Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 33281 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33281 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
"What kind of problem?" Mr. Meechum repeats.
It takes Ranger Steven several seconds to respond. "He isn't here."
My grip on the desk is the only thing keeping me upright as his words register. Atlas isn't where I left him. He's out there alone with a head injury. "I-is there any way he's with the car?"
"Could he be with the car?" Mr. Meechum asks Steve.
"We checked the car. No one in it. I'm headed back that way now. Chaz is going to start a search of the immediate area." The radio goes silent for a moment. "When the sheriff gets there, send him this way. Ambulance too."
"Uh, roger that." Mr. Meechum sets the radio down, his expression full of empathy. "It's okay, hon. They're going to find him."
"They have to find him," I whisper, tears spilling down my cheeks. There is no other option. They have to find him.
A few minutes later, the sheriff and ambulance arrive. Mr. Meechum grabs the radio before we head out to meet them. The sheriff is an older man with a gentle smile and steel in his eyes.
Mr. Meechum fills him in while the paramedics—a plump, motherly woman and a Latino man who doesn't say much—insist on looking me over. "What happened to your hands, sweetheart?"
"Nails," I mumble, holding them out for her to inspect. "I had to dig him out from beneath the porch after it collapsed."
"You're going to need a tetanus shot if you haven't had one recently. Some of these are deep." She pours saline solution over them the clean the visible dirt off, and then swaps them with betadine before wrapping them up. "I'll make sure the ER knows to give you one."
My gaze snaps up to hers. "I'm not leaving without him."
"You should have these looked at sooner rather than later," she says gently. We both know they aren't that serious. That's not why she's trying to cajole me out of here. She's worried about what they'll find when they find Atlas, and she doesn't want me to be here for it.
Well, too bad because I'm not going anywhere without him. I'll turn this tiny parking lot into a campground before I leave.
"I'm not leaving," I warn her, my voice firm. "Until he's in the back of the ambulance, I'm not going anywhere."
"Alright, sweetheart. It's all right. We won't try to force you," she promises, wearing the same expression Mr. Meechum had. Empathy, concern…pity. They all think they're going to find him dead somewhere.
"He's going to be fine," I say, refusing to accept anything less. He'll be fine because it's the only acceptable outcome. I refuse to even believe anything less than that is even possible. Atlas will be fine.
Please, Atlas. Please don't get lost out there.
I spend the next hour pacing the parking lot, just waiting for someone to tell me something. Half of the sheriff's department has been called out to look for him. So has every ranger on duty.
Mr. Meechum called Jordan earlier to let him know that I was safe. He keeps calling me, but I refuse to talk to him or anything. It's like I'm trapped in hell, and the flames are getting hotter. The longer we go without finding him, the more trapped I become.
A thousand regrets pick at me. I shouldn't have left the interstate. I shouldn't have followed the GPS. I should have turned around at some point. I should have done anything aside from keep going, confident that we'd make it safely to the other side. It was naïve of me to think that.
I should have known better. And yet…I don't. I've spent my whole life so overprotected that I've never had to consider what could go wrong in a place like this. Everything has always worked out the way it was supposed to work out. My brothers always made sure it would work out. I naively assumed that's how this would work too.
That naivety is dangerous. It could cost me more than I can afford to lose. That's not Jordan's fault. It's not Roman's fault. It's mine. Because I let it continue. I stayed in my little bubble, just going along for all this time. I don't know what risks are acceptable to take because I've never taken them.
That has to stop now.
No matter what happens, I won't go back to the overprotected little girl I've always been. I can't be her anymore, not when being her might have cost me everything. Atlas has to be okay because there is no other option. But if I'm wrong, and he isn't, my life has to change regardless. It's the only way I'll ever learn when I can spread my wings and when I can't.
It's beyond time for me to learn.
"We need MedFlight out to the south end of the 4C trail," someone says over the radio attached to Deputy Hendrickson's hip. "We've got a situation out here."