Page 82 of Remade

He smiled and touched my muddy cheek. “I’m so goddamn proud of you.”

Operator Quinn.

“I’m an operator now,” I croaked.

“Yup.” The smile reached his eyes, and it was fucking gorgeous. “You ready for a medical in the shower? I’mma search you for rashes and botfly larvae.”

I shuddered, grossed out already. “You’ll find plenty of rashes, but I think I’ve evaded botflies.”

“That’s good. You’ll still need a thorough check, though.” He smiled as we walked past the others.

“Welcome back, Operator Quinn,” Danny said with a smirk. “I’ve texted your uncles already.”

I mustered a tired grin. “Thank you, sir.”

Bo let them know he’d give me an exam inside, and we continued into the courtyard.

“Do you need the medic kit?” Riggs asked.

“I’ll grab another one inside,” Bo responded. “Save that one for Tanner and Shawn.”

Okay, now I had to know. “Who made it back so far?”

“Just you and Miguel,” he answered. Holy crap, so I was in second place? “He stumbled out of the jungle before lunch a few hours ago. He managed to fracture his leg during a fall on day twelve, so Hyatt came up and flew him outta here shortly before you showed up. We don’t exactly have an X-ray machine up here.”

Wow. Day twelve. Miguel had finished in first place after spending the last couple of days with a messed-up leg. Talk about impressive.

“He’s gonna make a badass operator,” I commented.

“Definitely.” He cupped my elbow and assisted me up the steps. “So will you.”

I exhaled unsteadily, suddenly in too much pain to revel in compliments. Sweet Jesus, my legs were done. With the adrenaline having faded, I had nothing but Bo holding me up.

“No dropouts?” I gritted out.

“Ah. Well. Unfortunately. Two of them—which we can talk about after you’ve rested.”

Aw, man. But it couldn’t be Tanner or Shawn. They were on their way up.

“Not Gabriella, right?”

Bo sighed and smiled ruefully. “Zander and Maxine.”

Oh. That sucked.

“I caved for about an hour or so on day six,” I admitted. “I was so ready to go home.”

He hummed, ushering me straight to the shower room. “So did I back in the day. Thinkin’ about quitting is normal.”

I guessed so.

I sniffled. “Then I pissed on a beetle to drown it, but it survived.”

Bo coughed around a laugh and stared at me incredulously.

Maybe it made me a smidge defensive. “Don’t look at me like that,” I said. “I never wanna see another plant in my life, much less those goddamn insects. They havezerorespect for personal space.”

He rumbled a laugh that echoed in the shower room, and he hugged me to him again. “Zero respect for personal space when you’re in their territory? The fuckin’ nerve of those little shits.”

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