The creek bed was treacherous -- slick rocks hidden beneath the surface, fallen branches creating obstacles we had to navigate while hunched low to stay beneath the worst of the smoke.We moved as quickly as we dared.
Another groan, louder this time.I glanced back to see the massive pine lean farther, its upper branches swaying in a grotesque parody of a bow.Oktober looked back too, his face tightening as he gauged the distance.
“Move!”he shouted, tugging me forward with renewed urgency.“Noose!Move it!”
We scrambled faster, abandoning caution for speed.My foot slipped on a moss-covered stone, throwing me off balance.I clutched at Oktober’s hand, but my fingers, slick with water and sweat, couldn’t maintain their grip.I fell hard, my knee cracking against a submerged rock, pain lancing up my thigh.Water splashed around me as I struggled to regain my footing.
“Mia!”Oktober turned back for me, reaching out.
The world seemed to slow, events unfolding with terrible clarity.A burning branch, dislodged by the wind, crashed down from overhead.It struck Oktober across the shoulders, driving him to his knees in the shallow water, momentarily stunning him.I finally got my feet under me just as the massive pine at the lake’s edge gave its final surrender to gravity.I could hear the crack of smaller branches as they collided with obstacles, the inexorable trajectory of thousands of pounds of wood coming directly toward where I stood.
“Look out!”Pain’s voice seemed to come from very far away.
I tried to move, but my injured knee buckled.The shadow of the falling giant blotted out what remained of the sky above me.In that moment, I knew with absolute certainty that I was about to die in a very horrific way.
Then Noose was there, appearing as if from nowhere, his face set with grim determination.He slammed into me, shoving me away with every ounce of his considerable strength.I flew through the air, hitting the water several feet away with enough force to drive the breath from my lungs.
When I surfaced, gasping, the tree had completed its fall.The massive trunk lay across the creek bed where I had fallen mere seconds before.And beneath it --
“No!”Oktober’s agonized shout cut through the roar of flames.
Noose was pinned beneath the trunk, the weight crushing his back and hips.His arms were outstretched toward me, his body having absorbed the full impact that should have been mine.His wild eyes wide with pain but clearly searching for me.And aware of exactly what he had done.His mouth moved, forming words I couldn’t hear over the cacophony of the fire.Then, between one heartbeat and the next, the light behind his eyes simply… vanished.His outstretched hand went slack against the creek bed stones.
A scream tore from my throat, raw and primal.I tried to move toward him, some irrational part of me believing I could help, could somehow undo what had just happened.Strong arms wrapped around me from behind, dragging me backward through the water.
“Mia, don’t look,” Oktober’s voice broke as he pulled me away.“Don’t look,Kätzchen.”
But I had already seen.The image burned into my consciousness with the permanence of a brand.I thought I saw the absence of regret in his expression in his final moments.But maybe that’s what I told myself.He had made a choice, deliberate and instantaneous.Whether he’d intended to trade his life for mine I’ll never know.But no matter what, I’d never forget what Noose had done for me.
Oktober pulled me against his chest, one hand cradling the back of my head, trying to shield me from the sight.Over his shoulder, I could see Pain kneeling beside Noose’s body, fingers pressed against his neck in a futile check for a pulse he surely knew wasn’t there.Inferno stood guard, his face a mask of grief and rage as he scanned the burning shoreline, determined not to let his brother’s sacrifice be in vain.
“He saved me,” I whispered against Oktober’s neck, my voice breaking.“Why would he do that for me?”
Oktober’s arms tightened around me, his body shaking with silent grief.“Because you’re family now,” he said simply, the words carrying the weight of an oath.“And we protect our own.”
The fire raged around us, undiminished.But in that moment, surrounded by death and devastation, I understood something fundamental about the men who had risked everything to come for me.This wasn’t just a club or a brotherhood.This was something deeper, something forged in trials and sacrifice.And Noose had just written me into that covenant with his blood.
Oktober pulled back just enough to look at my face, his eyes fierce through unshed tears.“We need to keep moving,” he said, voice rough.“Or we lose everyone.”
I nodded, numb with shock but understanding the truth of his words.Behind us, Pain stood from Noose’s body, shrugging out of his vest and draping it over Noose’s head and upper body as best he could.
“Creek widens about a hundred yards down,” Inferno reported, taking point as we prepared to move forward.“Might give us enough of a firebreak to wait for help.”The fire advanced mercilessly, forcing us onward despite our grief.
Chapter Eleven
Mia
The plastic chair dug into my spine as I shifted for the thousandth time, trying to find comfort where none existed.Three days in this box had etched the antiseptic smell into my nostrils and burned the steady monitor beeps into my brain.I’d never liked hospitals before, but it was official now.I hated them.
I stared at Oktober’s motionless form beneath crisp white sheets, counting each rise and fall of his chest like a prayer.He wasn’t in danger.In fact, his recovery had been quicker than I’d thought.The worst of his injuries had been burns to his hands when he’d tried to help Noose, and smoke inhalation.The damage to his lungs had been the main reason they’d kept him this long.But he still needed lots of rest.The nurses had stopped suggesting I go home.I wouldn’t leave, couldn’t leave, not when he’d walked through fire to find me.No.I was here for the long haul.
My fingers traced the edge of the bandage on my forehead, the cut from hitting the Bronco’s seat back now little more than a dull throb beneath.A trivial injury compared to Oktober’s burns.The doctors called them partial thickness burns.Painful, likely to scar, but not life-threatening.
The helicopter ride remained a blur in my memory.Oktober strapped to a gurney beside me, his hand reaching for mine despite the pain, his eyes fierce even as the medics pushed an oxygen mask over his face.None of us spoke about leaving behind Noose’s body, still pinned beneath that massive tree.Inferno had stayed behind to assist in helping others like me who’d been overlooked and were either missing or displaced.I thought it a testament to the character of the men and women around me that more than one of them had packed up and gone to help Inferno.The rest had come to support Oktober.And me.
Oktober shifted slightly in the hospital bed, drawing my attention back to his battered body.His arms bore the worst of the burns where he’d shielded me from falling embers.Red, angry patches marked his skin between white bandages, a map of his sacrifice.His normally imposing frame looked strangely vulnerable beneath the thin hospital blanket, his golden hair dull against the stark white pillowcase.
The door opened with a soft click.Ada entered carrying two paper cups, the rich scent of coffee cutting through that unmistakable hospital smell all around us.She placed one on the side table next to me and squeezed my shoulder, her touch warm and solid.
