FLY BOY - Completed

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

River's hand flew to her mouth to cover her gasp. Her eyes were huge as she stared at her father. He was so pale he almost looked dead. River held her breath until she finally saw his chest rise. The relief was short lived though, because after a few rhythmic breaths, she realized he was not breathing on his own. There was a tube down his throat and another in his arm and still another leading off the far side of his bed. He was surrounded by medical machinery and the only comforting thing at all was the steady beeping tone coming from one of the machines.

The tears that had been trickling down her face picked up speed. To say she was shocked was an understatement. Riley led her to believe that her father was doing well. He said that they had trained together on a daily basis. How was that possible when her father looked like he was knocking on death's door?

Finally the strength returned to her body and she jerked out of Rylie's arms. She spun on her heels and slammed her palms into his chest with all her might. She surprised herself almost as much as she surprised him, but she couldn't help herself. She had never felt such anger. All she wanted to do was hit him for getting her hopes up. She watched Rylie take a step back but before he could ask her what the hell she was doing, she was right back in his face, screaming at him.

"You lied to me," she snarled as she gave him another shove. Rylie held his hands out in front of him to try and calm her down, but also to protect himself. "You lead me to believe my father was doing better," she insisted. Before he could utter a reply to her accusations River slapped his hands out of her way. She wanted to reach his face.

That was the last straw for Rylie. He had had enough. He grabbed hold of her swinging arms and held them firmly at her sides, refusing to let her continue to hit him. "Calm down River," he growled at her. "Dammit! Just give me a chance to explain." His grip tightened around her forearms as she continued to squirm. When he realized she still wasn't calming down, he shook her. He shook her so hard that it shocked her and she finally stopped struggling. "Shit River calm down!" he repeated in a lower voice once he realized she was starting to calm down. He registered her huge questioning eyes as he whispered his request once more. "Please just give me a chance to explain."

She was breathing hard and her mouth formed a hard line as she glared at him, but she let him speak.

"Your father had been doing well," he began as he carefully released her arms. "I didn't lie to you," he promised and seeing her puzzled look he held up his hand to stop her questions as he continued to explain. "He unexpectedly took a turn for the worse while I was away."

Hearing his words, River's shoulders slumped. She lifted her head to search his face for the truth and when she saw what she was looking for in his eyes, her head turned back towards her father.

Seeing that all the fight had finally left her, Rylie took advantage and in a soft low voice he told River the whole story of what exactly had happened to her father, including the most recent medical information, which he had only just found out himself. "Your dad had originally taken a gunshot wound to his left shoulder. When we realized how important he could be to our cause, we immediately flew him back to our base camp as quickly as we could and though there was a trained medical person on board the helicopter with your father, unfortunately he was not a surgeon."

River squeezed her eyes tightly together as she listened to Rylie describe in detail all that her father had endured.

Seeing her reaction Rylie nervously scrubbed one hand through the top of his hair before he continued with his story. "By the time we got your father to our makeshift hospital, they found out that the bullet which had originally entered through his left shoulder, had actually travelled inside his body and ended up puncturing one of his lungs." River's head snapped back towards Rylie. Both her fists clenched with this latest news.