Damien
“Where...am I?” Alan mumbles beside me. Thank god he’s awake. It’s been almost two hours since I found him. I’ve done everything I can to warm him up…well, as much as possible in this freezing weather. Alan sits up quickly and winces.
“Take it easy, Alan. I’m Damien. I found you a couple hours ag—”
“My family!” he interrupts. “My wife and kids.” His voice is frantic. I place my hand on his shoulder, stopping him from standing.
“They are fine. I found them before I came looking for you. All three of them are okay.” He lets out a relieved sigh and his body visibly relaxes. “We have to hang out here for the night. As soon as the sun comes up, we can start to head back.” I pull a bottle of water from my bag and hand it to him. He takes a long drink, then leans closer to the fire.
I rest up against the tree and close my eyes. I need to rest a little. All the walking today has completely exhausted me. As soon as my eyes close, I see images of Tinsley and Sami. Knowing how much Tinsley is worrying about me right now kills me. She’ll have no idea that I’m okay out here. Dahlia is probably going out of her mind too. She has always hated when I volunteer to do these searches. Day or night, when I’m out searching for someone, I can guarantee Dahlia is at home pacing the floor. I hate that I make the people I love the most worry. Maybe it’s time to stop volunteering for things like this. This is way more dangerous than being a deputy in this tiny town, but I would leave that too if Tin asked me. Too many years have gone by without her. I will never do anything that may jeopardize being without her again. She and Sami are my priority. I will do anything to make them both happy. Putting a smile on their faces is my job.
“Thank you for helping my family, and for helping me,” Alan says. I open my eyes and look over at him. He gives me a small smile, then closes his eyes. I set the alarm on my watch to go off in an hour so I can check the fire. If it goes out while we’re sleeping, we’ll freeze. I close mine again, and pray we can get a couple hours of sleep.
I’m woken up by Alan shaking me. “The sun is coming up,” he says anxiously. I’m exhausted from being up every hour throughout the night. I was able to keep the fire going strong, so we stayed fairly warm. Once we are out of this shelter and away from the fire, we’ll really know what cold is. I don’t blame him for being in a hurry to get out of here. I’m ready to be home with my girls. I leave our little shelter and a blast of cold air slaps me in the face. The sky is clear, and not a flurry in sight, but over a foot of snow must have fallen during the night. Our trek back is going to be a lot harder than I anticipated. Hopefully, I’ll be able to see all the markers I left behind.
“You up to this?” I ask as Alan steps up beside me. He nods as he looks around. “How are you feeling this morning?”
“Not bad. I do have one hell of a headache. I’m just ready to see my wife and kids and get the hell out of these woods,” he says with a laugh, and I laugh too. I’m right there with him on that. I pull down the pine branches I used to make our shelter, then pile snow on the fire and stomp it out with my boot. When I’m sure the fire is out, we begin our walk home.
Walking through the thick snow is slow going. With every step, our feet sink into it. It’s not only slowing us down, but it’s also tiring us out even faster. Several times, we have to stop in order to rest our legs. The only sounds are our heavy breathing and the crunching of the snow. We walk for hours before we finally hear voices. Alan must hear them too because he softly says, “Thank God.” We both pick up our pace.
“We’re here!” I yell.
“Damien!” someone yells back. Noah? What the hell is he doing out here? Crazy bastard. Alan and I are practically running now. My heart threatens to beat out of my chest. I never really thought we wouldn’t get out of here, but hearing familiar voices, knowing they found us and there’s going to be help getting Alan out of here, makes me feel a lot better. I stumble and fall face first into the frigid snow. I laugh as I spit out a mouthful of snow. Alan helps me to my feet and we continue walking. As soon as the clearing where I found the rest of the family comes into view, I see Noah along with a couple deputies. He takes off running until he’s right in front of me.
“I should kick your ass for pulling this shit,” Noah spits before pulling me into a hug. His grip is so tight, I’m having a hard time breathing.
“I can’t breathe, man. Can you let up a little?” Noah lets go, then slaps me upside my head.
“Ouch! What was that for?”
“It was for going out on your own. That was a stupid move.”
“I know, but it all turned out okay.”
“This time it did. Next time you may not be so lucky.”
“There won’t be a next time. This was my last search. I don’t want to make the girls worry anymore.”
“Good idea. I have a feeling after the joy of seeing you wears off you are going to have three very angry women on your ass,” he chuckles.
When we get back to the parking lot, Alan’s family is there waiting for him. As soon as the three of them see him, they run into his arms. That right there is why I do this. To see the joy in their faces makes it all worthwhile. I’m going to burn that image in my mind so when I’m getting my ass kicked by Tinsley, Dahlia, and Kassidy later, I can remember why I thought it was a good idea.
“Damien!” I hear my name called as I get to my truck. Turning around, I see Lena hobbling over to me on her crutches and walk to meet her halfway. Poor girl looks like she’s struggling.
“Hey, Lena. How’s the ankle?” I ask.
“A few stitches,” she says with a shrug. “I wanted to thank you again for helping us and finding my dad.” She looks down at her feet. “We were so scared out there…”
“I’m glad I was able to help. You all were very brave,” I tell her, my voice hoarse with emotion. It’s a great feeling knowing I was able to help them. Even though I love doing these search and rescues to help families like this, I have my own family to keep safe now, and I can’t put them through hell every time I go on one of these jobs. The rest of the family comes up and thanks me. We talk for a few minutes before saying our goodbyes.
During my drive home, all I can think about is my girls and how damn lucky I am. While I was being debriefed by my very angry boss, Noah called Tin to let her know I was safe and would be home soon. Maybe by the time I get home she’ll be a little less angry with me. I pull down the driveway and my heart begins to pick up its pace. The excitement of seeing my girls threatens to burst from me. Everyone is already outside waiting on the front porch. Time to face the firing squad. After parking the truck, I get out and walk toward the porch. Tinsley runs toward me and leaps into my arms, her body shaking. Her sobs rip through my ears and breaks my heart as she squeezes me tighter.
“I’m so glad you’re home,” she whimpers between tears. “I was so scared, Damien.” Pulling away, she sniffs, and then like a light switch being flicked on, her tears dry up and her eyes narrow as her small fists pound against my chest. “Don’t you ever make me worry like that again.” Tears begin to fall from her eyes again. I try to pull her back into my arms, but she keeps hitting me. She finally relents and I hold her close.
“I’m so sorry, baby. I promise I won’t ever do that again.”