Sanctuary(164)

"Upstairs, Giff, get him upstairs." Breathing fast, Kirby side stepped to keep the pressure firm on Brian's chest as Giff staggered under his weight. "I need my supplies out of the Jeep. Now," she ordered as Sam and Jo raced forward. "I need sheets, towels, I need light.

Hurry. He's lost so much blood."

Kate dashed down the hall. "God, sweet God, what happened?"

"He's been shot." Yirby kept deliberate pace with Giff, never taking her eyes off Brian's face. "Radio the mainland, find out how long it'll take to get a helicopter in. We need to get him to a hospital, and we need the police. Hurry with the supplies. I've already lost too much time."

Without bothering with rain gear, Sam ran out into the storm.

He was blind before he'd reached the Jeep, deaf but for the roar of blood in his head and the scream of the wind. He dragged the first box free, then found Jo shoving past him for the next.

They shouldered the weight and fought their way back into the house together.

"she's putting him in the Garden Suite. It's the closest bed." Lexy put her back into it and managed to shut the door behind them. "she won't say how bad it is. she won't say anything. Kate's on the radio."

Jo gripped the box until her knuckles were white as they hurried up the steps.

Kirby had stripped off her blood-smeared slicker, tossed it aside.

she didn't hear the rain pound or the wind scream. she had only one goal now: to keep Brian alive.

"I need more pillows. We need to keep his trunk and legs higher than his head, keep the site of the bleeding elevated. He's in shock. He needs more blankets. It went through. I found the exit wound."

she pressed padding high on the back of his right shoulder. Her ungloved hand was covered with blood. "I can't tell what the internal damage might be. But the blood loss is the first concern. His BP is very low, pulse is thready. What's his blood type?"

"It's A negative," Sam told her. "Same as mine."

"Then we'll take some of yours for him. I need someone to draw it, I'll talk you through, but I don't have enough hands."

"I'll do it." Kate hurried in. "They can't tell us on the helicopter. Nothing can get on or off the island until Carla's done with us. Everything's grounded."

Oh, God. she wasn't a surgeon. For the first time in her life, Yirby cursed herself for not heeding her father's wishes. The entrance wound was small, easily dealt with, but the exit wound had ripped a hole in Brian's back nearly as big as her fist. she felt the panic scraping at her nerves and shut her eyes.

"Okay, all right. We need to get him stabilized. Giff, for now keep pressure here, right here, and keep it firm. If it bleeds through don't remove the padding. Add more. Use your other hand to hold this arterial pressure point. Keep your fingers flat and firm. Kate, get my bag. You'll see the rubber tube. You're going to make a tourniquet."

As she readied a syringe, her voice went cool. she'd chosen to heal, and by God, she would heal. she took one long look at Brian's waxy face. "I'm keeping you with me, you hear?"

As she slid the needle under his skin, the house went black.

I Nathan struggled toward the surface of a red mist, slid back. It seemed vital that he break through it, though the pain whenever he got close to the thin, shimmery skin was monstrous. He was chilled to the bone, felt as though he was being pulled down into a vat of icy water. He clung to the edge again, felt those mists close in and thicken and with a vicious leap, cut through.

He found himself in a nightmare, dark and violent. The mind screamed like a thousand demons set loose, and water gushed over him, choking him when he tried to gulp in air. With his head reeling, he rolled over, got on his hands and knees. The water from the rising river beside him was up over his wrists. He tried to gain his feet, slid toward erunconsciousness. The cold slap of water as his face hit the ground jerked alhim back.

Kyle. It had been Kyle. back from the dead. This Kyle had streaming blond hair rather than brown, an almost brutal tan rather than citypale skin. And lively madness in his eyes.

"Jo Ellen." He choked it out as he began to crawl away from the sucking water of the river. Murmured it like a prayer as he dug his fingers into the streaming bark of a tree to fight his way to his feet.

And as he began a stumbling, wind-whipped run to Sanctuary, he screamed it.

I "I'm not going to lose him." Yirby spoke matter-of-factly as she worked by the light of a lantern. Her mind wasn't calm, forcing her out the screaming fears and doubts. "Stay with me, Brian."

"You'll need more light." Giff stroked a hand over Lexy's hair.

"If you can spare me here, I'll go down and get the generator started."