Derek

It’s nearly November. I have a brief thought about what Thanksgiving and Christmas will be like down here as I change the paper on the refrigerator to reflect the new date of October 28.

Before, I could have made a few phone calls and had an amazing Christmas gift for Erin. A necklace with a leaf made from diamonds, or a romantic trip to a secluded lodge in Alaska. Probably both. I’ve always been very generous with the people I care about, because there are so few.

But now, I’ve got nothing to give her. Nothing but me. Maybe a letter that tells her what she means to me. And knowing Erin, that would mean more to her than jewelry anyway.

Still, I feel like less of a man knowing I can’t even give her a decent Christmas dinner down here. It’ll be the same old preserved shit we have every day.

We’ll be here, though. That’s more than Matias can say. He hardly woke up yesterday.

Fuck. This is harder than I thought it would be. He’s like a younger brother to me. I know what Bryce meant when he said he’d trade places with him, because I would too.

I’ve lived a hell of a lot in thirty-two years. I’ve won Super Bowls. Taken my dad on some incredible hunting trips. Built a dream home. I’ve got no regrets. But Matias…he’s still got so much life in front of him.

I pour my second cup of coffee and think about the day in front of us. It’s a Sunday. Might be game day for my team. It’s still a strange feeling not to know for sure.

Down here, we’re getting a later start than usual. The four-hour shifts with Matias have our days and nights messed up. It’s ten thirty a.m., about three hours later than I’d usually be drinking my second cup of coffee.

I’m chewing on dried beef, imagining it’s an omelet, when I hear a sound coming from the bunker stairs. I walk over to see if something’s up, and as I’m climbing the stairs, the huge metal door opens as if by magic.

“Hello?” a male voice calls.

Holy shit. I freeze for half a second, then sprint the rest of the way up two stairs at a time.

“Hey! Don’t go!” I yell.

I see legs as someone descends the ladder. And on the landing, I come face-to-face with a grinning man in a sheriff’s department uniform.

“Derek Heaton,” he says, as if he can’t believe his eyes.

I’m not ashamed of the tears that spring to my eyes. “I can’t tell you how glad I am to see you,” I say, shaking his hand enthusiastically.

Reality hits me like a tidal wave then.

“Hey, we’ve got a very sick man down here,” I say. “He’s in kidney failure. Can you call in a medical chopper?”

“Yeah, right away.”

He gets on his radio, and I race back down the stairs.

“Erin! Matias! You guys, we’re saved!”

My heart feels like it could burst right out of my chest with excitement. I run into Matias’s room and crouch down next to him.

“Hey, help is here, man. Hang on, okay? We’re gonna get you to a hospital.”

Erin comes into the room and gives me a puzzled look.

“Was that you yelling?”

I jump up and scoop her into my arms, spinning her around.

“We’re saved! The cops are here!”

She pulls back and looks at me, her eyes wide. “Are you serious?”

“Go look for yourself.”

I set her down, grinning as she races toward the stairs and then screams with excitement.

“What’s going on?” Matias asks in a groggy tone.

“Help is here.” I pat his arm. “We’re getting you to a hospital.”

Tears form in his eyes, but he can’t seem to find any words.

Bryce steps down from the top bunk, crying like a little bitch.

“Don’t even think about trying to get away,” I tell him. “We’re telling the cops how we got down here, and you’ll be right next to me the entire time.”

He covers his eyes with his hand. “I’m not crying over that. I’m just so…I’m glad Matias is getting help.”

My heart cracks open with pity for him. I really do believe Bryce was a pawn in the robbery scheme. But he knew what he was doing, and he has to pay the price for it.

Matias is so far gone that he still might not make it. I can’t let myself think about that, though.

A team of medics rushes in, Kenna pointing the way to the bunk room. I clear out to give them room to work.

I look around for Erin, but I can’t find her. She must be outside. Hell, I doubt she’ll ever walk down those stairs again.

When I go up to find her, she’s standing near the open bunker door, a wool blanket around her shoulders. I instinctively go to her and wrap my arms around her.

“I can’t believe it,” she says, holding on to me tightly.

“Me either.”

“Do you think there’s still a chance for Matias?”

She pulls back to look at me. I’ve noticed that when Erin asks me an important question, she likes to see my face as I answer.

“I do. He’s alive. I’m gonna have him flown to Denver. I’ll make sure he gets the best care money can buy.”

Erin wraps her arms around my neck, hugging me hard. “Thank you, Derek.”

A woman in a sheriff’s department uniform approaches us, clearing her throat.

“Sorry.” She gives us an apologetic smile. “We just need to have the medics look you both over, and I have some questions for you.”

“Have you been looking for us this whole time?” Erin asks her.

I glance down at her silver name tag as Deputy Schrader answers.

“Actually, no. We thought you all died in the explosion.”

My chest feels like it’s caving in as I turn away from Erin to look at the lodge.

It’s gone.

Gone.

There’s nothing but empty blackened ground where my hunting lodge once stood.

“What the fuck?” I just stare at it.

“The noise we heard on the first day,” Erin says, her tone as shocked as mine.

“What happened?” I ask.

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out.” Deputy Schrader leads us over to an ambulance, Erin being taken by one paramedic and me by another.

A mass of wailing sirens is getting closer. The cops are about to converge on this place, and based on ten years of being famous, I know that means reporters are soon to follow.

“I need to reach my dad,” I tell the paramedic examining me. “And my agent. As soon as possible, please.”

He calls over a guy in a suit and tie, who introduces himself as one of the detectives working my case.

“You’re gonna need major security,” I tell him. “The media will descend on this place.”

“Ain’t nobody descending on my crime scene,” he says, shaking his head.

“Without security, they will.”

He nods and steps away, speaking into a radio. I hear the sound of helicopter blades, and when I look up into the bright, late-morning sky, I see a beautiful sight.

A medical chopper is landing in a field nearby. Matias can finally get some help.

I can’t hold back my emotions. I cry with relief. None of us thought help was coming, and now Matias has a chance. I’ll spend whatever it takes to get him the care he needs.

“Sorry,” I say to the paramedic, wiping my hand across my face.

“It’s okay. You’ve been through a lot.”

“How’d you guys find us?”

He shrugs, but the detective, who is standing nearby and is off his radio now, answers.

“An insurance adjuster working on the claim for your house called me last week. He noticed that there was a secondary residence listed on the homeowners’ policy. That was news to me. We started looking through the insurance information, and from the building materials, realized it had to be an underground bunker.”

“You guys have been in there this whole time?” The paramedic wraps a blood pressure cuff around my arm.

“Yeah. Three months.”

“Wow.”

The detective takes his buzzing phone from his pocket, looks at the screen, and passes it to me.

“It’s your dad.”

A lump forms in my throat as I answer it.

“Dad?”

There’s a moment of silence before he chokes out my name. Hearing him like that makes tears well in my eyes again. I’ve cried more in the past three months than in the rest of my damn life.

“You’re alive?” he says.

“I’m okay.”

“Where have you been?”

“It’s a really long story. Where are you?”

“I’m staying at an apartment in Denver. Where are you?”

“I’m where the lodge used to be.”

There’s a smile in his voice as he says, “I’m on my way…I can’t believe this.”

“Me either.”

“I love you, Derek.”

“Love you too, Dad.”

I thank the detective and hand back his phone. The medics are bringing Matias out of the bunker. He’s strapped to a board, looking weak and confused.

“I’ll be back,” I say to the paramedic.

I walk next to the medics, looking down at Matias.

“Hey man, I’m right here. We’re getting you to a hospital, okay?”

“Derek,” he manages to say.

“Yeah, I’m here. Everything’s okay.”

“Where’s Erin?”

“She’s close by. I’ll get her, okay?”

I don’t have to, though. Erin’s running over to us, and she puts a hand on Matias’s shoulder.

“We’re going to the hospital,” she says.

“Really?”

Poor guy. He’s so beat down by his illness.

“I need to go with him,” Erin tells the medics.

“There’s not enough room in the chopper,” he says, getting loud so we can hear him over the whirring blades.

“I’m not leaving him,” Erin says firmly.

“You can’t fit,” the medic says.

“Then you can stay, and I’ll go.” She takes Matias’s hand. “There’s another paramedic.”

The chopper medics exchange a look.

“Okay,” one of them says. “But you have to stay out of the way.”

They start loading Matias on, and Erin looks at the helicopter, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

Her claustrophobia. I can see the panic setting in.

“Hey,” I call out, taking her hand. “Let me go. I’ll have someone drive you.”

The chopper is creating quite a breeze, and Erin pushes strands of blond hair away from her face.

“I’ll go,” she says.

“You sure?”

She nods.

I pull her close, kissing the top of her head. This woman never stops amazing me. She’ll stare down her darkest demons for someone she cares about.

“I’ll see you there,” I say.

When she nods and pulls back, I cup her face in my hands.

“It’s gonna be okay,” I tell her. “Everything’s gonna be okay now.”

I kiss her quickly, and then she slides into the chopper. I watch as one of the medics helps her into a seat belt and passes her some big headphones.

And then they take off. I watch the helicopter ascend, hoping Matias is strong enough to recover and Erin makes it through the flight okay.

The smaller the chopper gets, the further she is from me. And all I can think about is closing that gap.

I haven’t gone a day in more than three months without being near the blue-eyed, introverted trail guide who has me under her spell. And while I’m damn glad we’ve been rescued, I know things are about to get crazy. Erin will be the constant I need more than ever now.