Twelve Labours of Love by Laura Stewart

Author:Laura Stewart [Stewart, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-02-13T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 34

‘Alex? Alex? ALEX!’

Mallory peered down the side of the verge, leaning out as far as she dared. It wasn’t a sheer drop, but it was pretty steep, with lots of trees to bounce off. About halfway down she could see his rucksack dangling off a branch. She heard a groan.

‘Hang on, I’m coming to get you.’

Stepping over the edge, she half walked, half slithered on her hands, feet and bum to where his rucksack was. When she was almost at it, she could see Alex just below, head down, his foot entangled in a tree root.

‘Are you okay?’ Mallory gasped as she scrambled over to him.

He was ashen. ‘My leg.’

She looked down at it and felt a little queasy. There was a gash in the side of his leg about five inches long which was slicked with blood.

If he had broken his leg she probably shouldn’t move him, or was that just in case the person had broken their neck? Crap! She had no idea. A couple of large drops of rain splashing on her head decided it for her.

‘Hang on a minute,’ she told him as she emptied out the contents of her rucksack and first aid kit.

‘Damn! I was hoping to hot-foot it out of here and head to a party.’

‘I see you didn’t bruise your sarcasm on the way down.’ She grasped hold of the small foldable spade in her emergency kit. ‘Right, I’m going to have to free your foot. Do you think it’s broken?’

‘Don’t think so.’

She started to dig up the tree root, careful not to jostle Alex’s foot. When it was free she untied his boot slightly then flicked open her army knife.

‘If you’re about to amputate, I’d rather we wait for a second opinion.’

‘I’ll let you keep all your limbs for now. I am, however, going to have to operate on your jeans.’

He gave a slight laugh. ‘That’s all right, I don’t think I’ll be wearing them again, the ripped look is so last season.’

Mallory tore the fabric along the seam to get a good look at the wound. Close up it looked worse. She checked over the array of first aid accoutrements lying on the bracken and laid aside the ones which looked most promising, or the ones she at least knew what they were.

She grabbed her water bottle, sluicing water over the wound. From what she could see there didn’t look as if he had anything stuck in his leg. The best thing she could do would be to bandage it up and take him to someone who had an actual clue as to what to do. She handed him the end of the water and two Nurofen, figuring anything was better than nothing.

‘Don’t suppose you’ve got a hip flask on you?’ she asked.

‘Ahh.’ He reached into his inside pocket and produced a slim silver one. ‘Good thinking.’

But she snatched it off him before he could raise it to his lips.

‘This may hurt,’ she warned, ignoring his protests. ‘In fact, it will.

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