Survivor
Chapter 12
“Nick!”
He looked up to see AJ and Howie coming straight for him. As soon as the helicopter had landed at the helipad on top of the hospital, Kevin was whisked away as a whole slew of doctors and nurses worked with him. Nick and Bailey had been sent to the emergency room. He knew from all the commotion outside the ER, half of Colorado knew they were there.
“Oomph!” Nick grunted as AJ wrapped him in a bear hug. “Easy, man. I’m wounded, you know!”
“I don’t care, you moron! I’m just so happy you’re alive,” AJ told him, standing back.
Howie took Nick’s chin in his hand and turned his head in different directions.
“Well, you’re not as bad as I had expected,” he told him, smiling and a twinkle in his brown eyes.
“Gee, thanks. Have you heard how Kevin’s doing?”
“Not really. He's got pneumonia. Dude, he's got broken ribs. They said he coughed so hard he broke them. Can you believe that shit? They’ve got him in some kind of oxygen tent. What are you doing with all those wires on you? Do you have pneumonia, too?”
“Nah,” Nick told them, looking down the front of his hospital gown. He looked like an octopus was attached to his chest. “They want to keep a check on all of my vital signs. At least, I think that’s what they said.”
“How are you really doing?” Howie asked, sitting on the foot of the bed.
“I’ll be honest, I’ve been better. My feet can’t get warm.”
“You know, I overheard one of the doctors saying something about extreme frostbite and the possibility of cutting it off,” AJ told him, flipping through the chart at the end of the bed.
“What?” Nick’s blue eyes widened.
“I’m joking. But if you hadn’t been found when you did, that could have happened. Can you imagine how bad your dancing would be then?”
“Smartass,” Nick accused, grinning. “Where’s Brian?”
“He’s in ICU with Kevin,” Howie said. “What was it like?”
“Cold.”
“I just can’t get over the fact that you two actually made it.”
“There were three of us. Don’t forget Bailey. If it hadn’t been for her, Kevin would have killed me after the first hour. I think he had his mind set on eating my ass. Rump roast, you know.”
Howie shook his head. Nick was back to himself, bad jokes and all.
“So tell us, did it ever cross your mind you wouldn’t be found?”
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Bailey was settled into her room, finally getting warm after the shower. She assumed Nick would still be in the ER, giving the nurses a hard time. He was such a flirt. And Kevin… She closed her eyes and said a quick prayer for him. It suddenly occurred to her that she was actually concerned with something, someone, other than herself.
“Bailey,” her dad said, entering the room with a dozen roses.
“Daddy,” she answered, her eyes misting over.
“Hey, enough of that. You’re safe now. No more crying. I thought the room needed brightening up a bit. Although, you’re doing a great job of it on your own.”
Bob Townsend sat the vase on the tray and kissed the top of his daughter’s head. Hugging her, he sat beside her.
“Bailey,” he told her, taking her hands in his, “I want you to tell me something. Did anything happen out there?"
“Not really. Our plane crashed, that was about the most serious thing. I mean, Kevin fell in the river and a cougar almost ate us.”
“Bailey, you know what I mean. Did those…men…do anything to you?”
“Oh, no, daddy,” she answered earnestly.
“Did they try anything?”
“Daddy, they were perfect gentlemen.”
“Then why was he saying something about wearing your clothes?”
Bailey giggled, remembering how Kevin looked wearing her clothes while his dried. Her father looked at her strangely, putting a stop to her tittering. She also remembered Kevin’s warning about telling anyone he actually wore her clothes.
“I think it had to do with his fever. He was saying a lot of strange things,” she shrugged.
***************************
“Kevin, it’s me, Brian. I don’t know if you can hear me or not. I just want you to know that I’m here. Howie and AJ are here, too. Well, they’re with Nick at the moment. Nurse Cratchet will only let one back here at a time. Can you hear me?”
The quiet noise of the ICU was the only response Brian got. The respirator whooshed as it did the breathing while Kevin rested. Brian reached out a hand, brushing his cousin’s face.
“You actually made it back to civilization. Do you know that? I wish you were awake and could tell me what happened. I thought you were gone for good, man. I’m so sorry that I thought that. I don’t know what I would have done if I had lost both you and Nick. Uh-oh, here comes the nurse with a big needle. I better get out while I still can.”
Brian took Kevin’s hand.
“Kevin, I demand you wake up and tell me yourself that you are going to be all right. I really want to know why you were wearing girls’ socks that were about five sizes too small.”
*************************
“Mr. Carter, you can’t be out walking around like that.”
It was nearly six a.m. Nick couldn’t sleep. Every time he dozed off, he began having the same dream. Kevin falling in the water and being swept downstream. Then he’d find himself back at their campsite and the mountain lion was sitting there, a big grin on its face as it finished off Bailey.
“Why not?”
“For one thing, you are confined to bed since you’re suffering from exhaustion, just to name a few maladies. Second, you can be torn to shreds if any of the fans find you out here. We’ve already had to call security twice tonight. Third, your bare hiney is shining. Those gowns don’t close in the back, remember?”
Nick quickly pressed himself against the wall, blushing. He waited as one of the older nurses brought him another gown to wear backwards.
“It’s kind of drafty in here, too, isn’t it?” He asked, grinning as he put it on. “I want to see Kevin. I haven’t heard how he’s doing. Please let me visit him.”
The head nurse came out from behind the nurses’ station, her face set. Nick gave her his best pleading look. It always worked on the guys.
“Five minutes,” she told him. “Anna, escort Mr. Carter up to ICU. Five minutes, no more. I’m calling so they can expect you.”
“Thanks,” he told her, planting a quick kiss on her cheek.
*****************************
Nick stood in the doorway, looking down at Kevin. His respirator had been removed, but he was still taking oxygen. Brian had fallen asleep in the chair he had pulled to the bed. Nick softly put a hand on Brian’s back.
“Hey,” he said sleepily. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to check on him,” Nick whispered. “How is he?”
“Getting better. The respiratory therapist should be in about 7:30. The nurses explained that the sooner that crud gets knocked out of him, the better.”
“Crud?”
“I’m sure there’s some big technical name for it, but I wasn’t really going for that. I just wanted to know what they were doing for him. You all right?”
“Yeah. How about you?”
“A hell of a lot better since you two are alive.”
“Hey, Bri, we weren’t dead to begin with,” Nick chuckled softly. “Although, I suspect we smelled it when we came in. Whoo!”
Brian laughed, immediately quieting himself. He made a face at Nick as the nurse came for him.
“Five more minutes,” he whined, to no avail. “Damn. I’ll be back. Let me know something, OK?”
“OK,” he agreed, watching the nurse haul Nick out.
“I can find the way back to the room,” he told her, removing her hand from his arm. “I’m not a twelve year old who’s going to run away to keep from having my tonsils taken out.”
The nurse cast him a doubtful. Nick produced his most innocent face.
“Does this look like a face that would lie to you?”
“Just go on back. I’m calling down, so they’ll know to expect you,” she threatened as he headed toward the elevators.
Now, where did they put Bailey?
After a few close calls with some fans roaming the different floors and a near miss with a big orderly, Nick finally found Bailey’s room. He was about to go in until he heard her voice. She must be talking to her daddy, he thought, smiling. That was all she had talked about doing. She is such a sweetie, he thought. I was right and even Kevin will have to admit it. He raised a hand to knock on the door, stopping short as he was able to understand part of the conversation.
“I’m serious, Mitzi. It was the funniest thing! He didn’t have a clue as what to do! Neither one did, really. Of course I was scared. How was I going to survive with those two? Oh, Mitzi, you shouldn’t say things like that! I can’t tell you that. What if word got out? It wasn’t as if he didn’t try. Honest! I thought how can you be thinking of something like that at a time like this. I was all, like, if we make it out of here, I will. He even promised to take me on a trip on his boat. Can you believe that? Oh, I don’t know. No, I don’t. Really. I’m sure he would have been more than glad to show me. He’s just so big and dumb. Blonde, beautiful, and dumb.”
Nick took a step back, then thought better of it. He pushed the door open and stood there, glaring at Bailey as she talked on the phone. She was so busy twirling her own blonde hair that she didn’t notice him.
“Ahem.” He cleared his throat loudly.
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