Page 53 of Marc
“Colbie’s badly burned. North, look at her first.”
“No, I’m okay. Check his?—”
North cleared his throat. “I’m the medic, I’ll decide. Sit.”
I dropped into a seat.
“Is she okay?” The deep voice came from the cockpit.
I gasped. “Dad?”
My father, with a flight helmet on, glanced back. He pushed up his visor. “You okay, sweetheart?” I could see the relief on his face.
Love filled me. He’d come to help. “I’m okay, Dad. A bit of a rough day.”
“You had us worried.” He smiled. “Let’s get you home. Welcome aboard Erickson Air, we’re hoping for a smooth flight.”
I grinned at him. God, I loved my dad. He focused on the controls and a second later, the Talon swung east.
North kneeled in front of me and touched my face. “Those are some nasty burns.”
“It was some nasty, black fluid.” Just remembering that poor man in the cocoon made me shudder.
“I’m going to put some medgel on them. You’ll need nano-meds once we get back to Dawn.”
I nodded. The quicker he did this, the quicker he’d check out Marc.
North slathered me in gel. Jameson was nearby, talking quietly with Marc. Zeke hovered next to his brother. Jess and Kai sat close by.
“Okay, Marc, let’s see to that arm,” North said.
“A threader broke it,” I said.
Jameson leaned forward. “A threader?”
“Yeah,” Marc said. “We ran into an entire fucking convention of them.” He sat back, wincing as North checked his arm. “Thereare cocoons all through Blue Mountain Base. We saw maybe twenty or thirty threaders.”
“Fuck,” Jameson said.
I swallowed. “We opened a cocoon. There was a man inside.” Marc reached out with his good hand and took my hand. “He didn’t make it,” I finished quietly.
“The guy was in bad shape and fucking sprayed black crap at Colbie. That’s what burned her.”
Jess leaned forward, her eyes burning with questions.
“Okay, take it easy for now,” Jameson said. “We’ll do a full debrief once we get home.”
I watched North splint Marc’s arm.
“We’ll let your mom fix that for you.” All business, North pressed an injector to Marc’s neck. “That’s to tide you over.”
A moment later, the lines bracketing Marc’s mouth eased.
“And you.” North gave me a shot, too.
Immediately, warmth seeped into me, the pain dulling.
“You two had a hell of an adventure,” Jameson said.
