Trapped with the Blizzard (27 page)

The crowd murmured in surprise and disbelief. That amount of snow was historic, storm of the century levels. For the first time, I was actually glad for the ridiculous totals.
At least they can’t blame me for the weather.

“Excuse me,” an unfamiliar woman said standing up and looking around. “My husband and I booked a room for five days. Should we talk to you about a refund?”

The room erupted into groans, the locals grumbling. Ellen clapped her hands together to gain their attention, glaring at me the whole time.

“That isn’t what I wanted to ask,” she threw at me. “When were you going to tell us that a young boy has gone missing? I have two daughters and if there’s something I need to know to keep them safe…”

The rest of her questions, even though she was standing beside me, were drowned out by shouts from the crowd. Panic had well and truly taken hold. I held my hands up in an effort to gain order. Even though she knew nothing about the situation, Ellen began fielding questions, spitting out answers that were merely rumors.

As the ruckus began to die down, somebody else called out from the crowd. “Is it true there isn’t enough food for everyone?”

“I heard somebody died in the bathroom,” another person screamed out.

Each rumor was met with a murmur of rising fear and panic. When I was a kid watching those nature programs, I could never understand how the lions won. They were always drastically outnumbered. If the prey didn’t turn and run, the lions wouldn’t have a chance to pick anyone off. In that moment, I understood their panic at the deepest level.
We don’t need a lion to spook us,
I thought.
The wildebeests scare each other. The lions just sit and wait for it all to go down before picking them off.

The radio my pocket crackled with static. In the noise I couldn’t understand what Bryan was trying to say. The lodge already in an uproar, I extracted myself to a quieter place and responded.

“Sorry Bryan, I’m here. Did you find him?”

When he responded he was out of breath, like he had been jogging at full pelt. “Liz, get Dusty. We’re coming in the front. We got him.”

As happy as I was to hear that, I realized that it couldn’t have come at a worse time. If I had at least managed to maintain the calm, we would’ve been able to get him in quietly and without scaring everyone.

Spotting Sally in the crowd only a few feet away, I pushed my way through and looped my arm through hers. “I need your help. They found him outside, and they have to bring him in the front. We need to clear a path to the kitchen.”

Sally’s face turned ashen, but she nodded grimly. “What you need me to do?”

I could’ve kissed that woman. “I need to go find Dusty and then go grab as many first aid kits as I can. If you can get a few people to help you keep a path clear and guard the doors, that would be amazing. Make sure they can go straight into the kitchen.”

“You got it. I think Melinda came up this morning with the last wave of townies,” she said as I was pulling away.

The name gave me pause. The memory of the first time we’d met rushed back, in a similar stressful situation. She was on the floor of the kitchen, hunched over one of my friends, trying to save her from overdosing. She’d been so calm, no-nonsense. We were just a bunch of kids afraid of getting caught with drugs…

Sally grabbed my arm, her eyes wide. “Is he… is he going to be okay?”

With my heart in my throat, I forced the old memory away, and patted her hand. I could see my fear reflected in her dark eyes. “Bryan didn’t have a chance to say, but it sounded serious. I’m glad Melinda’s here, too.”

I found Dusty checking up on Marie’s mom, she and Dani sitting nearby as she sucked oxygen from the spare tank. I tried to ignore the evil look Dani shot me, so I could deliver the news. I crouched down and kept my voice low even though the din in the lodge was growing by the minute.

“Bryan just radioed and said that they found him, but he’s hurt,” I said directly to Dusty. He looked exhausted. As one of the few paramedics in Tellure Hollow, and with Lacey gone, he had the unlucky fortune of taking care of every ill person at the lodge.

Dani and Marie both shot to their feet, speaking at the same time.

“I’m coming with you.”

“Where is he?”

I grabbed Dusty’s arm as he flung his emergency kit over his shoulder. “I’ll try to find Melinda, but do you need anything else?”

There was a dark look in his eyes as he pressed his lips together. “I have no idea until I get there. Where is he?”

“We’re putting him in the kitchen,” I said, nodding backwards.

I grabbed the two girls as they moved to push past. “You need to give them space so they can help him.”

“Right, ‘cause you’ve helped him so much already,” Dani growled over her shoulder as they jogged to the kitchen.

I regretted walking in there the instant I pushed through those swinging doors. Compared to the madness Liz had created out in the main area, it was at least a controlled sort of chaos. But the blood… there was so much blood.

Bryan and Dusty had carried Miah into the kitchen, placed him on one of the metal prep tables, which allowed both EMTs to work on him from either side. They spoke to each other in a hushed, clipped language. The woman was trying to cut off his clothes while Dusty wiped him clean, searching for the wounds.

An older woman with graying hair rushed through the doors to the table. “Melinda, how can I help?” she asked the paramedics.

“We need lots of blankets and warm water, not hot. Find storage bags, grocery bags, anything flexible that can hold water,” Melinda replied quickly. Her dark hair pulled back in a tight bun, she gave off a commanding, competent air. “Warm, not hot!”

A few people stood on the perimeter holding up flashlights so the two could work. His still body glowed in the darkness, the shadowy figures only adding to the eeriness.

“This gash is pretty nasty,” said Dusty. Even from a few feet away, I could see the deep cut disappear into his hairline.

“He’s definitely hypothermic, but my thermometer stops at 93.” She felt along his limbs, holding his hand with both of hers. Pressing a stethoscope to his chest, she listened to his breathing and heart before continuing. “I don’t think he’s unconscious because of the cold.”

Bryan backed away, his clothes covered in blood. He stood tense, frightened, angry. Liz had her arm around Mrs. Goldberg, which left me seething.
His blood is on her hands
, I thought as I watched her fake kindness.

I caught glimpses of Miah as the EMTs moved around. His dirty blond hair was matted with blood, tattered clothes dropping to the floor.

“Why is there so much…” I mumbled, staring as the blood pooled on the table by his head.

Marie answered beside me, her voice numb. “Because of the cold. Blood moves slower when the body is cold. Warm it up…”

“How do you know that?”

“Hunting,” she said flatly.

I glanced over at my cousin standing by himself, his hands balled into fists at his side. Without a word to Marie, I walked away to join him.

Bryan didn’t notice as I approached, startling when I spoke. “Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”

He seemed to shake out of a fog, focusing on me as if I stood at a great distance. He looked down at himself, pulling the blood-soaked clothes away from his torso in disbelief. “No, I’m fine. Just a little… I swear we looked there. There’s no way we could have missed him.”

My mouth went dry. “Where did you find him? Out in the forest?”

Bryan shook his head, still looking off into the distance as if he were still living it all over again. “We must not have seen him. We were swinging around from the parking lot, going back to the barns to put the groomers away. Bobby saw him first, saw his red jacket.”

I touched his arm, trying to bring him back to center. “Where?”

He tilted his head to the right. “In the chair. He was just slouched there.” He finally focused on me, his eyes dark and wild. “I know he wasn’t there when we first looked. You looked out there too, didn’t you?”

Chair?
I wondered.
Oh shit, he means the big one out front…
I backed away, a little scared by his intensity. “Yeah, but we didn’t look in the chair.”
Oh my God… he could’ve been right there and we didn’t know…

Bryan glanced up and over my shoulder. I followed his gaze to see Liz approaching. A voice came across the radio hanging loosely from his hand.

“Boss? You there? The gennie is well and truly busted. You there?”

Bryan lifted it to his mouth and not wanting to cause any more trouble with Liz, I walked away, glaring at her as I tried to get closer to Miah’s side.

I stared at his face as I drew closer, willing his eyes to open. The EMTs worked by the bright light of the flashlights and tiny headlamps glowing on their heads.

“A lot of this blood isn’t his,” Dusty murmured as he worked.

“Then whoever did this is in a world of hurt, too,” the woman replied. She lifted his hand to show Dusty the blood collected under his nails.

Miah lay unconscious and aside from his boxers, bare on the table. Smears of red stained his skin, but other than a handful of bruises, his body looked relatively unscathed. They piled bags of warm water along his chest, stomach, and sides, throwing layer upon layer of blankets over his body. He looked so peaceful.

My gaze fell to the discarded clothes on the floor. They kept tripping over them as they worked and since I couldn’t be helpful in any other way, I collected them up. The moment I gathered them in my arms, I was struck by a strange realization. “They aren’t wet.” I clutched them to my chest and stepped backwards until my ass connected with a prep table. He hadn’t been inside when the sprinklers went off and for some reason that wrecked me.
They aren’t wet… that was forever ago… he’s been left in the cold for so long… he could’ve been out there when I was…

The clothes slipped from my hands as I was wracked by a sob.

I sat in the dark kitchen. I didn’t want to get in the way, but I also couldn’t bring myself to leave. The EMTs had done everything they could, and told us we needed to wait for him to wake up. I heard Dusty comment it was the blizzard that might’ve actually saved him by slowing his heart rate so much. After stemming the blood and bringing up his core temperature, it was just about making him comfortable.