Page 82 of Explorer's Revenge
“Maeve! Please, Maeve!” I hear them yell, and I know I need to go back to the beach before they come after me. They have to focus on Logan. That thought gets me going, even as my body wants to give in to the agony coursing through me. Stumbling to my feet, I use their worried shouts as a beacon. My leg aches and wants to give out, my body deciding now would be a good time to pack it in. Adrenaline is the only thing that keeps me going until I stumble out onto the beach to find a panicking Aiy right in front of me.
“Maeve!” He yanks me into his arms. “What happened?”
I lean into him as Wilder and Way look at me. “It’s dead,” I say. “I killed it.” Pulling away from Aiy, I sit in the sand next to Logan. “How is he?”
“He’s going to be okay. They are almost there.” I glance at Wilder as he sets off a flare. “You’re fucking crazy, Carter.”
“Don’t forget it.” I smile as I pant and lie back in the sand, exhausted and bloody.
Finally, I hear the sound of the rescue helicopter over the lap of the ocean waves. “I guess the calvary is here,” I joke, and a trembling hand grips mine. I glance over to see Logan looking at me, holding my hand. Someone else takes my other one, and I turn to find Wilder there.
“We’ll be okay.” He nods. “Just hold on. Everyone, just hold on.”
When the helicopter is above us, I struggle to my feet, and we help Logan and Rick in first. Wilder shoves me in next, and once I’m in a seat, I watch as they work on Logan, quiet and numb.
“Maeve, are you okay?” Ajax yells over the helicopter engine as he leans in. “Maeve!”
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” I say as they get the rest of the guys into the helicopter, and then we are on the move. Wilder crowds his brothers as Way holds Aiy and drags me under his other arm. I watch them from the shelter of his embrace.
“We are okay. We made it,” he whispers. “We are going to be okay.”
Everything catches up to me before I know it.
My last vision is of Logan bleeding all over the helicopter’s floor as Wilder cries his name, and the monitor he’s connected to alerts, his heart giving out.
FORTY-FIVE
MAEVE
Déjà vu, that’s what I feel when I open my eyes to a familiar ceiling. Beeping sounds near me, and dim lights surround me. My heart thuds, and I jerk upright, scanning the room. I find my dad sleeping at my side. “Dad?”
He sits up, blinking. “Maeve,” he whispers as he pulls me into a hug. I fall into his embrace, but I continue to search my room.
“Dad, where are they? What happened?”
Pulling back, he cradles my face in his palms, searching my gaze before he deflates. “I thought I’d lost you again, Maeve. Don’t you ever do that again. I was so scared.”
“I’m sorry. I really am. Please, Dad, where are they?” I’m panicking.
The last thing I remember was Logan’s heart stopping.
“I know you aren’t going to calm down until you see them, so give me one second,” he whispers. He presses a buzzer, and within minutes, I’m being wheeled down the corridor. It must be nighttime because there aren’t many staff members or visitors and it’s quiet.
I lean forward like that will help me go faster. A couple of rooms down, they open a door and roll me inside, and I get my first glimpse of the guys. I feel like I can finally breathe again.
Logan is in a hospital bed like I was. His eyes are closed, and machines are hooked up to him, but he looks clean and less pale. Rick is in a bed next to him, his head turned away. Wilder is bandaged to hell but asleep in a large chair between them, while Way and Aiyaret are cuddled together on a sofa in the back of the room.
My dad lowers his voice so he doesn’t wake them. “They kept swapping who stayed with you and their friends until I kicked them out. Their fussing was annoying me or they would have been by your side.”
“Logan? Rick?” I whisper.
“They are going to be okay. Rick had some damage to his shoulder, but with physical therapy, it will be back to normal. He had a cut on his head, too, but the doctors weren’t overly worried. They are all dehydrated and need rest,” my dad explains.
“Logan?” I ask, and he winces.
“His condition is more serious. The lower half of his leg is gone. Luckily, he got here quickly, so infection hasn’t set in. They did operate. Hopefully he won’t need anything, but he has a long road ahead of him, kid. He’ll need lots of rest and physical therapy. Ajax mentioned getting him the best treatment and prosthetic.” The rest of his words fade off as I double over, tears filling my eyes.
Everything he worked for, all his dreams, was taken in an instant.
