Chapter 19 #2
I stumble down the slope toward our crossing point.
With Billy in my arms, I can’t see my feet, and if I can’t see my feet, I don’t know if I’m starting out on the trunk in the middle.
And how the hell am I supposed to climb up through the branches to the trunk, and then down the other side through the root structure, without using my arms?
When we get there, Piper shuffles out of her coat and wraps Lucky in it. She doesn’t need the leash this time. I don’t think the pup has the strength to follow us.
“I’ll go behind you as you climb up to the trunk,” Piper says, “and push on your back to keep your weight forward as you lift through your legs.”
She climbs behind me through the branches, keeping me upright, placing my feet when I can’t feel the next foothold, and guiding me with quiet instructions. My quads are burning by the time we reach the top, and I breathe heavily, trying to shake the acid from my muscles.
“You’re going to have to guide me across to the other side,” I say.
She nods and sets off along the narrow trunk.
I lurch forward, alarm tightening my throat. “Piper! Wait!”
“It’s better if you can see me,” she replies calmly.
I can’t argue with that, but my stomach is filled with dread that I’m about to watch her fall.
She smiles. “I’ll be careful. Slow and safe is better than fast and—” She tilts her head toward the drop beside us and I briefly close my eyes, the nightmare scenario already playing out in my mind.
When I open them again, she’s half way across, and now I can’t blink, can’t breathe.
“Brody?” a little voice pipes up.
“Hey, Billy. Almost forgot you were there. How’s it going?”
“Are we nearly there yet?”
“Sure are. Just the gorge to cross, and then we’re home free. Piper’s going first to keep you warm while I go back for Lucky.”
“Okay.”
My heart stutters as she reaches the other side safely and gives me a wave.
I step forward onto the snow-covered trunk. “How am I doing?” I call out.
“Great!” she yells back. “Dead center! Just keep your eyes on me, I’m right in the middle, too.”
I do, inching forward, drawn to Piper like she’s reeling me in on an invisible rope.
“That’s it,” she says. “Nearly there.”
Emotion rises in my throat at the thought that we’ve almost made it, but I shove it down. I’ve got to get Lucky.
Piper takes Billy and wraps him like a lumpy Christmas present. She holds his weight as she stands, leaning against the tree roots. She’s staying upright so I can still see her.
Each second feels like an hour as I force myself to go slowly and carefully back along the trunk, then through the branches, to the ground.
This time, Piper isn’t there to help me back up, but Lucky’s lighter, so I carry her under one arm, using the other to pull myself and hold on as my feet search for the next step.
“I’ve got Lucky!” I yell so Billy can hear me.
Piper passes the message along, then stands upright. I can tell by the straining tendons in her neck how difficult it is for her to do so.
Her voice is clear and steady as she calls out her instructions, then gives a whoop as I make it to her side.
“I’m going to take Lucky straight down now,” I tell her. “The distance to the ground isn’t as far on this side, so you could probably pass Billy to me.”
She nods. “Let’s give it a try.”
I scramble to the ground with Lucky, then lift my arms toward the trunk above me to reach for Billy wrapped inside my coat.
It’s too far.
“Billy! Can you make yourself into a tight little ball for me, bud?”
I can’t hear a reply, but Piper calls down, “He says yes!”
“Awesome. Now this is a bonus part of the adventure. You’re gonna keep your arms and legs tight together, and Piper’s gonna drop you into my arms, okay?”
Piper looks from Billy to me and nods.
“Tight as a ball, Billy! Piper’s gonna let you go in three … two … one … go!”
It’s only a couple of feet, but it seems like twenty until I catch him.
“Great job, Billy! Now let’s get you warmed up again, yeah?”
Piper climbs down and helps get him back in place, then ties the coat sleeves behind my back.
She then lifts Lucky and staggers forward, but immediately stumbles on a branch and nearly drops her.
“Give her to me,” I say. “Run on ahead and bring help this way.”
I shift Billy to one side, now holding him with only one hand, then Piper helps lift Lucky under my other arm.
“Go,” I tell her. “I’ve got them.”
She runs off through the trees, and I take a breath and follow.
“Right then, Billy,” I grunt. “We gotta get our story straight for when Down East News Now wants to interview you, okay?”
“Yes,” he replies faintly.
“C’mon now, bud, you’ve gotta be louder than that. Let me hear you say YEAH!”
“Yeah,” he replies, a little louder this time.
“That’s more like it. Okay, so you went on your epic trek to find the yeti, with your faithful pal Lucky. But your first obstacle was a ninety-foot-deep gorge with hungry alligators at the bottom. Your only route across? A branch that’s narrower than your own foot. You like the story so far?”
He nods. “And there was a bear.”
“That’s right. A massive one.”
Each step for me is agony. My lungs can’t keep up, and the icy air is like knives in my chest. My biceps are screaming at me, and my leg muscles are about to give out.
But I can’t stop. I won’t stop.
I stagger out from the tree line. Piper’s up ahead, running toward the community building and tents by the start and finish line of the race, where a large group of people is gathered. She’s shouting at them, both hands waving in the air.
Adrenaline courses through me, giving me the help I need to move faster.
“We’re nearly there, Billy,” I pant. “Stay awake for me, bud, and tell me the story you’re gonna tell for the rest of your life.”
“Once upon a time,” he begins, his voice still weak. “There was a very brave boy and his doggie, who went hunting a yeti.”
“That’s it. You’ve got it. Keep going. What happens next?”
He keeps talking as I stumble forward, people running to meet us.
Thank you, God. Thank you.
Things are happening in slow motion now, and I wonder if I’m about to faint. I see John, Erica, Billy’s mom, his grandpa. There’s a guy with a camera over his shoulder and a woman with a microphone.
In the distance behind them all, heading toward the finish line, is a solitary runner, Hudson. No one can see him but me.
He stops at the finish line, his arms spread as if to ask, “What the fuck?” Then he shouts, “Hey!”
No one notices. All eyes are on me as I lurch forward.
Then chaos descends.
John lifts Lucky from me, and Billy’s mom, Grandpa, and another man, who must be Billy’s dad, rush to check I’m actually carrying him.
His mom tries to take him from me, but his grandpa stops her. “Judy, he needs to stay wrapped up till we can get him in the back of the rig.”
She’s crying. “Billy, baby, you okay?”
“Brody found me, Mommy.”
“He did, baby, and we’re gonna get you warm now, okay?”
“And Piper,” Billy adds, “don’t forget her.”
“I won’t, honey.”
Walter brushes his own tears away and puts a hand on my back. “There’s an ambulance behind the building,” he says, steering me forward. “They’ve got warm IV fluids and heated blankets.”
I’m in the center of a crowd as we move toward the building and the parking lot behind it. I can’t feel my limbs anymore. It’s like everyone around me is carrying me forward.
I’m barely aware of a woman right in my face, and a guy with a camera pointing my way just behind her.
A microphone is shoved toward me. “Sonia Ramirez, Down East News Now. Brody, you saved a little boy’s life today, how does that feel?”
I don’t answer. All my energy is focused on getting Billy to the ambulance.
“Sonia!” John barks, “Not now!”
But she’s not giving up. “Was there a moment when you thought you wouldn’t make it out? Can you talk us through what happened?”
John puts his arm between her and me, holding Sonia and the camera guy back so I can keep moving forward.
The ambulance doors are open, and there’s a gurney with blankets ready for Billy. My strength almost completely gone, I step inside with his mom, grandpa, and the man I’m presuming is his dad.
The paramedics prep the IV, then help me transfer Billy to the heated blankets.
“Daddy!” Billy says. “A bear attacked Lucky, but I fought him off with a sword.”
His father’s eyes well up with tears. “I can’t wait to hear all about it.”
“Where’s Lucky now? She needs help more than me. She’s bleeding!”
“I’ll take her to the animal hospital,” his grandpa says.
A paramedic gets the IV line in. “Okay, we’re ready to go,” she says.
I move to the back door, but Billy reaches to stop me. “Will you come visit? We need to get our story straight before that lady interviews me. You know, about the bear and the crocodiles.”
I smile, even as my own eyes prickle. “If that’s okay with your folks, then sure, I will.”
Billy looks pleadingly at them. “Mommy? Daddy?”
“Of course, baby,” his mom says, then turns to me, tears streaming down her face. “Thank you, Mr King. We can’t thank you enough.”
Billy’s dad takes my hand between both of his. “Thank you,” he says gruffly, his expression strained like he’s barely holding it together. He doesn’t seem much older than me, and that’s another sucker punch. If I’d stayed in Hideaway and married Piper, we might now have a kid Billy’s age.
“I need you out now,” one of the paramedics says. “Mom, Dad, one of you needs to ride up front.”
“I’ll go,” Billy’s dad says, and follows me and Walter as I open the back door.
Sonia and her cameraman are pushing through to the front of the crowd. I’m suddenly aware that I’ve got my coat in my hand and I’m topless.
“How did you find Billy when so many others couldn’t?” Sonia yells.
I look past her, scanning for Piper, and my gaze lands on Ethan. I’m too exhausted to read his expression, and my legs are too weak to support me anymore.
I fall forward, only barely aware of John and Hudson holding me up.
My hands and arms are shaking. I can’t control them. The cold is cutting down to my bones, and my teeth chatter so hard I can’t speak.
Everything’s spinning around me like I’m on a rollercoaster. Faces blur, and voices are fading.
Piper is screaming at people to get back. I think I hear Marv, too, but I’m falling.
My arms are shoved in my coat, and the zipper’s pulled up. Then my feet leave the floor, and I’m moving.
I try to talk, but it’s just a mumble.
“Don’t say anything. We’re taking you home.”
Was that Ethan?
I’m aware of the back of a car.
“Piper!” I manage. “I need—”
“Shh,” she says. “I’m right here.”
She’s here. Billy and Lucky are safe. Everything’s going to be all right.
Then my thoughts disappear into blackness.