Page 121 of Daybreak

He knew within reason that the wreck had to be close, or another driver would have surely seen them walking. He looked down. The dog was right beside him, looking up.

“Okay, Buster. Where is Sam’s mommy? Show me! Show me!”

The dog took off running due east with Gunner right beside him, and it didn’t take long to find what he went looking for. About a hundred yards down from where he was running, he saw a big white truck in a ditch on the wrong side of the road, lying driver’s side down.

Buster kicked into high gear and took off running and was waiting beside the truck when Gunner caught up. He could see a woman behind the wheel, bloody and motionless.

“Good boy, Buster. Good boy,” he said and patted the dog on the head, then stepped into the ditch and looked down into the open window on the passenger side—the one the boy and the dog had obviously crawled out of. He made a quick call to the sheriff’s office to give the location, then leaned back into the open window. He couldn’t reach her without crawling in, and without knowing what injuries she had, moving her could be fatal. “Lady! Lady! Can you hear me? Help is coming. Sam is safe. Buster is safe. Can you hear me?”

She hadn’t moved, but blood was still running. That had to mean her heart was still pumping. Didn’t it? It had to.

Don’t be dead. Don’t be dead. Please, God, don’t take Sam’s mommy, too.

* * *

Holly was in the kitchen, expecting Gunner to be home at any minute when her phone rang. One frantic phone call from Jacob, and she was driving down the road to the bar. She parked and got out running.

The little boy was sitting on the bar without a shirt, and Jacob was wiping the blood off his little face and arms with bar towels.

Before she could ask a question, Jacob’s phone rang. “Holly, it’s Gunner. Get that for me.”

She answered. “Gunner, I’m here with Jacob. I’m going to put this on Speaker for him.”

“Dad, can Sam hear us?” Gunner asked.

“Yes,” Jacob said.

“Okay… Sam, this is Gunner. Buster took me straight to your mommy. The police are coming to help, and there is an ambulance coming with doctors. She’s not by herself. Buster is here. I’m here. Okay?”

Sam nodded, then collapsed against Jacob’s shoulder.

“He heard you, Gunner.”

“And…here comes the cavalry,” Gunner said. “Cops, ambulance, and all.” He hung up.

Holly ran down the hall and into the house, grabbed the blanket from the foot of Gunner’s old bed, and ran back into the bar.

Sam was somewhat clean, but he was shivering uncontrollably.

“Shock,” Jacob said and picked up the bloody towels.

“I’ve got him,” Holly said. “Hey, Sam, my name is Holly. Let’s get you wrapped up so you can get warm, okay?” She wrapped the blanket around him, then carried him down the hall and into the family living room and sat down in the rocker-recliner, cradling him against her as she started rocking. “You’re safe, Sammy, you’re safe,” she kept saying.

When she felt him relaxing, she looked down.

Emotionally and physically exhausted, between shock and self-preservation, he had fallen asleep.

Worried about a concussion, she combed her fingers through his hair, carefully feeling for bumps or indentations, but it seemed fine. It was just a little boy’s head, slightly sweaty with dust and grass in his hair.

* * *

The rescue truck from the Silverton Fire Department arrived with a Texas Highway patrol car and, right behind them, a tow truck and two cars from the sheriff’s department.

They put Buster in the back seat of a patrol car to make sure he didn’t run away, then used the tow truck to pull the truck upright and out of the ditch before they could get to the driver. She was still breathing, but getting her immobilized enough to make it safe to move her took time they didn’t have.

Gunner stayed back, watching the emergency workers moving in tandem, knowing what they needed to do to get their victim stabilized and ready to move. Then finally, as they were loading her up, one of the deputies from the sheriff’s office came looking for him.

“Hey, Gunner, is that boy who was in the wreck still with your dad?”