Page 63 of Shelter for Tanna

“She’s unconscious, but she’s alive. And she’s cold as ice. We need to get her out of here STAT,” the EMT-trained firefighter yelled up out of the hole.

“You need to get back from the edge of that, Braden,” one of the officers ordered. “That thing could give way and make matters worse.”

“Get Pokey and Fresh out here with a harness.” Before Braden could respond, Crash yelled, “Sascha!PLATZ!” The big dog walked ten feet away and lay down, ears erect and eyes glued to the sinkhole’s opening. “Thank god. That was getting annoying,” Crash muttered from his landing spot down in the hole. “Tanna? Tanna, honey, can you hear me? Braden! Yell down here to her!”

“Tanna! It’s me, baby! Wake up! Tanna, please? Wake up!”

In a second or two came the sweetest words Braden had ever heard in his life. “Yeah, honey. That’s Braden. It’s Dean, darlin’. We’re gonna get you out of here. Just hang on for me, okay? It’ll take a few minutes, but it’s gonna be okay.”

Braden stumbled to the big dog, sat down beside him, buried his face in the black fur, and bawled like a baby. They hadn’t given up and they’d found her. She was talking to Crash, and that meant she knew what was going on around her.

The sound of an engine filled the area and a four-wheel all-terrain vehicle pulled up, Pokey and Fresh riding behind its operator on the fenders. “Heard you need some help!” Pokey crowed with a grin.

Braden stood and wiped his eyes. “Yeah. We’ve gotta get them out of there. Crash is down there with her.”

Fresh chuckled. “I take it that was an accident?”

Braden nodded. “A happy one.”

The men lowered the harnesses and ropes down into the hole, and Crash put one on Tanna before he put on his own. “You’ve got a motorized vehicle up there. Can I assume the thing has a winch?” Crash yelled up.

“Sure ‘nuff, buddy!” Pokey called down. “Got yourselves all hooked up?”

“Ready to fly,” Crash called back.

“Okay. Here we go.” The four-wheeler’s operator hit the lever on the small winch and it turned slowly, dragging across a pipe Fresh and Pokey held at the edge of the opening that kept the cable from cutting into the mud.

In mere seconds, Tanna lay on the forest floor, Braden and Fresh working feverishly to take her harness off as Crash removed his own. “Baby. Talk to me. Tanna, please?”

She was filthy, her hair a wet, stringy mess, and mud coated her back where she’d been dragged up the side of the sinkhole. Her eyes opened slightly, and she looked straight into his. “Please take me home?”

Right there in front of the men, he kissed her. She tasted like mud, and he didn’t care. She was alive, and she seemed to have held up pretty well, all things considered. Fresh and Pokey helped her sit up to drink some water.

“It’s getting dark, men. We need to get out of the woods. Let’s go,” the EMS director called out, and the group made their way toward the staging area, with Tanna riding on the back of the four-wheeler in Braden’s arms.

And if anyone asked him, that’s where she was fucking well going to stay.

* * *

Fresh had radioed dispatch to ask for an ambulance, and Braden could only imagine what kind of stir that would make at the staging area.

But when they rolled into the clearing, Braden hopped off the back of the four-wheeler and carried Tanna the rest of the way to the cheers of the crowd. From somewhere in the back, he could hear Max screaming. “Mom! MOM!”

Glancing up at his buddy, he didn’t have to say a word. “I’ll go get the kids,” Crash volunteered as he and Sascha moved toward the crowd.

“Mom! Are you okay? Mom, you’re so dirty!” Max yelled, standing over her and staring down. “What did you do?”

“Buddy, she fell into a big hole.” Tanna hadn’t said more than three words, but she whispered something. “What, babe?”

“I think my ankle is broken.”

“The ambulance is here. They’re going to take you to the hospital and check you out. I’ll be right behind you, I promise.”

Tanna reached both hands out. Max took one and Daniel took the other. And as soon as they did, both boys stuck out their free hand toward Braden. When he clasped them, a rush of joy like he’d never known flooded his soul.

His family. There they were, all safe and sound. He had no doubt she’d be fine, and the boys were no longer afraid. The three of them waited as Fresh and Pokey helped the ambulance attendants load her in. “I’ll be right there, baby. I promise,” he whispered to her.

“I’ll be waiting. I knew you’d come for me,” she whispered back.

---