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The Story Unfolds... Season One, Episode Nine.. Green Pen Of Johnny's Click to see Main Characters Gallery *************************************************** From: <rosafleehart@yahoo.com> Subject : A Partner's Choice Date: Sun Sep 21, 2003 12:27 pm It was only hours from the end of a bad shift for the guys of 51's. A-shift, as usual. Johnny and Chet where arguing, and the rest of the guys were watching, when the tone went off. It was gonna be a big one. It was a four alarmer, a warehouse. They arrived on scene, met by the day supervisor. "We have three workers missing in there!" "Ok, we'll handle it. What kind of stuff is in there?" "We ship high explosives to all kinds of contractors for demolition work. If that place goes, it will level three city blocks." "Oh my G*d." The captain calls in to dispatch. Then he calls Roy and Johnny over. They all talk. "Dispatch this is 51. You better send me another alarm. We have an explosives factory involved. Also, police, for evacuation of at least four blocks all around our location. " ##Ten four, 51.## "Ok, now. Hey.. Roy, John! Come here. You tell these men where the missing employees were working at last. " |
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"What do we got, Cap? " Roy asked. "High explosives and missing employees times three." "We saw them last in the packing room on the south end of the building over there." "Ok . Thanks. You know get your people back?" The man ran to where his other employees where standing to wait. Meanwhile, he said to both Roy and Johnny as well. "How do you wanna work this?" "We'll go in, I guess. I don't see any other way, Cap." "Ok.... But be careful. I don't want you two getting into anything you can't handle, ok ? Be careful." "Yeah. " They suit up and go in. Just as they reach the area where the missing people were last seen, there is a victim. A woman. Roy grabs her. Johnny tells him to get her out. He would see if he could spot anyone else and be right behind him. Then, just as they are starting to move, there is a large explosion that rocks the building. And Johnny sees danger as he looks up, and pushes Roy to safety along with the victim just as part of the ceiling came down. |
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Johnny couldn't get out of the way in time and is trapped under all the debris. Roy hands the victim off to another team of fire fighters who come over to them just then. He knows there should be another squad outside. He instructs the men to take the victim outside. Then he grabs his radio and says into it. "Engine 51! This is HT 51! We have a code I in here! Fire fighter trapped under a fallen ceiling. We need help. " Then Roy removed as much of the debris as he could to get to Johnny. He got to him finally, but he was unconscious. ******************************************************* From : "Cassidy Meyers" <killashandrarey@hotmail.com> Subject : Fireman Down... Date :Thu, 09 Oct 2003 23:30:54 +0400 "Johnny? Can you hear me?!" he shouted over the roaring din of fire around him. Roy's HT crackled and drowned out any possible reply that might have come from him. It was Cap. ##Hang in there, Roy! I've got Lopez, Stoker and Kelly en route to you now with just a long board. It's the fastest way of getting him out of there! ## Roy thumbed his reply, crouching protectively over his partner's face and chest to ward off the remnants of the ceiling that still spit burning embers down around them from the upper story. "10-4. Tell them to follow my rope! I'm about thirty yards from the east entrance near a toppled fork lift!" DeSoto turned all of his attention to finding positive life signs on Johnny. Roy's first move was to pull off one of his hose dampened gloves to slide a couple of fingers inside his partner's air mask to feel for signs of breathing. Immediately, they moistened from the stress related puffs of warm breath whistling rapidly in and out of Johnny's mouth. Roy bent closer and he saw that there was a trickle of blood running profusely from Gage's nose, trailing rivers onto the sweaty cracked face plexiglass covering it. To his dismay, there was no sign of animation, at all, active on Johnny's face. |
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"Gotta drain some of that out now." DeSoto turned Gage as a unit onto his side to lay him against his own knees to await the help soon to arrive. He mumbled, keeping his free fingers on the artery beating weakly in Johnny's neck. "Just hang in there, Junior. You're doing fine." Roy sliced away the straps of the air bottle from Johnny's back using his holster's utility knife to get him set for the spine board in two swift slashes. Then he kicked Gage's half empty yellow air cylinder clear from its usual position until it rested near both their heads. "Roy?! We're here! How is he?" came Kelly's muffled shout. It was followed by the angry hissing of fire as it was beaten dark by an inch and a half's violent water stream. Marco and Stoker came running to grab Gage by the shoulders and legs to help Roy keep a tight alignment as Chet slid the board as close against his back as he could. "He's breathing, you guys. But he's really out. Watch his neck! He's got some fast facial bleeding." DeSoto snapped through his glass. "I'll be careful...! I'm always careful.." Kelly countered first gruff, then calming at DeSoto, as he tried not to let the worry in his eyes show through his mask. Chet knocked away Gage's useless helmet with an elbow while he got a good grip with his gloves on either side of Johnny's head as they rolled him gingerly, to once again supine, and adjusted him in a centering line onto the board. Stoker grabbed the two sand bags they had brought to keep Johnny's head even more stable under the chin and forehead straps, and he handed them off to Roy for him to apply. Lopez quickly dropped the hose that had cleared a cool wet path of black through the flaming warehouse and handily got a good grip on the board. "I got it snuffed. We gotta move now." "Ok.. He's set." Roy gasped. "On, three, we'll lift him. Ready? Three.." he rushed, tossing Johnny's air bottle onto his partner's dusty knees carelessly. He made sure that Gage's shattered air mask remained in place. ::It's still doing its job keeping out the smoke.:: Scared for their lives, the four men from Station 51 carried out their fifth as the warehouse rumbled in threat around them with lurid fire while dodging many destabilizing burning crates as the boxes fell from their berths around them. Finally, they cleared out into the night air. Cap met them on the run and paced along side of them as he peeled off Gage's air mask to reopen his airway with a careful jaw thrust move. Another hand buried itself under Gage's slightly smoking jacket. "He's still moving air ok.. I got the 02 and biophone connected and already hooked up, and an ambulance will be here in four minutes. Roy, did you guys see anybody else in there?" Roy blinked in shock when he realized that he had nothing to report on the others beyond his own firefighting crew's well being. "Well, I- I.. " Stoker saved his behind. "Cap, we did a sweep search the whole time we water blasted over to Roy and Johnny's location. We saw no one else trapped. I can guarantee that the ground floor's clear.." "Are you absolutely certain?" "As sure as the fact you're standing in front of me." Mike confirmed, stepping over a yellow burn sheet spread over the ground. "Ok..." Cap sighed, taking Stoker's update seriously. They all helped carry Johnny's long board over to the equipment laid out on the street and soon they were joined by two other county firemen to speed up the process. Cap grimaced when he saw the large amount of blood continuing its flow from Johnny's nostrils. But he had other worries still to deal with. Hank lifted his head to shout aloud towards the avenue, radio-less, because his hands were still full maintaining a clear air passage on Johnny. "I want another scout team in the warehouse immediately to search the second floor. Under no circumstances is any one going back in without a hose backup!" he roared. He saw Engine 10's captain take over his commanding order to take rapid steps to implement it. From the corner of his eye, Hank saw a new team arrow towards the burning building dragging a hose at their tail. ::Good going. If those people are still alive in there, we'll find em.:: Under Hank's hands, Gage gagged just as Kelly, Lopez, Roy, and Stoker lowered his board to the ground. Cap saw Gage's involuntary stomach muscles begin to rock back and forth under his burned blue shirt. "Flip him! He's getting ill.." he warned. They rapidly log rolled Gage onto his side as Johnny began to vomit up the blood that he had taken in from his sinuses. "He's screwing up his airway real bad.." Kelly said un-necessarily, showing his current high fright for his crewmate. "He's fine now, Chet. Just relax, ok? I got it all.." Roy said, applying a last bit of suction inside Johnny's mouth from the unit on the resuscitator apparatus. The smothering liquid gurgling inside the tube gave way to a smooth patent hissing sound of sucking air so he withdrew the wand. "There. We just gotta get him on some O2 now. Marco, you handle that.." DeSoto told him, beginning to calm down somewhat. "Put him on 15Ls and be prepared to breathe for him if he goes over 24 a minute. For now, we'll keep him on his side until he wakes up. Cap, you can let go of him now. I've pushed his tongue clear. Looks like he was biting it." Hank nodded, pulling his blood stained hands away from where Lopez and Roy were settling a demand valve over Johnny's nose and mouth. He rose to his feet to find a hose puddle in which to wash. He didn't have far to go. ::Only to the curb here.:: he sighed and he cleaned up. Then Captain Stanley pulled his HT out of his pocket and set it onto the squad's roof for monitoring while he watched Roy and the others work to assess Gage. Roy wiped his hands off on the grass and snatched up the biophone to speak.. ----------------------------------------------------- |
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******************************************* From: "Cory Anda" <andacory@hotmail.com> Subject: Volatile Situation.. Date: October 9, 2003. 09:45:08 0007 CST "Rampart, this is Rescue 51. How do you read?" Roy began. Dr. Early turned on the desk reel to reel recorder after he got Dixie's hint that there was an incoming call arriving to the base station. ## Go ahead, 51.## he replied. "Rampart. We have three victims from an incendiary factory fire. Victim three has yet to be located. Victim one, a male approximately sixty years of age. He's suffering from mild smoke inhalation. Victim number two's a Code I. He's unconscious following being pulled out from under a roof collapse. He's been fully immobilized on a long board. A cervical collar has been applied and he's on 15 L's of O2. Vitals are: BP, 100/82, Respirations are 20 and rapid, and his carotid pulse is 120. There's substantial bleeding from his nose that we have draining by placement onto his side. He has no signs of cerebral spinal fluid leakage nor accompanying Coon's eyes or Battle's sign showing. His pupils are equal and reactive." ## 51, On Victim Two. Start an IV of Lactated Ringer's TKO and get a full neural assessment as soon as you can. Keep his head elevated and transport as soon as you've established the IV. On victim number one, keep him on six liters of 02 via nasal cannula and monitor his vital signs carefully throughout the trip in. Let me know when you've reached Victim Three.## "10-4, Rampart." and Roy parroted his medical orders to the letter back to Joe Early to confirm what he had to do next. Right then, Marco spoke up. "Roy, he's coming to.." DeSoto dropped the phone and bent close to Gage's face, tapping Johnny on an eyelid with a finger to see if he blinked or not. "Johnny? You back? Open your eyes.." On the fourth tap, Johnny's face screwed up and he coughed wetly. "Ok, guys.. Let's set him flat again. He's awake enough to manage all this bleeding." Together, the four of them twisted, then tilted back the long board until it rested head up on Johnny's abandoned air bottle while they watched him regain a vestige of consciousness. "Johnny?" Roy said loudly once again, gripping his face firmly between his hands. "Can you hear me?" A soft moan answered him, then.. "I saw a child in..in... listen, *Ugh* ..listen to me...I saw a small kid in there.." Gage mumbled, shoving away the flowing ventilator mask. Marco kept it hovering close on blow by over his nose and mouth as a compromise. Chet looked up at Roy as he was covering Johnny up with a shock blanket. "Is he still half out of it? That last bit didn't make any sense at all." "Probably. And no, that didn't make any sense to me either. Easy, Johnny. We're gonna haul you in to Rampart next for a thorough checkup." Gage began to fidget as clarity crept back to him and he tried to touch his face and struggle free of the long board's restraints, grunting quietly. DeSoto and Stoker both, grabbed his shoulders to immobilize him. Roy bent close to Johnny's bloody ear. "Hey,, hey.. Just lie back a sec. Let Marco finish up on your 02 first. You're still kinda in La La land." |
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Gage seemed to understand then and he remained silent after that, blinking slowly at the starry sky as he rubbed the ashes out of his eyes. A minute later, he focused on Roy starting an IV on one of his arms and something finally clicked mentally. "That Ringers?" "Yeah." "I don't need it. I'm .. I'm..not shocky." he fussed, pushing some new blood and old saliva out of the corner of his mouth in irritation. "No, you're very stable. But you were unconscious for over ten minutes, partner. Humor Early for once and let him play doctor. It'll boost his ego. He's getting real tired of all the firefighters hurting themselves this week." DeSoto smiled down at Gage. "Remember, Rampart's had just as bad a shift as we had today, Junior. " he said. Then he added casually.. "While we're still on the subject, Johnny, do you hurt anywhere else besides your nose there? Don't go fussing with it now. It's not broken. I checked." Gage eyed Roy up for several seconds in full doubt at that assessment, but then he admitted. "Nah..*cough* Just got a smoke headache. I think I'm only nauseated because of the crap I swallowed earlier." he groaned, closing his eyes to rest.. Johnny then allowed Marco to hold the mask over his face once more without protest. "Well, we'll know that for sure once Early sees your skull series. Just keep clearing out that blood like you are." he told him seriously. But then his voice took up an amused warning. "Chet's got a gauze pad handy." Roy smirked. Johnny opened his eyes when he felt new ministrations begin. "Ohh nooo.. gimme that, Kelly." he snapped at Chet who had started wiping Gage's face dry. "I can clean up myself.." he mumbled around the mask, snatching away the 4 X 4 from the curly haired fireman's fingers. "I'm doing fine so quit sweating the small stuff here. I was just getting all the sh*t out of my mouth." And he began to do the task of mopping up, himself. "Uh.. huh.. " Chet agreed with feigned sarcasm. "I saw that. I saw that, believe me." Then he looked up. "Looks like Johnny's brain is basically intact, Roy. He's b*tching at me already." "I came to that conclusion fifteen seconds ago." DeSoto laughed. Stoker, Chet and Marco all grinned. DeSoto leaned close to examine Johnny's face and nose in more detail with his metallic pen light. "Your nasal bleeding's finally slowing." Roy said. Johnny emitted a noise of doubt. "Huh.. Feels like I'm still drowning in it." "Unlikely.." Roy countered. "You're still talking." he quipped slyly. "Amen to that, Roy!" Chet chattered enthusiastically, giggling uproariously. Johnny glared. But only mildly, at his coworkers. A commotion drew all their attentions then. The day supervisor was rushing over to where Cap was standing and he suddenly blurted out. "Say, Mister. I got the demolition experts from the plant coming from downtown. They say they can help coordinate an operation to use explosives to put out the fire near the most critical explosive production rooms." said the manager in tan. "Talk to that man right there." Cap interjected and he pointed a finger at Battalion 14, just setting up shop a short distance away in the safe zone. Cap watched as Station Ten's men ran out of the building with a gasping man supported between their shoulders. ::There's number two..:: he thought, remembering the woman who had been brought out earlier before Johnny's trouble. He started to turn away when he saw that the smoke stained man was fine and conscious. The recovery team was placing their burden onto a waiting hearse ambulance gurney when Cap heard him speak, urgently hoarse around his oxygen mask. "Hey. *cough* My daughter's still in there." |
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Hank motioned for the attendants, who were starting to wheel him away, to halt. "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I wanna talk to this man. Mister, can you repeat that? Is your daughter the third victim we've been looking for?" "What? Little Megan? No way.. She's nine years old and cute as a button." That last comment struck a chill down Chet and Roy's spines. "Johnny was right about there being a kid in there somewhere?" Kelly gasped. They both looked up from the IV they were taping down, sharply, and started paying attention to the new victim information Cap was gleaning bit by bit from the agitated man. The injured worker continued his story. "She came to see where I work, on a tour. *cough* She's writing a school paper on what line of work I'm into since she's got the crazy idea that she wants to join a ski patrol in Colorado when she grows up." "Uh huh.. uh huh.." Cap nodded impatiently. "When did you last see her?" "About twenty minutes ago. Heading up the steps above the office block to the rafters lookout level with Howard. He's one of the designers of the warehouse. I think she wanted to see how the crane lifts worked." "What's she look like? Uhh,.. W-What was she wearing today?" Roy butted in, thinking how best to get the information they needed to mount a more comprehensive search. " Megan's outfit? Oh, let me see.. Uhh,,. White. All white. A little girl's T shirt and pants. She's got blond hair.. Real short!" he shouted after Roy who went running to the next team of searchers exchanging out their spent air bottles for new ones. He found them near the south entrance of the burning plant and he quickly told them of the unexpected development. ##Move it, Roy. I'll let you know when Johnny's ready to ship out over the radio.## Cap promised over the HT. Johnny regarded his gurneyed, sooty companion thoughtfully as Marco finally changed out his ventilator mask for a lesser flow nasal cannula. Johnny said to the man. "I hope she's ok, for your sake, mister. I know how it is in there. The roof's real unstable." he said. The plant worker opened his eyes and regarded the dirty paramedic looking at him from the ground. "She's a good kid. She wouldn't do anything stupid like getting caught in a fire.." Chet tried his best not to chortle when Gage made a face overhearing that comment. "Yeah, well that doesn't change the fact that Megan's in a whole lotta danger right now.." Cap said with exasperation. "The whole place might be about to go up." he said standing over them both, eyeing the hustling companies ringing the fire scene. "Doubtful.." said the man instantly. "Howard has always said that nothing short of an atom bomb would set off all the special stuff we got in storage." "What kind of special stuff?" Hank frowned. "Oh, plastique. Timed nitrite incendiaries. and some rocket fuel." "Any TNT or nitroglycerin?" Hank asked. "Nothing so archaic, Cap. What do we look like? ACME Plant Central?" |
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********************************************** From : "Katherine Bird" <kathbird@hotmail.com> Subject : Tightrope Act.. Date : Wed, 15 Oct 2003 22:12:35 +0100 Roy pelted towards the team headed in, refastening his air mask over his face. Already, he was breathing hard. ::A kid? I really hate kid calls.:: he quailed mentally. An equally mental memory surfaced that had Johnny's signature all over it. ::Why did you think Cap let you go inside again anyway? He knows you're no good to him being held back on any kid search at a fire.:: Johnny's voice seem to say. Roy wished that Gage could somehow be with him. ::Right now. We seem to search out a building better working with the both of us, together..:: Jamming his helmet a little further onto his head and flipping up his collar, Roy uptook the back end of the fire hose and went with the L.A. city team, explaining about the little girl to their anchor man and his orders from Cap to find her. "Where was she last seen?" said a burly man in Pasadena yellow at Roy. His mask muffled only a little of the man's dismay. DeSoto pointed up. "Rafters! Around the auto lifts!" "Right.." said the front hose man and together, the four of them fought their way through the roaring fire towards a set of metal stairs along one wall. The bitter smell of soaked cardboard and burned plastics permeated the air and seeped into Roy's mouth and nose as they hosed down the growing fire through the metal grating of the stairway. "This air's hardly breathable, even with a mask on. I hope they're still alive.." he thought. At the top of the landing, they found Howard. He had fallen and Roy knew even before he peeled off a glove for a pulse check that the man was already dead. ::Broken neck.:: He felt the cool blistered skin and confirmed the lack of a pulse in seconds. He hastily pulled his glove back on and shook his head in the negative at the others who were wishfully fanning a wash over him and the body. One of the firemen broke away from the hose to heft up Howard onto his shoulders and he began heading towards the nearest hole in the walls where they could all see fire engine lights wavering in the orange glowing darkness around the smoke. The recovery group pushed higher up along meshed stairs stretching towards the faraway ceiling and the rafter walkways there. Several suspended paths were canted and swaying, full of burning debris. "We can't go this way. Turn around and go back one landing. I think I remember another way up there !" said the front fireman. Soon, they found themselves on a second clear landing with two paths available. One way led into a wall of heat, far too much for anything still living to endure; the other dipped into unexpected night coolness. ::This must be the open part left behind from the section of roof that fell on Johnny.:: Roy reasoned. He shot ahead, through the advancing hose spray and into that second choice of blackness, pulling off his mask's straps. "Megan! Can you hear me?" DeSoto's voice echoed around the sagging and violated, partially melted beams, over the din of the flames, eerily. There was no reply. |
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