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She moaned and his heart pounded in his chest.
“We’ve got paramedics coming in. Sit tight,” BJ yelled.
He could hear the commotion going on above him. He saw the lights illuminate the entire area. The guys were pulling out all their resources to help Sally. It was what Delite was all about. It was what family and friends here did for one another.
He didn’t like how pale she looked. She was limp and hardly breathing as he tried to find her pulse.
“Can you move her if we send down another rope and pull you both up?” Mason yelled down.
“No. I can’t tell how bad her injuries are. She’s in bad shape.”
“We’re going to send down a flat board and someone else that can assist you,” Mason yelled down.
It seemed like it took forever for the trained climber and paramedic to make his way down the steep drop to the ravine. When he finally made it, he recognized the guy from the community.
“Hey, Doc.”
“Hey, Ted. What’s the plan?” Steven asked as Ted sat down and looked at Sally. He checked her pulse and pushed open her eyelids to see her pupils.
“We need to move her quickly. The swelling is bad, and she may have internal injuries.”
“I know. How do you want to do this?” Steven asked and Ted explained.
Ted called up for the other things he needed including the flat board.
It felt as if it took forever to wrap her up and secure her onto the board. The hard part was trying not to bounce her around too much as they pulled her up the hill. All the while Steven felt the fear of losing Sally take hold of him. He was using every ounce of his training, his experience and control, to not break down but focus on helping to save Sally’s life. He couldn’t help the negative dooming thoughts that filled his mind as the men above pulled her lifeless body up the steep incline. He followed along with Ted, thanks to Virgo and Mason. They pulled them up so that Steven could follow Sally in the ambulance.
When he finally reached the top, he saw the concerned and somber expressions on the men’s faces. Mason looked pale and angry. He only glanced to the side of them to take notice of the dogs. They were whining and crying as Ted, Michael, and BJ got Sally hooked onto the back of the ATV.
He knew that the paramedic vehicle wouldn’t be able to drive into the woods this far with all the trees and debris. There were no dirt roads or anything. They had to move slowly and Mason and him held on to the flat board and exchanged glances of uncertainty.
“How is she really, Steven?” Mason asked as he caressed her cheeks and avoided the temporary bandages that Ted had applied to the wounds on her forehead and temple.
“That was a huge fall. Plus, she had the car accident before. She definitely has a concussion. Her pupils are dilated, she’s unconscious, and her arm is broken. I’m not certain of any internal bleeding, but I’m fearful, Mason. I just want to get her to the hospital and into X-ray and CAT scan.”
Mason took a deep breath and caressed her skin again as they moved quickly alongside the ATV. It seemed like it had taken an hour to get through the woods with the two-mile trek to the roadway. The ambulance was there, but they had determined that she needed immediate care, so the helicopter landed, and Mason and Steven headed toward the helicopter with her.
“We’ll take care of the dogs then meet you at the hospital,” Virgo told them before they boarded the Helivac. They all looked so defeated, and Steven wondered if they thought that Sally wouldn’t make it out of this. He would do everything in his power as a doctor, a soldier, and her lover to help her pull through. Their lives, all three of theirs, depended on it. Without Sally, he and Mason would die, too.
* * * *
It had been three weeks since the accident. Sally was lying in the hospital bed in a private secure room used for big shots. Mason and Steven had some major connections. Sally smiled to herself as she adjusted her body to sit up. She was still in pain, her arm was broken in two spots, she had continuous headaches and dizziness, and aside from that she was without her spleen. Apparently, when she fell down the steep hill and into the ravine, she must have landed on some large pointed rocks and ruptured her spleen. Combined with the other injuries, her body had been in shock and shutting down. The blunt splenic trauma caused major hemorrhaging and pain, and the doctors needed to remove her spleen entirely. She was a mess, as Steven had explained when she finally regained consciousness days following the accident. Sally was grateful that Steven, Mason, the dogs, and the police had found her before Garret and Keiffer could take her away. If they had been successful, she might have died because of the head injury she sustained from the car accident. She was glad that both men were going to prison and that the dogs took some serious bites into them for her. As soon as she was out of the hospital, she would get to see the Rottweilers.
The door to her room opened and she smiled immediately.
“Hey, you’re awake
and sitting up. It must be a good day, huh?” Alexa asked and she and Susanna, Ava, Paula, and Elise entered the room.
She knew that only four visitors were allowed in the room, and Juliet visited earlier with Carl and Richie. They approached and hugged her one at a time then smiled.
“You look better. Your coloring looks really good,” Susanna stated as she gently caressed Sally’s hair from her face. Sally was grateful for her family of Dixie Chix and the other members of Delite. Her room was flowing with well wishes in the form of flowers, balloons, and fruit baskets. Her appetite wasn’t too good yet, but her visitors were enjoying the fruit.
“Mason is downstairs waiting for one of us to leave so he can come up. We just wanted to stop in before heading to Dixie Chix. Everyone has been asking about you,” Alexa told her sister as she squeezed her hand.
“I appreciate that. Please tell them thank you for me.”
“We will. They also want to know when you’ll be back onstage. You sure do know how to make a first impression,” Ava added, and they all chimed in in agreement.
