"I told you to take the last exit." Evelynn rolled her eyes as her husband huffed and grumbled about being stuck on the highway.
"Well the GPS said the exit wasn't for three miles!" Daniel shot back.
"Yeah, it said that three miles ago. And then it died."
"We really need to start remembering to bring the charger with us."
"We? What do you mean 'we'?" Evelynn scoffed and looked out at the forest beyond her window. "I pack the luggage, you get the car ready. That includes gas, tires, and GPS."
"But cables and chargers go in our luggage, so technically the GPS charger would fall under your responsibilities."
As her husband began his ramble, Evelynn caught sight of something moving on the edge of the forest. "Daniel."
"And since I drive, you're the navigator, so you should really be in charge of the GPS anyway."
"Daniel."
"Oh and let's not forget-"
"DANIEL!" Evelynn finally got her husband's attention. "Pull over!"
"What? Why?"
"There's someone laying out there, pull over!" Evelynn pointed out what she could now make out to be a person sprawled on the other side of the guard rail.
"Holy shit." Daniel breathed when he saw what his wife was pointing to and immediately turned on his hazards to stop the car.
Before they even came to a complete stop, Evelynn had her seatbelt undone and had jumped out of the car. "Evelynn!" Daniel called, but she ignored him. She vaulted over the guard rail, ran to the boy, and slid to the ground next to him.
"Hey, are you okay?" Evelynn brushed a lock of tangled hair back from the boy's face and saw his eyes fluttering. She quickly began stripping off her jacket and turned back towards the car and shouted to her husband. "CALL AN AMBULANCE!"
"Already on it!" Daniel called back.
When Evelynn looked back at the boy his eyes were open and he was trying to lift his head off the ground. "Hey, sweetheart, can you hear me?" She laid her cardigan over him in an attempt to quell his tremor.
"Water…" Evelynn could hardly hear the croaking whisper. "Please…"
"Daniel, give me the phone, get water! And something to cover him!"
"Hold on, I'm giving you to my wife." He handed the phone over and sprinted back to the car.
"Hello?" Evelynn asked once she had the phone to her ear.
"Your husband says you found a body?" the 911 operator responded.
"No! Not a body!" Evelynn was horrified at the notion. "No, he's alive!"
"Okay, is he conscious?"
"Barely." Evelynn cringed as the boy writhed and twitched beneath her cardigan. "But he just asked me for water."
"Here!" Daniel skidded to the ground with a bottle of water and a blanket from one of their suitcases. She traded him for the phone. "Hi, I'm back apparently."
"I'm sorry about this, hon." Evelynn apologized as she slid her hands under the boy's shoulder and hip and rolled him on his back as gently as she could. She apologized over and over as he grunted and groaned and squeaked in pain. All the while Daniel was attempting to explain to the operator where they were. "Okay, here you go." She readjusted the cardigan and threw the blanket over him before propping his head on her leg and giving him a small sip of water. "Take it slow." She advised when he looked like he was going to reach for the bottle. "If you drink too fast you'll throw up." Suddenly that first aid certification course didn't seem like such a waste of time.
"Where am I?" the boy asked after he'd had about a quarter of the water.
"Frederic, Michigan." Evelynn brushed more hair off his face. "On I-75."
"Michigan…?" he seemed bewildered.
"Can you tell me your name, hon?"
"My name..." He had to think for a second. "My name is… Jack… Jack Brewer."
"Jack Brewer?" Evelynn's heart stopped. "Daniel!" He came jogging back over, having stepped away to talk to the operator. "This is Jack Brewer. The kid who when missing in California!"
"Holy shit." Daniel's eyes widened as he relayed the information.
Evelyn looked over Jack as she continued to feed him small sips of water. She'd seen his face on the news daily, but hadn't even recognized the poor kid. His face was bruised and swollen and there were a couple of trails of blood running down his chin from his mouth. He looked nothing like the pictures of the happy, healthy athlete who had taken over mainstream media for the past week.
"You're gonna be okay, Jack." Evelynn shook her head and snapped out of her trance. "There's an ambulance on the way."
"So cold…" He whimpered. Evelynn's heart broke. Nobody deserved this. Especially not a kid.
"Daniel, ask if it would be safe to move him to the car to warm him up."
"Can we move him to our car? He's wearing a t-shirt and shaking like a leaf." He listened for a moment before giving Evelynn a regretful look and shaking his head. "Could make his injuries worse. I'm gonna wait by the car to flag down the ambulance, the operator said about ten minutes."
"Shit!" She glanced down to Jack as her husband dashed back to the car again and saw his eyes sliding shut. "Hey, keep your eyes open, sweetheart. Don't go to sleep, okay Jack?"
"Tired…" He protested but managed to pry his eyes open again.
"What's going on?" A new voice startled Evelynn and she turned to see two girls who couldn't be much older than Jack heading towards them.
"He's hurt, do you have blankets or extra jackets or anything?" Evelynn begged.
One of the girls turned to the other. "Payts, we've got coats!"
"I got 'em!" The girl-Payts-headed back to their car.
"I'm Rae, that's Payton." She gestured with her head as she peeled her hoodie off and draped it over the shaking form.
"I'm Evelynn, that's my husband Daniel." She nodded behind her.
"I found them!" Payton dropped the coats as she knelt next to Rae and covered Jack in two heavy winter coats. Once they were adjusted to her liking, she took a look at the injured boy. "Holy shit, you're Jack Brewer."
"Wait, seriously?" Rae's eyes widened and she actually bothered to look at the battered face for the first time. "Fuck, you're right."
"Jack… That's me…" his voice was breathy and quiet.
"That's right hon, you're Jack." Evelynn smiled and continued giving him water. "You gotta keep those eyes open for me, okay?"
"Hey, Jack," Rae smiled as an idea came to her, "check out my tattoos!" She began showing off her near-complete sleeve, giving a brief explanation of each one and smiling when Jack made comments of "pretty," "wow," and "I want one."
About halfway through tattoo show and tell, the sound of sirens pierced the air and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh thank god!" Evelynn smiled. "You're gonna be just fine, Jack, you hear me?"
Seconds later, the ambulance pulled up to where Daniel was waving his arms, just ahead of the parked cars. Three paramedics jumped out and moved everyone back while they did a preliminary assessment and loaded Jack onto a stretcher.
"Which hospital are you taking him to?" Evelyn called when the medics were packing him into the back of the ambulance.
"Otsego Memorial." One of the medics called back before she slammed the door and the vehicle sped off.
"You okay?" Daniel was back by Evelynn's side, wrapping her in her cardigan and the blanket to combat the tremor she'd developed.
"I will be." She nodded.
"Nice thinking with the tattoo tour." Payton wrapped her arms around Rae once her hoodie was back on to share some warmth.
"Well, I would have told him to look at the trees or something, but they all look the same." Rae shrugged.
"Rae, Payton." Evelynn called and the two pairs met up by their cars with their belongings piled between them. "Thank you, girls."
"It's nothing." They replied in unison and smirked at each other the way they always did when that happened.
"It's not." Daniel gave them a smile. "So many other people just drove past. You stopped to help."
"Well, we couldn't just not see what was going on." Payton once again latched around Rae's waist and nuzzled her head into her girlfriend's neck.
"We just aren't the bystander type." Rae smiled. "Evelynn, you're the hero here. You knew to keep him warm and awake and all that."
"How about we say we all did a good deed and call it a day?" Evelynn offered.
"Sounds good." Payton agreed and Daniel and Rae nodded.