Page 36 of Burnin' For You

“Shh, I got ya,” Reuben said to Kate. “Your buckle is caught on your jumpsuit.” He was shaking too, deep inside, maybe from relief, but he caught her in one arm, held her up, and with the other hand, released the buckle.

She fell into his embrace with a gasp.

“How badly are you hurt?”

She rolled over to her knees, shook her head. She’d been wearing her helmet, good girl, and now worked it off. “I’m fine.”

But next to her, Jed hung, his arms dangling, blood running down one arm, pooling.

“Jed—”

“Let’s get him down,” Reuben said, his voice steady.

Outside, he could hear wailing—maybe some wildlife creature. He braced Jed in his arms as Kate unbuckled him, and Jed fell into the cradle of Reuben’s embrace. Kate grabbed Jed’s legs and she and Reuben maneuvered him out of the body of the plane.

Reuben was about to set Jed on the ground when Kate stopped him. “He’s got a piece of metal sticking out right below his ribs. It might have hit a kidney. Lay him on his side.”

He set Jed down while Kate surveyed the damage—took his pulse, checked his breathing. Jed wasn’t moving, his pallor dusky, and the sight of him shook Reuben.

Jed, the one who knew how to stay alive—and keep them alive.

Kate took a deep breath, started to probe around the wounds. “It went deep and sharp for it to saturate his jumpsuit.”

“We should take off the suit,” he said.

“No. He’ll go into shock if we don’t keep him warm. We’ll try and stop the bleeding. Do you have a knife?”

Reuben reached into his pant leg, found his camp knife there, and handed it to Kate. “I’ll check the others.”

She nodded as she began to attack the layers of padding, running her arm over her eyes, taking another deep breath.

If anyone knew how to stay calm in disaster, it was Kate.

He got up, searching for Gilly, Hannah, CJ, and Cliff.

He spotted Hannah sitting at the edge of the forest, her knees drawn up, staring at him. She appeared white, shaken, her lip fattened. “Hannah?”

She didn’t move, and he was about to go to her when—“Rube, I need you!”

He found the voice—Gilly—and she was leaning over CJ. He lay with his arm under him, his legs at odd angles, unconscious. Reuben knelt beside CJ, took his pulse.

Alive. And his breathing seemed okay—but what did he know?

“His arm looks broken, his shoulder might be dislocated. And I wouldn’t be surprised if he has a hip fracture along with broken legs. But I’m most worried about his neck—” She pointed to a hematoma on his forehead. “I don’t know how hard he hit, and I’m afraid to move him.”

Gilly looked over at him, and he startled at the expression on her face. She, too, had hit something because she sported her own hematoma. But the set of her jaw, the darkness in her eyes…

She was angry.

“Maybe we can find a piece of airplane to stabilize him—”

“We need help,” she said, rising. Only then did he see her sway, just a little. “I’m going to check on the radio.”

He didn’t want to tell her that the entire avionics board looked destroyed.

Instead, he stood up, watching her take a step, one eye closing in a wince. “Are you okay?” He reached out his hand to steady her.

Gilly pushed it away. “I’m fine. Find Cliff.”