He Led the Rescue Astray Chapter 2

About ten minutes later, the Captain's voice crackled over the radio.

"We've got her! Her leg is caught in a bear trap, it's shattered. Is the ambulance here yet?"

"Negative!" someone replied.

Panic seized me. I snatched the radio from the Captain's belt.

"I can provide first aid! I'm a doctor! What's the location? I'm coming now!"

I ran, my feet flying over the uneven ground, a single prayer chanting in my mind.

Don't die, Mom. Please, just hold on.

I'm almost there. You have to hold on!

When I finally reached her, she had already lost too much blood and slipped into unconsciousness. She was lying on a stretcher, cold and pale, just like the last time I saw her.

A sob escaped my lips, and I collapsed over her body, weeping.

The Captain pulled me back. "Quick! Back to the command post! We have oxygen tanks there!"

Right. She needed oxygen, a blood transfusion. She wasn't dead yet.

I wiped my tears, nodded, and scrambled to my feet, following the team back.

But when we arrived, the command post was filled with cheers.

Alex stood there, covered in mud, with a woman on his back. I recognized her instantly: Mina's mother. Unlike last time, with the search party split, her rescue had been rougher. There were several bloody gashes on her thigh, and she too was unconscious.

I could only scoff.

What a performance. A few scratches and she faints?

I tried to ignore it, but Alex believed her act. He had commandeered the entire medical kit for her.

What about my mother?

"Wait!" I yelled, running over. "Give me one of those oxygen tanks!"

I tried to wrestle one away from him.

Alex's face was a mask of grim determination. He shoved me back with his body, sending me sprawling to the ground.

"Mina's mother needs oxygen! A life is on the line, Lily! When are you going to stop this selfish act?"

He completely ignored my mother, bleeding and broken nearby, to lavish attention and resources on a woman with a few superficial wounds.

Was he really so blind he couldn't see who was in mortal danger?

With no other choice, I grabbed a sturdy branch from the ground, tore a strip from my white sundress, and began to fashion a crude splint to stabilize my mother's fractured leg.