Page 39 of The Head Game

Nico spent the intermission wolfing down a power bar and icing his shoulder to prevent any inflammation. He’d swallowed a couple of over-the-counter painkillers from the trainer and leaned against the stall, closing his eyes a moment.

He was half-dozing when Matty nudged his thigh. “Look lively, bud. Time to get back out there.”

Nico did it on autopilot and the second period went okay. He didn’t contribute much but he wasn’t a liability either.

The team was up 3-2 in the final ten minutes of the third period when Nico’s vision narrowed, going gray and dim on the sides. He was on a breakaway, skating toward the offensive zone and he blinked rapidly, hoping it would clear.

Get through the shift. Get through the shift, he chanted to himself but the gray continued to creep in. He fumbled his stick, trying to get a shot off to Dominic.

Something slammed into him from the side, pain flaring in his shoulder and for a moment, Nico was weightless, flying through the air.

He landed on the ice on his back, his vision and hearing going in and out.

“What?” he mumbled before the noise rushed back in, a huge wall of sound crashing over him like a wave.

Everything in front of his eyes went gray before he felt a tug like he was being towed under by some invisible, powerful force.

And then he went under and the world went dark and silent.

CHAPTER SIX

Noise from the crowd filled the air as a melee broke out. There were players fighting, and the team’s trainers jumping onto the ice.

But all August could see was Nico’s limp body.

“No, no, no,” August muttered under his breath, throat tight as he skated toward him, the trainers beating him to it.

It had been a monster hit from Buffalo’s Jeremiah Keller and Nico’d already had one hit earlier in the game.

August knew all too well what that could mean. None of the concussion spotters had alerted the officials about a problem during the first hit but they could have missed something.

A second head injury in the game could do serious damage.

And Nico was so still …

Oh, but he was moving now … Relief filled August for a brief moment before he realized Nico wasn’t getting up like he should.

He was moving with erratic little jerks of his body, limbs twitching unnaturally.

The head trainer’s arm went up, signaling they’d gone into an emergency protocol.

August slowed to a stop, watching with dawning horror as he realized Nico was having a seizure.

A few feet away there was a fight going on that August was dimly aware he should be breaking up, but all he could do was stare in horror.

The EMTs and the team doctor arrived, partially blocking August’s view as they tended to Nico.

It was enough to pull August’s attention away and he glanced around to see the fight had stopped, both teams realizing something serious was happening.

Fisher Cats players stood near Nico’s prone body, staring worriedly at their teammate, Buffalo’s guys respectfully standing back.

August’s throat went tight as he watched the EMTs work on Nico. He couldn’t see much of what they were doing from this angle but Nico’s legs had stopped twitching at least.

They wrapped a c-collar around his neck and carefully slid a board under him.

As they loaded him onto the stretcher, Nico lay very still, face white, body unmoving.

August could see the slow rise and fall of his chest under his jersey and pads. He was alive at least. His heart and his breathing were fine.

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