Chapter 34
HUDSON
The rain was blowing sideways, hitting us directly in our faces.
I was glad for the poncho, but it had long become ineffective against the rain coming up, down, and sideways.
It wasn’t that I was uncomfortable or cold.
I wasn’t. I was in my element. But the S and R team were volunteers.
Most of them were not familiar with this kind of thing.
They did a rescue a month, if that. They didn’t usually have to deal with such brutal circumstances.
I pointed to a piece of trash up ahead. “I think they probably came through here!” I shouted to be overheard over the wind and rain.
We’d been tracking the missing hikers for almost two hours.
It was pretty clear they were lost. They had made it to the mouth of the stream where I suspected they would be, but they weren’t there now.
We had found a wrapper from a candy bar.
Once we found them, I had a feeling they were going to be getting a pretty stern lecture from one of the guys on the team who was also a park ranger.
It sucked they were littering, but I wasn’t entirely sure they weren’t doing it on purpose to leave a trail. I was hoping it was my excuse and not the fact they were just litterbugs disrespecting the pristine environment.
“Looks fresh,” I said and picked up the potato chip bag. “No fading.”
Gus nodded. “I’ll radio it in. Do whatever you’re doing. You seem to know where they are going.”
“I’m just thinking like a lost twenty-something that’s never been in the wilderness,” I told him.
The family had met us at the trailhead. Apparently, our couple were newly engaged.
The family had a vacation home on the beach and our lovebirds went for a nature walk.
The guy worked on Wall Street and the young woman worked at some fashion store or some shit.
Basically, they were ill equipped to be out here and had no business going off the trail with their lack of knowledge.
None of us let the family know just how bad things might be once we saw a picture the couple had sent to their family from their hike.
The young woman was wearing sandals, tiny shorts, and a tank top.
The boyfriend was also in sandals, shorts, and a tee.
They would be freezing their asses off by now.
It was nothing short of a miracle they made it down to the water in their stupid sandals.
We were all slipping and sliding in our boots made for this shit.
Despite my frustration with the people that had put their lives at risk and ultimately risked the lives of my fellow rescuers, I was having the time of my life. The mud and muck was what I lived for. I was embracing every second of the suck.
“Fuck!”
I walked right into a tree branch. I felt it slice across my cheek. I reached up and held it out of the way for Gus and the only woman on the team, Leanna.
“Good?” Gus asked.
I touched my fingers to my cheek. The headlight illuminated the blood on my fingers. “Fine. Just a scratch.”
“Hope it doesn’t leave a scar on your pretty face,” Gus joked.
I wiped my hand on my pants, uncaring of the stain it would leave.
We pushed through the dense foliage as we climbed up.
I wasn’t surprised our young couple were going up.
Most people knew to always follow the water down to get help.
Our couple didn’t know much about nature and some of the basic rules to getting oneself rescued.
I checked my watch. I didn’t care what time it was.
My goal was to determine the condition our couple was going to be in.
The wet and cold and fifty-five degrees had me walking a little faster.
Another branch flicked me in the face. My sleeves protected my arms for the most part, but I was certain one of the briars we’d walked through had torn through the fabric and cut my skin.
The rain was making it difficult to see very far ahead.
To see anything. Normally, I would be relying on all my senses.
Unfortunately, the rain pretty much made it impossible to hear, smell, or see.
We were walking blind. I somehow ended up becoming the leader of our group of three.
We had decided to divide and conquer about thirty minutes into the search.
One group was going down while we went up.
I had a feeling we were on the right track judging by the trash we encountered.
“Search and rescue!” I shouted. “Call out if you can hear us!”
We’d been repeating the same thing every few minutes. If they were injured, they might not be able to come to us. We expected that.
“Search and rescue!” Gus shouted. His voice boomed, but if they were even ten feet away, they would likely not hear him with the rain pounding against the ground.
I kept moving, scanning the area for any kind of movement.
Anything that looked out of place. I stopped moving and held up my hand in a fist. It was habit.
I knew Gus would understand the signal. We all froze.
I kept my breathing slow and quiet while straining my ears.
In the distance, I heard someone shouting.
At least, it sounded like a very weak shout.
I pointed in the direction of the sound. “Let’s move!”
We moved quickly but carefully over the rocky terrain. It was another steep, rocky cliffside. “Give me the light,” I said.
Gus handed the powerful search beam to me. I shone it down the cliffside. A man was on his feet waving his hands. “Got ‘em,” I said.
The three of us stood on the edge of the cliff and surveyed the situation. “Are you hurt?” I shouted down the rocky cliffs.
“Yes!” The man pointed to the woman lying on the ground. “Leg! Arm!”
“She’s not mobile,” I said calmly to Gus and Leanna. “She’s going to need a stretcher.”
“He looks to be in decent shape,” Gus said.
“Can you walk?” I shouted.
The man pointed at his knee. “A little!” His voice was weak. The weather was definitely taking a toll on them.
“Looks like we’re pulling them both out of there,” Gus said.
“Not alone,” Leanne chimed in. “I’ll radio the team.”
“We need to assess them,” I said. “I’ll go down and see what we’re working with.”
“You’ll need to take the first-aid kit,” Leanne said. “Get her covered. I’ll get the medics to meet us at the trailhead.”
She handed me her pack that was loaded with supplies. Leanne was a certified EMT. If the circumstances required her to provide medical care, she would do it once we got them out of the ravine. My own field medicine training and experience would be enough for now.
“Be careful,” Gus warned.
I turned my feet sideways and slowly made my way down. Gus held the bright spotlight to illuminate my trek down. The woman sat up with her fiancé’s help. “How are you doing?” I asked her.
I was already assessing her injuries. She was in worse shape than her fiancé. I shrugged off the pack and pulled out two of the survival blankets. “Wrap this around you,” I said to the guy. I opened the other one and draped it over the woman’s shoulders. “Where does it hurt?” I asked.
“My shoulder,” she said. “I think I broke my arm.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“I fell,” she said with a hiccup.
I gently reached out and went through some basic questions while doing my best to evaluate her mental state.
“Okay, I’m not a doctor, but I’m going to guess your shoulder is dislocated.
It hurts like hell, but it’s usually an easy fix.
I’m not going to do that here. I’m going to immobilize it for now. ”
“Your leg, honey,” the man said.
The woman pointed to her ankle. I noticed she was only wearing one shoe. Her ankle was swollen and looked broken. “I’m going to wrap it,” I told her.
I pulled out a bandage and wrapped it while looking up the hill. I knew it was going to take some time for the rest of our team to get to us. The woman’s lips were tinged blue. We needed to get them out of the weather. We couldn’t wait.
“Drink this,” I said and handed her some sugar water. I turned to the man. “What about you? Can you walk?”
“I twisted my knee,” he said.
I gently felt around his knee. It was swollen, but with the way he was standing, I made a judgment call. “I’m going to wrap it, stabilize it, and then we need to move. Can you walk?”
“Can’t they come get us?”
“In thirty to forty-five minutes,” I replied. “I can carry her, but I’ll need you to walk. Can you do it?”
He bobbed his head up and down. “Okay.”
“What’s your name?” I asked the woman.
“Abby,” she said.
“When you fell, did you catch yourself or did you hit your ribs? Stomach? Head?”
“I caught her,” the guy said. “But she twisted her ankle.”
“And her shoulder?”
“That happened when she fell again,” he said.
“I caught myself,” she said. “I didn’t hit anything else.”
“Good. I’m going to throw you over my shoulder and carry you to the opening over there. It’s going to be quicker and easier than bouncing you up over the rocks on a stretcher.”
“Okay,” she said and started to cry. “I’m sorry.”
“Let’s get you out of here,” I said. I quickly radioed up to Gus to tell him my plan. Leanne was going to take over the light to guide our way while Gus moved down to meet us.
“Ready?” I asked her.
I put her over my shoulder, glad she was a tiny thing. I’d carried several guys in all their gear before, but it wasn’t easy. She was easy. Thankfully, the ground was fairly flat. Gus was waiting with Leanne quickly joining us.
“The other team is trying to make it up here, but it’s rough going. There was a washout.”
“Tell them to meet us at the trailhead,” I said. “I can get her down. We’ll use the stretcher to get him out. The two of you can pull him.”
“I can walk,” the guy said.
“You’re too slow,” I told him. “She needs to get warm.”
Gus was already putting together the portable stretcher.
We strapped in the patient, and once again, I picked up my cargo.
I had taken off the torn poncho and put it over her body.
Her damp clothes were soaking through my shirt.
The rain was letting up some, but the temperature was dropping.
The wind was still cutting through the trees.
We made it halfway down the trail when the UTV met us. Bernie and I secured the woman on the back stretcher with her fiancé taking a seat. Leanne rode along to handle any medical issues.
“Shit, man,” Gus said and slapped me on the back. “You’re quite the fucking beast.”
“Just doing my part for mankind,” I said, laughing.
“I’m glad you were out here tonight,” he said. “I wouldn’t have been able to carry her. They’d still be waiting down there for the full rescue. I don’t have that kind of stamina. Good job. They owe you a huge thank you. I’m not sure I would have heard them.”
“You would have,” I said. “I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.”
“I think you have found your calling,” he said. “I suppose you already knew that, given your career.”
“I hope they learned a lesson,” I said.
“I think they did. I don’t know about you, but I’m freezing my ass off. I am ready for a drink.”
“Me too,” I agreed.
I felt better than I had since I signed myself out of the military. It felt good to be able to help someone out. By the time we made it to the trailhead, the ambulance was already on site. The medics were loading up the couple who were surrounded by worried family and friends.
“That’s him!” Abby pointed.
A tearful older woman rushed me. She nearly knocked me on my ass when she threw her arms around my neck. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! You saved my baby girl!”
“You’re welcome,” I said and looked to Gus for some help.
He just grinned like an idiot. An older man approached and extended his hand. “Thank you. They told us you carried her a little over a mile. We can never repay you.”
“I’m just glad I could help,” I said.
I didn’t do well with the hero thing. I’d been thanked before, but this felt like too much. Gus and I rejoined the rest of the team and went back to the headquarters building. Once again, everyone was patting me on the back. I really felt like what I did was pretty normal.