Page 48 of Raven

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Raven

An hour later,we had a six-person team ready: my dog Mandy and Beatrice's dog Mike, radios, drones, rope, and medical kits. It wasn’t official, but it was efficient.

We met at the base of Croft Ridge. The air was colder than expected. The sun was starting to dip low, casting long shadows over the trees.

Troy passed out GPS locators. “We’ll split into pairs and sweep the area in a grid. Watch the ridge edges—if she’s injured, she may have tried to signal from higher ground.”

Dan crouched next to one of the dogs, holding out Beatrice’s sweatshirt. “Find her, boy,” he whispered to Beatrice's dog, Mike. Mandy was already going wild, so I let her go.

The dog barked and tore into the woods, nose down.

We moved fast.

Branches clawed at our arms. The ground was slick with mud in places. But none of us slowed down.

Every minute counted.

* * *

Beatrice

My voice was barely morethan a whisper now. I needed water. My head throbbed. My body ached.

I couldn’t feel my legs very well anymore.

But I kept whispering, hoping the wind would carry my voice farther than my lungs could.

“Please… help…”

The tree groaned under me again.

A new fear crept in—it wouldn’t hold much longer.

I shut my eyes and pictured Raven. His voice. His smile. The way he said my name like it meant something.

Hold on, Beatrice, I told myself. Just hold on.

I floated in and out of consciousness and lost all sense of time.

My throat burned from screaming. My right arm was numb, maybe dislocated, maybe worse. The branch I was stuck on groaned with every gust of wind, and I wasn’t sure how much longer it could hold.

I was thirsty. Dizzy.

But I was alive.

And I wasn’t giving up.

I blinked against the light shining through the trees and forced myself to shift slightly, just enough to see the slope below me.

Still too far to drop. But maybe…

A sound.

Far off. Faint.

Is that a dog barking? Are those voices I hear?

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