Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 59739 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 299(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59739 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 299(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
“Hey,” Ace says, stepping in front of me, hands on my shoulders. “Goin’ to need you to keep it together. We gotta help her, you hear me?”
I nod, shaking my head. “Yes. What do you need me to do?”
“Sit by her, she’s scared.”
I do as he asks, carefully climbing down next to Tatiana and taking her other hand. Rachel looks at me, and I can see the fear and uncertainty in her eyes. She’s scared. We all are. I squeeze Tatiana’s hand, not sure if my warmth is what she needs or if it’s the only thing I can offer. Her eyes flutter, and her lips move, but she doesn’t wake up.
“Zeke,” I whisper, staring at him as he inspects the horrific situation. “What are we going to do? Do we pull it out?”
Zeke’s voice cuts through the air. “Nobody moves the wood.”
Kellen glances over at Zeke. “We can’t leave it in there. We need to pull it or she will die, Zeke.”
“No,” Zeke says, not even turning his head. “If it is blocking an artery, or a bleed, and we pull it, she will die in minutes. We can’t risk that. I’d rather a small chance than none at all.”
Kellen throws his hands in the air. “So what, we just let her sit here with a fucking fence post sticking out of her? What if we’re out here for fucking months, Zeke? There is no way that is logical. We have no idea where we are, or what is going to happen.”
“I fuckin’ hear you,” Zeke barks. “But we have no idea how much damage this thing has caused, and every fuckin’ rule book says you don’t pull out an impaled object so we just have to fuckin’ pray we find somewhere to get her help.”
Kellen’s mouth moves, but he has nothing, he knows Zeke is right, we all do. If we pull that wood out, we could kill her. An infection, internal bleeding or anything else could kill her too, but at least it gives us time. Time to try and find help. Time to pray for a damn miracle.
“We’ve got antibiotics,” Zeke goes on, still inspecting the wound, “it might buy us a little time.”
Aggie is standing beside Zeke now, her face pale with a mix of guilt and fear as she looks down at Tati. “This is all my fault.”
“It ain’t,” Zeke mutters. “It was a freak accident.”
“She was trying to stop me and Rachel fighting, and now...”
Her voice breaks and Zeke stands, turning to her. “We can’t be feelin’ sorry for ourselves right now, Aggie. We gotta fuckin’ do what we can to save her life. I need you to be strong, yeah?”
She nods, but tears are rolling down her cheeks.
Ace steps in, his eyes swinging to Zeke, then to me. “If we can get close to shore, maybe she has a chance, but for now, we cut the stick, pack it hard, make her warm and keep her still. Then we look for help. We do what we can, as fast as we can.” He looks at Zeke, a thread of hope in his tone. “Right?”
Zeke nods. “Right.”
I wonder if anyone actually believes it, or if we just need to pretend for Tatiana’s sake.
Adrian comes up with Kaylee, both of them carrying an armful of towels, bandages, and a bottle of vodka. Kaylee passes them to Zeke, hands shaking. “This is all we could find. Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” I say, because nobody else will. “It’s perfect.”
Tatiana’s eyes open, unfocused. Her lips are dry, and her voice is hoarse when she looks at me. “It hurts.”
“I know, honey,” I say. “We’re going to fix it up, yeah.”
She looks over to Zeke, her breathing shallow.
“We got this,” he says, nodding in her direction. “Close your eyes, kid, because this is goin’ to hurt but we have to do it.”
She croaks, a tear runs down her cheek and she closes her eyes. “Doesn’t matter. Do it.”
Zeke signals Ace. “I need you to find a saw. We cut the wood as close to her belly as we can without risking it disappearing when she swells. Then we do the best we can to clean and stabilise, before getting her downstairs and on the ground so she isn’t rocking too much with the ship.”
Ace doesn’t ask questions. He’s gone, running down the steps. Adrian offers to go and boil some water. The deck is cold and sticky with blood and the only sound for a moment is Tatiana’s breathing, tight and shallow.
Rachel wipes her own face and says, “We got you.”
We all just fall silent while Zeke works. Kellen is standing, hands in his hair, staring at Tatiana. Aggie is still in the same spot near Zeke, just crying and Rachel holds it together, just like I am trying to do.