Page 77 of Hero's Prize

He wrapped an arm around the boy’s chest and swam with all his might back toward the shore. Marshall did what he could to help, but they were both frozen and exhausted.

When they made it far enough that they were out of the river’spull, Colton flopped over on his back. They weren’t out of danger—not with both of them being so cold, but there was nothing else he could do.

It was all up to Ella now.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-SEVEN

This had just gone from being an exercise in wilderness emergencies to an actual wilderness emergency. Ella pulled Ashley all the way out of the water. The girl was shivering, which was actually a good sign. It meant that she wasn’t hypothermic. At least not yet.

Ella dashed up to their backpacks and grabbed all four, carrying them back down to where Ashley still sat on the shore. She took out a mylar blanket and wrapped it around the girl.

“Stay here. I’m going to help Colton with Marshall.”

“H-he—he tried to catch me.” Ashley could hardly get the words out around her chattering teeth.

Ella squeezed her shoulder. “Colton will get him.”

She prayed that was true. That Colton would be able to reach the boy. That he wouldn’t be hit by a panic attack at the cold of the water—that would be understandable, but deadly.

She hoisted her own backpack on one shoulder and Colton’s on the other, then ran down the shoreline toward where they had floated.

At first, she ran in silence, but when she could find no sign of them, she began to get a little panicked herself. What if they hadn’t made it out?

“Colton!” She pushed herself to run faster but was careful not to injure herself. A sprained ankle right now might be deadly on multiple levels. “Colton!”

She stopped and attempted to hear past her labored breathing.

“Ella…” It wasn’t loud, but she heard it.

“I’m coming!”

She found both Colton and Marshall still partially in the water. Shit. That wasn’t good. She dropped down beside Marshall and pulled him the rest of the way onto the shore, knowing Colton wasn’t going to let her help him until she helped the boy. She needed to get his wet clothes off him, but she wanted to get Colton out of the water first.

Once she deposited Marshall, she ran back into the river for Colton.

He shook his head as she reached for him. “H-help Marshall.”

“I will, as soon as you’re out of the water. You want to help him? Then help me get you out.”

Colton obviously wanted to try, but he had no strength left. She wasn’t going to be able to drag him directly out the way she had Marshall. Colton was too heavy, and she wasn’t strong enough.

She would have to use gravity to her advantage. She got behind Colton and hooked her hands under his armpits. Then she threw all her weight backward, landing hard on the ground, for the first time thankful that she had more extra pounds than most women. The maneuver moved Colton much closer to dry land. She did it again, and then again, ignoring the bruising pain on her tailbone from throwing her weight like that. All that mattered was getting Colton out of the water.

By the time she did, she was fighting exhaustion herself, but she knew she couldn’t stop yet. They were nowhere close to being out of danger.

“We’ve got to get you guys out of those wet clothes.” She pulled off Colton’s shoes and then Marshall’s. “Try to take off your shirts.”

She pulled off their pants as they worked on their shirts. It wastough getting any of the wet material off their bodies, but they managed. Ella was wet herself, but all the movement was keeping her warm enough to stave off hypothermia. She pulled out one of the mylar blankets and wrapped it around Marshall’s narrow shoulders. She started to wrap one around Colton, but he shook his head. Muttering a curse, she wrapped the second blanket around Marshall’s legs.

She understood his point, she really did. Colton had a lot more muscle mass on his body than Marshall that would help him to regulate his temperature more easily. But it still didn’t mean he was out of danger. She grabbed the final mylar blanket and shot him a pointed look. “You get this one.”

He didn’t seem too thrilled with the idea but didn’t argue as she wrapped it around him.

“Ash—Ashley?” Marshall got out.

“She’s okay. I left her a little farther upstream, but she was out of the water and was?—”

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