Page 78 of Fighting for Lucy

“Let me get an IV set up,” Bubba said.

Even though she felt stuck floating in the air, it was like she was still able to look down on what was happening. It was a little fuzzy, but she could see Zander and Bubba kneeling beside her, Rocco and Gumby were standing protectively beside them. Rex, Phantom, and Ace were surrounding the pilot, and Fox and the guys running toward the flaming wreckage of the helo she’d just jumped out of.

Guess Zimraan really didn't know how to fly a helo.

Good.

She was glad he was dead.

He’d threatened the man she was falling in love with, made Zander live out his worst nightmare all over again, he deserved a lot worse than he’d gotten.

“What’s wrong with her?” Zander asked, the panic in his voice growing. “Why won't she answer me? She’s awake, her eyes are open, but she’s not saying anything and looking right through me.”

Hands were skimming her body, and Bubba looked concerned. “She’s in shock, but her pulse is steady, she’s not going to die.”

No.

Not going to die.

But her overwhelmed brain was ready to short circuit. Her body went completely taut and then her muscles began to jerk violently as a seizure hit.

January 28th

11:51 P.M.

“It would be reallynice if you woke up soon, sassy girl,” Zander whispered as he brushed his knuckles across a sleeping Lucy’s forehead.

More than fourteen hours had passed since he watched her jump out of a flying helicopter.

In those seconds it had taken her to hit the ground he’d been positive his heart was going to hammer its way right out of his chest. There was every possibility that she wouldn’t survive the fall, even though it wasn’t a huge distance, and even if shedid the injuries she could have ended up with might have been horrific.

Though he’d lived through a lot in his life, those seconds topped the scale of the worst of the worst.

Because Lucy was his future.

His entire future was wrapped up in a five-foot-three, blonde-haired, blue-eyed package, full to the brim of smarts, sass, and strength. Without her, his life would be empty and useless. There would be no point in going on.

A whirlwind of activity had filled the first half of the last fourteen hours. Another helo had been brought in to pick them up, Lucy and the pilot had both been loaded onto backboards and transported to Landstuhl, the military hospital in Germany. It was the closest facility, and five hours after she jumped out of the helo, she was being examined by a doctor.

Two of her cracked ribs had been damaged further, her broken arm had ended up needing surgery, there was a hairline fracture in her right foot that would require her to wear a moon boot for a few weeks, and she had been diagnosed with a concussion. Some of the wounds from where she’d been skinned would need to be watched carefully for infection, and thankfully none were bad enough to need skin grafts.

Three hours after arriving at the hospital, she was wheeled out of recovery and into a private room.

While the doctors had told him—on many more than one occasion—that she was not receiving any sedation drugs, and that her brain scan was clear, he was yet to believe it.

Why wasn’t she waking up?

Six hours was more than enough time for her body to have regained enough strength just to open those big blue eyes for a single second. That was all he needed. One second to know that she was going to be okay.

“How’s our girl doing?” Phantom asked as he strolled into Lucy’s room.

All six of the SEAL team guys had decided to stay at the hospital until Lucy was released as had all the Prey guys. Nobody wanted to leave without her.

In their world, you didn't leave anyone behind, even if you would only be leaving the person safe in a hospital bed.

“She’s the same,” he replied. The guys kept coming in and out. Nobody wanted to overwhelm her when she woke up, otherwise, he was pretty sure that all twelve of them would be camping out in there. Well, maybe eleven as he was sure somebody would hang with the pilot who had been lucky to walk away with nothing more than bumps and bruises.

“Lucy is strong, she’ll be okay,” Phantom said as he pulled up the room’s other chair to the opposite side of Lucy’s bed.

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