You Belong To Me
Chapter
Fourteen
(Hours
and hours later. Man, nature hikes can be boring.)
Shawn stopped to take another look at the map, as the rest of the group stopped
to catch their breath. Instead of slowing from exhaustion, their pace had only
quickened the closer they got to the research center.
Mimi rested against a nearby tree and took small sips out of her water bottle.
Belle came to lean next to her with a sigh. "How you feeling, Meems?"
Mimi wagged her hand in front of her, indicating that she was only feeling
so-so. "I feel alright, but I can't deny that a giant bottle of
extra-strength Tylenol wouldn't feel pretty good right now."
Shawn folded the map back up and smiled at his friends. "Well, I've got
good news. The main building for the environmental center is just over this last
hill. We should be there shortly."
Belle breathed a sigh of relief and smiled weakly. "That is good news. But,
why in the world would they put their research center all the way out here? It's
almost a 2 day walk from the dock where we left the boat."
"Because there are roads and bigger docks on the other side of the island.
I think that's what they used as their main port. I'm not sure what the other
dock was for, but it's not important."
Phillip stared him down with one raised eyebrow. "Not important? If the
other side is so much better, why didn't we land there?"
"Because... that's not the side that Brady and Chloe would have landed on.
We're tracing their footsteps, remember? Convenient or not, it was the best way
to find them."
Mimi muttered under her breath, "Or we could have just taken a helicopter
instead of hiking for 2 days."
Belle stood up straight and waved her hands for them to stop. "Cut it out.
Don't even begin this argument. We decided in the beginning that this was the
best plan, and there was no taking the easy way out. We had no idea if they'd be
on the beach, or in the woods or anywhere. Instead of arguing about it, we're
going to march up that hill right now and find them. And we won't stop walking
until we do. That's it. End of discussion. Don't any of you dare argue with me.
Come on, we're going."
Belle didn't wait for any of them to speak, she quickly capped her water bottle
and headed up the hill in anger. The rest of the group had been silenced by
Belle's sudden show of frustration and they quietly followed behind her.
After a span of 15 minutes that felt more like 3 days, Belle spotted a large
gray building ahead of her through the trees. She stopped at the top of the hill
and motioned for her friends to join her, pointing ahead of her as they reached
her side.
"Look, it's right there... we can be there in five minutes... at the
most."
Shawn smiled and quickly squeezed Belle's hand. "Then what are we waiting
for? Let's go..."
Belle smiled back at him and nodded. She tried not to break into a full run, but
her speed was hard for the others to match. When they reached the front of the
building, they paused for a moment to take in the site of it. Belle thought to
herself that if you looked up the word 'abandoned' in the dictionary, you might
see a picture just like this. The building was the very picture of dilapidated
with broken windows and overgrown brush and vines surrounding it.
Mimi tried to suppress a laugh as a funny thought entered her mind. "This
is like... something out of a Jurassic Park movie."
Phillip chuckled and nodded in agreement. "Only without the velociraptors..."
Mimi laughed quietly and they followed Shawn and Belle into the front room of
the building. It looked like most of the furniture had been taken out, but there
were a few things left behind by the previous occupants. The room was filled
with light thanks to the wide windows at the front of the building, but was
otherwise empty.
Belle looked at Shawn with a shrug and stepped further into the room and closer
to a hallway with several doors on each side. "BRADY! CHLOE! ARE YOU IN
HERE?"
She kept on calling, shouting their names louder and louder, as the others
stayed behind her. One of doors slowly creaked open and Belle saw a pair of
large blue eyes peer out at her. "Belle?"
"Chloe?"
Chloe threw the door wide open and rushed to Belle, squeezing her tightly.
"Oh my God, Belle... it is you. I didn't believe it at first. I thought I
was starting to go crazy or something. But, you're really here..."
Belle smiled widely and held on to her best friend. "Yeah, I'm here... I
brought a few friends too."
Belle motioned towards the others who rushed forward to embrace Chloe. Chloe
stood back to take in the site of her four friends who had come to rescue her,
and a few tears fell from her eyes as she smiled at them all. She had never been
so glad to see those four faces as she felt right now, but she could only
imagine what the sight of her must look like. Her long dark hair lay limp and
tangled on her shoulders, and she had thick dark circles under her eyes. Her
clothes were tattered and torn, and her skin was covered in bruises and
scratches.
"I just can't believe you're all here. Brady said that you would come, but
I didn't think you would ever be able to find us."
Belle put her hand on her heart and gasped slightly. "Brady? He's alright,
isn't he?"
The light in Chloe's eyes suddenly grew dimmer and she bowed her head solemnly.
"He's alive... I don't know how, but he's still alive. He's hurt pretty bad
though... I used what I could scrounge up around here to make a bed for him and
try to bandage him up."
"Where is he?"
"Come on... Follow me..."
The group silently followed Chloe into the room that she had emerged from
earlier. Brady was lying in the corner on a makeshift cot, covered in a blanket.
His skin was paler than Belle had ever seen it, and a thin sheen of sweat
covered his forehead and the one arm that was exposed. His eyes were closed, and
although it was clear that he was in misery, he still managed to look peaceful.
Belle rushed to his side and clasped his hand in hers. "Brady... It's
me."
Brady's blue eyes fluttered open slowly and he squinted to look at his younger
sister. His voice was quiet and scratchy, the volume barely above a whisper.
"Tinkerbelle... Is it really you?"
Belle squeezed his hand tightly as a tear began to fall down her cheek.
"Yeah, Brady... it's me. And, I've got Shawn, Phillip and Mimi with me too.
We're all here and we're going to take you home now."
Brady attempted a smile as he noticed the tears on her cheek. "Then you
shouldn't be crying, sis."
Belle wiped her tears with the back of her other hand. "I'm just happy...
Happy to see you."
"I knew you would come."
Belle smiled and kissed her big brother on the forehead. "And, I knew you
would be here waiting for me. God, Brady, what happened?"
Brady tried to push his covers down but was too weak to manage, so Belle pulled
them down for him. His chest was bare except for an area on the side of his
ribcage that was covered in Chloe's makeshift bandages.
Chloe sighed behind her. "I wanted to get the bullet out, but it's in there
pretty deep. There was a struggle on the boat... and Brady got shot in the midst
of everything. I tried my best to keep the bleeding down. But, he needs a
doctor."
Belle nodded and moved the bandages away slowly. There was a small, but deep
hole in his side. She could tell that Chloe had been doing her best to keep it
clean, but she knew that Brady must have lost a lot of blood over the past few
days.
Shawn, Mimi and Phillip looked on in stunned silence. All of them amazed that
they had found their friends alive, and equally unsure of what words they could
muster at this point.
Belle covered the wound up again and wrinkled her eyebrows together.
"Jesus, Brady... how did you hike all the way up here with a whole in your
ribcage?"
Brady half-grinned at her and rasped out, "It's only a flesh wound, Tink."
Belle gave him a steely gaze of completely seriousness. "That's not funny,
Brady. If you want to laugh about this, let's do it when you're healed. Right
now, we have to get you to a hospital."
The others laid their bags down and Phillip dug for the satellite phone quickly
handing it over to Belle. Brady glanced at the others through half-lidded eyes
and spoke quietly, "Good to see you all."
Mimi smiled at him and nodded. "Not as good as it is to you see you
two."
Belle began dialing the phone and waited patiently for an answer as Phillip
turned to Chloe. Chloe was leaning against the wall near Brady's bedside with
her arms crossed. Her complete exhaustion and worry for Brady's life was written
all over her face. Phillip stepped over to her and put a comforting arm around
her shoulder. "You doing alright, Chloe?"
Chloe nodded slightly. "I think so... Just a little banged up, but mostly
tired."
"And the baby?"
Chloe patted her stomach reassuringly. "Fine, I hope. There's been no signs
of trouble... so I think it's going to be okay."
Belle had finally gotten through because they heard her shout excitedly into the
phone, "Dad!"
"Belle? Are you alright?"
"Yeah, Daddy... I'm fine. We found them. We found Brady and Chloe."
"Oh thank God, are they alright?"
"Chloe is alright. Tell her parents that she's fine. But, Brady..."
Belle took a deep breath in and continued, "Daddy, Brady got wounded and he
needs medical attention right away."
Belle heard a pause on the other end of the phone, and for a moment she was
afraid that they had lost their connection. But John began to speak again, more
frantically this time. "How bad is it? The fastest I can get there is going
to be 90 minutes. That's what the helicopter pilot told me."
"He's lost a lot of blood, but he's still awake and alert."
John sighed in relief. "Then that's a good sign. I need you guys to get
yourselves into a clearing, so we can see you from the air."
"That's not going to be a problem, we're at the research center. It's on
the map. There's enough space out front to land a helicopter, I think."
"Good. Get outside, and in about 90 minutes shoot off a flare. And, shoot
another one off 15 minutes after that. Keep doing that until you see us above
you."
"Okay... Okay... we'll see you soon."
Belle hung up the phone and looked at her friends. "It's going to be about
an hour and a half before they can get here. Dad wants us to go outside and
wait, and in about 90 minutes shoot a flare off so they can see exactly where we
are."
Mimi looked at her in surprise. "Ninety minutes? Can we wait that
long?"
Belle shoved the phone in her bag and shrugged. "We don't have much of a
choice. They're moving as fast as they can to get here."
Brady coughed harshly and all eyes turned his direction. He weakly waved their
concern away and attempted to smile again. "Don't worry about me. I'll
still be here in 90 minutes. I'm not going anywhere."
Shawn kneeled by Brady's side and looked him over. "Can you walk at
all?"
Brady shook his head slightly. "I don't think so. I tried getting up
yesterday... I'm just too weak, man."
Shawn nodded and looked towards Phillip. "Don't worry about it, we'll get
you out of here."
Phillip nodded and walked to the other side of the cot. The two guys worked
together to lift Brady's cot up and carry it outside. As they carried Brady out
the door of the small room, Belle could hear her brother whisper to the other
two guys. "Hey... it's a good thing you two work out, huh?"
Belle rolled her eyes and turned to Mimi and Chloe. "That's my brother. He
never has known when to shut up."
Chloe looked downward and nodded slightly. She leaned against the wall and Belle
could hear a quiet sob erupt from her throat. Belle and Mimi rushed to her side
and held on to her, making sure she wouldn't topple over from this rush of
emotion.
Belle ran a comforting hand through Chloe's tangled hair and sighed. "What
is it, Chloe?"
Chloe's sentences became stilted as she spoke through the sobs that were
wracking her body. "I've tried so hard to be strong for Brady, and I
haven't cried once. I haven't cried at all. But, he's the one that is strong.
Not me. He's been so optimistic this whole time, he's the only thing that's kept
me from going crazy."
"Chloe, you ARE strong. Even strong people are allowed to go crazy
sometimes, you know. You've been so brave, and if it wasn't for you... Brady
wouldn't have made it this far. You've been taking care of him, feeding him,
getting him water. And you've done it all by yourself. So, don't ever believe
that you aren't strong."
Chloe lifted her head and looked at Belle through the tears in her eyes.
"I'm not going to lose him, am I? Because, I can't. I can't live in a world
that doesn't have Brady in it."
"Don't you even think about that, because we are not going to lose him. He
will make it through this."
Mimi interjected. "She's right, Chloe. There is no way that Brady is going
down without a fight. Not like this. He's already made it this far, and he won't
give up."
Belle smiled and hugged Chloe tighter. "Besides, you don't think my brother
is going to just let you have this baby without him, do you?"
Chloe nodded in agreement. "Oh, you two should have seen his face when I
told him... He was like... I don't know, all lit up inside."
Mimi grinned at her and nodded. "I think we already know that face, because
it's the same one he gets when he looks at you."
Chloe smiled weakly and brushed the tears off of her face. "Thank you...
thank you both."
Belle half smiled at her. "That's what friends are for. Now, let's go join
the boys outside..."
The three girls walked outside and joined the guys who were sitting next to
Brady's cot. They had lucked out, because the weather was on their side. The sun
was blocked by a few fluffy clouds, preventing the temperature from becoming too
high. The girls sat on the pavement on the other side of Brady, and Chloe
clasped her husband's hand in her own and smiled at him.
Phillip looked at Chloe curiously. "So, what is the whole story here? Since
we've got some time to spare..."
Chloe nodded and began. "These guys... pirates... I guess you would call
them that. It was dark out and we were on the deck of our boat, you know,
looking at the stars... We didn't even see them sail up next to us. Three of
them... they just came aboard. They had guns and they wanted all of our
valuables. So, we cooperated. I gave them all my jewelry, our cash, everything
they asked for."
Belle interrupted with a question. "So, if you cooperated... why did they
shoot Brady? What about all the blood on the boat?"
"We cooperated, yes. But only up to a point... One of the men grabbed me,
and he was going to... he was going to..." Chloe paused and bowed her head,
unable to form the words.
All heads turned to Brady who finished her sentence for her in just three
devastating words. "Rape my wife..."
The other girls gasped softly as Shawn nodded in understanding. "So, you
did what you had to do to stop them. You did what any of us would have
done."
Brady coughed again and nodded slightly. "It was three against one, man. I
got one of them. Stabbed him with this knife I had used earlier to cut some
rope. That's when I got this hole in my ribs."
Belle's hand fluttered to her mouth in shock. "Oh my God... so the blood on
the boat?"
Chloe continued on, "A little of it must be Brady's, but most of it
belonged to the man that he stabbed. We jumped overboard together before they
could shoot again. I guess they figured we would drown before we ever found
land, so they didn't go after us."
Mimi chewed on her lip as she tried to imagine the horrors that Brady and Chloe
had been through, when she thought of another question "So, we saw a help
signal on the beach... why did you guys leave the beach?"
"Thankfully, we were close enough to the shore to swim to it after we
jumped ship. But, the next day, we saw the boat that belongs to the pirates near
the shoreline. We figured they'd see us there, and our signal, and come back to
make sure we weren't alive to be witnesses. So, we did our best to destroy the
signal before they got too close, and then we went into the woods. We stopped to
rest a couple of times, but we just hiked up that little trail until we found
this place. Brady thinks that maybe they have a hide out on the other side of
this island... I've seen them a few times in the woods when I was out foraging
for food. Luckily, they never saw me."
Brady cleared his throat and spoke again. "And that's our adventure. We've
just been here ever since hoping and praying. What about you guys?"
Belle sighed and laid her hand on top of Brady and Chloe's clasped hands.
"They told us you were dead. And, we almost believed them. But, I knew... I
knew deep down that it couldn't be."
Shawn nodded and interrupted her. "You two should have seen Belle. She was
like a one-woman army, she convinced all of us that we needed to have hope. This
whole rescue mission was her idea, really."
"I had to do it... I knew that that the two of you would protect each other
until the end of the world. So, I made Dad arrange all of this, and here we
are."
Brady smiled weakly at his baby sister. "I knew you were coming, I kept
telling Chloe that the Black family never gives up on each other..."
Phillip grinned and tapped Brady on the shoulder. "Don't forget about the
Kiriakis family, Brady. You and Chloe saved my life once, and I kinda owed you
one."
Chloe smiled appreciatively at Phillip. "I think you can consider that debt
to be officially repaid."
Mimi decided that her curiosity had yet to be satisfied and posed another
question. "You two amaze me. I mean, that hike was bad enough for a healthy
person... But, Brady... how did you do it with a gunshot wound?"
"Will. That's the only way I can explain it. When you have so much to live
for, why would you ever give up?"
The group sat in silence for a long while, knowing that nothing they could say
could make a heavier impact than Brady's words. Brady's coughing fits seemed to
worsen and become more violent as the wait grew longer. The group worked quietly
to keep him hydrated and comfortable. The time started going faster as they
tended to Brady's needs, and made quiet chit chat as they sat around waiting.
Finally, Belle saw Shawn digging for the flare gun out of the corner of her eye
and turned away from Brady to watch him.
"Is it time?"
Shawn pulled the gun out of his bag and tapped his watch. "Ninety minutes,
right on the nose."
Shawn stood and loaded a flare into the gun and pointed it towards the sky, he
muttered a quick prayer and shot the red flare into the dusky sky. The rest of
the group stared up into the sky, waiting for a sign of the helicopter. They all
seemed to hold their breath as they waited to hear the familiar sound of
helicopter blades passing over.
For the next five minutes, none of them could peel their eyes away from the sky
up above. Mimi groaned loudly and rubbed her eyes. "Well, this is
thrilling."
Belle waved a hand to quiet her and pointed. "Mimi... Shush... Look
again."
As they all looked back towards the sky, Belle could hear the faint sound of the
helicopter approaching. They finally saw the helicopter fly into the clear area
above them and start towards the ground. The group watched in silence as the
chopper touched ground kicking up dust and a few stray pebbles as it landed a
short distance away from them.
John Black and Craig Wesley jumped off and came running towards them. Two male
paramedics quickly followed behind them with a gurney in their hands. John and
Craig quickly hugged their daughters as the paramedics quickly laid Brady on to
the gurney. Craig let go of Chloe and lifted the blanket to inspect Brady's
wound. John went to Brady's other side and squeezed his hand for just a moment
and whispered something into his son's ear. Craig motioned to the paramedics to
load him into the helicopter and then turned back to Chloe.
Chloe gave him a worried look. "It's bad, isn't it?"
"I'm not going to lie to you, sweetie. It is bad. But, we're going to take
care of him. Come with me, alright?"
Chloe nodded and ran with Craig towards the helicopter. The rest of the group
looked on in silence as the black helicopter took off towards the mainland.
John turned to the group of four with a reassuring look. "Don't worry, I've
got another chopper a few minutes behind this one. And, your mom is at the
hospital waiting for us, Belle. Now... are you all okay?"
Belle nodded and returned to her father's embrace. "Yeah, daddy... just
worried about Brady for the most part. Plus, I think Mimi will need a doctor
too."
Mimi raised her eyebrows, "I do?"
Phillip rolled his eyes and nudged her with his elbow. "Uhh, yeah... You
got a concussion, remember? Or did that bump on your head make you lose all of
your senses?"
Mimi frowned and nudged him back. "Apparently..."
John nodded and continued, "Well, don't you worry about it. Brady is going
to be fine, and we'll make sure that Mimi gets her head checked out too. The
four of you... well, you're heroes. I'm so proud of all of you."
Shawn smiled bashfully and spoke to John, but looked into Belle's eyes as he did
so. "It's all Belle. She's the true hero here. She's the one that knew we
should come here in the first place, and she's the one that's kept us going this
whole time. That's your hero, John. She's just... amazing."
John kissed his daughter on the forehead and nodded. "Well, I'm not surprised.
Not at all..."
Belle sighed deeply and looked towards the ground shyly. She didn't feel like a
hero in her heart, she just felt like she was doing what Brady and Chloe would
have done for her if the tables were turned.
Belle looked towards the sky and spotted the second helicopter approaching. As
the group waited for it to touch down, Belle said a silent prayer for her
brother.
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