Free First Watch: A Watcher Bay Adventure by Auburn Seal

she saw a tree in the distance and took Enric to stand under it. It helped a little but not much.
    A bright light in the night sky followed by a crack and large explosion nearly blinded her. Blue, green, and purple bolts of lightning struck in several places. It was the most beautiful and dramatic display of weather she’d ever seen. She stood breathless for a moment as she took in the splendor of nature’s display. One of the bolts slammed into a crate carrying cargo, sending the men carrying it sprawling and disrupting her admiration. The tree they were under lost a large branch which came crashing down on top of them. She watched in horror as the tree branch fell, as though in slow motion, toward her. She pushed Enric to the ground and covered him with her body as the branch landed on her and the world faded to black.
    When she woke, she felt the rain on her face. “Levra. Are you all right?”
    Someone pulled the branch off of her, and she rolled over to free her child.
    Enric’s body lay lifeless and limp under a heavy tree limb and Levra screamed as she reached for her baby boy.
    “Gunnar! Help!”

 
     
    CHAPTER 10
     
    Landing Site, Rasia, New Eden
    Midnight, October 16, 12 AA
     
    “Enric!” Levra called out. “Enric.” Then she turned on her knees to face Gunnar. “He’s barely breathing.”
    Levra looked around, her heart pounding in her chest, and saw through the deluge of rain the empty space where the SS Horizon was only a few moments before. It must have had to leave quickly given the worsening storm. “Gunnar, where is Dr. Sanchez?”
    Dr. Sanchez came through the crowd and knelt down by Enric’s still form. The doctor’s normally calm face seemed shocked by what he saw. He checked his pulse and frowned. “I’m not sure what’s wrong, Mrs. Shield. He may have been hit with the tree, but his pulse is weak. There is something going on here besides a concussion.”
    The doctor gently examined Enric’s head, and when he pulled his hands away, Levra saw they were covered in bright red blood.
    “He appears to have severe head wound. His skull has been fractured.”
    Levra looked at Gunnar and reached for his hand.
    “What can you do? Is he going to be okay?” She felt bile rise in her throat and choked on the last words she uttered. He had to be okay. He had to be.
    “Get my kit,” Dr. Sanchez snapped at one of the crew, ignoring Levra’s questions.
    The crewman ran toward one of the supply crates and returned immediately with a shiny silver briefcase filled with medical supplies. Levra watched as he pulled out a medical scanner and proceeded to sweep her son’s body from head to toe. As it beeped and whirred Levra kept her eyes on the digital read-out displaying time left until expiration of life.
    Bright orange numbers filled Levra’s vision: twenty-seven minutes left.
    He turned the device off, and took a deep breath before looking Levra in the eye. She didn’t like what she saw there.
    “I’m sorry. The damage to his nervous system is too great. There is nothing I can do.”
    Levra heard his words amidst the howling wind and the sharp rain. The sound of crates being stacked and crewman calling out to each other cut through the wind behind them. She felt a million miles away. Her world was falling apart, and she couldn’t focus on anything but the feel of icy rain dripping down her face and sliding off her chest.
    Twenty-seven minutes. That's all she had left with her son.
    Gunnar spoke for the first time. “Nothing you can do? That is impossible. In this day and time of medical advances? We can keep people alive and healthy for nearly three hundred years, and you are saying we can’t save a boy from a simple head trauma?”
    The doctor shook his head. “If I had a full medical suite, I could save him. I’m certain of it, but here I have minimal instruments and equipment.”
    “Then we must take him back to New Seattle right away.”
    The doctor shook his head slowly. “I’m