Page 11 of Searching Blind

Maya exhaled a shaky breath, looking between Lucy and Sawyer with relief in her fear-filled eyes. “Please hurry. I’m scared.”

“I know.” Sawyer touched his stick to the tree trunk several times as if he were assessing, then he put a hand on Lucy’s arm and moved her down the length of the tree toward Maya’s feet.

“Where are you going?” Maya cried.

“Just over here,” Sawyer said, still in that steady, calming tone. “I promise we won’t go far, and we’ll be right back to you.”

“Fucking hell,” Lucy muttered as she joined him, her gaze riveted on the trapped woman. The situation was dire, and they both knew it. The tree was colossal; even with everyone’s combined strength, they wouldn’t be able to lift it off her.

“What do you think?” she asked Sawyer, keeping her voice low.

His head cocked to the side as he let his hand trail over the bark of the tree. His face was set in a contemplative frown, his sky-blue eyes distant and unfocused.

“Zelda,” he said suddenly. The labrador perked up at the sound of her name, her tail wagging once before she settled back down, ears pricked attentively. He looked back toward Lucy. “Guess her favorite pastime.”

“Sawyer, we don’t have time for?—”

“Digging.”

“Oh.” Then his meaning hit her. “Oh. We dig Maya out.”

He nodded. “The ground is soft enough for it.”

“Also soft enough to cause another landslide if we don’t do it right. Or the tree could roll onto her and crush her. Or us. There are a million ways this could go wrong.”

Sawyer’s calm smile didn’t falter. It was both reassuring and annoying as hell. “And one way it could go very right,” he said. “It’s a risk, but leaving her is certain death.”

He was right. She knew it, but it didn’t ease the knots in her belly. “Stay with her. Talk to her. I’ll get the others down here.”

chapter

four

Sawyer listened until he could no longer hear Lucy’s departing footsteps, then used the tree to find his way back to Maya. He sat down in the dirt beside her. “Okay, we have a plan. We’re going to dig you out, but we need to make sure the tree is secure first.”

Maya’s breath hitched. “I-I don’t want to d-die, Sawyer.”

He reached out to find her hand. Her fingers were cold, trembling. “Hey, we’re not going to let that happen.”

Maya’s hand tightened around his. “Promise?”

“I promise,” he said, giving her a reassuring squeeze. “Just stay awake for me, okay?”

Lucy returned moments later, her breath coming in hard gasps as if she’d run the whole way. “Everyone’s coming. They’re gathering anything they can use to dig.”

“Good,” he murmured, rubbing Maya’s hand between his, hoping to lend a fraction of the warmth circulating through his own veins. “Tell me about your photography, Maya.”

She sniffed. “Wildlife mostly. I... I love capturing them in their natural habitat. Are you…” She sounded bewildered and trailed off.

“It’s okay.” He knew exactly what she’d been about to say. He got it a lot. “Go ahead and ask.”

She exhaled in a rush. “Are you really blind?”

“Yes.”

“What are you doing up here?”

“It’s a long story, but it boils down to hiking was my favorite thing to do before I lost my sight, so I decided I wasn’t going to give it up after.”

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