Dad's EMT Best Friend Read online

  That’s what Mark and I are trained for.

  Not boxing over his daughter in a hurricane, or whatever the hell they call this weather cell.

  Global warming? Who knows. Whatever it is, it’s nasty and there's lots of it. I need to get back to the house and fast.

  I stop for a second, convinced I can hear somebody calling for help. But with this much wind, the rain on the plastic of my hood and the hundred other things on my mind, I have to tell myself I’m hearing things.

  Checking my watch, I give myself a grim kudos. I’ve come a long way in such terrible weather. That is, after I tell myself I know where I am and that the lake house should be right about…

  There it is! Thank fuck for that.

  I’m never rushing out into bad weather unprepared again. Remember that Kit! Never again!

  I can see my truck in front of Marks, and I start to feel colder and wetter by the second, realizing I’m shaking all over with cold, probably damn near hypothermic. The rain’s freezing but that wind, it’s making everything feel like sub-zero temperatures.

  I’m under the porch, taking off the soggy mess I call clothes, when the door swings open, it’s Mark. He shields his face from the weather, then grabs me by the arm, which I’m about to snatch back, maybe to return his free nose job favor, when I catch the look in his eyes.

  “Tell me she’s with you… for fuck’s sake man, tell me you got her…”

  I feel my heart drop right out the bottom of my stomach.

  “What!” is the best I can manage.

  If Bree’s out in this… if anything happens to her.

  No now’s not the time to assign blame. Now’s the time to get prepared.

  I push Mark back inside, stripping myself as I dash for the bathroom, I need a hot shower and some hydration first, for which I give myself one minute.

  “Get my gear ready, Mark. I’ll be ready in one minute.” He stands staring at me, like I’m crazy.

  “We’re not going out in this, Kit. I’m calling in sky-rescue, thermal will pick her up.”

  “And how long until they can safely get airborne? In this… tomorrow, maybe the next day? No! I’m going out after her, she can’t have gone far.”

  Mark follows me to the bathroom and I stare daggers at him, “Why aren’t you at the door Mark, getting our gear ready?” I snap at him.

  “Think Kit, just think for a moment… I won’t have us both rushing off out in this weather. One person missing is bad enough, three bodies is the last thing we need.”

  I shake my head, horrified at what I’m hearing.

  “Is it because we slept together? Are you disowning your own daughter now?” I shout, torn between wanting to flatten Mark and getting my core temperature back up before I gear up and head back out.

  Mark shouts over me, the shower and the storm.

  “It’s my training, Kit. It’s called common sense. Yes, Bree’s out there in this! But two of us racing out there with no idea where she is… it’s just stupid. We wait for back up, that’s an order!”

  I count down from thirty in my head, cursing as I realize it’s taking longer for me to warm up. It’s close enough.

  I hurriedly dry off, still shaking with anger at how much of a jackass Mark’s being, it’s his own daughter for Christ’s sake!

  I push past him, for the last time in my mind. I’m getting my gear on when I feel his hand on my shoulder.

  “Stand down, Kit. I’m not letting you go out there alone.”

  “Then wait by a radio,” I growl at him. He tries his hand one more time, but this time I have him by the throat, pinning him to the wall.

  “You wanna punch me in the nose, fine! You wanna sit here while she freezes to death out there? Do it next to a fucking radio. I’ll let you know when I’ve found her… then you can call for help, if she needs it.”

  I let him go and he flops over like a rag doll, “I don’t need your permission, Mark. Bree’s mine now, she belongs to me. I’m going to get her off that hillside and that’s all there is to it. Stay here if you want, but please! Keep a fucking radio live, will ya!”

  I get suited up, check my radio and take a freshly stocked medic bag. My uniform weatherproofs are made for this, and my boots the same. There’s a thermal imaging scanner in another smaller bag, which I take with me, slinging it over my shoulder. It’s good for short range, but better than nothing.

  I’m halfway out the door when Mark’s hand is on me again. He seems to have regained some of his composure.

  “Kit! I’m coming with you.”

  “Too late for that, Mark. Just stay here, keep that radio on. I’ve got GPS live, you can see me from anywhere, alright?”

  Mark nods and sheepishly goes to close the door.

  “Kit?” he asks before I go, and I turn, sighing.

  “I’m sorry,” he says, but it’s me who’s sorry. Sorry I left without Bree under my arm. Sorry I never hit back, sorry I walked away, even for a few minutes. But it’s too late for sorry now.

  It’s time to get her back.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Kit

  Something about having my full gear, my proper uniform on. Apart from keeping me warmer and a hell of a lot drier, it makes me focus, and I slip into my training better than running around the hillside in my pajamas.

  I test the radio, Mark’s there and listening. Knowing him, he’ll be raising hell getting rescue out here, which he should too. But I can’t just sit inside and wait, my Bree’s out in this and I’m gonna find her, or die trying.

  I follow the only way she could’ve gone up, the same way I went before, but once I get to that first fork, I just know she’s made the wrong turn. Otherwise I would’ve been closer to her when I was out last, I’m sure of that much.

  I radio in my position, telling Mark where I’m headed.

  “I think she’s headed to the old mines by mistake. Once there she could have some shelter, so fingers crossed. Out.”

  I don’t want to chat with Mark about what-if’s and whatever he thinks, I’m in charge now. In charge of finding Bree and for every day of our lives together after that.

  There’s a grand total of less than a few square miles she could be. Doesn’t sound much, and it isn’t. If the weather was fine, if there wasn’t danger of landslides and hypothermia, I’d be concerned, but not this worried.

  We’ve rescued folks from the end of their driveways in some blizzards, once disoriented, and if ill-prepared, like I was a few minutes ago, going out dressed for a jog, it can prove fatal fast.

  I hope Bree’s somewhere out of the wind, at least.

  This damned wind.

  I stop again, sure I hear something this time. It’s definitely a voice, isn’t it?

  I can’t be a hundred percent certain, but I’m heading in that direction anyway. With two trails visible and only one leading away from the lake, away from the torrent of run off… she has to be up there.

  She just has to be.

  My heart freezes when I see the white fabric. Right on the collapsed lumber that was on my list of things to fix while we’re up here. It’s tied on, and it wasn’t there yesterday, plus I can see it’s the same pattern Bree had on her blouse. Snatching it up to my face, there’s no mistaking her scent even with the rain, and it sets my heart quaking again, determined more than ever to find her and soon.

  There’s slicks of mud running down the hillside, carrying larger boulders with them by the second.

  All the signs of an imminent slide are here, I just hope I can get to her in time, before the whole mine collapses.

  Hold on Bree, I’m coming.

  I try and keep calm, trying to think where a girl who already knows she’s lost might go. Getting this side of the hill means she’s come too far.

  She’d need shelter, she’d know to sit tight.

  I hope.

  The only place visible and that I could reason would be suitable is the entrance to the old mines, the only opening that hasn’t fully coll
apsed over the years anyway.

  It’s far from ideal, but it would get her out of this wind.

  I call out, having my voice thrown straight back at me. I’d rather not risk going into the mine myself unless I know she’s in there for sure. There’s too many collapsed tunnels underneath and the way this whole hillside’s looking.

  I reach for the bag on my shoulder, firing up the thermal imaging scanner. It’s good for a range of about a hundred feet.

  C’mon… C’mon…

  Starting behind me first, I scan slowly through the rain, wind and the woods. There’s a few hot spots, but too small to be human, most likely wildlife.

  Once I get around to the mine’s opening, I gasp, nearly dropping the damned thing as I curse myself for not scanning that way to begin with.

  She’s in there, down there… Her temp’s showing and it’s not great, but she’s alive.

  Treading carefully, I make my way in. I can see two recent collapses, both in the same tunnel she’s trapped in underneath. Lighting up the opening with blue lights and my head lamp, I look for a way down to her, none of them looking very good.

  “Kit!”

  The sound of her voice makes me gasp again, my heart pounding in my chest as I feel so helpless, no superman able to just leap down fifteen feet to scoop her up.

  “Stay still, Bree! If you can hear me, just stay still. Don’t move an inch, I’m coming for you.”

  The whole ground beneath me shifts, and I hear the creaking of ancient timber combined with the sickening groan of thousands of tons of earth and stone somewhere. Bree screams and I leap forward, just in time to grab a falling beam. Hanging onto the end of it, my weight eases it down to the collapsed tunnel below.

  It’s not easy, but I manage to move it between two boulders, holding it in place.

  It should hold long enough to get us both out… I hope.

  I can see Bree, she’s being a good girl and doing as she’s told, totally still but terrified. I know how she’s feeling.

  My god, but she’s beautiful.

  I motion with my hand for her to stay still. I try the radio, hailing for Mark, but there’s only static.

  “Tell me you’re okay, Bree. Tell me you’re not hurt.” I say aloud, breathing easier when I hear her voice.

  “I… I think I’m okay… I landed on something that gave out under me, breaking my fall.” She suddenly cries out in agony, and I know she is hurt.

  “My ankle, ahh! Kit! My ankle!” Hearing her in pain makes me sick, it makes me mad. I growl in rage as I clamp my jaw tighter, more determined than ever to get to her, to get her out.

  The sound of rushing water is my cue to hurry the fuck up, the trickle under my feet fast becomes the beginnings of a torrent. Bree’s a little higher up, but we don’t have time to hang around, this whole place is gonna flood any second.

  Bree sits up, tries to anyway. Her screams of pain frighten her back to staying still. I leap over what looks like the softest patch of ground before me, a lot of the water running down unseen hollows, another collapse in the making.

  I want to scoop Bree up in my arms when I reach her, to hug her and kiss her, to tell her everything’s alright. But I also need to assess her injuries and I know better than anyone that we’re far from alright where we are.

  “Can you wiggle your toes, Bree? Can you feel this?”

  It looks like a busted ankle, nasty break too, but apart from that, she’s fine.

  I can’t help it, and I press my mouth over hers, feeling how cold she is. I make a tortured sound underneath my own breath, furious I haven’t been here to protect her, mad as hell at Mark for letting her run off like this.

  But it won’t do to complain, her teeth are chattering and she’s shivering. I rush to get supplies from my medical bag.

  I stabilize her leg and ankle with inflatable splints and wrap her in all the space blankets I have. There’s a neck brace too, which I put back on her, making her complain about how she’ll look.

  “You look beautiful honey,” I reassure her, careful of the timing and the rising water.

  “This is gonna hurt like hell, Bree, but I have to carry you out of here, there’s no time to get a stretcher down here, alright?”

  She nods, but as soon as I put my arms under her, she cries out again, it’s agony for her to move, the little pain relief we carry is only enough to take the edge off such an injury. She’ll have to wait for the chopper before any real pain relief.

  “I’m sorry baby.” I hear the emotion in my voice, which seems to act as some sort of pain relief for her. I can feel her hand on my cheek as I lift her up, like she weighs nothing.

  “I’m sorry, Kit. I only went to look for you… is dad okay?”

  Always thinking of others, that’s my Bree.

  The mere mention of her dad makes me tense up, but I need him now, I need him to get that chopper down to the lake house straight away.

  “He’s fine,” is all I can tell her.

  “Your nose.” She observes, noticing my own break.

  “Your dad,” I say.

  There’s another crash of rocks and timber from behind us, further up the tunnel, the sound of water is deafening.

  I hear myself trying to calm Bree, as well as telling her to hang on. Her screams are drowned out by the wall of water as it crashes through the tunnel.

  I feel my feet on the beam, my girl in my arms, I’m looking ahead to where I need to get to, driven forward knowing that her eyes are looking up at me.

  The beam vanishes under my feet, and with a final leap, we’re back where I started from and I sprint out of the opening of the mine’s tunnel. Back out into the storm.

  Bree hangs limp in my arms, her eyes closed now as she lays still, only unconscious I tell myself.

  I have to tell myself that, otherwise I’ll never make it back.

  The distant sound of a chopper giving me fresh hope, I whisper to Bree to hang on as I slip and slide my way back down the hill with her in my arms.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Bree

  The rain on my face wakes me up, I guess I fainted. My leg is killing me, and my throat’s sore, but seeing Kit’s face, all bloodied, wet and full of determination as he carries me all the way back down to the lake house, it’s totally worth it.

  He’s a real man, and now that I know what he and dad do when they go to work, I have nothing but love and respect for them both, but Kit… he’s making me want to get myself in trouble every day of the week so he’ll have to come rescue me all over again.

  I know it’s wrong, but I’m already planning all the special ways I want to thank him, once we get home. Real home, not the flooded, why did we come when it was raining lake house home.

  I can hear a chopper somewhere, over the sound of the wind and rain, which has died down some.

  My dad’s voice is next, I can hear him shouting as soon as we’re insight of the lake house.

  His face peers over my blankets, tears in the rain on his face as he touches mine with his hands, holding me in both his hands for a second as he tries to speak.

  “I’m sorry… so sorry baby girl…”

  I can feel Kit pushing past him, and watch as the lake house door opens and before too long, I’m laid out on the couch, with Kit taking charge of me one hundred percent.

  He’s barking orders at my dad, but seems to have the situation well in hand. I can feel the pain in my ankle, my whole leg, but the huge warm feeling I have in my chest more than makes up for everything.

  “The chopper’s reported a sighting… on the trail,” my dad says to Kit, who raises a brow.

  “I was just up there,” he growls absently.

  “No, a female… in high heels,” my dad says, and Kit laughs out loud.

  “I think I might have an idea who that is,” he says, shaking his head. “She’ll need help too Mark, I got things here. Why don’t you hitch a ride with the chopper, go help out our neighbor?”

  I can see my dad’s
not wanting to leave my side, not for one minute, but a stern look from Kit changes that, “I’m serious Mark, there might be other hikers on that hill too, shouldn’t you be…”

  He’s right, and dad knows it. In a second dad has his work face back on and squeezing my hand gently. He readies himself to head back out, radioing the chopper to let them know I’m safe but they do have at least one other hiker on the hill.

  “Kit?” My dad asks, halfway out the door. Kit looks over to him, his jaw set firmly still.

  “Thanks for saving her. I was a jerk, you did us all proud. I’m proud of you, thank you.”

  I can see Kit swallow the lump in his throat, but I can also see he’s still pissed with my dad.

  “I thought he’d never leave,” he growls as the front door closes, there’s a new sound which shakes the roof as the rescue chopper sets down, right beside the lake. I can see dad running towards it waving a hand, his medic kit in the other.

  I punch Kit’s arm lightly, yelping in pain myself as I do.

  “Hey! He said he was sorry… I’m sorry too, you know that, right?” I ask him, really meaning it.

  “I just got so worried when dad said you two had a fight, I wanted you so bad… I just ran out into the woods looking for you… It’s my fault really, not dad’s.”

  Kit looks at me, stroking my face before taking my hand and kissing it, I can hear his own breath catching in time with my own.

  “There’s only one thing for it, Bree,” he says with finality.

  My eyes are a question, but I feel the sudden charge of excitement in my belly. The thrill of a dream about to come true.

  “What is it?” I ask, suddenly pain-free, a new feeling flooding me as I disappear into Kit’s eyes, his hands still holding mine. Him on his knee beside me.

  “I’ll have to keep you with me, always.” He says, matter of fact.

  “I ain’t asking now, Bree. I’m telling you. You’re going to be my wife. We’re going to live together, and we’re going to have a family… understood?”

  I squeal and then yelp. I try to get up but Kit’s lips are on mine. I kiss him fully, relaxing back down onto the couch as I feel his huge arm underneath me, pulling me closer to him.