people. People who, an hour ago, were laughing and drinking now lay on that cold earth, gone.
I couldn’t comprehend how life could change so quickly.
This disaster would devastate so many families.
A fact hit me. Despite my hope, it was likely that Natasha was gone, too. They’d found six survivors. Tash, if she’d been alive, should have been saved by now. She hadn’t been.
Vortex reached out and held my hand.
“Don’t give up, honey,” he murmured as tears leaked from my eyes.
“Natasha’s dead, isn’t she?”
Vortex looked like he was struggling to find a kind answer. Finally, he sighed and nodded. “Hate to say it, brave girl, but probably.”
“Tash was so excited to ride it,” I said and started to melt down. The EMT injected something into me, but I wasn’t paying attention.
“Why did I survive and not Natasha?” I demanded through my tears.
“Vortex, we’ve sedated her; it’s kinder,” the paramedic murmured to Vortex as my vision blurred.
“Amy’s a fighter, had to be to walk out of that hellhole. Let her have some peace for now,” Vortex replied.
That was the last thing I heard.
Vortex
Shamelessly, I’d used Amy’s fingerprint to open her phone, which was still miraculously on her body.
Finding a picture of her and Natasha, conveniently labelled, I sent it to Inglorious, who promised to send it to everyone.
Then, without hesitation, I scrolled through her address book looking for family.
I found ‘Dad’ first and dialled. I’d no idea where the guy lived, but fuck the time.
“Amy!?” a sleepy male voice exclaimed. “Pudding, are you okay?”
“Is this Mr Wright? Amy’s dad?” I asked.
“Who the fuck are you? Phil, wake up, some guy has Amy’s phone,” the man shouted.
“What?” a second man snapped.
“Sir, please, I need to speak to Amy’s dad,” I replied.
“I’m her papa. Who are you?” demanded the second voice.
“Sir, my name is Vortex, I’m a member of the Unwanted Bastards MC in Merritt, South Dakota. Amy was in an incident…”
“Where the hell is my daughter, and what hospital? Where’s Natasha? What type of accident? Amy was on that blimp thing. Why is someone from a motorbike club calling us?” Papa exclaimed.
“Mr Wright, there is no easy way of saying this, but the zeppelin exploded and crashed. Amy is one of the few survivors. We haven’t located Natasha.
My MC is part of search and rescue and was first on the scene.
” As I spoke, I could hear movement, and I assumed they were getting dressed.
“The Titanic of the Skies exploded above Merritt, and I found Amy wandering. Amy seems uninjured—a bruise and some scratches, but she’s in shock. ”
“Send us the hospital address, young man. We’re on our way.
Don’t leave our daughter alone,” the first guy ordered.
Amy’s dad? I wasn’t sure. They cut the call, and I received a curt text demanding the address.
I sent it back and realised I had no idea when they’d arrive.
Oh well, looks like Amy was stuck with me for a while.
Her eyelashes fluttered, and Amy opened her eyes. She looked confused, then panicked, before resignation settled over her.
“It wasn’t a bad dream?” she whispered.
I grasped her hand—the one without the cannula. “No, sorry, brave girl.”
“Natasha?”
“No news yet, but everyone is searching. I opened your phone, found a picture, and sent it to my president. He’s forwarded to the searchers. If they find her alive, we’ll know,” I replied.
A tear trickled down Amy’s cheek. “Tash’s gone. I know it.”
Lost for words, I squeezed Amy’s hand. “We’ll keep looking until we locate her one way or another,” I promised.
“Thank you. Tash doesn’t deserve to be alone.”
“Nobody does, brave girl. The survivors are being brought here so we’ll know if Natasha arrives.”
“How many, Vortex?”
With a heavy heart, I answered. “Six, including you.”
“That few!” Amy exclaimed, looking horrified.
“Yeah.”
Amy closed her eyes. “This is a nightmare.”
I couldn’t disagree. I’d seen the aftermath; Amy had lived through it.
Months would pass before Amy healed and didn’t have bad dreams. On top of that, I guessed she’d also be grieving, but the circle of opportunity for finding Natasha alive was shrinking.
I wished to protect her from that grief, but I couldn’t. Nobody could.