Chapter 16 #2
Knowing Angel was with them explained her absence, but not Keys’ or Jigsaw’s.
Grumpy still wondered where the ol’ ladies and kids were.
He didn’t know what day it was, but he highly doubted the club was able to corral all those kids to rush down to Texas.
Or were they in Oklahoma? Grumpy couldn’t remember if they’d made it to the border before the tornado had touched down.
How long had the tornado chased them before it changed direction?
If Grumpy’s jaw muscles would work as desired, Grumpy would have frowned.
Ghost had said Angel was with Maddie and Kelly.
Why wasn’t Jackson with them? The prospect had gone above and beyond what anyone, including Ghost, could have expected of him.
He hadn’t hesitated, risking his own life to get Maddie to that culvert, when other men would have run to save themselves.
On that action alone, Grumpy planned to speak to Ghost about patching Jackson in early.
Like Lionheart, Jackson had earned his cut on merit alone.
But why would he drop his duties now? Grumpy didn’t remember much once he’d gotten to the culvert, but he recalled seeing Jackson carry Maddie inside after Kelly.
It took far too much energy than it should have to be able to lift his left hand and curl his fingers into a fist except for his pinkie. It was shaky, but Grumpy was able to sign the letter ‘J’ by merely twisting his wrist. When Ghost frowned, not seeming to understand, Grumpy repeated the action.
“J?” Ghost questioned him.
Grumpy barely was able to dip his chin in a nod.
“Jumper?” Ghost asked, pointing to the club’s secretary.
Grumpy let out a frustrated noise, and closed his fingers in the sign for “no”.
Ghost’s lips turned down in a confused frown.
“Jigsaw? He’s with Keys. For the past week, Keys has had this bug up his butt about something.
” Ghost rolled his eyes, though his affection for the club’s youngest member was plain.
“He needed Jigsaw’s help with it. They actually left Mount Grove two days after you did.
They said they have one thing to finish up, and then they’ll come down here. ”
As nice as it was to get an answer on his two missing club members, that had not been what Grumpy was asking about. Again, he brought his shaking hand up to re-sign the question.
“J?” Ghost repeated, confused. “J?” he said again, like he was testing out the sound of the letter.
Slowly, shaking his head, Ghost told Grumpy, “We don’t have anyone else by the letter ‘J’.
Not even prospects.” Thankfully, Ghost did not pause long enough for Grumpy’s confusion to really settle.
“We do have a new club brother, but his road name doesn’t start with ‘J’. ”
At a hand motion from Ghost, the others separated, revealing the other bed in the room.
Ghost finally put his feet down, shifting back to give Grumpy a clear view of Jackson.
The young man was unconscious or sleeping, and looked like…
Well, it looked like he’d battled a tornado and won.
His left side, the side closest to Grumpy, was entirely black and blue.
A gauze pad was taped over his neck. Grumpy couldn’t tell what other injuries he had beneath his hospital gown and bedsheets, but what did catch his notice was the black leather cut laid over Jackson’s covers.
This wasn’t his prospect cut with a single rocker on the back, but a cut with full colors.
The skull and crossing rifles of the club’s symbol was partly encircled by two rockers, the top Via Daemonia and the bottom Mount Grove, PA.
It couldn’t be Jackson’s cut. Demo was good, but he wasn’t that good.
More than likely, it was one of the brothers’ cuts, maybe even Grumpy’s if they’d decided to bring his new one with them.
Either way, it was the sentiment that counted, and Jackson would be getting his real cut as soon as Demo was able to get it ordered.
“Gimpy, we’d like you to meet Splinters,” Ghost announced.
Grumpy ignored the irritation he felt at the new road name Ghost called him.
He wasn’t some newly patched prospect as Pumpkin had been when the club had changed his road name.
There was no way in fuck that Grumpy was allowing his new road name to be ‘Gimpy’.
But Jackson’s road name was interesting.
Splinters hinted at a story that Grumpy clearly did not know yet.
Thankfully Ghost continued explaining without requiring energy on Grumpy’s part to inquire. “I don’t know what you recall,” Ghost told him, “but from what we’ve managed to piece together. Splinters was sucked out of the culvert by the tornado.”
Grumpy’s first instinct was to protest that claim. Jackson had made it inside. He remembered seeing him enter. Grumpy had been the last one. How could Jackson—Splinters—have gotten sucked out if he was between Grumpy and the women inside that small pipe?
“I don’t know what that expression means,” Ghost went on.
“From what Kelly and Maddie say, when the storm cleared and they were able to start making their way out, you were there, but Splinters wasn’t.
They didn’t see him be sucked out, only noting his absence at the end.
They said it looked like you were using your body to plug the end of the pipe.
Which is why your back is cut to hell, by the way.
Kelly means to kick your ass for your ‘stupid heroics’,” he added with finger quotes.
“Maddie and Kelly were able to get you out of the ditch, but they couldn’t find Splinters.
Knowing the odds of someone carried off by a tornado, they thought him dead.
“Turns out,” Ghost waved to the other bed where the club’s newest member rested, “he wasn’t.
He was carried off into the woods, where he landed in a tree and was impaled by a branch through his right shoulder.
We don’t know yet if he was awake or lost consciousness, or if he was taken all the way to the ground or stuck in that tree for a while.
All we know is that roughly six hours after you, Kelly, and Maddie made it to the hospital, Splinters comes stumbling in with a fucking branch sticking out of his back, caked in mud and filth.
The hospital can’t find a record of him being brought by ambulance, and based on the security tapes, we suspect that Splinters somehow got himself from those woods to the hospital on foot.
From the declaration he made to Maddie and Kelly when he stumbled half dead into Maddie’s hospital room that he’d finally found them, we’re assuming adrenaline, shock, and sheer determination drove him to it.
He’s got multiple lacerations and rib fractures, broken right collarbone, concussion, hypothermia, and blood loss, in addition to the fucking branch that had been sticking out of his shoulder.
The surgeon pulled forty-two splinters out of him. ”
“It was a toss-up between ‘Splinters’ and ‘Twister’,” Lucky added. “But we didn’t want anyone thinking he was just really awesome at a children’s flexibility game.”
Grumpy stared at his club, not entirely confident he wasn’t dreaming.
“Is he awake?” came from behind him.
His club brothers shifted out of the way as Kelly rounded the foot of Grumpy’s bed. She wore a pair of loose fitting light blue scrubs, her left arm in a navy sling. Ghost quickly got up, offering Kelly his chair.
Their hands reached for each other, Kelly falling forward to bring herself as close to Grumpy as she likely dared without putting any weight on him. It wasn’t close enough, but Grumpy didn’t have the strength to pull her any closer.
They clung to each other, Kelly shaking as she cried and Grumpy breathing in her floral scent.
Several times Grumpy tried to tell her how much he loved her, how grateful and happy he was that she was alive, but the words wouldn’t form, his mouth too useless to offer him the ability to speak.
It was sometime later before either of them moved, and Kelly realized Grumpy hadn’t been seen by a doctor yet.
The club had vacated the room, offering them privacy.
Grumpy didn’t allow Kelly to let go of his hand when the doctor finally came in. He didn’t give a damn if it interfered with the doctor’s needs. He might not be able to move his body, speak, or even blink without being in severe pain—but he wasn’t letting go. He had strength enough for that.
* * *
It was the next day before Maddie and Grumpy were able to be reunited.
They’d tried the night before, but after a physical therapy session for his jaw, Grumpy had fallen back to sleep by the time they brought Maddie down from the labor and delivery ward.
At least Maddie was able to sit with him and Jackso—Splinters for a while.
Due to the branch’s proximity to his spine, they were keeping Splinters sedated for twenty-four to forty-eight hours.
Like when Grumpy had first been hurt in the explosion, Ghost had named Kelly his proxy in Splinters’ case until Ghost was able to arrive with the rest of the club.
Kelly was extremely grateful she didn’t have to make any life or death decisions regarding Splinters’ injuries.
She was just grateful. Period.
They’d faced down a tornado. They might be worse for wear—some worse than others—but they were alive.
The SUV, Grumpy and Kelly’s luggage, Maddie’s things, Splinters’ bike and his belongings, all might have been destroyed.
But they were things. They were replaceable.
If Maddie, the twins, Splinters, Grumpy, or Kelly had been killed, they would not be, and Kelly couldn’t be more grateful.