His voice was strangled. His face was red and swollen. How many times had he been stung already? “Ready? Go.” As soon as his shoulders twitched, she lunged. Grabbing him under the arms, she swung him into the air.

He shrieked and stiffened.

She tightened her grip and ran.

Riled, the swarm redirected its fury.

With a wicked hum, they shot past her face and thumped into her limbs like buzzing hailstones.

Richard sprinted across the lot. “What happened?”

“Yellow jackets. I think he was stung, but I don’t know how many times.”

Sam’s foot bumped her right thigh, and a white-hot needle seared into her leg. Another pierced tender flesh beneath her upper arm. She gasped. The initial sting was vicious, but as venom seeped under her skin, pain coursed in waves. With an adrenaline-powered surge, she hurtled toward the SUV. Yanking open the rear door, she rolled the sobbing boy inside.

“Keep the bees out of the car.” Richard opened the passenger’s side front door and pulled a red-and-black first aid kit from under the seat. “Caitlin, has Sam ever been stung?”

Wide-eyed, Caitlin clambered into the front. “I don’t think so.”

Fresh panic gripped Tessa around the throat as she shooed away stragglers. “I should have been watching more closely, I—”

“Not now.” Richard flung wide the opposite rear door. “I need you.”

Abs quaking, she slowed her breathing. “What can I do?”

Wasting no time, he removed a cold pack, a tube of cream, and a blister pack of pills from the kit. “Help me strip his clothes and locate the welts.”

As if they had been dressing and undressing wriggling children all their lives, she and Richard removed the boy’s shirt and shorts in seconds. She counted stings as they worked. One on his back between his shoulder blades. One on the back of his thigh. Two on his hairline beside his left ear. Another on the meaty part of his hand under his thumb.

Howling, Sam thrashed between them.

Richard cracked the ice pack and handed it to her. “How many do you see?”

“Five so far.” Pressing the pack between Sam’s shoulders, she lifted his arms and scanned the delicate flesh.

“It’s all right, buddy.” Richard peeled off Sam’s sticky shoes and socks. “You’re doing great. We’ll give you medicine, so they won’t sting so much. Just hold on.”

Sam only cried harder, gasping for breath between sobs. His chest heaved in wheezing wails.

Caitlin peered over the front seat. “He sounds funny.”

Tessa lifted the ice pack and pressed an ear to his back. “He does sound funny.”

“Take deep breaths, Sam. Like this.” Richard demonstrated, lifting his chest in an exaggerated motion. “Try to get quiet inside. I just have to check for stingers.”

“Stingers!” Sam shrieked and flailed.

She recoiled just in time to dodge an elbow to the nose.