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rattling wheeze as he attempted to draw in some air.
    Jenny took the inhaler away from his mouth, uncertain that she’d done the right thing.  It was her inhaler, after all, and not meant for him.  What if the meds harmed him in some way?
    And it didn’t seem to be helping anyway.  Stone still couldn’t breathe.
    Behind her, she could hear footsteps, but she didn’t pause to see who it was.   Unless it was a doctor, there was no one who could help Stone now but her.  She leaned down and pinched his nose closed as she fitted her lips over his.  If he couldn’t breath in enough to inhale the medication, she’d have to do it for him.
    Taking a deep breath in through her nose, she blew it into his mouth as hard as she could.  She felt her own irritated lungs protest at the pressure, but she didn’t care.  This was Stone.  He was her life and she be damned if she was going to let him die without fighting to save him.  She’d give him her own last breath if he needed it.
    Stone still didn’t seem to be able to draw in a breath on his own, so Jenny blew more air into his lungs.  Repeating the process again and again.
    On the third breath, she felt Stone’s mouth twitch under hers, and then a soft puff of air expelled from his mouth.  She sat up and looked at his face for any signs of consciousness.
    His eyes were closed, so she pried open a lid, then watched in amazement as the pupil in his eye expanded quickly back to its normal size. He drew in a tiny, shallow breath on his own.
    Stone reached up and removed her hand from his face, then blinked his eyes at her.  He drew in a great wheezing breath and then attempted to sit up.
    He was so weak from lack of oxygen that Jenny had to help him.  In moments, Gilbert was kneeling at his other side, helping Jenny get him into an upright position.
    “Never seen anything like that, Stone.  What is going on with you two?  Do you both have asthma?”
    Stone shook his head, and Jenny could tell that he was still unable to talk.
    “Stone doesn’t have asthma.  Only I do.  There’s something else going on here.”
    Gilbert’s forehead creased into a worried frown. “Something else?  Like what?”
    “Did your food taste weird?” Jenny whispered as Debbie joined them, kneeling close by Gilbert’s side.
    Debbie shook her head, “No, why? Did yours?”
    “Yeah, but I thought it was just the meds from the inhaler messing with my sense of taste,” Jenny said.
    One of the security guards stepped in close and Jenny was grateful to see him, thankfully noting that he was not the one who had held the kid at gunpoint earlier.
    “We need to leave.  I’m taking my fiancé to the ER.  Can you arrange for a lift operator? And maybe some help to get him to the lift?” Jenny asked the man.
    Stone’s hardhat had fallen to the hard-packed saltcrete floor when he’d passed out, and Debbie reached over to pick it up and put it back onto his head.
    When the security guard did not answer her right away, Jenny stood up and faced him, one eyebrow arched in question.
    “I’m sorry, ma’am, but I can’t do that,” the guard finally said after a long pause.
    “Why not? Surely there is some protocol for emergencies here?  I know the lift operator is down here somewhere.  Surely he can authorize an emergency use of the lift? And, you’ve got a radio.  Please use it to have someone call for an ambulance to meet us when we get up to the surface.”
    “I don’t… need…” Stone wheezed heavily as he attempted to talk.  “… an… ambulance.”
    Jenny could hear the pain in his voice, and she knew without a doubt that he was feeling the exact same pain in his lungs as she had earlier. She’d thought it was asthma, but there was obviously something wrong with the air down here if Stone, who was normally so healthy, was also having trouble breathing.
    “Even if he doesn’t need an ambulance, we’re still leaving,” Jenny told the guard.  “Please get the lift