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“To bring Shawn back?”
“Yes. I’ll keep trying until help arrives.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise. I’m not going to stop.”
Chad kept going, even when Tate wordlessly opened his car and climbed into the passenger seat, Chad didn’t stop. He looked up when Tate started the engine, and even outside of the car he heard the heating vents on full blast.
“Tate! What are you doing?”
Chad couldn’t hear his reply, but he watched his mouth and read his words through the window.
A simple demand.
“Save my brother.”
****
When the breath came, Chad thought he’d imagined it.
The sound was shrill and pain-filled, and he found himself staring at Shawn’s face with wide eyes. Shawn shuddered, scrunched up his nose, then coughed. Chad ignored that evidence of life and grabbed Shawn’s wrist. When the sluggish beat of a pulse wasn’t enough, he collapsed onto Shawn and pressed his ear to his chest.
Shawn’s heart beat behind his ribs, and his cough brushed the top of Chad’s head.
Chad leaned back, gaping. His jerky movements unleashed a bout of headrush that left him blinking, waiting for the black specks to disperse.
Shawn kept coughing, spluttering on empty lungs until Chad feared he’d die again from that, coughing too much, but he settled, and his breathing, although still painful sounding, fell into a rhythm.
Chad didn’t know how long he’d been performing CPR, he’d not been timing it, only counting, and sealing Shawn’s mouth with his own for two breaths at a time.
His knees had sunk into the mud. His breathing came in pants, and he thought about collapsing on his side, and circling his body around Shawn as they waited for help to arrive.
Tate.
Chad looked up at the car. “He’s breathing! Tate! Can you hear me?”
Tate sat in the passenger seat with his head tilted back, his lips open, and his eyes closed. Even with the distance, Chad could see his lips were blue.
The car kept running, the vents kept pumping out poisonous air.
Shawn groaned and weakly wrapped his arm around his stomach.
He spluttered, and his bottom lip trembled as he began to cry.
“It’s okay, Shawn.” Chad cupped his face. He left a muddy thumb print across Shawn’s cheek. “Help is on the way.”
He brushed his shaky fingers through Shawn’s hair, blinking through another burst of headrush.
“Tate?” Shawn whispered.
Chad squeezed his eyes shut.
“Where’s Tate?”
The howling wind brought sirens to Chad’s ears. Emergency lights flashed blue from the direction of the car park. “Stay where you are, Shawn.”
Shawn nodded and turned his head toward the noise. Mud coated the back of his head, and Chad noticed him shivering, trembling as he wrapped his arms around his chest. Chad shrugged off his jacket and laid it over him.
