Page 2 of Stranded with the Surgeon

‘I won’t be able to tell until I’ve got out of here. I feel like I’ve got an elephant sitting on my chest.’

‘Shirley always did have a bit of a struggle with her weight.’

A wild desire to point out who was doing the struggling now occurred to Jennifer, but the bubble of hysterical laughter remained trapped and suffocated as quickly as it had arisen. The reminder that ‘the body’ was another person was unwelcome. Jennifer needed to focus on her own survival right now. She couldn’t afford to be distracted by empathy for any less fortunate people around her. She couldn’t help anyone else if she wasn’t okay herself, could she?

Dr Guy Knight didn’t seem to be in any hurry to live up to his name and offer assistance to a damsel in distress.

‘Bill, can you hear me?Bill?’

His voice was close, and Jennifer remembered just how small the cabin of this tiny plane was. If a fire started, it would take no time at all for them all to suffocate. Or cook.

‘Who the hell is Bill?’

‘Shirley’s husband. He’s a GP in Te Anau. Always loved flying, has Bill. He takes any opportunity to get his feet off the ground. I can’t get past this…Damn!’

Jennifer felt the crushing weight on her chest ease a fraction as she tipped sideways. She also felt the rocks on the other side of the thin metal skin of the fuselage scraping as the tail section of the small plane started sliding. For all Jennifer knew, she was about to go careening down a scree-covered slope and probably into some crevasse, thanks to the idiotic attempts of a wannabe hero to reach someone called Bill.

A tiny part of Jennifer’s brain was proud that even such extreme circumstances couldn’t push her past the point of self-control into a futile exercise such as screaming in sheer terror. Instead, she swore vehemently and proceeded to let Dr Guy Knight know precisely what she thought of him and his actions that were about to send her plunging to her doom.

‘For God’s sake,’ he snapped at last. ‘Could youpleaseshut up?’

A split second of astonished silence followed the interruption.

‘You’ve moved a whole six inches at the most,’ he continued. ‘The tail is now wedged against a rock that’s not going anywhere for another million years or so.’

He was right, Jennifer realised. The terrifying movement had ceased completely. Her heart was still thumping erratically, however, and her breathing was a series of painful gasps. Shutting up was probably very sensible.

Guy Knight wasn’t shutting up. He also seemed to be attacking the plane wreckage in some fashion. Jerks and thumps reverberated through the surface Jennifer lay on.

‘I’ve only managed to get Digger out so far and he’s not looking too flash right now. You’ve got two people on top of you and if Bill was conscious he might be able to help me get him out.’

No wonder the weight was so restricting. Jennifer concentrated on her breathing. Slow and deep, she repeated over and over to herself. Hyperventilating wasn’t going to help and might already be responsible for the pins and needles now evident in her fingertips as well as her foot.

‘But he can’t help.’ Dr Knight sounded angry now and his tone was underscored by the harsh scrape of metal on rock. ‘Because he’s dead.’

Dragging sounds could be heard now and Jennifer felt her breathing ease a little more. The unfortunate Bill was clearly being moved out of the way. Forherbenefit. She should be feeling very grateful that someone was making what was probably an enormous effort to rescue her. Instead, an irrational anger generated by the fact that she was unable to help herself blossomed. It was heavily laced with embarrassment at her eloquent attack on the intelligence of the man she was now dependent on for assistance.

A few seconds’ silence fell when the dragging ceased. Jennifer heard a faint cough and then a groan from somewhere outside. Maybe Bill was still alive after all, unless the sound had come from the man with a name like some kind of construction machinery. Had it been Dozer? Guy’s voice cut through the thought, sounding low and reassuring – nothing like the tone in which he had been speaking to her. Then silence fell again, for long enough to alarm Jennifer.

Why hadn’t he come back?Washe coming back? Had venting her fear in such an aggressive manner made him decide to leave her where she was until a rescue team arrived? The comforting thought that an emergency locator beacon would have been activated by the crash, and help was probably already on the way, was enough to reassure Jennifer that she wasn’t totally dependent on the man moving around outside.

She didn’t give a damn what he thought of her or her vocabulary anyway. She could get herself out of here. With the weight of only one person on top of her now, it should be possible to inch her way clear, despite the sardine can of metal embracing her. She certainly wasn’t going to beg for help, that was for sure.

Twisting didn’t help. Neither did pushing. The limp arm Jennifer managed to shift flopped back, giving a muted thud as the hand hit the metal surface her cheek was pressed against. The gruesome reminder of just how serious this situation was punctured the renewed anger that had fuelled Jennifer’s efforts to extricate herself.

The energising emotion dissipated, leaving a physical exhaustion that allowed fear a new foothold.

Her arm hurt. A lot. And it was still too hard to catch a deep enough breath. For one horrible moment, Jennifer thought she was going to give up and burst into tears of despair.

‘You still okay in there?’

He had come back. Jennifer pressed her lips together and squeezed her eyes tightly shut, using sheer willpower to strangle the weakness tears would have betrayed.

‘Hey… Dr Allen? Talk to me.’

So hedidcare whether she was still alive. The concern in the voice was almost her undoing and Jennifer couldn’t trust herself to answer without giving in to a sob… or pleading for help.

‘Jennifer? Can you hear me? Are you all right?’

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