Finally, I saw something in the water. “Oh my God! Pepper?” She was floating on her back about a hundred yards out—and she wasn’t moving.
I grabbed a rope that was tethered to the boat and quickly tied it around my waist then I pointed the spotlight in the direction of her body and dove into the water. God help me please. I have to get to her.
After what seemed like forever fighting the waves, I reached her side and gripped my fingers tightly in the straps of her vest. I couldn’t risk losing her again.
“PEPPER! Can you hear me?” She didn’t move at all. “Pepper? I’m here, it’s Gabe. It’ll be all right, baby.” My tears mixed with the salt water slapping my face. I looked at her lifeless body and realized I may have been too late.
I held her tight with one hand and started swimming back towards the boat. That was increasingly difficult as I tried to pull on the rope that anchored us to it and keep a firm grip on Pepper at the same time, when every wave threatened to pull her away and swallow her up.
I prayed to God, and I cried like a baby, begging him to help me save her.
“Please don’t let her die God. Please don’t take her away from me.”
I kept fighting the waves as they knocked me back time and again and I made little progress in my attempts to get us back to the boat. I was growing tired and all I could do was hold onto her.
“Pepper, Pepper! It’s me, Gabe,” I yelled at her, hoping she’d regain consciousness before it was too late. There was a large cut on her head and I figured she’d probably hit it on the side of the boat when the wave had taken her over. It was hard to see in the few slivers of light, but it looked pretty bad. I touched the wound and my fingers were covered with blood. “Pepper, baby, please. Wake up!” I grabbed her arm and squeezed it. “Baby, please! Wake up!”
After a few moments, her eyes fluttered open. “Gabe? Gabe?” She looked around but another wave hit her in the face and she choked and sputtered out the water. “Owww, I fell.”
I nodded, feeling a small victory that she’d remembered. That was a good sign. “Pepper, listen to me!” I shouted over the waves. I held on to her life jacket and refused to let it go. “The Coast Guard is on the way. I’ve got you and I’m not going to let go. Just hold onto me and don’t let go.”
She nodded and I felt her fingers lightly grasp my arm. She obviously didn’t have much strength. “Gabe, I’m scared.”
“It’s okay, baby. I promise I won’t leave you. No matter what, I won’t leave you.”
Out of the darkness, I heard the horn and saw the lights of the cutter then suddenly, the Coast Guard inflatable drew alongside us and a voice said, “We’ve got to hurry. We’re going to lift her out first then you, okay?.”
In less than a minute, they’d hauled Pepper out of the crashing waves and into their boat then another Coastie said, “Quickly, sir. We need to get you out of here. With all this blood in the water, we can’t linger too long and risk attracting sharks.”
“Yes, Sir!” With all that had happened, I hadn’t even thought about sharks. He grabbed the straps on my life vest and pulled me half out of the water onto the side of the boat when suddenly, I felt something sharp sink into my thigh and I cried out in pain. The crewman lost his grip on me as I was tugged under and salt water rushed into my mouth. Is this it? The end of my life? The excruciating pain was unbearable, and all I could think about was Pepper. Oh God, Pepper. I was terrified, fighting for my life but I had to stay strong for her. She needed me. We surfaced again and I gulped fresh air as I thrashed in the water with my other leg, hoping to scare it off.
The rescuer reached for me. “Shark! Get me a shock stick now!” he shouted to one of the crew.
My foot struck something solid and the pressure released from my leg—but the pain was sharp and shot all the way up my leg and torso. I clenched my jaw to keep from screaming out.
I looked up and tried to focus on Pepper’s face. She was safe now. I focused my brain on that thought as I struggled to get into the rescue harness. I felt the warmth of my own blood rush around me and the next few minutes were the longest of my life.
I knew I was hurt bad and resigned myself to the fact that I’d probably die in the water—either from loss of blood or from another shark attack, which must have been due anytime now—but at least Pepper had been saved and images of her beautiful, smiling face filled my mind as I drifted in and out of consciousness. The rescuer was talking to me, and I nodded along, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying. All I heard was the blood rushing in my head, the relentless wind and the crash of the unforgiving waves.
Chapter Six - Pepper
When oxygen finally returned to my lungs, I belted out a blood curdling shriek, “Gabe!”
“Don’t worry, we got him. Lay still. Let’s get you on board,” the rescuer shouted. The sound of the waves below got quieter and the ocean seemed to move farther and farther away as they hoisted the boat slowly up the side of the Coast Guard ship.
“Gabe? Where’s Gabe?”
The man placed his hand on my arm. “Ma’am, we got him. Just relax as best as you can. We got your friend.”
“You got Gabe? You won’t leave him,” I asked. I tried to sit up to look for him, but I could barely move. My head throbbed and I wanted some water. “Can I…? Can I get something to drink?
”Yes, Ma’am, Just stay still a little bit longer and we’ll get you out of this and into a warm blanket.”
“Gabe… Gabe… Gabe...” I whispered, over and over as the tears spilled down my cheeks.
“Please try not to worry. He’s in good hands and we’re safe aboard now, so I need you to focus. I need you to sit up—we’re going to get you some help.”
“Thank you.” I couldn’t believe this had happened. It was all so surreal. Like something out of a scary movie.
“Can you sit up?”
“I think so,” I said, wiggling my toes, checking that they had blood circulating in them and that they could still move.
He lifted me up and wrapped his arm around my waist. “Put your arm around my neck. O’Neill! Come over here and help me. That’s it, ma’am. Put your other arm around Sander’s neck and we’ll get you to sick bay. Let’s get you in there and I promise you, they’ll bring your friend down to join you as soon as they can.”
“I can’t leave him!” I cried out desperately. I was still woozy—almost groggy. I wanted to fight them and stay until I’d seen Gabe for myself, but I was so weak and my brain was fuzzy—it was as though I was watching everything happen to someone else, not me.
“Your friend is safe but you have quite a head wound there and we need to take care of that, now.”
I turned and looked around the boat, hoping to see any sign of Gabe, but I couldn’t see anything as it was so dark. I didn’t want to leave the deck without him and my heart jumped into my throat when I saw another rescue boat being lowered into the stormy water.
“Gabe? Is he still out there? Gabe!” I screamed with all the strength I had.
“It’s okay, ma’am. I promise you, you’re friend is already on board with us. They’re just going to recover your boat. I’m sure you don’t want to see it on the beach in the morning and we can’t leave it drifting out here. It’s a hazard to navigation so we’ll take it in tow.”
I looked up at him and asked, “Are you sure he’s on board?”
“Yes ma’am. He’s definitely on board—I pulled him out of the water myself.”
“Oh, thank God! Thank you so much!” I repeated over and over again as two pairs of strong arms lifted me onto a gurney and strapped me on. They wheeled me carefully along the deck, stopping every now and then to steady me as the ship pitched and rolled back and forth, then we took a short ride down in a huge elevator and into the brightly-lit sick bay below. There were only a few people in there, and it was packed with all sorts of medical equipment—like an emergency room. Everything looked like it was strapped down and within seconds—they had my gurney l
ocked into place.
The next thing I knew, there was another guy was next to me, cranking up my headrest, and then he quickly covered me with a thermal blanket and tucked it in loosely around my body.
He looked into my eyes, gave me a small smile and said, “There we go. That’s good. I hear you’ve been doing a little late night swimming out here? Can you tell me your name?” He wore a dark blue uniform with some fancy collar decorations. He looked young, probably about my age with cropped, light hair and had a kind-looking face that was reassuring.
“P-Pepper. Pepper Anderson,” I stuttered out.”
“That’s an unusual name, Miss Anderson, I like it,” he said as he pulled on a pair of medical gloves. “I’m Petty Officer Peter O’Neill, by the way… but that’s a mouthful to remember, so everyone just calls me O’Neill,” he beamed down at me. “Do you mind if I call you Pepper?”
“Not at all, but I am freaking out here! Do you know where my boyfriend is? They said he was on board and I don’t see him. Where is he?”
“Don’t worry. He’ll be joining us in our luxury floating hotel suite here in a minute or two. Okay, now I need you to lie still so I can get a good look at that wound. You’ve got quite a gash there. Do you remember how it happened?”
“I was on the boat and a wave hit me and took me over. I must have hit my head on the railing—or the side of the boat. It all happened so fast, I can’t remember exactly.”
“Thank goodness you had your life jacket on. If you hadn’t been wearing that, you’d be in a lot worse shape.”
I took a deep breath and laid as still as I could while he inspected the cut on my head, but for some reason, I began to shiver under my blanket and I didn’t know why. The Gulf water hadn’t been cold but I was freezing. O’Neill sensed it and said, “Are you cold?”
“Y-yeah, it just suddenly came on.”
“That’s normal in situations like yours. I guess you were in the water a while, you’re definitely in shock and together with the blood loss, that can make you feel chilly. Okay, it looks worse than it is. I’ll just get something to clean it up and bandage you up, then you need to rest and we’ll serve our next customer,” then he smiled at me and walked away.
Before O’Neill had a chance to return with the supplies, I heard a noise in the hall outside and sat up to see two more servicemen bringing Gabriel into the sick bay. His hair was soaked, his normally tanned skin looked pale, his eyes were closed and I feared the worst.
“Gabe! Oh, my God, are you okay, baby? Gaaaabbbe!”
He looked lifeless and didn’t answer me. “No, Gabe! No! Baby?” I started to get up to go with him, but a wave of nausea and dizziness rolled over me and forced me to lie back down—I felt so helpless. “Gabe! I’m here! I’m okay!” I called out, hoping he could hear me, but my throat hurt and I didn’t know if I was loud enough for him to hear. God, please don’t let him die. Please, please, I need him. I silently prayed, hot wicked tears streamed down my face. I chewed on my lip, trying to calm the nausea and stared up at the ceiling. God, this must be a bad dream. A nightmare. And I’ll wake up and we’ll be back on the boat. Safe. Laughing. It’s just a dream.
Two guys rushed in and startled me out of my prayers. I glanced over at them, and one of them said, “He’s going to be all right, ma’am. I promise. What’s his name?”
“It’s Gabe, Gabriel Gregory. Please help him!”
“We will, ma’am.”
More tears streamed down and all I wanted to do was hold Gabe but I couldn’t move. Any slight movement made me feel like I was going to throw up. O’Neill returned and started to clean the wound and the liquid he applied brought a different kind of tears to my eyes.
“I’m sorry, I should have told you it’s going to sting a little bit,” he said as I pinched my eyes closed.
“It’s okay.” I focused on keeping my breathing normal as he continued working on me then across the room, I heard a commotion.
“Hey! Gabe. Wake up, bud. Don’t go to sleep. Try to stay awake for me.”
My eyes popped open and I tried to sit up but O’Neill placed a gloved hand on my shoulder and kept me down. “Please, Pepper. I need you to hold still for me.”
The medical staff with Gabe whispered to one another—I could hear the seriousness in their voices and I began to fear the worst. Ignoring his instructions, I sat up to check on Gabe.
“Gabe, baby. Listen to them! Don’t go to sleep! Stop, please. I need to talk to him.”
O’Neill’s face was comforting as he looked down at me. “Ma’am, you can barely walk yourself. We’re in a severe gale so please be still and let me get you patched up and then you can go to him. Can you hold this bandage in place?”
“Sir, I know you’re just doing your job, and I really appreciate all you’ve done, but I’m going to him. You can either help me or watch me fall. Your choice,” I said as I looked him in the eyes. He waited for a few seconds and realized I was serious so he unlatched the guard rails on the cot and I slid off it and stood on the floor, leaving the blanket behind.
“Fine, I’ll help you but don’t get in their way. They need space to work on him right now.”
He braced me with his arm to keep me from falling and I took the first few wobbly steps across the room towards Gabe. I heaved as I stepped closer. The dizzy, nauseated feeling had rushed back with a vengeance, and when that mixed with the sight of the blood coating Gabe’s leg, I wretched and almost lost it.
“Come on, Pepper, let’s get you—
“No!” I kept going forward, taking ginger baby steps and swallowing hard to keep myself from throwing up on the floor. I stopped by the cot that Gabe was laid out on and tried to keep it together as I stared down at him. “Gabriel Gregory! Don’t you dare go to sleep! Wake up!” His dark eyes blinked and he stared at me. The grimace on his face told me how much pain he was in and it killed me that there wasn’t anything I could do about it.
“Pep—?”
“Yes baby, it’s me, Pepper. That’s good. Stay with me. Please, Gabe. You promised you’d stay with me. I need you!” He smiled up at me and reached for my hand. I felt a little better, seeing him respond to me. “This was one hell of a date, baby.”
He half-grinned and said, “Well, I try.”
I kissed his forehead and wiped away the tears. “Why did you jump in there? You could have gotten yourself killed.”
“You’re welcome,” he joked then his eyes closed again and I thought he’d fallen asleep—or worse.
“Open your eyes, Gabe. Come on, don’t play around with me. You know I hate that. Talk to me,” I said as the medic working on him began cutting away the thin shorts he’d slipped on before going on deck when the storm had started.
“Is this how it’s going to be?” he asked with a weird, fading smile.
“How is what going to be? You aren’t making any sense, baby.”
“When we get married, is this how it’s going to be? You nagging me because I went for a swim?”
I stared at him. What?
“Keep him talking, Pepper. You’re doing well.”
No problem! I needed to get to the bottom of what he was saying, anyway. “Who said anything about marriage?”
“Pepper?” his face twisted with pain, “It fucking hurts.”
I gasped and tried to think of something to say to help him. “I know baby. I know, but they’re taking care of you.”
He smiled, or winced, I couldn’t tell which, but the look in his eyes was scary. Maybe the pain killers were starting to kick in. “Pep?”
“Yes baby?”
“Will you marry me?” he asked. They must have given him some heavy duty pain meds for him to be talking marriage at a time like this.
“You want to marry me?” Now tears of a different kind pricked at my eyes.
He nodded and my heart swelled inside my chest. Gabe’s body tensed and I saw more pain on his face as the medical team worked to staunch the blood seeping from his wounds.
“I love you, Pepper.” He opened his eyes for a second then closed them again and I squeezed his hand. Suddenly, I felt it go limp under my grip then O’Neill held me and steered me away.
“He’s fading. Maybe he’s lost too much blood,” the medic announced as he frantically applied more pressure to Gabe’s wounds. “Get the crash cart, now! We’ll start CPR, and get the defibrillator ready—just in case! Damn it, man!”
I bolted towards Gabe, but O’Neill held me tight and wrapped a space blanket around me.
“Gabe! For fuck’s sake, wake up! Don’t leave me!”
All I could do was watch as they struggled with Gabe’s lifeless body. He wasn’t breathing and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Was he going to die right in front of me? One of the guys continued to press up and down on Gabe’s chest while the other one breathed periodically into his nose but like us, they were struggling to stay on their feet with the roll of the ship. All of a sudden, Gabe’s chest began to rise and fall on its own—he was breathing!
“Oh, thank God! Thank God!” I turned and buried my head into O’Neill’s chest.
“It’s okay, Pepper. It’s going to be all right now. It shouldn’t be long. We must be almost to shore now.”
I nodded like a bobble head, so overjoyed that he was going to be okay.
“Now let’s get you taken care of,” he continued. “Lie down again and I’m sure we’ll be in the harbor in just a few minutes. We won’t give up on him, Pepper—I swear.”
“Thank you, sir.” I climbed back on the gurney, and my eyes never left Gabe’s chest as I watched as it moved up and down. I didn’t care about the pain I felt, all I cared about was watching Gabe breathe. As long as I could see his chest rise and fall, I knew Gabe would be all right.
Destiny Undone: The Complete Series Box Set Page 39