Page 113 of One Last Shot
They finally reached the snow machine, and he hooked up the sled, climbed on. “Okay, we’re on the cross-country ski trail. It goes over a bridge not far from here and rounds back to the lodge. I’ll have you back soon.”
He eased out, and the path seemed less bumpy, the motor’s engine and the crisp edge of night urging her to sleep.
She was sitting around the campfire, the night of the vote. Watching Blake meet Misty’s eyes and smile, hearing her name called as the castoff.
She saw herself look at Blake, saw the way he looked away from her.
Felt again the punch in her gut, the horror of the betrayal, the rawness that ripped through her entire body.
The sound of the motor opening up caused her to jostle awake. The air briefly fogged with the stench of gasoline, and snow flew up around her in a sheet. Oaken was driving through powder, probably a field. Some of the snow landed on her face, and she licked it off, her throat desperately parched.
Or maybe it was simply the memory of seeing Blake talking with Misty, nodding, as if they’d planned the entire thing.
Hazy lights cast down over her, and she recognized the parking lot of the resort. Oaken drove around the massivelodge—she spotted the windows, lit up like eyes—and along the pathways all the way to the end.
Then, voices.
Shouting. Mostly Oaken, but then Moose, and suddenly Axel and London were there, unstrapping her.
“We got you,” London said.
Oaken appeared at her head, holding on to the top of her sleeping bag. Axel took the other end, and they carried her inside a building.
The EMS station. Level five, which meant that they didn’t have X-ray machines. Still, they could administer pain relief, the center staffed with a physician and nurse. The warmth of the unit hit her like a bath, and every muscle in her body released.
They moved her to a bed, and a female physician stepped up. “Hello. I’m Dr. Huntley, orthopedics and trauma. Sounds like you had a fall. Can I take a look?”
She unzipped the sleeping bag, but Boo’s attention was on Moose, pulling Oaken away into the hallway. He cast his voice low, but his expression sent a sliver into her heart.
What—
And then the doc took off her bandage, and all her attention went to the pain streaming through her. She gasped, lay back, gripped the sides of the bed, breathed.Oh. Wow.
“Yeah, this is pretty swollen. Let’s get some pain meds going here so we can transfer her.” Dr. Huntley turned to her. “The nurse will start your intake, but before I order anything, do you have any allergies?”
“No.” Her voice emerged stripped and tight.
A nurse put another ice pack on her knee, and the cold sank in, took the edge off. Boo closed her eyes.
In a moment, Oaken returned. “How are you doing?”
She opened her eyes. “Moose looked mad.”
He made a face. “Yeah.” He leaned down and kissed her forehead. “All that matters is that you’re going to be okay.”
A male nurse came in with an IV kit, and Oaken stepped back while he found a vein, then inserted the IV. He attached an IV bag. “That’s just fluids, but you’re in luck. The doctor ordered you a little pain cocktail.” He picked up a needle, then inserted it into a port in the IV. “You should be feeling better in a bit.”
“Thanks.”
“Anything for our heroes.” He patted her shoulder.
The drugs filled her veins, burning a little, but they further loosened the edge off her knee. She turned to Oaken. “How’s Hannah?”
“I think they took her to the hospital in Copper Mountain.”
“Good.” Her voice already sounded slushy. She took a breath. “You okay?”
“I am now.”