Page 85 of All Wrong
The sound of the vehicle faded as it continued past on the road above her, along with her hopes.
She wanted to believe it was the rescue she’d been waiting for, but what if it wasn’t? What if it was someone coming back to finish the job? The possibility gave her the extra boost of adrenaline she needed. If she was going to die, so be it, but it wouldn’t be by someone else’s hand, and it sure as hell wasn’t going to be because she’d given up.
She shifted and rolled, gritting her teeth against the pain as the thorns ripped through the fabric and tore at her flesh. It was slow-going. The more she struggled, the more tangled she seemed to become.
“Corinne!”
Corinne stilled. The shout came from above her, and it sounded like Nick, but that was impossible. He wouldn’t come looking for her.
“Corinne!” another male voice boomed out again. This one sounded a lot like Shane.
“Down here!” she replied, having to try several times before the words sounded like words and not a bullfrog during mating season.
“I heard something! Over here!”
A face peered over the edge. Dark hair. Pale eyes.
Then three more faces. Black hair. Vivid blue eyes.
“Hang on, Rinn. We’ve got you.”
If this was a hallucination, it was the best one she’d ever had.
The extraction was painful,but with Sean, Shane, Michael, and Nick working to free her, it took far less time than it would have if she’d done it herself. Assuming that was even possible.
Sean and Shane disappeared while Michael did a quick assessment. Poking here, prodding there, testing joints, and asking questions. Nick remained with her, his nearly colorless eyes watching, his expression his usual mask, giving nothing away. He said nothing, and neither did she.
The twins returned with a portable transportstretcher and a black toolbox the size of something she’d seen in Sean’s garage.
“That’s a lot bigger than my first aid kit,” she whispered roughly.
Michael smiled kindly at her. “You did a hell of a job with what you had. I wish I could say this next part’s going to be easy. I’ll make it as painless as possible, okay?”
“It’s okay,” she said, attempting a smile that probably looked more like a grimace. “I’m tougher than I look. Do what you gotta do.”
“Here’s the deal,” Michael said, then proceeded to outline what he was going to do while he cracked half a dozen chemically activated ice packs, like the one she’d had, but better. He spoke with a low, easy, comforting cadence as he worked. He immobilized her knee with some kind of inflatable thing. Loosely wrapped a flexible bandage around her ribs. Redressed the wound at her shoulder. Wrapped her bloodied hands with sterile gauze until they resembled mittens.
Her eyes remained fixed on Nick’s. He winced every time she flinched, as if he could feel her pain.
Once Michael gave the okay, the four of them managed to get her up the hill on a portable stretcher with straps and the use of a winch. When itwas time to load her in the Hummer, Nick jumped in first. A few surprised looks were exchanged, but no one said anything.
With her torso resting sideways against Nick’s arm and her leg stretched out on the backseat, Michael held out a bottle of water. She reached for it with her mittened hands, but Nick grabbed it first, gave a quick tug on the push/pull cap, and held it to her lips.
“Small sips, yeah?” he said, his voice almost as rough as hers.
Shane climbed in the driver’s seat, Michael in the passenger seat.
“What about Sean?” she asked when they started to move forward and he still hadn’t appeared.
“He’s going to drive your SUV back to the garage,” Shane said.
“How? No keys.”
Shane grinned at her in the rearview. “He doesn’t need keys.”
“We’ll take it as easy as we can,” Michael said. “It’s about an hour to the nearest medical facility.”
“No,” Corinne said. “I want to go home.”
