“Am I hit, Trap?” he asked.
Trap was working on him, his face grim, his movements steady, but very fast. “I’m putting a line in your arm, Wyatt. We need to give you blood and we don’t want your veins collapsing on us before I get this line in. As soon as we’re home I’ll do the repairs, but you don’t pass out on me, you hear? We need you alert.”
Wyatt tried to keep his eyes open. He drifted in a sea of pain and guilt. The last thing he wanted to do was be a burden to his team. He was aware of them all around him, kneeling beside him, their faces grim, their voices low as they worked on him. Ezekiel was on one side of him while they tried to push blood into him.
“We’ve got to go now,” Trap determined. “Get us back home fast, Malichai.”
Wyatt watched the night spinning fast above his head. Every bumping jar of the boat on the water sent a ripple of agony shredding through his muscles and bones. The strange spinning made him sick and he closed his eyes.
Wyatt. Pepper’s voice was demanding. Don’t you dare die on us. We’ve got three children who need you desperately.
I don’ plan on dyin’, honey. Just goin’ to sleep for a little while. I’m tired out.
Well, you can’t. We’re all tired out. All of us. You’re still needed.
He didn’t like letting her down, but truthfully, he wasn’t certain he could stay awake. He’d never been so tired in his life. And cold. Is there a blanket around, I’m freezin’.
“He needs a blanket. Didn’t we bring one?” Pepper asked, anxiety turning her voice soft and teary.
Wyatt hated that. He tried to rouse himself but he couldn’t move. He turned his head toward her, prying open his eyes just enough to make her out. She knelt beside him, the two babies cuddled on either side. She looked as if she was crying. Worse, the two babies, looking exactly like Ginger, looked as if they were crying as well. All three stared at him with big eyes.
Don’ cry, Pepper. You’re upsettin’ the children. I’m goin’ to be fine. Trap’s a good doctor. He’ll fix me up.
“This damn swamp is a maze,” Malichai shouted. “How the hell does he know which way to go?”
“Turn into that canal just ahead,” Trap said.
Malichai scowled at him. “Trap, you’ve never been through the swamp except when we were heading to the plant. How could you possibly know?”
Trap knows, Wyatt told Pepper. He never forgets anything.
“He’s right,” Pepper called, trying to be heard above the sound of the airboat. “That’s the way we came in, Wyatt confirmed it.”
Malichai took the airboat into the canal, hoping for the best. All of them felt a sense of urgency. They’d have to prepare a makeshift operating room and Trap would have to do what he did. He wasn’t a surgeon, not like Wyatt, but he was a good doctor and he read more books and attended more seminars and classes, watched more operations, than anyone else. He retained everything he read or saw. They’d have to trust that he could find out just where Wyatt was bleeding and repair the damage.
Are you hanging in there, Wyatt?
Trap’s voice roused Wyatt out of his comfortable stupor. He didn’t want to think, it was too difficult, but something in Trap’s voice made him answer.
I’m here. Pepper’s hangin’ on to me. She won’ stop givin’ orders. Who could sleep with her bossy mouth? He loved her mouth. Her sweet, sweet instrument that made him feel so good. I love her mouth. Even when she’s bein’ bossy.
I’m not going to put you all the way under. I’ll need your help.
Wyatt’s heart jerked hard in his chest. Trap had to be worried to tell him that.
I’m tellin’ you, Trap, it’s just a little repair. The leg’s good. It’s just bleedin’ a lot, but the one in my chest, I thought I’d taken care of it, but it didn’ hold.
I can do it, Trap assured. But diggin’ inside you is not my favorite thing. Not under these conditions and in your grand-mere’s house. If I make a mistake, that woman owns a shotgun and the one staring at you with moony eyes can bite with venom. Then there’re the three little vipers…
Wyatt laughed. Coughed. Hurt like hell. Shut up before you kill me. Unless that’s the plan, to do me in before we get to the house.
It might be a better option. You’ve got Ezekiel’s blood going into you.
If I need more, use Pepper. I want to see if her blood will give me any immunity against snakebites.
After I give you her blood, do you plan on letting one of the little ones bite you? Trap asked curiously.