Timeless

Chapter 10

As he got closer, the smell of whiskey got stronger and she vaguely recognized him as the man that Poppy had broken up with earlier that day. "I just wanna talk to Poppy!"

Kathryn's gaze just flicked to Poppy, who stood frozen near the edge of the path. Behind them, Kathryn could see the outer edge of the mess hall and a row of parked jeeps. "I don't wanna talk to you, Maybank! I made myself perfectly clear earlier!" She insisted firmly.

"There you have it," Kathryn said dryly. "She doesn't want to talk to you."

"This has nothing to do with you!" He scowled, grabbing for Poppy's arm.

Poppy let out a screech as he caught hold of her wrist. "Let go!" She commanded, beating at his chest.

"Hey, she said to let go!" Kathryn said, shoving at him.

The next few seconds were sheer chaos and pandemonium. Because when Maybank threw up his hands to shove Kathryn Egan away, his hand collided with her head and she slammed into the nearest jeep's mirror, then hit the gravel hard—and she did not move.

Poppy Wright let out a bloodcurdling scream.

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Bucky Egan had just finished an encore of his performance from the other night when Crosby came running into the room, totally pale and wide-eyed. "Major, you've gotta come quick!"

Almost immediately, Bucky's gaze narrowed. "Slow down, Cros. What happened?"

Crosby was just breathing heavily and looked like he wanted to throw up right then and there. "No—I mean—it's your sister!"

Johnny Egan stormed out of the party, followed closely by Buck Cleven and a few other pilots who seemed rather concerned at the sudden and rapid change of pace. "What the hell happened?" Bucky demanded. "Use your words, Cros!" He commanded.

"She got hit by some drunk!"

The last thing John Egan or Gale Cleven was prepared for was walking into the hospital wing—finding Kathryn Egan unconscious and bleeding from the head in a hospital bed, a sobbing Poppy Wright, a panicked and pacing pilot, and two other angry soldiers in the room.

"You hit my sister?!" Bucky's gaze had already fallen on Maybank.

Maybank was never given the chance to respond—Bucky was already pummeling his fist into Maybank's jaw and Poppy was crying even louder. "I never meant to hit her!"

"It—" A slurred tone caught every single ear in the room. "It was...an accident," Kathryn blinked open her gaze, finding blood trailing down past her cheek.

"Get him out of my sight!" Bucky barked, shoving at Maybank.

But in the haze of Kathryn's vision, she was focused solely on Buck Cleven, who was sitting beside her bed and had his gaze steadily trained on her. "What happened, Poppy?" Buck questioned, gaze falling on Poppy.

Poppy was doing her best to hold a towel on the bleeding. "Maybank got drunk and wouldn't leave me alone. I wanted to go back to the bunkhouse and Kath said she'd walk with me! He grabbed my wrist and—oh God , I thought she was dead !"

"Hey!" Kathryn weakly mumbled. "I am a lot harder to kill than that."

"That's not funny." Bucky deadpanned, arms crossed as he stared at her. "Is she gonna be—"

"Well she's definitely got a concussion," Poppy murmured, gaze flickering with guilt as she peeled the towel back and winced. "That's gonna need stitches."