Fractured Minds (Rebels of Sandland 3)

“Which is?” Ryan sat forward, his hands shaking as he wrung them together.

“I won’t lie to you, he’s in a critical condition, and the next few days are going to be tough. He’s got a big fight ahead of him. He has fourth degree burns––”

“And what does that mean? Speak English, doctor, give it to us straight,” Ryan begged, cutting in.

“It means he’s suffered some extensive burns that’ve gone through layers of his skin as well as the underlying tissue. Nerve endings have been destroyed––”

“Is he going to die?” Ryan

was frantic. He just wanted the bare truth.

“I can’t tell you one way or another at this point. Whether he survives or not depends on how he responds to our treatment. What I can say is, he’s in the best hospital. Our burns unit is one of the best in the country. He’s young and fit, so he has that on his side, and the burns are of a percentage that with good medical care can be treatable. As I said before, the next few days will be crucial. We’ll be able to tell you more then.”

“Can I ask a question?” Emily leaned forward as Ryan sat back in his chair looking totally defeated.

“Of course. I’ll try my best to answer as clearly as I can,” the doctor replied.

“Where are his burns? On which part of the body, I mean.”

“His torso.” The doctor pointed to his chest as if we didn’t know what a torso was. “And his thighs are the worst affected areas. From what we can tell, something must’ve collapsed onto him. It pinned him to the floor.”

“So, not his face?” Emily asked.

“There’s some burns to the neck and lower part of his jaw, but no, not the face, as such. He was lucky in that respect.”

“Nothing that’s happened to him tonight is fucking lucky,” Ryan snapped, and Emily glared at him for his momentary but totally justified outburst.

“It’s not the doctor’s fault,” she hissed quietly. “Don’t swear at him.”

“I wasn’t swearing at him, I was swearing at this whole fucked-up shit heap of a night.” Ryan stood up and marched out of room, banging the door behind him, and we all just sat still, stunned into silence.

“I’m sorry, doctor.” Emily started to apologise, but the doctor held his hand up and gave us a sorrowful smile.

“No apology needed. If we hear anything else, we’ll let you know, but he’s in surgery now and that’s going to take a while. The best thing you can do is go home and get some rest. We should have news in the morning, after the surgery.”

The doctor said his goodbyes and left. We stood up, feeling like zombies, and walked back out into the waiting area. Ryan was sitting in the corner, hunched over with his head in his hands, and Liv was next to him, staring blindly ahead of her.

“We can’t do anything tonight,” Emily said, taking the spare seat on the other side of Ryan. “Liv, do you want to come home with us? You can stop over, if you like? You shouldn’t be alone. Not now.”

Liv nodded and handed Effy her keys.

“If you hear anything, will you ring us?” Effy asked.

“Of course. We’re all in this together,” Emily answered.

Effy and I walked away feeling like we weren’t entirely sure leaving was the right thing to do, but following our feet anyway.

“I don’t think you should go back to Zak’s on your own.” Effy threaded her arm through mine as we walked at a snail’s pace back to her car. “Come and stop at mine. My mum and dad will be asleep now. They won’t mind.”

I didn’t have the energy to argue. And I certainly didn’t want to go back to the apartment, not knowing whether Zak was going to make it or not. It didn’t feel right.

“Are we gonna be okay?” I asked, feeling like a useless little kid again.

“We’re gonna be strong for each other and we will get through this. Zak will pull through and we have Harper and Brandon’s babies to look forward to. Hey… If anyone can survive a tough time like this, it’s us.”

“I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have you.” I stopped as we reached her car and I held her, thankful she was here with me.

“Looks like fate brought us together at just the right time,” Effy said, smiling sadly. “It knew we needed each other.”