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I fumbled to turn the flashlight app on but didn't shine it in Zach's eyes. Instead, I shined it in my own direction in the hopes that he would see me and not whatever thing or person he was fighting.
He tried to jump to his feet, but his legs wouldn't hold his weight. Instead, he crawled backwards until his back hit the wall. He held his hand out in front of him again, so I could only assume whatever he thought he was holding was some kind of weapon.
"Zach, sweetheart, it's me, Lucky." I kept my voice low and even despite the fact that I was terrified. There was now enough light in the room to see that Zach's injury was bleeding again.
"Kaminski, status check!" he yelled as he managed to climb to his feet. He put one hand up by his mouth. I assumed he was adjusting whatever imagined communication device he thought he had on him.
"Zach, you're safe. We’re both safe. We’re in the warming hut in Glacier."
There was another flash of light followed quickly by a boom of thunder. Zach grabbed at his head and closed his eyes. He continued to call out commands, most of which I didn't understand. After several long beats, he began lashing out at something that only he could see. Each time the thunder and lightning rocked the warming hut, the process started all over again. It was all I could do to keep my voice even and steady as I called to Zach. Not once did I attempt to approach him.
It was several minutes before I finally saw any kind of reaction and that was only because the timing between the lightning and the thunder grew longer. Every time the lightning flashed through the warming hut, I began telling Zach that he was okay and that it was thunder that would follow. Then I would talk about familiar things like his brother and Oz and their ugly little dog, Boo. I’d tell Zach stories about my fathers and the twins and my uncles, Aidan and Ash. All that mattered was that I kept talking. It seemed to take forever before Zach calmed and would only flinch or jerk when the thunder rattled the night sky. I'd been careful with the light on my phone throughout the episode because I hadn't wanted to contribute to the event.
It wasn't until the thunderstorm that had rolled through so quickly was rumbling off in the distance that Zach finally seemed to come back to himself. He fell back against the wall behind him and began to shake violently. I saw his hand open up as if he were dropping whatever weapon he'd been using during the imagined attack. I approached him slowly, making sure to use his name a lot and to tell him he was okay. It wasn't until he let out a hoarse, "Lucky?" that I increased my pace and hurried to his side. I reached him just as his leg gave out.
It took effort, but I was able to get him back to the middle of the room and to the little makeshift bed I'd made with our jackets. Since Zach had been standing by the broken window, his shirt was soaked through. I quickly stripped it off and then got him beneath the blanket before turning my attention to his injury.
"Did-did I hurt you?" Zach choked out as the tremors in his body became more violent. I knew they were both a result of him coming down from the adrenaline rush as well as the chill that had overtaken his body.
"No," I said quickly. I propped my phone against the backpack that Zach was using as a pillow so he could see me and I could see him. I still wasn't one hundred percent sure of exactly what had triggered his PTSD, but I suspected the dark had a lot to do with it. And since the storm hadn't completely moved off, I wasn't taking any chances.
Zach fell silent after I reassured him again that he hadn't hurt me. I used the time to work to clean up his wound and redress it. It had started bleeding again, but it didn't take too long to slow it back down. Even with the mylar blanket, Zach was still shivering, so I quickly stripped off my own clothes and crawled beneath the thin blanket with him. When I pulled him into my arms, he didn't protest at all. He wrapped himself around me, though I warned him not to move his leg. He pressed his face against my shoulder and just stayed there like that. I stroked his hair and pressed soft kisses against his temple until his body relaxed and the chill seemed to dissipate. He was so quiet I thought maybe he'd fallen back asleep, but then he pulled away from me and rolled onto his back. I felt the loss in so many ways.
