A James Conrad Story (complete)

Chapter 10: Look Alive Sunshine

Conrad's POV

I wipe the sweat off my forehead after taking a look at Hank's boat.

"This baby will be able to sail again in no time," Hank says as he stares in awe at his own boat. I smile but it doesn't seem to meet my eyes. No one seems to notice except for one specific photographer.

"I miss her too" she whispers looking somewhere else ignoring my eye contact, clearly taking this situation worse than me.

"I don't know what you're talking about" I reply emotionless wiping the oil off my hands with a rag. I can't show any of my emotions to my team. I don't want to seem weak towards the people who look up to me as a leader. What kind of leader would I be if I can't even protect myself from my own feelings?

All of a sudden a little Iwi girl runs up to Hank and taps him on the shoulder claiming his attention. They look at each other for a while before Hank's expression turns serious.

"Another visitor," He says looking at us with sad eyes. He jumps onto the dock and runs towards the entrance of the village. We all run after him to see who the visitor was.

The group of men wearing body paint to camouflage to their backgrounds finally step aside to reveal a body lying on the ground.

"Angel," I say nothing more than a whisper as I rush down beside her. I grab her face and tuck all of her hair behind her ears. She had a cut on her cheek, a large slash on her abdomen, and a very bloody bandage wrapped around her right leg.

"Look alive, sunshine," I say bending down and pressing my ear against her chest listening for heartbeats. It was very faint, but it was there.

"Hey there, Cap," She says tiredly trying to open her eyes. Her quivering voice breaks my heart even more as she struggles to find comfort in my grip.

"Are we home yet?" she asks coughing slightly as she looks at her surroundings. I follow her view to see an already crying Mason about to collapse beside her.

"We will," Mason says shakingly stroking her head softly.

"Enough sapping, if we want to save what's left of her we have to heal her," Hank says urgently as he looks around as if he was asking the Iwis for permission. The two oldest Iwis bow their heads in response and looks at Grace sadly.

"Bring her to the healing tipi now!" Hank exclaims. I didn't waste a moment longer as I gently pick her up , bridal style, and run after Hank.

"it's going to be alright Angel," I say looking down at her once in a while to make sure she's still with me. She looks so fragile as she looks up at me with sadness in her eyes and raises her hand to cup my cheek. My heart breaks into a million pieces as her lips quiver trying to find the energy to speak. Her eyes searching for mines as I can see the spark in hers fading away.

"Don't speak, save your energy," I say curtly as I run into one of the spacious fortresses and softly place her down. The people of the village starts mashing some herbs together and sit beside her.

"We must leave," Hank says pulling me by my arm towards the exit. I paralyze in my spot looking at her fragile state. My mouth opens and closes trying to comprehend what is going on and what to say as I'm dragged out of the tipi.

"She really took a beating" Hank sighs as he turns to head the boat. I grab his arm and vigorously pull him into me so we are face to face. Anger seeping through my eyes as I squeeze his arm, my whole body panting as I look into his eyes.

"Did they do this to her" I growl as I can feel how Hank is in my grasp.

"The Iwis are humble people who would never hurt a soul. What she has gone through was not caused by some person. It was caused by some monster" He says yanking his arm trying to get out of my iron grip. I look at him for a couple seconds more before releasing him and stand there looking at the tipi.

Who ever did this to my Angel is going to fucking pay.