Chapter 8 #2
He glances at me but then he’s right back to looking around for an escape.
I keep talking in an attempt to soothe him and get him to focus, but even when I put my hands on his face, his eyes roam.
“Silas, I’m an emergency responder, a rescuer. I’m here to help you. Your friends are waiting for you. Listen to me and I’ll get you back to them,” I say.
“Right, I have to get you out of here,” he replies like he only heard half of what I said.
My next words are cut off, and I squeak as he stands up abruptly, pulling me with him.
Silas wades through the debris, dragging me behind him, away from the hole and deeper into the darkness.
I use all the verbal techniques I know to help an agitated patient. He doesn’t listen except, still talking about saving me and telling me to follow him. I can’t get him to acknowledge that he’s injured or that I’m the one who’s here to help him.
The next step is to physically subdue an unstable patient, but Silas shot up so quickly, I left my medicine case behind with the calming sprays.
We stumble out of the wood shavings, and I dig my feet into the dirt to slow him down, pulling on the hand he has wrapped around my wrist. Except I can’t get any purchase, so I just stagger after him.
It’s not like I can win a tug of war with an alpha anyway, but if I could just get him to stop and think for a second, I can reason with him.
I barely notice my teammates’ voices coming through the radio. The receiver is set to on, so they’re hearing our scuffle.
Silas is moving too fast for me to catch up, and I can’t see much past him. He’s obviously not thinking clearly enough to realize he can’t see well either, his large form blocking most of my flashlight.
My light is bouncing around wildly, but I think I make out a tunnel up ahead. If this is some kind of cave network, I need to do something before Silas drags us out.
I have to stop him before we end up falling into another hole or getting hopelessly lost.
I’m still talking, but I’m not even sure what I’m saying at this point. Silas isn’t listening anyway.
I don’t want to hurt him, but I might have to, at least a little. The shock of it could get through to him, and it’s better than risking further injury or death.
I hesitate.
Silas stumbles, and my light flashes over rocks and twisted metal.
I lunge forward and grab his wrist.
I have no plan, I don’t know what I’m doing. I just know I don’t want to hurt him, so I channel everything, everything I’m thinking, everything I’m feeling, into my voice. I have to make him listen.
“Silas.”
He stops.
The light is wedged between us, leaving us mostly in the dark, but I hear his heavy breathing.
“I’m here to help you. I’m a rescuer, and your friends asked me to get you. You fell down a hole, and I’ve given you what medical attention I can. We need to return to the shaft so my team can pull us out. Please follow my instructions so both of us get out of here safely,” I say.
There’s some kind of connection flickering between us. I feel what he feels, the aches in his body, the stress and fear, his innate instinct to protect others first.
He doesn’t say anything, but I can tell he’s listening.
“Take a deep breath, inhale.” I count to three before telling him to exhale.
Everything releases when he lets out his breath, and whatever hold I had over him dissipates. But he’s calmer now, his raspberry scent sweetening, though still bruised.
Silas finally really looks at me.
“I…fell down a hole?” he says, touching the collar around his neck.
“Yes, and you don’t seem to be seriously injured. You were unconscious, so I gave you a healing vial and put a brace on until we can get you checked out at a hospital. Try not to push yourself until then. How do you feel? Is there anywhere specific that hurts?” I say.
He looks at his hands like he’s checking that all his fingers are there and flexes his arms and legs.
“Everything hurts, but it just feels like bruising. How far was the fall?” Silas asks, looking past me into the dark.
“I’m not sure exactly, but close to a hundred feet,” I say.
He’s rubbing the back of his head and pauses when he hears that.
“A hundred? Really? And I’m all in one piece?” he says, looking down at himself again.
I shine my light at the mound of debris behind us. “That softened your fall. Being an alpha probably helped.”
He laughs. “Yeah, probably. I’m pretty hardheaded. I’m sorry about dragging you around, my alpha was confused and going wild about being in pain. I think that’s why I latched onto trying to ‘save you.’”
He squints at me but dismisses whatever else he was going to say.
He shouldn’t be able to tell I’m an omega with all my suppressants and descenters. Alphas are driven to protect others regardless, beta or omega.
“It’s okay, confusion is a common response. Let’s take it slow and get you out of here. I have a harness I’ll help you into, and my team will pull us out,” I say.
The radio is quiet now that I have the situation under control. Still, I repeat that we’re gearing up, and Orion says they’re ready when we are.
Silas is docile as I get the harness on him, and we wade back to the rope.
“Let me know if it’s too painful once they start lifting. I’ll keep us steady, but be aware that the shaft is narrow, so try to keep your limbs tucked in,” I say.
He agrees, and I tell them we’re ready.
There’s only a pinprick of light above to indicate a way out.
They slowly bring us up, and I watch Silas for any sign of pain. His face tightens briefly, but he doesn’t say anything.
“Is something hurting? Anything feel out of place?” I ask.
“I’m fine, just sore. I’ve broken my arm before, and don’t feel anything like that now. I can handle it,” he says.
The medicine I gave him has some pain-relieving properties, but not enough to completely take it away. That lets us know if we’re making any injuries worse.
The journey back up seems slower than my descent, but eventually we reach the surface.
The sun is blinding after being in the dark for so long, made worse by it reflecting off the snow.
Orion takes over once we’re out, checking Silas’s injuries while Henri gets his harness off.
“Are you alright?” Magnus asks as I unhook myself.
“I’m fine,” I say, smiling up at him.
One of the men breaks free from where Charm has them corralled and rushes over. It’s the one who was crying too much to talk earlier. Orion catches him before he launches into Silas, holding the man back from bowling him over.
“I’m okay, Zane,” Silas says, trying to comfort him.
“He needs to be checked out by a doctor still, but we’ve treated his minor injuries,” Orion assures him.
Zane nods through his happy sobs.
We split up, Orion and Henri taking Silas to the hospital in Starsfalls. Zane rides with them, and their friends resume the hike down the mountain. We offered to drive them down, but they declined.
The rest of our team stays to deal with The Hole.
Charm calls the local rangers who deal with land management. In the meantime, we mark it with orange flagging tape until there’s a more permanent solution.
We wait for them to arrive, unwilling to leave the hole unattended in case someone else happens by.
I can’t help rethinking the decisions I made while we pack up our equipment.
Orion didn’t say anything about how I ignored his orders, but he probably didn’t want to yell at me in front of our patient. I’m sure I’ll hear about it when we’re back at the station.
I know I shouldn’t have ignored my team leader, but he wasn’t there, he didn’t have all the information.
Charm leans against the truck next to me. “Are you okay? Any injuries of your own that need attention?”
“I’m fine. It was an easy climb,” I say.
“Magnus said you had some trouble after Silas woke up. That he was combative,” he says casually.
“Silas was confused,” I say.
A gust of wind makes the snow swirl around us, tickling my exposed skin. I tug my hat further down.
I’m so tired suddenly. It didn’t take long to rescue Silas, it’s just after noon, but it feels like I went through a full day of classes and training.
The adrenaline must be wearing off.
I don’t want to admit that though. I should be able to deal with one little rescue without collapsing.
“I was able to calm him down though,” I say.
Charm smiles, but his eyes are searching. “Well. Great first day then, and a successful rescue. I was worried with how deep that hole was.”
I nod mutely.
When the park rangers arrive, we tell them about what I found. They’ll deal with sealing it off and looking into why it’s there in the first place.
Like Charm said, it was a successful first day, with a happy ending for my first call.