Chapter 31

The hospital had given Jake some dry clothes to wear. He hadn’t thought about anything when he had jumped into the air rescue chopper holding Hunter’s hand, only that he had to be with him at all costs. It had all passed in a blur of drama and chaos. Daniel’s lifeless, pale face lying still and closed-up on the stretcher below him, he felt like he had barely breathed in that entire journey to the mainland hospital.

Hunter had been breathing on his own but still wasn’t conscious, and the paramedics had been messing with tubes and ventilators while Jake curbed his panic the best he could. He had lost a friend this way once before, saved them from drowning, only to have them die later from too much fluid intake.

It had felt like an eternity sitting in that hall waiting for word, his stomach churning itself in knots and his hands trembling and cold when they had got here. The ship’s captain had been sent back to the boat as daylight had broken. He wanted him to take care of