 |
 |
|
 |
FULL MOON BLUES |
|
| PAGE NINETEEN |
|
"He's not a flight candidate anymore Roy. He's got rales in both lungs and they sound real wet. And the edema I'm hearing is rising, right into his trachea. Get a suctioning device. He's gonna need it. Standing orders you three," Brackett threw an authoritative point towards Gil, Roy and Brice's directions. "If his respiratory rate falls below eight. I want him EOA intubated." "Right doc.." Roy said. And he and Gil hastened to make the changes. "And slow down his drip to TKO. I don't want his circulatory system overloaded. Last thing he needs is to drown in his IV." At that, Kelly's face screwed up in worry. Chet spoke as Dr. Brackett moved to a steel bucket filled with water, and watched as he reached into his bag and pulled out a pint of powerful disinfectant and poured it over his hands. He used the water to rinse off and a sheet to dry before moving on to examine Cap and Miss Thorne. "Shouldn't we all wear gloves or masks or something?" Chet asked. "Too late.." Gage said. "Remember when I got that virus last year? If this germ's similiar, we've all touched Marco directly or indirectly already. We've all been exposed..." "Yeah, but Brackett hasn't.." Chet said, nervously. "That's his choice.." Brice commented and moved to give Brackett the run down he needed on the others in stokes in the room. Kelly slumped against the bunk wall and leaned over, trying to absorb the bizarre news. "Man, can our day get any worse?" Just then, Bonnie's low moaning turned into an agonized wailing of warning.. Chet leaped to steady Cap and Johnny's stokes on the four chairs when an aftershock seized up out of the ground. It lasted for more than a few seconds before the dead light fixtures overhead started to slow their swaying. The master HT came to life on the desk and it was Stone who was instantly on. ##Everybody all right in there?## Brice picked up the handy talkie and said, "At least, quake wise..." he muttered. ##Squad Eight. Would you 10-9 that?## Brice immediately suppressed his morbid sense of humor, "Uh, 10-4, captain. We're fine. But uh, we're going to have to cancel that copter evac on the sick fireman. The doc says he's too unstable for transport. And .... the rest of us will be staying right here with him for extenuating circumstances...." he said sighing heavily.. "I'm declaring a Condition Bio-Yellow, sir.." ## Excuse me, Did I hear that right? A Biological Hazard alert?## |
|
"That's correct, Cap. Atlanta CDC has authorized Brackett in here to declare one if he felt the need. And he has.. At no time do any of you out there enter back inside the station for any reason.." ##Ten four, Squad Eight. Understood, quarantine protocol laying down. I'll mobilize accordingly. Any of my men to report to you?## "That's negative, Cap. Just Gil and myself need to..and we're already here." ##10-4, Let me know details when you can. Station Eight out.## A quiet sobbing from behind them caught their attentions. Dr. Brackett had roused Cindy from her half state with an aromatic capsule and had changed her oxygen mask for a cannula. She was sitting up with her back against the wall in her stokes. Brackett was giving her a glucose injection into her IV, to help her get over some shakes. He had discovered she was a diabetic from her own account. "What about my kids?" she said. "Are they gonna get sick too?" and her face crinkled in fear. Kel couldn't answer that so he stayed silent. Roy looked up from Marco's pulmonary care and said, "Oh, no. Ma'am. Not at all. You see, we got them all out before we even had contact with Fireman Lopez. They'll be fine.." and he tried to put on a convincing smile. He saw Brackett nodding slowly in agreement as he put away his syringe into the sharps container on the floor. "Feel better?" he asked her. "Much. I haven't eaten since five.. I-It's been a busy day..." Miss Thorne said bravely. Dr. Brackett grinned for show. "That it has. And it looks like it'll be even busier for a while. Try to get some rest. I'll have one of the paramedics stop back in a while to recheck your blood sugar levels." She nodded. "I'm sorry. I just didn't remember to wear my bracelet this morning. It was just ..I was so excited about bringing the kids here That I must have forgotten it...." and her composure broke again despite her best efforts to shore it up. Kel wrapped a wool blanket he had found around her shoulders and snugged her up, brushing hair out of her eyes and away from the cannula. "Why don't you just try to relax.. Get some sleep if you can. If you've family to contact, we'll do that just as soon as the phone lines lighten up a bit.." "A- All right.." she said, gripping his hand. He had to peel off her fingers to leave. "It's all right. "he said, placing a grip of his own over her cool one. "No one is going to be dying. At least, not in here." "Yeah.. " Johnny piped up. "That doctor leaning over ya is the head of Rampart Emergency Services and he's a d*mned good heart surgeon too.. No one dies around Dr. Brackett when he gets ornery, Miss Thorne.. And right now, all of us paramedics are duck and covering, just from the sound of his voice alone.." She laughed despite herself, and slowly her eyes closed as she dozed where she was on the wall. Brackett switched her IV to one of blood neutral solution and moved on to Cap's side. |
|
|
|
"Captain Stanley..?" Dr. Brackett said as he took a chair near his raised stokes. He gave Hank a little shake. "Hmmm? Oh, hi doc.. What are you doing here? Is it bad out there?" he said, suddenly remembering that he was on oxygen. He began fiddling with the cannula when the dryness in his throat from the oxygen just begged him to cough. "Have we backup here yet? The damage out in the yard was bad. There must be tons of people in trouble out there.." "Surprisingly, no.. So I've been sent in here alone to look you guys over." He saw Cap blearily frowning at the ceiling when the familiar surroundings confused him. Dr. Brackett pinned down his deja vu. "You're in your station bunkhouse, captain. And there's a helicopter triage center right outside, for your situation update." "Does that mean we're getting out of here soon?" Dr. Brackett and the others exchanged looks. Stanley didn't miss the exchange. "Hey, fellas, what's the problem here? Why-- why haven't we been moved out?" Johnny turned his head from where he was sitting up next to Cap and sighed. "It's another virus Cap. And the originator isn't a monkey this time.. It's Marco himself.." "What?!" Cap tried to sit up but Dr. Brackett restrained him. "Hey.. now just lie back. No sudden moves until I check out that head injury in a little more detail." Cap blinked, still trying to gain focus as Kel looked at his eyes.. "Is he all right?" Kel didn't say anything, reluctant to; until someone else did. "He's serious, Cap. Blood pressure's in the basement. And his chest is filling up." Roy said. "But his EKG still looks fair.." he tried to smile for Cap's benefit with that slim good news. Cap swallowed hard lying completely still as harsh reality finally sank home. "How about us? Anyone else sick?" |
 |
 |
|
|
FULL MOON BLUES |
|
|
Click Rescue Squad to Goto Page Twenty :) |
