Chapter 410

The beam of a tactical flashlight sliced through the darkness as Bianca Fairchild burst into the cave.

Two familiar voices rang out in the gloom.

"Someone's here!"

"I knew the production crew wouldn't abandon us!"

The voices of Liam and Lucas Croix instantly eased her strained nerves.

Rounding the corner, she found the mud-caked brothers struggling to their feet.

A motionless figure lay at the cave's center.

Bianca's blood turned to ice when she recognized the deathly pale face.

"Xander!"

She stumbled forward.

Xander Quincy's eyes remained closed, his right leg caked with blood. Worse still, a broken tree branch protruded from his side.

Liam's voice shook. "He saved us..."

Her fingers trembled as she fired the emergency flare.

The crimson streak pierced the curtain of rain.

She stared at the embedded branch, not daring to touch it. Blood still seeped out, staining the muddy ground.

The rescue team arrived with impressive speed.

Ethan Sullivan and Evelyn Laurent rushed into the cave, both freezing at the horrific scene.

A stretcher descended slowly from the cliff above.

Medics secured Xander with practiced gentleness, every movement measured and careful.

As the stretcher began ascending, Bianca grabbed the rope. "I'm going up with him!"

"Negative!" The team leader barked. "You'll endanger the patient!"

Helpless, she watched her brother rise toward the precipice.

Through the downpour, Bianca staggered down the mountain. Branches tore through her raincoat, leaving bloody scratches she barely noticed.

Evelyn frowned at the distraught figure disappearing into the storm.

When the surgical lights flickered on aboard the Southern Cross, Bianca finally collapsed onto the deck.

She stared at her mud-and-blood-streaked hands before burying her face in them.

Ethan stood silent at the corridor's end.

The operating room doors burst open. A nurse rushed out. "We need more plasma!"

Bianca's head snapped up, her face paler than the patient's.