No matter how hard he tried to reason away the guilt, it kept gnawing at him. If only he had been less insistent. If only he could have been less exuberant.

If only …

Lou forced those thoughts to the back of his mind. For Cap’s sake, he had to stay in the moment, fully focused and committed to the process.

“I’ve got to straighten out your leg so I can splint it,” Lou heard himself say, his voice actually breaking between words.

Cap’s gaze seemed to sharpen. He eyes locked with Lou’s. There was no trace of doubt or fear on his handsome, bloodied face.

“You do what has to be done, Doc,” he managed.

“Actually, Cap, to do what has to be done, I’m going to need your help.”

Cap brushed the back of his hand across the damp bandage on his forehead.

“Tell me,” he said.

The misty rain had largely let up, but the world was still slippery and cool. To make matters more difficult, bugs had reappeared and were beginning to attack Lou’s face and naked back.

“Straightening and splinting your leg is a two-person production. Unfortunately, you’ve got to be one of those people. I’m going to get a couple of thick branches to be the splint. Then I’m going to tie the rope around your right ankle and loop it around that tree by your foot. When I say push, I’m going to need you to push your left foot against the tree with all your strength.”

“And you’re going to pull the rope.”

It was a statement, not a question.

Lou nodded. “If together we have the strength to do this, we’re going to pull the two segments apart and line them up the way they should be. Then I’ll keep the tension on by wrapping the rope around the tree, and you keep the tension on by pushing. Got it?”

“Sounds like fun.”

“When I get the rope tied around the tree, I’ll use our bandages and maybe your shirt to hold the splint in place. The setup will make sure those sharp bone ends don’t cut anything they haven’t cut already.”

“Got it.”

It sounded straightforward enough, but the truth was, Lou had serious doubts whether or not the two of them could pull it off. They had to overcome the tight spasm of the quadriceps group, the strongest muscle in the body. Just how strong Cap’s quad was would become clear in a few minutes.

Splint ’em where they lie, Lou thought, recalling one of the lessons from the course. Splint ’em where they lie.