Page 10

Troy

I gasped as I came to, every inch of me throbbing, my chest tight, my head spinning. My ribs felt cracked, and my face was swollen and stiff with dried blood. My left leg twisted at an angle that wasn’t entirely natural, pain stabbing up my thigh every time I shifted. It didn’t feel broken, but it was definitely damaged. It had to be my knee.

I sucked in a slow, shaky breath, wincing at the sharp sting in my ribs. The air was frigid, biting through my clothes and making me shudder violently.

It’s so fucking cold.

I exhaled, my breath visible in the dim moonlight filtering through the shattered window.

The entire cabin was an eerie wreckage—twisted metal, shredded seats, and debris scattered across the frozen ground outside my window.

The smell of oil, fire, and smoke filled my nostrils, thick and suffocating.

Where are we?

I swallowed hard, my mind sluggish, trying to piece everything together .

The flight. The turbulence. The crash. The mountain.

Goddamnit.

I gasped and tried to sit up, pain lancing through me so sharply that I nearly blacked out again. My heart pounded erratically, frantic and terrified.

Adrian. Elena.

I turned sharply to my side, expecting to see Adrian beside me, but his seat was empty.

“Adrian!” My voice cracked, raw with fear. I could have sworn he’d spoken to me earlier.

Silence.

My stomach lurched. I fought against the pain, forcing myself to move. Every breath burned, my limbs stiff and aching as I struggled out of my seat. Pain shot through my leg. My feet stumbled over debris, my body screaming in protest, but I kept moving.

My heart slammed against my ribs, panic clawing at my throat.

Please, please, let them be alive.

Then I saw them.

Adrian was slumped in a seat next to Elena’s, his back against the mangled back part, his face covered in blood and dirt. Unmoving.

And next to him?—

Elena.

Her body was so still. Her face was swollen, bruised, and covered in dried blood.

No. No, no, no.

I fell to my knees beside them in the aisle, reaching out with trembling hands.

I pressed my fingers against Adrian’s pulse first.

A slow, even beat greeted me. I let out a choked breath of relief.

“Adrian. Wake up, man.”

I shook his shoulder gently, ignoring the sharp pain that shot through my ribs.

He let out a groggy groan, then a sharp intake of breath. His eyes fluttered open, unfocused, dazed. His fingers were still wrapped around Elena’s hand .

“Troy?” His voice was hoarse, barely a whisper. His gaze darted around wildly before landing back on her.

Then panic. My heart clenched.

“Elena,” he rasped. His body tensed as he tried to sit up. His free hand cradled her face, his bloody fingers trembling.

“Elena, wake up. Please, fucking wake up.”

I swallowed hard, watching him. I had never seen Adrian beg. Not for anything. Not ever.

My gut twisted.

I reached forward with shaky fingers, pressing them against Elena’s pulse point.

My breath caught.

Slow. Weak.

But there.

Barely.

I closed my eyes, swallowing the thick lump in my throat.

A tiny sound echoed in the night—a faint, barely-there whimper from her lips.

Adrian let out a ragged sob, his forehead dropping against her shoulder.

I let out a breath that had been burning my lungs, my body slumping against Adrian’s seat as I fell to my ass.

Adrian lifted his head, his fear-stricken gaze meeting mine in the moonlight.

“We need to get warm,” I rasped after a long moment. “Stay with her.”

I forced myself to stand, every muscle screaming in agony as I stumbled through the wreckage, searching for anything useful in the dark.

The cold was unforgiving.

We wouldn’t survive the night without warmth.

I found a pile of emergency blankets in one of the overhead compartments, half-buried under debris.

My fingers were numb as I yanked them free. I limped back to Adrian, barely able to breathe through the pain and exhaustion.

Adrian’s gaze snapped up the moment I approached. I handed him a blanket, watching as he wrapped it around them .

The way his hands trembled—the way his jaw clenched.

I looked away.

“I need to check on Dean,” I muttered.

Adrian nodded without looking at me, his entire focus on her.

I forced myself toward the cockpit, each step agonizing, my body barely holding itself together.

The sight inside made my stomach churn.

Dean was gone.

His body was twisted unnaturally, face battered beyond recognition, blood pooling around him. A thick branch jutted out from his chest.

A strangled noise ripped from my throat.

I turned away, pressing the heel of my palm against my forehead as tears flooded my cheeks.

Fuck.

I liked Dean. Hell, I loved him. He was like an uncle to us. We’d known him and his family for years. Growing up, I didn’t have many memories that he wasn’t part of. He had been good to us.

My hands clenched into fists while my throat burned with rising grief. There was nothing I could do for him now.

I staggered back toward Adrian and Elena, my body on the brink of collapse.

Adrian looked up the moment I approached.

I didn’t say a word. I just shook my head. His shoulders sagged. His eyes darkened in the moonlight.

I dropped next to him, my body screaming in protest.

“We have to keep one another warm,” I said hoarsely into his ear. “We’ll die for sure if we don’t. Tomorrow, we can try to get this shit sorted. I-I don’t know what we can do tonight.”

Adrian nodded numbly before he spoke.

“I guess we pray,” he whispered.

I nodded grimly before I shifted and got into the seat on Elena’s other side, draping another blanket over us.

She was still so pale.

So still.

I said a silent prayer for us all as I wrapped my arms around her body in an attempt to keep us all warm, Adrian following.

Sleep was supposed to bring relief, but there was none.

The cold bit deep, numbing me from the inside out. Every breath was sharp, every muscle in my body locked so tightly I felt like I might never move again.

I drifted in and out of consciousness, the weight of exhaustion pressing down, the ache in my bones reminding me with each heartbeat that we were barely holding on.

Elena’s hand was still in mine. Frail. Cold. I squeezed it lightly, praying for a response. Any response.

Nothing.

I wasn’t even sure she was still breathing, and I was too weak to check. I dozed off again, and when I woke, a fresh wave of panic rolled through me, snapping me awake fully.

I turned to Adrian.

He was awake, too, his eyes locked on her.

His face was stiff, his jaw tight, but something else was there—fear. Desperation.

I had never seen Adrian look like this, like he was falling apart. Like he was unraveling at the seams. The sight of it made something ugly twist in my chest.

I tightened my grip on Elena’s hand, willing warmth back into her. The sun was barely peeking through the trees.

“She’s going to be OK,” I murmured, though I wasn’t sure if I was saying it for him or myself.

Adrian’s throat bobbed as he swallowed, his other hand still resting lightly against Elena’s cheek.

“I don’t know,” he whispered. “She’s bad. She’s not woken once all night. I stayed up to watch over you guys. S-She doesn’t even respond when I touch her.”

I clenched my jaw. “She will. She’ll be OK, man. I promise she will. She won’t leave. She’s too strong for that. ”

Silence stretched between us.

The only sound was the wind howling through the wreckage, the faint crackling of a dying fire somewhere outside the plane.

I hated it. I hated this waiting—this helplessness. I hated how fragile she looked between us. I hated how scared I was that Adrian might be right.

“Come on, Elena,” Adrian whispered so softly I barely heard it.

His thumb brushed lightly against her temple, where dried blood had caked over a deep cut.

It was such a careful, reverent touch that my breath caught. Because I knew Adrian, he didn’t do gentle. He didn’t do care. Not for her. Not for anyone. And yet, he was holding her like she was something precious. Like she was the only thing keeping him together.

I turned away, my throat tight. I didn’t want to think about what this meant. I didn’t want to question why this moment felt so heavy. I just wanted her to wake up.

Adrian took a shaky breath. “She’s not strong enough for this.”

I whipped my head toward him. “Bullshit. You fucking know she is. ”

He flinched slightly, but his expression remained blank.

“She’s weak, Troy,” he muttered. “She’s always been weak.”

I stared at him, my pulse thrumming.

“No,” I said slowly. “ She’s not .”

His eyes darkened, his bottom lip wobbling. “You don’t know that.”

I shook my head. “She’s still breathing, isn’t she?”

He swallowed, his hands tightening into a fist beside her.

I knew what he was doing. He was trying to make himself believe it didn’t matter. That she didn’t matter, but it was too late for that. For both of us.

I exhaled and shifted closer, tucking the blanket more securely over us.

“We’ll make it,” I whispered.

Adrian didn’t respond. His jaw flexed, his eyes flickering toward Elena again. His fingers curled over hers beneath the blanket against mine, gripping just a little tighter.

I closed my eyes, feeling exhaustion pull at me again.

I refused to let go of her hand.

Adrian did the same.

As the morning stretched on, the wind howling through the wreckage, we held onto her, praying she would still be with us when our eyes opened again.