Chapter Twenty-One
Ariella
“Jaxson?” He’d stumbled forward, one foot and then another until he’d fallen onto his knees.
I crouched down, keeping him close. “Help!” I shouted for the firefighters, hoping there was a paramedic nearby. My hands clutched his jacket, and my fingers stroked his hair. I didn’t see any burn marks, no evidence of injuries. Unless it was something I couldn’t see, perhaps smoke inhalation. Could it be something else that I didn’t know about? “Please, help him!”
The smack of boots against the snow forced a shiver down my spine and my hair to stand on end. It reminded me of glass crunching underfoot. A team of paramedics rushed over to help.
Jaxson’s body went slack, but my hands caught him before he hit his face into the snow, guiding him down as gracefully as I could. I coughed and gasped. Waves of dizziness washed over me, but I ignored the spinning sensation. Jaxson needed help. I could wait. I would wait because he was in need. He had a daughter, and if something happened to him because of my carelessness, I would never forgive myself.
One paramedic gently guided me away, informing me they needed space. I didn’t want to let go of his hand; I didn’t want to lose the only connection I had with someone. Letting go was not an answer I would accept.
“No,” I shook my head repeatedly, trembling, although I wasn’t cold. Nausea attacked my stomach, and I pushed a wayward lock of hair behind my ear, exhaling through my mouth. Anything to keep from spilling my lunch. Except, I couldn’t remember the last time I ate. My head throbbed, my heart pounded, and my stomach coiled. “I won’t leave him,” I said, clutching his hand tight. “He didn’t leave me.”
“We need to look you over,” the gentleman said, his eyes studying the bump I sustained earlier. “You should get checked out too.”
“I’m not going anywhere without Jaxson.” I refused to release my grip on his hand. No one would separate us.
The paramedic grumbled and gave a resigned sigh. “Well, would you at least have a seat so I can check you out too? I’m worried about the injury to your head.”
He hadn’t even seen all the cuts and bruises, the scrapes that covered me from earlier. “I’m fine,” I insisted, pointing at the bandage on my head. “This is unrelated.” I squatted with my knees bent, keeping a close eye on Jaxson, ignoring the attention that the paramedic paid to me.
“Yes, and you’re bleeding right through your bandage,” the paramedic said. He grabbed a few pads of gauze in a nearby bag with gloved hands and rested it against my forehead.
I winced from the initial sting of contact. There were droplets of fresh blood in the snow—my blood.
My butt slumped into the cold slushy snow. My gloved hand rubbed over the evidence of my blood, burying it from anyone else’s watchful gaze.
“Why don’t you come with me? Sit in the back of the ambulance bay so I can patch up your head,” the paramedic said.
Another paramedic tended to Jaxson, covering his face with an oxygen mask against his mouth and nose.
“Will he be all right?” The paramedic escorted me through the snow and wet sludge to the bay of the ambulance. He yanked open the double doors and offered me a hand, helping me inside.
“Have a seat.” He pointed to the gurney.
I’d have rather stood, but I did as I was told. I sat at the edge of the hard cot, my lips tight and hands dug into the side of the bed. He slammed the doors shut from the outside.
“Hey!” I screamed and jumped off the gurney, trying the door handle. He’d locked me inside. “Help!”
Everything outside the ambulance sounded muffled. Could they hear my cries for help? “Help! Let me out!” My hands pounded hard against the metal doors.
A door slammed, and the engine of the ambulance purred to life. “Shit,” I muttered. “Help! I’m locked in!” I tried again, but no one answered.
The ambulance jolted forward, and my feet fumbled until I gripped the nearby wall to steady myself. I had no phone, and Jaxson hadn’t been in the best shape when I’d stupidly gone into the ambulance. He wasn’t a paramedic, but how had he fooled the others unless none of them were paramedics? Hadn’t Jaxson mentioned that the hospital was a two-hour drive?
I couldn’t worry about Jaxson right now. I hoped Lincoln would find him. I needed to escape. The door would not open from the inside. I opened the nearest cabinet. Three shelves sat empty, on the bottom shelf a small black duffel sat alone.
Bending down to reach for the duffel, I unzipped the bag to find a few supplies, nothing of any use to me: gauze, bandages, and medical tape. It held the same items that he’d used earlier for my forehead to appear as a paramedic without actually being one.
I hustled to the opposite side of the ambulance, checking the other cabinet. There were several vials, unlabeled but no syringes that I could see. “Drugs?” What were they doing with those? I smashed the vials against the floor. I would not chance that he’d try to use those on me.
The ambulance picked up speed as we traveled down the mountain, fleeing past the town. While I couldn’t see out any windows, the heavy descent, the rush of the weight of the ambulance, and hear the squeak of the breaks at every turn.
I slammed my fists against the thick partition between the driver and myself.
The driver ignored me. He sat alone in the front seat. At least I only had one person to fight off when he eventually stopped and opened the door. He couldn’t leave me in here forever.