Page 73 of March 5

"Be careful." She held her arms out as if she could protect him by sheer willpower and divine intervention.

Dio rolled. His eyes remained shut, but a gasp of air escaped his mouth with the movement.

Brett met her gaze. "I don't know if I'm big enough to carry him."

Dio was six inches taller and probably fifty pounds heavier than Brett. It would be hard to walk through the sand while carrying someone bigger.

"I'll lift his legs and help you." She moved to his feet.

She struggled to get a hold of him. Her cold fingers refused to work. She fumbled and gritted her teeth. Finally, she got his legs tucked under her arms.

"Fuck." Brett raised his gaze to her. "He's shot in the shoulder and the side of the head. We'll be lucky if he doesn't bleed out."

"We have to get him to the hospital." Adrenaline kicked her in the butt, urging her forward. "Let's go."

Brett glanced at the ocean. She was aware of how close the water was coming to them. When they'd arrived, it was a good two hundred yards away. Now the water was fifty feet away from them, comingcloser with each surge.

The wind whipped her hair in her face, her eyes, her mouth. Sand coated her dry tongue. Heaviness surrounded her. The storm only made the ocean stronger.

"Let's hurry." Brett propped Dio up without any fight and hugged his chest from behind.

She held his legs but kept losing her hold when Brett moved. Crying out in frustration, she grabbed a fistful of denim and strained with all her might. All they'd achieved was moving him to the bottom of the dune before putting him down.

"Dio?" She scrambled up to his head. "Hey, babe. Can you hear me?"

There was no response. She raised her gaze to Brett and shook her head. "We have to do something. He can't help us get up there."

Brett gazed at the water. "Come up here beside me, and we'll pull him up by his arms."

"But his shoulder—"

"A shoulder is fixable. He'll die if we don't get out of here."

"On the count of three." Brett moved to the side so they could both take an arm. "One. Two. Three."

She strained, pulling with all her strength. But the two of them couldn't lift him up the slope. For every foot they gained in the right direction, the sand caused them to slide two feet down. He was too big.

Dio remained unconscious. Afraid they would take too long to find him, she screamed in frustration. Brett stretched out beside Dio and rolled with him until he got him on his back, piggyback style.

"See if you can keep him from rolling off me. I'll try and crawl up the slope with him. If we can get him over the dune, it'll be easier," yelled Brett.

"Okay." She held on to Dio's vest.

Brett struggled to crawl, the sand making it impossible to navigate. She wanted to lift Dio to lighten Brett's load, but there was no way she could take his weight.

"It's not gonna work." Brett stopped and rolled Dio off his back.

Skye lost her footing and slid down the dune backward on her stomach. When she stopped, her feet landed in the water. A new fear exploded in her.

"Brett. The water." She scrambled up the incline to him. "We have to try again."

"It's no use. We'll never make it." Brett grabbed her arm, pulling her up higher. "Go on. Run."

"Not without Dio." She stared at the upcoming wave. "I'll never leave him."

Water never scared her. She respected it. Having spent her childhood in the pool, she was a strong swimmer—a much stronger swimmer than she was a person. She'd competed in swimming since she was eight years old. She was also a lifeguard through high school; it was how she paid for college.

She looked at Brett. "Can you swim?"