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Lake Lilac and the surrounding region hadn’t seen such an intense heat wave in the past several years. Adding to the uncharacteristic nature of the scorching hot temperatures was that it was still only the very start of the summer. All in all, these were brutal conditions for Camp Campbell’s two counselors to begin preparations.
Gwen let out a sigh of exasperation as she allowed herself to crumple into a chair in the common room of the counselor cabin. Leaning her head back and beginning to close her eyes, she hoped to obtain some form of reprieve from the torturous mid-afternoon sun and heat. David, on the other hand, shoved a water bottle into her idle arms (receiving an annoyed “oompfh” in response). “Stay hydrated, Gwen! We’ve still got a lot of prep to do before the campers actually arrive tomorrow, this place needs to be in tip top shape!”
Gwen glared back at her co-counselor; “David, don’t you think we should take a break? It’s far too hot to be putting in this much effort when the little shits are gonna tear this place apart by the end of the week.”
David halted, one foot out the door, turning back to admonish her. “Gwen! Language! And regardless, I’m not going to be putting anything less than 100% of my effort towards the kids.”
Well, when he put it that way, it sounded a lot sweeter. It was harder for Gwen to stay irritated with him in such cases. “Fine, but promise me that you won’t get carried away. You’re not gonna be of any help to the campers if you die of a heatstroke before they even get here.”
David replied with the official Camp Campbell Salute™ and a cheerful “You got it!” as he closed the door behind him. With the newfound quiet, Gwen found herself finally able to relax in peace after what had been a busy day up to that point. She’d reorganized the supply shed, dusted off all the benches in the mess hall, and spent several hours working through their budget this summerー a somewhat futile attempt, since a “visit” by Campbell himself ensured that they were short on funds yet again. Before long, her eyes fell shut once more and she began to doze off.
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David spent the next three hours outside setting up the various stations that his precious campers would be returning to in less than a full day’s time. It could’ve gone a lot quicker if he wasn’t alone, but despite his words to Gwen in the counselors’ cabin, he felt too guilty to further push her to continue out in this heat. Stepping back to admire his work, he wiped at the sweat which had long since dried on his forehead, before taking a deep breath and sitting down. Immediately following this action, he felt various muscles cramp.
David bit his lip to distract himself from the pain and looked up at the sky, observing the sun as it had begun its gradual descent towards the horizon. Squinting, he lowered his gaze and realized that his vision had become clouded, and his head started to spin. Standing should’ve been the last thing he tried to attempt in that moment, but his logic had all but evaporated, evidently. As he wobbled onto his two feet, he attempted to stretch out his legs and arms only to fall backwards. A pounding headache that he’d ignored for the past couple hours seemed to bubble up to the forefront, leaving him clutching the side of his head with one hand as he groaned.
‘Where’s Gwen?’ he thought. He hadn’t seen her since he left the cabin, and now sure would’ve been a good time to have her here. Another attempt to rise to his feet was made, only for his distress to spike as he collapsed yet again. Not ideal.
Gwen was right. He wasn’t supposed to work himself this hard in temperatures exceeding 110° degreesー and God knows what the heat index might’ve been.
Increasingly dizzy, he tried to call out in the hope that she’d hear him, only to realize that absolutely zero sound escaped his mouth. Any attempt to swallow saliva and moisten his throat was unsuccessful, and he realized how dry his throat had become. Heck, he hadn’t even brought a water bottle with him when he came back out here. He remembered the one that he’d handed to Gwen, and cursed himself for not heeding his own advice. A stupid mistake. Simple, but proving very costly.
He trembled slightly as the urge to lay on his back became overwhelming. Teetering at the edge of unconsciousness, fear clawed at the edges of his mind. This outdoor oven under which he baked ensured that the searing heat seeped into crevices that it shouldn’t. His eyes, nose, mouthー hell, his entire body began to burn as he finally collapsed from his exhaustion. ‘No! No! Don’t close your eyes! The campers.. Gwen!’
Flashes of red, orange, and black overtook his vision, before fading away as he exhaled once more.
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Gwen shot awake suddenly, and her first instinct was to look at the time on her phone.
‘7 PM?? Goddamn. I was out for a while.’
She took greater stock of the cabin around her, and came to the conclusion that she must have dozed off sometime between 3:30 and 4 PM. There was no sign of David nearby, and it was eerily quiet outside.
She stood up from the chair, and twisted her neck and back to stretch out some of the discomfort from her prior sleeping position. Curious about her co-counselor’s whereabouts, she stepped outside the cabin.
Only to find David collapsed not even 30 yards away.
‘SHIT.’
‘SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT.’
She ran to the spot where he was laying on the ground motionlessly, his cheeks flushed and the remainder of his visible body a shade nearly as red as his hair. In a rare moment of competence, her training kicked in. She pressed two fingers to his neck and felt that a pulse was still there as she leaned down to hear him breathing, if only faintly. She had to get him out of this heat, right now.
She tried her best to lift David up, struggling with his weight as she carried him on her back. Gritting her teeth, she spoke as if he could hear her. “You IDIOT. You’re supposed to be the outdoorsy guy, why the hell weren’t you ready for this?? I TOLD you to take a break!”
The short trip back to the cabin felt like an eternity, and to be fair, it took longer with the weight of her co-counselor. Simply getting the door open was a tall task, and Gwen’s trembling hands fumbled with the doorknob until she was able to step inside with David. Setting him down, she turned on the fan and ran for the medicine cabinet to get a handful of ice packs. Tearing through the contents of the cabinet like a madwoman and collecting her bounty, she scrambled back to David and laid as many ice packs on him as possible. Ensuring again that he was still breathing, she finally called 911. To be frank, she should’ve done it a lot sooner, but she didn’t have her phone with her when she first stepped out of the cabin and found David. The amount of time it’d take for any emergency personnel to arrive was a Very Big Problem.
Gwen was realizing that she needed to do significantly more before feeling a modicum of stability in this situation. Biting back the nearly overwhelming anxiety in her chest, Gwen checked on David once more and went to open the spout as fully as possible in the bathtub of the counselors’ shared bathroom.
As the tub began to fill, Gwenー for lack of a better optionー went back and dragged David towards the bathroom. She couldn’t think of another way to move him without having to remove the ice packs already on him. Thankfully, the rise and fall of David’s chest was now visible, and Gwen hoped it was a sign of better things to come.
Now that they were both here, Gwen moved the ice packs off of David, and quickly steeled herself for what she knew she had to do. Surely, he wouldn’t be upset with her, right? She delicately but swiftly removed David’s shirt, and followed that with the remainder of his clothes, minus his boxers (because she was in NO mood to see… that part of him). Despite his somewhat improved breathing, the rest of his body was still a disturbing beet red color. Looking at David in this nearly naked state, Gwen felt that her own face was nearly an equivalent shade, but for different reasons.
“David. When you wake up, I’m gonna kill you,” she huffed, as she picked him up off the uncomfortable bathroom floor and gently laid him into the cold water which had accumulated in the bathtub.
Now that he was mostly submerged in the tub, Gwen let out an exhausted sigh as she sat on its edge. There was nothing else she could do at the moment, so she looked at her phone to check the time. It had been around 5 minutes since she found David, and 3 since she had called 911. It would probably still be more than 10 minutes before any emergency personnel arrived.
Time had gone by in slow motion throughout the whole ordeal, but now that Gwen was left with nothing but her own haggard breathing and the rushing water from the spout, she snapped. Tears burned at the corners of her eyes, but with one more glance at David in the tub, the dam burst, and a loud sob escaped her throat.
“I need you to be okay David. Please..” she cried out, despite knowing that there would be no response. She buried her head in her hands which rested on the outer edge of the tub, and let the sobs wrack through her body. It was no small miracle that she hadn’t broken down prior to this point.
‘If I had been maybe a minute later, it might have already been too late. What was I doing? Nothing. I should’ve been helping David. He wouldn’t have been out there for so long.’
Gwen lifted her gaze back at her coworker, and tried to let herself get angry again in some sad attempt for a distraction from her guilt. What had he been thinking? How could he have been so fucking clueless or neglectful of his own well-being?
‘Because he’s fucking David.’
As she kept her eyes on him, however, she noticed that the redness was starting to fade away in his skin, and with that, so did her anger. She was back to a blubbering mess, though this time more in hopeful relief.
“I really need you here, David. I do. This place needs you and the love that you give it. I’m really sorry that I didn’t go out to give you more… assistance. I shouldn’t have been so lazyー Iー I was just tired. I know it’s no excuse. But ohmyGodifyouwereー” she couldn’t bring herself to choke out the end of that sentence, instead hiccupping as she reached into the tub to cradle David’s head in her hands.
That was how the paramedics found the pair when they entered the counselor’s cabin. It was precisely 21 minutes later, as if Gwen needed any further confirmation that Camp Campbell was in the middle of nowhere.
The first paramedic, a stern woman who made no introduction, kneeled down next to Gwen and began to observe David, checking his vital signs and such. She gave a nod and a huff of approval upon ensuring that he was, in fact, still alive. Gwen nearly scoffed, but figured it’d be very out of place and stayed quiet. The second paramedic stood back a little, clearly less experienced and content to observe his partner’s work. Joseph was his name, and he was of the much chattier type.
“It’s a good thing you found him when you did, ma’am. You did good, given the circumstances.” Gwen only gave a nod in response, refocusing her attention on the woman attending David.
The other paramedic stood up and offered a hand out to Gwen. “We’re going to take him to the hospital, but he seems stable now. I’m Amelia, by the way.”
“Gwen,” the counselor croaked out, trying her best to crack a smile in spite of the situation (she failed, but it was a valiant attempt).
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David opened his eyes slowly, surrounded by white walls and silence, save for the quiet beeping of a machine. He groaned, making an effort to roll over in the cot he was laying on but failing, given that he was just returning to consciousness afterー
“Huh…?” was all he could manage, and he immediately heard rapid footsteps as someone approached his side.
“DAVID!”
Fully awake now, his head snapped in the direction of the voice, eyes widening as he made eye contact with Gwen, who sheepishly covered her mouth with her hands. “Sorry!” she whisper-yelled.
David just stared, slack-jawed, while Gwen fought back tears. If it weren’t for the IV in David’s left arm, Gwen would’ve thrown herself at him, but for now, she had to settle for a gentle embrace, sniffling softly into his shoulder as she let some of her upper body weight rest on his chest. All David could do was wrap his right arm around her and give her soft pats on the back, minding the apparent burns he had sustained.
“What happened…?” he asked.
“You were a dumbass, that’s what,” Gwen mumbled into his shoulder before pulling away. Clenching and unclenching her fists to relieve some more of the tension in her body, she continued. “The paramedics said you suffered from a heatstroke. You had a lot of moderate burns as well. I must have found you pretty soon after you passed out, but stillー when I got to you, you were barely…” her eyes darted to the ground, unable to finish the statement, as if vocalizing the possibility would still somehow manifest it.
Her coworker frowned, trying to come up with an appropriate response. “I’m really sorry, Gwen. I don’t know what I was thinkingー”
“You weren’t,” Gwen interjected. “Oh, sorry. Carry on.”
David bit back a weak chuckle. “No, you’re right. But seriously, I just lost track of time out there. It wasn’t until I finished setting up all the stations that I realized how awful I felt, and by then, it was like I’d just lost all control over my body.”
Gwen smacked her forehead upon hearing this. “You set up ALL the stations yourself? How did I not even notice that? No fuckin’ wonder.” Truth be told, Gwen never even noticed the stations when she found David. Her mind had been understandably preoccupied with the sight of him, motionless and red as a tomato all over. She felt a little sick at recalling the image, which was forever burned into her memory.
“Well, anyways,” David scratched the back of his head absently with his free arm. “I’m okay, and we’re both here together! That’s the only thing that really matters if you think about it,” David offered, mustering up the most enthusiastic smile he could. Gwen scoffed but was content to move back into David’s waiting one-armed embrace. They remained in that position for several minutes, until Gwen spoke up with a bitter laugh.
“Our budget is seriously fucked.”