Ever Hayes - Redemption

“Hi, Mommy. You’re awake!”

Is she yelling? “Shhh…yes. Hi baby.” My throat was so incredibly dry. I tried to move my arms, but I quickly realized they were strapped to the bed and I was loaded up with tubes. Emily laid her head on my chest in a gentle hug and I closed my eyes. I needed something for the pain. “Is there a nurse around, Em?”

“I’ll get one, Mom.”

Still yelling.

“Don’t move, Mom.”

Don’t worry. I won’t . “Okay.”

Emily ran out of the room. My head was pounding, and the light was making it much worse, but I forced myself to open my eyes again and take in the rest of the room. Another person was sleeping in the bed next to me, also with IV tubes in her arms. “Kate?” She didn’t reply. “Kate.” I tried again.

“She’s out,” a female voice said, and I saw a nurse approach.

“Is she okay?” I was tearing up again.

“She will be. She made it through surgery. She lost a lot of blood. She’s fighting off pneumonia. She’s—”

“She’s going to be okay?”

“We think so.” She unstrapped my left arm and began checking my vitals.

There were a dozen bands on my left arm. I had to be on a lot of crap. Another thought hit me, as I vaguely remembered the helicopter coming in and picking us up. I reached up and grabbed her hand. “Ryan?”

The nurse looked confused. “I’m sorry. I don’t know who that is.”

“My husband. It’s my husband. He was on the island with me. Did they find him?”

The nurse looked out into the hallway. I tried to see around her, but I couldn’t see who or what she was looking at. “I…” She was clearly uncomfortable. “I…give me a minute.” She walked briskly out the door.

A minute later, another familiar face appeared in the doorway. “Oh my God. Reagan.”

She stepped into the room, glancing at Kate before hurrying to my side. “It’s so good to see you.” Reagan took my hand.

More tears. Suddenly panic overtook my chest, as I realized Emily hadn’t come back in. Had I been imagining her? And where was Ollie? “Is Emily…” Owww! “Ollie?”

“They’re in the hall with everyone else. You just saw Emily, and Ollie is fine.”

Everyone? “Everyone’s out there? Ryan?”

Reagan paused, but I read her face clearly. “No, honey.” Another pause. “I’m sorry.”

My lower lip quivered uncontrollably, and a deep sob forced its way up through my chest. No! Reagan bent over, gently leaning her head against mine, and I felt her tears mix with mine. “I’m sorry, Tara. We haven’t found him.”

I sobbed as Reagan held me for a few more minutes, and then she pulled away and I collected myself enough to ask more about Ollie.

“He’s fine,” Reagan assured me. “I’m taking care of him—don’t worry. He was pretty dehydrated and scraped up but he’s in much better shape than you two.” When I didn’t laugh she continued. “Anyway, he’s with Emily and Abbey now.”

“Abbey’s okay too?”

“Yes. And Sam, Trigger, Twix, Deacon, and Royce. They’re all out there.”

I heard her say Sam but thought she’d misspoken and my head hurt too much to call her on it now. Did that nurse give me anything for the pain? I don’t think she did! “Reagan, they can come in.”

“Uh, Tara.” Reagan glanced at my body, and I looked down. Holy shit . I was pretty much naked but covered in a hundred bandages. “They took an awful lot of glass out of you. You were really cut up.”

“I guess they can stay out there.” I laughed briefly, but that really hurt. There were other people Reagan hadn’t mentioned.

“Is Grandpa Dan—”

“No.” Reagan shook her head. “Haven’t found him. Kaci…” She continued to shake her head.

“Jenna?”

“We found her, but…” Reagan’s voice trailed off.

“But?” I knew she was dead but for some reason I needed to hear it.

“It’s honestly best you don’t see her. You wouldn’t…” Her facial expression and quivering voice completed the sentence for me.

I wouldn’t recognize her . I reached out for Reagan’s hand again, and she interlaced her fingers with mine. “Have we heard anything from Danny?”

Another head shake. “No.”

Dang it . “Reagan, I really really need something for this pain. Please.” I squeezed her hand tightly as a nauseating wave washed over me. I closed my eyes until it passed and then opened them, releasing Reagan’s hand.

“Let me grab the nurse again.” Reagan stood.

“Do we even know if they’re alive?” I knew that was a rhetorical question. She’d have told me if they did.

“We know they made it to Cheyenne Mountain—that’s it. None of the guys have heard anything since.”

There was a sudden commotion in the hallway. Reagan stood and looked out the door. “What is it?” I tried to sit up and see but couldn’t.

“Shit,” Reagan muttered. “It’s the governor.”

I heard a stream of curses. “What’s he so angry about?”

“He must have just found out about his wife.”

“His wife?”

“Yes. She was being held with us at the pink house.”

“Where is she now?”

Reagan paused and glanced back down the hall. “She’s dead.”

“Dead?”

“She killed herself. We only had four air tanks when the basement flooded. One of us wasn’t going to make it out. She made the decision for us.”

“And he’s just finding out now?”

Reagan didn’t answer the question. “Get some rest, Tara. Kate should be awake in a couple hours. She’s really going to need you. Her baby didn’t make it.”

Damn it! I knew it. My head hurt so much, and my eyes were so heavy I knew I needed the sleep. I just didn’t want it. “Hey, take care of my—”

“I will,” Reagan assured me as the nurse came back in. “I’ll be right out here if you need me.”

“Thank you,” I addressed Reagan first then focused on the nurse. “Thank God. Please tell me you can help with this pain.”

The nurse smiled. “I will. I’ll take care of it.”

I closed my eyes again as she played around with the machines next to me. “Oh, hey…”

“Yes?”

The nurse’s voice sounded really far away. “I was reading all these bracelets on my arm…and I think…” My speech sounds really slow—almost slurred . “I think you messed up. You messed up.” Am I drunk?

“There, that’ll help,” the nurse said. “The meds will kick in quick. So how did we mess up?”

“I think…I think you got me confused whiff…whiff her.” I tried to point at Kate but couldn’t even feel my fingers.

“How so?”

“There’s a…” Wow, I feel really weird . “There’s a pink band on my arm says ‘pregnant-five weeks.’” Did I just say five wheats? “That band should have been hersh… hersh… Kayshtes… and ish sood have said eight… eight wheats.” I did say wheats! “But isssshh okay. You can dust trow it away sho see no she it. She—it.” Shit!

I could barely understand myself. The medicine had taken over. But I still heard the last thing the nurse said.

“It wasn’t a mistake.”

The first arrow missed the C-4 cube by a couple inches. I don’t know if it was nerves or wind, or if I simply wasn’t strong enough to keep the bow still as the swirling water around me pulled at my legs. In any case it was close, but not close enough.