“I need you to take off your shirt so I can get to your arm,” she ordered Hawk. He said nothing and simply obeyed.
Imara, on the other hand, snapped at Gemma the moment she had Imara’s foot in her hands. “Are you trying to hurt me on purpose?”
Gemma fought the urge to roll her eyes. “No, but I can if you want.”
She took off Imara’s boot and rolled up her trousers’ leg. The claw marks from the dune runner were deep but not enough to need stitching.Thank Illari. Gemma sprayed antibacterial gel onto the wound and wrapped Imara’s lower leg with a bandage.
Unlike Imara, however, the gashes in Hawk’s tricep were deep.
“You’re going to need stitches,” Gemma informed him.
He nodded, grinding his teeth. “Whatever you have to do. You’re the doc.”
Each cleansing stroke from Gemma was met with a pained growl. But she carried on, preparing the torn flesh to be stitched.
“We should set up camp in here and move again at night,” Christian said. “Those runners aren’t going to leave if they can see us, and I could use a good break.”
“It’s about blasted time,” Imara replied. “I actually thought about stabbing you at one point, just so I could take a nap.”
Christian smiled, shaking his head. “Colton and I can check out the cave, see if there’s a wide enough spot for us to set up shelters.”
Gemma worked carefully on Hawk’s arm, thankful she’d thought to grab a bottle of numbing spray. It made sewing his skin back together much easier for both of them.
She had just finished cleansing her hands of Hawk’s blood when Colton came sprinting back. “It’s Christian. He’s hurt.”
Gemma’s heart stopped beating. “What do you mean he’s hurt?”
“There was a fork,” Colton explained between heavy breaths. He ran a hand over his pink hair. “He went left; I went right. There was a rumble. I heard him shout. Weak part of the cave floor. Fell through. Isn’t responding.”
Her stomach in her throat, Gemma slung her backsack over her shoulder, flicked on the torchlight attached to her basaltweave vest, and pushed Colton deeper into the cave. “Take me to him. Now.”
Together, they sprinted down the left fork of the tunnel until a gap in the ground appeared. Gemma fell onto her hands and knees and peered over the edge.
Christian lay sprawled on the floor beneath.
She ground her teeth, jumping back up. “Get me down there.”
Colton already had rope out of his backsack and was tying one end of it into a harness. Without speaking, he reached around Gemma, fastening it to her. “You want to sit down in this part, okay? Lean back into the seat before you step off the ledge.”
“You can lower me by yourself?”
Colton smirked. “I’m stronger than you think.” Hawk and Imara appeared behind him. “And if you somehow weigh more thank you look, I have two more people to help.”
Gemma’s stomach churned as she turned around on the ledge, following Colton’s instructions. When she felt secure in the harness he’d created, she carefully dangled off the edge—and stepped into the abyss.
Slowly, her teammates lowered her into the darkness of the chamber below. Gemma clung to the rope, focusing on drawing even, deep breaths.Stars, please let him be okay. Please let him be okay.
The air grew colder the further she descended. Every inch felt like an hour.
Her lungs begged her to scream into the void.
She held her breath, digging her fingertips into the rope, squeezing it until the muscles in her forearms ached.
Her feet touched ground. In an instant, she was out of the rope.
Gemma’s knees slammed onto the cold, hard stone as she dropped to Christian’s side.Please, please, please, please.
A strong pulse met her fingers. He was alive.
