Even when I was finally able to pull him to safety, that wasn’t the end of the danger. He was unconscious by then, so I quickly tilted him on the ground to try and get the water out of his mouth and lungs before assessing him. His skin was white and freezing cold. He had a nasty-looking gash on his temple and some scratches on his arm, but those were the only injuries I could see.
I whacked him on the back and he began sputtering, water coming out of his mouth and nose in choking gasps.
Once I felt like he was breathing well enough, I grabbed him up in a fireman’s carry, thanking god he wasn’t quite as big or built as I was. I quickly made my way up the riverbank to where I’d left my pack, looking around for a safe place to set up the tent to get Bennett dry and warm.
Only about fifteen yards away from the bank was a canyon wall with a kind of overhang; it wasn’t really a cave, but it would provide shelter from the wind and the worst of the coming rain.
Despite my burning muscles, I worked as fast as I could— talking out loud to Bennett, even though I knew he was out of it.
“Just gonna get the tent put up real quick and then we’ll get you warm,” I murmured, snapping poles and secretly thanking my years of loyalty to the same tent I’d bought as a newbie backpacker. I could put the thing together in my sleep, and this shock was about as close as I’d probably come to doing just that.
Once the tent was up, I unfurled the sleeping bag and threw it inside, turning to where I’d rested Bennett against the rock wall and my pack. He was in and out of lucidity and mumbled periodically, asking if I was okay.
“You hurt?” he asked with his eyes closed.
“No, baby. Just scared for you. Come on, let’s get you undressed as fast as we can.”
He snorted. “F’you say so.”
I couldn’t help but smile as I yanked his shirt off him and used my own semi-dry shirt to dry the river water from his skin and hair and mop up the blood on his face and arm. Luckily, both wounds had stopped bleeding. By the time I got him completely naked and inside the sleeping bag, I was half-naked myself. I’d used my drier clothes to dry him off, and then I searched for the small camp stove in my bag to get some water boiling for hot chocolate. I had to get a warm drink in him as soon as possible.
While the stove took its time heating the water, I stripped the rest of the way and slid inside of the bag next to him. His skin was like ice, and I gathered him up with my arms and legs to try and get as much of my warmer skin against his freezing skin as I could.
He was shivering terribly and I stared out through the tent flap, willing the water to start producing steam. It seemed to take forever, but I finally saw a tiny white puff of steam unfurl from the pot. I crawled out of the bag to the sound of Bennett’s whimper of complaint.
“Getting you something warm to drink. Be right back,” I said over my shoulder. When I returned with the giant mug of hot cocoa, I had to prop him up, his back against my front, so I could help him drink it.
“Just want to sleep, Xander.”
“I know, baby. But you’ll sleep better once you’re warm, okay? Did you hit your head on a rock? Do you know?”
I felt his head shake against my chest. “Not sure. Scratched my head,” he said as he lifted his hand to his head but stopped short of touching the bandage I’d covered the wound with. “And bumped my shoulder. My hip…”
“What’s my middle name?” I asked, trying to remember concussion assessment.
“Something dorky,” he muttered. “Like Kevin.”
Unfortunately, he was right.
“Who’s the president?”
“Are you trying to upset me?”
I dropped a kiss on his head and helped him take another few sips. “Okay, I think you’re fine to take a nap, but I’m going to wake you up every once in a while, just to be on the safe side.”
I emptied the mug of hot chocolate quickly and reached to set it outside the tent before I noticed Bennett try to get up. I held him tight to my chest. “What’re you doing?”
“Gotta go get Jimmy,” he said. “I’ll be fine.”
“Oh, no you’re not. You just need a little rest first. They’ll be okay,” I said as calmly as I could. I wasn’t about to tell him that even if he was feeling strong and healthy, we stood zero chance of making it to Jake’s camp before the big storm hit. We were going to shelter in place until the worst of the storm was over. That could be just the night or two days, for all we knew.