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"Wait a minute," Roy said. "Are you and Mr. Cassidy planning on going out there?" "We have to. No one but us knows the mountains as well as we do. If anyone can find those kids, it's us." Gage turned from his inspection of all the medical supplies and he quickly got to his feet. "Hang on a minute here. Don't you think that we'll have a better chance at finding those kids if we wait until our engine crew gets here?" "Perhaps." Tim said thoughtfully, pausing by the door. "Then let's do that. The guys aren't slackers when it comes to rappelling and rural extrication operations." Johnny insisted. "All right, we'll wait.." Julie decided, tossing her auburn shoulder length hair out of her eyes. "Why don't you fill us in as to your injured friends' conditions here and we'll see about getting dinner on the stove, all right?" "Deal.." Johnny replied. -------------------------------------------------------------- Fifteen minutes later, Stoker, Kelly and Lopez, with full brush fire gear, drip torches and portable fire shelters, arrived at the ranger tower from the steep trail's steps. The wind was hot and no longer smelled like rain, only ozone and sky bound electricity. "Man, Gage..what a trip in.." came Kelly's puffing, excited and very welcome voice. "Is DeSoto all right? And the other guy? L.A. didn't tell us much from Dixie's report from Rampart." "Yeah, nothing like worrying to make a guy run faster.." Lopez said, ducking into the ranger's tower and out of the raging summer night wind. "So spill the details." "They're fine guys. Roy's got a few broken ribs and Benny here's over some chlorine gas exposure. Nothing dire." Johnny reported. Stoker didn't say anything at all but went straight for the short wave radio and hefted the microphone. "Station 51 to Base. We're situated. Gage and his victims are all right. The new fire's completely blocked the foot of the trail up leading here so if you send more men, have them come up an alternate route. Over.." ##10-4, Station 51. We read you. Stand by for air support's report on the spread of the ridge fire before you head out with the park rangers on your SAR mission. They offer its ETA in ten minutes.## "Standing by.." Mike replied. Julie was fast at handing out sandwiches and pop cans to everyone in the room as the lightning continued to crackle in a dry rage around them. Soon, they were all eating. Everyone ate but Johnny, who didn't until he reached Rampart with his update and new medical data on Roy and Benny. Dr. Early was still working on the night shift and he was eager to learn the details. Then, he dismissed Gage until rescue parties could reach the camp kids after breaking through the growing fire dipping into the valley below the rangers station. Benny went right to sleep. But Roy, feeling much better, joined in on the plan of attack at getting to the camp before the larger fire got there. Tim seemed confident. "We've been down to this camping ground before. Earlier this spring. When a little girl went missing from her parent's trailer. Julie and I were called to be guides along the river bank." "Did you ever find her?" Tim hung his head. "Yes, she washed over the falls three days later." "I'm sorry." Roy said. "Thanks for the clothes." "No problem. We always keep spares in case a rainfall catches hikers coming up here by surprise." he smiled. "How are you doing? Sounds like the gas really did a number on your voice." "I sound worse than I feel, believe me." "What's Benny's etiology?" Julie asked from as she took Benny's blood pressure from where he slept on the couch under the watch windows. "I placed him back on some light 02 since he was breathing a little fast." "Simple suffocation. He turned around right away with a few minutes of active ventilation. That edema you're hearing, my partner says, isn't aspirant. It's only a chemical fluid reaction from the chlorine. A little albuterol should clear that up." "And we got permission to use that Miss Beck." Johnny piped up from where he and Tim and the other three firefighters were still planning their plan of attack to go hike down into the valley after the missing kids. "Understood." Julie said aloud, then she looked thoughtfully at Roy. "That pain med still working?" Roy decided not to lie. "No. But I'll manage. I may be needed on this hike, too. Having seven potential victims leaves us a little short handed in the paramedic department." "It does." Julie said evenly. "But I could call down and have your captain ground you based on my findings." "Please.. don't. I have kids of my own and the thought of anybody else's lost on this mountain just turns my stomach." "Amen to that, Roy.." Lopez piped up. "He's going.." Kelly said in no short terms to Beck. "We'll watch him for ya and I'll personally make sure he doesn't do anything stupid climbing." Julie Beck smiled. "How can I resist an offense like that. You know you firefighters are really something, you know that?" "I already know that.." Joe Dawson piped up. "They saved Benny when I thought he was a goner for sure." he said from where he was watching Julie care for his young coworker. Mike Stoker motioned Johnny to the radio. "Gage, it's Cap." "Fireman John Gage." Johnny said into the receiver, knowing it was being routed through L.A.'s monitors. ##Gage, here's the latest report. Seven confirmed missing. Last seen kayaking by the north shore of the lake near the river's mouth. Now the counselors think the kids saw the fire coming even as the thunderstorm broke down on them and they believe the children may be trying to head for higher ground, to get away from the flashfloods.## "But the ridge fire's up there." Johnny said despite himself. ##I know that Johnny. And that's gonna be your conundrum. Plan accordingly. The park rangers with you assure me that they can negotiate around this fire and the cliffs enough to reach the areas the kids might be in without excessively putting you all in danger. Now I'm ordering Stoker to remain behind with your injured civilian while the rest of you go on this SAR assignment. Think Roy can handle that?## Gage replied wryly. "I believe he can do whatever he puts his mind to, Cap." |
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##Good enough. Now Mr. Cassidy says that our radio contact will be sporatic at best during this rescue operation so rely on visual flares ok? I'll be on the west side of the valley working in with a staging team and I want you five with the rangers to work across the east side in a search pattern. I have ample brush fire crews moving in and three water choppers are now available for your sole usage should you need an emergency water drop in a hot spot.## "Cap, I.." ##You five'll do fine. I've all the confidence in the world that you and the rangers can pull this off. Make the department proud and impress the Sierra team. You're all those children've got. Engine 51, out.## Tim Cassidy let the closing line click off the air and he shoved the hand mic out of the way. "I can hardly wait to meet this captain of yours Gage. He sounds like quite a man." "He is. Believe me, he is.." Kelly quipped. "Are we ready to go?" Marco asked. "I've got six bottles of spare air and an O2 tank in each backpack along with your portable medical gear, Miss Beck." "Thank you. And yes, I do feel we're set here. Mr. Gage? DeSoto? Anytime you are." And Julie Beck indicated the door as a wild stab of lightning filled the sky. ************************************************** From : Sam Iam <lafddispatcher@yahoo.com> Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] And then there were five.. Sent : Saturday, May 29, 2004 2:31 AM Mike Stoker spoke quietly from where he was leaning against the radio transmitter table on the desk. "Benny's on an I.V. Should he be left with me, like this, while having one in?" "We're not going anywhere just yet. " DeSoto said. "And your answer's no. A patient with an intravenous line can't be left unattended by a paramedic. Looks like protocol's rubbing off on you pretty well, Stoker." and he grinned. "I just remembered arguments between you and Johnny a few years ago about how pointless call prioritizing was for a while there in the system." Stoker remembered. "And Roy brought up that point about I.V.s and how it ties up service unit availability." "How can I forget?" Chet snorted. "It was the first time I've ever seen Gage passionate about anything." "Oh ha ha.." Johnny said with a glib expression. "The way we got calls that summer WAS stupid. I still remember that construction worker dying of a heart attack when I was working overtime for Station Eight's just because we didn't have a rescue squad and a defibrillator there on time. I was so angry that 110 was busy with just a simple syncope case who's M.D. ordered a start of a normal saline I.V. They had to escort her into the hospital because of it and our man died." There was a sound of tenor voice from the couch. "Then take it out. I no longer want it.." said Benny, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Don't need this either." and he pulled off the oxygen that Julie had placed on him earlier while he napped. "I appreciate all the care you guys are giving me,.. Joe said that you did a lot to save my life.. but those kids down there need you more than I. Please,.." and the young, dark haired man raised his taped arm up. "Take it out and go. Use the fact I'm refusing treatment if you have to justify not running this change by a doc first. I'll be fine. I feel fine. Really." Gage blinked, torn between his sense of precautionary protocol and the instinct of prioritizing Cap's order to the foreground. Common sense won out. "Ok... this will only take a second." and he knelt down by Benny and discontinued his I.V. "This is nearly gone anyway. But promise me that you'll keep drinking fluids while you're here." |
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"I will." "Good man." and he pulled out the catheter after ending the flow and taped a cotton wad over the site. He folded Benny's arm up in half. "Hold your arm like this for a few minutes until things clot up again." Benny sighed, and hid a cough. "Mike?" "Yeah.." "I want you to get Benny down from here the first sign of any more trouble vitals wise on him. Use a helicopter pickup soon as the weather breaks if you have to. We've found a place a chopper can land on the map over there." Mike Stoker nodded assent. Then Johnny rose to his feet, appraising the teen with reluctant ambivalence. "Benny, Mike's real good taking over and keeping people's conditions stable. He's quiet, but he's an all right kinda guy once you get to know him. I trust him with all my patients." "And he's a fabulous cook.." Marco added. "Makes my little old mother from Pasadena jealous. So ask him to make you some more food if you're still hungry." Benny laughed, looking away shyly. "Julie, we're clear to leave. Lead the way.." Roy said, licking his lips. Gage grabbed the backpack Roy was about to lift. "I'll handle that thank you. Unlike Benny, you ARE still under my care. You just make sure you don't jar those ribs. Last thing we need is to stokes you back up here. Walk ahead of me.." Johnny fussed. "Stoker, stay on the communications band. We'll be trying the whole way down. These may not be able to reach the staging area, but they'll sure as h*ll reach the tower." "Check in every ten minutes.." Stoker recommended. "I tested the frequency to the camp. It's still patent." "Good going. See ya. " Gage nodded and opened the door. He left following after Kelly, Cassidy, Beck DeSoto and Lopez, ducking only twice at the lightning zinging around the angry night sky. Thunder drowned out his enthusiastic farewell for Benny, but Mike and Benny saw his wave. ------------------------------------------------------------ |
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------------------------------------------------------------ Julie paused at the bottom of the long stairs near the trail's foot. She gestured to her left. "This way.. I've a method to my madness. We'll be running a risk taking the main river path due to high water but it'll be an added safety measure should we run into a firestorm in this wind!" she yelled to them all. Roy was panting with their exertions but Gage saw his color never paled. DeSoto asked, "How far do we have to go to reach the camp's headquarters?" "About three miles. The trail's rocky and passes through a narrow gorge, but the lack of rain's in our favor. It won't be muddy." Tim Cassidy replied over the noise of the lightning and the wind from the storm. "Are you doing ok?" Roy nodded and shooed the brown haired ranger onwards. Gage, kept up at the rear. "Plan C.." Julie said to all the firemen, "..is that we all take the horses at daybreak and leave from the lodge stables out on search as soon as the light's good." "Me? Ride a horse?" Chet startled. Then his face broke out into a huge grin. "Far out.." Johnny just moaned sarcastically. "Yeah.. that's if you don't get yourself tossed off or something and break a leg, Kelly." "I'm not worried. I'm surrounded by paramedics." Chet said as he picked his way over the trail with his heavy supply pack. "And I'm near a real pretty lady one, too." "She's married.." Tim Cassidy grinned, looking back. "Oh, too bad." Gage mourned truly, disappointed. Julie was oblivious to the exchange, intent as she was with checking her compass for their orientation and coordinates. A sudden bolt of heat lightning lit up the way ahead and they could see the glint of water raging over a cascade in a smooth tongue of dark amber water beneath them. "We're at the river. Careful now." Julie said. "Watch your step." They had gone down the trail fifteen yards when Tim suddenly shouted. "There! One of the kids!" Everyone glanced up from their feet to see a sprawled boy on his back on a shallow water sandbar. Tim and Julie both dropped their packs and rushed forward. "Look around, there may be more. The camp teaches a buddy system..." Soon, Gage and Roy found a little girl, just as wet but alive. She awoke easily at a shake but was very, very cold to the touch. "It's hypothermia.." Roy said over the storm. "See how she's drooling?" "Yeah.." Gage drew out a thermal sheet and wrapped the girl tightly inside of it. "I'll carry her.." Roy said, "She's not heavy." he said, murmuring encouragement to the mute and numbed child. Gage shouted out to Tim and Julie. "How's yours?!" "He's alive.. He's got spidering burns on his left leg. Looks like a near strike's effected him. He's got a good carotid and respirations." Julie shouted over the strong wind. "You gonna backboard him?" Gage asked. "Yeah.. We can use a backpack's rack and bandages." she answered. Soon, the boy was on O2 and immobilized. |
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Lopez and Kelly took both ends of his improvised stretcher and Julie followed at his head with a hand on the boy's pulse, monitoring him. "Let's go.. We gotta warm him up just as badly as we need to do her." Beck said. Johnny and Roy started off again in a tight pair around the semi conscious little girl leaning against Roy's chest. "She's not even shivering anymore.." Gage said, feeling inside the blanket for the girl's arm. "I know." DeSoto replied. "Just hurry. I'm watching her consciousness level closely. Go.." Gage reluctantly picked up his packs again and hurried off after the other five ahead of them. Soon, the dark bulk of a well lit main lodge of a log cabin style campground materialized out of the darkness and storm strobing pine trees. It was a relief to get out of the wind and all their ears rang in the silence. Johnny Gage whipped out his HT. "HT 51 to Tower Base. Do you read me?" Stoker's reassuring voice crackled into being. "I read you." "Contact L.A. and the search commander. We've found two of the lost children. Both are alive. Set up a relay to Rampart. They're gonna need treatment right away.." "Hang on,.. I'll be set in a couple of minutes.." Mike replied. ---------------------------------------------------- |
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****************************************************** From : patti keiper <pattik1@hotmail.com> Sent : Tuesday, June 1, 2004 12:46 AM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Let the River Run. DeSoto nodded with satisfaction as Stoker's promise faded away over the speaker. He carried the unconscious boy over to the bed and began cutting off his clothes for a trauma survey while Julie coaxed the fatigue muted little girl out of her wet dress and got her under a thick pile of covers to begin the process of rewarming her. Johnny tossed down his handy talkie onto the desk with a clatter. "That's done. Mike's getting us Brackett most likely.." he said to Beck and DeSoto. They nodded, knowing the senior physician was the top most expert on pediatric medical emergencies. Gage moved to the pale little boy and placed him on a new tank of oxygen and checked his pupillary reaction. His earlier smile at Stoker's efforts waned into a frown of frustration. "Fat lot of good it'll do having the doc on the horn. There's not much we can do about treating these kids without their parent's consent." Johnny bemoaned. A ripping sound attracted all of their attention. It was duct tape being pulled down from a screen mesh. "They knew we were coming.." said Tim Cassidy, marvelling. He hefted up a manilla colored cardboard folder in triumph. "This was taped to the lodge door and it's full of papers.These could be the go ahead we're looking for." Gage said, "Chet, leaf through that.. See if all seven kid's consent forms are in there. Julie, I need you to help me check the boy's reflexes, I have to concentrate on his vital signs, and Roy's cutting corners, getting his I.V. ready." "Babinski's?" Beck guessed. "Yeah. Both feet." Johnny replied. "Brackett's gonna want to know about any keraunoparalysis. I'm seeing bluish tingeing here on his legs." Julie nodded. Then she turned to the little girl. "Ok, honey.. I'll be right back. You just stay snuggled down deep and this nice ranger will be here to keep you company, all right?" Beck said to her patient. The girl was too cold to reply. Or do much beyond blinking a few times when Julie stood up as Tim Cassidy took her place. "I'll make sure she doesn't go to sleep." he said to Beck. Satisfied, Julie went to tend Johnny's request. Marco had finished completing his examination of the large pine wood panelled room. "The staff really knew we were coming. Or at least the fire crews. There's boxes of medical supplies and tarps and extra hose and directions to the water hydrants." he mentioned. "And a backup generator for the radio to go along with the one it's attached to already." |
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"Nice.." Chet said. "Johnny, to answer your question, yeah, there are seven forms here. With a note from the camp counselors wishing us luck and a copy of the order the staff received from Batallion 14 to clear out." he said, waving a transcript in the air. "So the camp's abandoned.." Tim Cassidy said, stroking the hair away from the tiny girl's muddy face. "Yeah.." Marco replied. "Would you stay behind if you had that looming over your heads?" he asked forking a thumb out the window to where the blood red and orange glow of the valley fire glowed despite of its distance away from the camp. Nervously, the others glanced up to see the progress of the thunderstorm fueled blaze. Stories high flames across the valley tangled aggressively with the lightning's dry flashes and row by row, pines were disappearing underneath them, utterly consumed. "Power's been shut off.." Kelly said, checking out the spacious lodge's fuse box. "I'll get a fire going in the fireplace. It's bound to get cold before it gets hot.." No one laughed at his joke. The radio on the table crackled into life again. Tim Cassidy picked up the line. Mike Stoker spoke quietly. He had their direct line to Rampart utilizing the ranger tower's mile eating repeater in a two stage relay. Stoker mentioned next to the paramedics that he would be their message dispatcher to the doctor at Rampart. Soon, the little lightning struck boy had his I.V. started and a successful esophageal airway inserted. The male child was deeply in a coma, but on the EKG monitor, his heart rhythm was steady and stable with no deviations. Julie rubbed his hair motheringly. "You'll be ok, sweety." she sighed in relief. "Keep fighting like you are and try to wake up soon. We're all here." Mike Stoker radioed in with the finishing instructions from Dr. Brackett. ##51, do you have the boy fully immobilized? He's concerned with blunt trauma that hasn't begun to display any signs yet.## "That's affirmative, Stoker." Gage replied into the HT cocked chin tight to his shoulder. His other hand was stringing the Ringer's line to the child's needle port that he had started in the boy's jugular vein. "On a back pack frame. Vasoconstriction seems to be confined to his limbs only. Dendrite burns show the strike entry site was situated on his right shoulder and the exit was through a contact point on his left lateral ankle about three centimeters in diameter. A second exit burn is on his left medial gluteus." Roy put dressings on those, while they waited for Mike to share their update with Brackett. At Rampart, Kel looked up in relief at Dixie. "That explains the great looking EKG we have on him. The lightning didn't bolt through the heart." Kel toggled the talk switch to the ranger tower. "Stoker, tell 51 to elevate the boy's limbs to slow his intimal damage. Last thing we need is deep tissue necrosis setting in from internal hemorrhaging from his extremity muscles.... Also, ..." Stoker suddenly hushed the doctor with news from the valley camp. ".. Doctor, DeSoto's noting a change.. He's seeing nonspecific ST-T wave segment changes and a prolonged QT interval on his monitor.." Dr. Brackett pursed his lips, thinking. "Wish I could see it.." he mumbled to McCall. "I don't like us being in the dark on this one." "Trust the boys," she said with a reassuring nod. "You taught them well on how to interpret cardiac telemetry. Rely on that now, Kel." Brackett studied Dixie's face seriously for a long moment, then he opened the channel back to Mike Stoker. "Ranger Tower, tell them to administer .3 mg's of magnesium sulfate I.V. push until they've reached normal sinus rhythm. Tell them to watch for a loss of his deep tendon reflexes in his arms as a signal to know when to halt the drip in the port. That moment will be the indicator of effectiveness. Do not exceed the dosage delivery beyond that point." |
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##10-4, Rampart..## Stoker replied. ##Stand by..## A long two minutes dragged by for nurse and doctor. Finally.. #Normal sinus rhythm's been established..## burst from the radio speaker. Dixie celebrated with a beaming smile even as Brackett leaned on the base station counter and dropped his head in relief. "10-4, Ranger Tower. We read you. Tell 51 to keep the patient warm and to keep watching for signs of heme pigments in his urine. I want to know the minute any of those show up." Soon, Mike Stoker finished his relaying information task and the boy was relegated to monitored status while the report on the little girl went out. Julie happily relayed the child's excellent vital signs and findings and normal EKG. She even received an order to begin warming her by mouth with hot beverages. "How would you like some hot cocoa?" she asked the cocooned girl. Slowly, the petite child's eyes beamed in an anticipatory shy smile at Beck's cheek caress with the question. Julie was rewarded with a whispered, "Yes, please.." |
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By the door, monitoring the fire's progress, Chet Kelly was less than calm. "Gage,. Beck, we gotta move, now. The edge's just crested the ridge top. And it looks like it's moving in the canopy." That alarmed all of them. Tree top fire storms were horrible for their reputation, travelling speed and ability to snuff out all the oxygen in the air. "The danger of suffocation if we get caught underneath all that's pretty good, I'm afraid.." Kelly added. Roy said, "I'll stay behind. I'll only slow you down if I was one to go. If things get outta hand with the fire, I'll radio Cap for a rush on his progress getting here." Johnny nodded, rose, and put his helmet back on. Julie accepted the helmet Roy gave her, and his turnout coat. She turned to Cassidy. "You make sure to get the calmest horses. Spook, Molly, Diablo Dot and Flash will be the best ones to go. They didn't go out on trails this afternoon with the kids. I'll start picking out the first likely places for us to search on the wall map." "Give me ten minutes and they'll be set.." and Tim dashed out to saddle the horses. Gage went out with him. "I'll help. I'm an old hand with horses. I own a ranch." Tim's doubt on a fireman's ability with horses registered on his face only briefly before both men began to run for the peach stucco-ed stable. Just a short time later, Kelly, Lopez, Gage and both rangers grabbed ample climbing ropes, medical gear, air bottles and 02 as they went out the door. Roy and Johnny exchanged lingering looks of worry with each other about the remaining five kids and the very rapid progress of the massive forest fire flowing down to the camp's valley floor level as the screen door banged shut between them. Then there was no more time for hesitation. They departed. |
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------------------------------------------------------------------------- The wild night was inky despite the wildfire ringing around them. Immense trunks of protesting pine loomed on the dirt trail Julie led the rescuers upon, heading for their first destination to search. The river. And the kayak launching beach where the camp held their lessons. "It's not much farther!" Julie Beck shouted back at the others. "The river eddies into a calmer pool here before the rapids and the waterfall. There's no other building around here that they could've gone to..." Tim Cassidy said. "There's also a cave up there on that scrub ledge just above the boat shed. We'll split up. Kelly, Gage, go with Julie. Lopez, come with me. We'll be faster that way..! Don't worry about the horses, they've been trained to ground tie.." "They'll stay put through this weather?" Chet asked as he slid awkwardly from his mount, Molly, jarring his helmet almost off his head when his air bottle bumped off the mare's side. "Like I said. Ground tied. They work with kids, remember?" "Oh,... yeah..right.." Kelly said, rubbing his chin to dim the bruise pang he received there. Tim went on. "Just keep on your radios. We'll have a range maximum of a mile until the fire's within 800 yards." Lopez launched off Diablo's back with the same agility as Johnny off Spook's. Tim's horse Flash minced his head in nervousness when the stallion didn't feel Tim leave his back as well. "Whoa, boy. You and I are med pack couriers for whoever finds a kid first." he mumbled to the horse. "Easy boy." he clicked his tongue inside his mouth to encourage Flash forward after Marco running already for the cave's cliff. The group rushed off in two directions before their flashlights calling loudly for the names of the missing five children. Julie remained on Dot's back for a high vantage point as she cantered the filly after Lopez and Johnny's swaying flashlights in the darkness. Johnny and Kelly skidded to a halt at a bizarre sight on the river bank. A little boy wearing a green ranger's hat was sitting and fishing the river by the light of the looming fire on the ridge above. Next to him lay an empty plastic bag of Wonder Bread. Gage and Julie both ran to the boy thumping onto their knees by him, while Kelly grabbed a blanket out of a horse's saddle bag. Julie grasped the little boy's face to get his attention over the blowing wind coming from the rushing river below but the boy angrily thrust his chin out of her hands. "Let go.. I gotta get some fish. They'll be better. Our bread's run out. Pete'll be getting hungry. He's already so cold." "What?" Julie said to the little boy. "Kevin, what are you saying?" "He's in shock.." Gage said taking the indian blanket from Chet and wrapping it around the child. "I'll stay with him. Kelly! Go with Julie and scout around.. Pete's gotta be nearby here somewhere.." |
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Gage made no move to take the cane pole away from the boy where he intently stared at the bopper twisting in the river's current. Instead, he wrapped a hand around Kevin's wrist to take a pulse while he spoke softly to him. "Kevin, it's ok.. Now we're here to help you and Pete get out of here. The fire's not going to get you. We've real strong horses who're gonna take us all out of here just as soon as we find Pete. " The staring boy didn't seem to register Gage's presence. "Kevin? Where's Pete? Can you tell me that?" Then, a flicker of recognition when the tiny boy realized that something warm was holding his wrist. His trembling lips spoke so quietly, that Johnny barely heard him. "He's hiding. He got sick after we ate all the bread for lunch." Johnny looked all around them hastily, but saw nothing but wind torn forest. "Which way, Kevin? Tell me ... which way did Pete go after he ate with you?" Kevin unwrapped one of his arms from inside the woven blanket and pointed. Johnny lifted his HT. "The river! Head upstream! Kevin says Pete is there!" ##10-4.## Julie and Chet didn't go very far when the glint of metal flared under their flashlights by the water's edge. "Belt buckle! Over there!" Kelly shouted. Beck drove Dot through the marsh grass to where Kelly was pointing and dismounted the mare, searching and shouting. "Pete! It's Ranger Julie! Shout if you can hear us! We're gonna get you out of here!" There was no reply. Chet and Julie followed the point of sparkle near the ground to the river's beach head. Pete lay head and shoulders under the water, sprawled beneath an overturned kayak. "Oh, no...." Julie moaned and ran. Chet Kelly radioed Gage in a pico. "We found him. Submersed in shallow water, face down. Hang on.." Back at the high bank, Johnny's face didn't change from its gentleness as the bad news reached him as he sat with an arm around the silenced Kevin. He didn't even turn around when the sounds of aggressive suctioning and CPR began in the bulrushes behind him. All his attention was on the small child in his arms. Kevin whimpered. "I gotta catch a fish. Bread's not enough. Pete'll be so hungry come morning. I don't know why he's still sleeping there.." he sobbed weakly. "Kevin.." Johnny said, resting a warm chin on the boy's hat covered head that was sticking out of his warming bearhug. "....a real big one. A brookie.. With shining spots and ..and.. and.. a gold tail... Just like Ranger Tim said we'll find here in the middle of the willow pool. See? I got my bobber out real far. Right to the very center. I'll get one. It's only a matter of sitting real still and keeping quiet and.. and..and waiting it o--" "Kevin.. I gotta share something with you.. It's gonna be some news... I'm afraid, some .... really really bad news... about your friend..." Gage whispered softly. He could feel the boy's shivering grow more slight in fear. |
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He glanced over and saw the trouble Beck was having trouble inserting an endotrach tube because of an odd stiffness in Pete's neck and the lack of pinking in his skin from Chet's more than ample one handed CPR. A wide open oxygen line hissed anew when they saw the lack of effective color, too. Kevin's voice rose in his plans for helping Pete get food enough to eat, louder and louder, trying to drown out what the paramedic holding him was trying to tell him. "...and we'll get a good campfire going. And we'll cook that fat trout up real nice until it's so juicy you can just spit!" Chet and Julie both looked up at Kevin's agitation, but continued to revive the cold, blue little boy beneath their hands. Julie switched to using an ambu bag and a simple oral airway when the better one failed to thread. Johnny saw the long IC epinephrine syringe unsheath, and get used after a short conversation on the radio. Gage held Kevin even tighter and gently hushed him. "Shhhhh.. it's ok. We're not hurting him. We're just being his heart and we're breathing for his lungs because they can't do that right now. Pete's too chilled." Bright tears sprang from Kevin's eyes and he flung the fishing pole away into the water and he whirled to hug Johnny fiercely around the neck, burying his face in the fireman's shoulder. "I didn't want Pete to drown.. I- I..I told him ....*sob* we shouldn't use the kayaks by ourselves. But he..he..he wouldn't listen. He sneaked us away when we were supposed to leave camp after Counselor Sue told us that the fire was coming. I tried to drag him out, but he fell back in." "Chet, stop CPR!" Gage heard Julie shout. "I'm getting a whole lot out of his stomach. Roll him." Panting, the two rescuers turned the boy to drain his nose and mouth. A flashlight bumped and spun around on the ground, casting light onto Pete's bared skin. A dull purplish stain sharply drew itself down the bottoms of Pete's legs, butt and back. What it was was undeniable to both the paramedics working on him. Chet didn't catch it right away. "Ok, Julie, I got his airway clear.. turn him back over." Julie remained frozen where she was huddled on the moss, not really seeing the signs her eyes were looking at. "Come on, Julie!" Kelly said, "I gotta start up again. Let go of his shoulders now.. What's the problem?" "Oh, no. There's pooling." Julie's shocked voice gasped as she ran her fingers over Pete's skin in disbelief. Chet didn't understand. He was deep in caregiver mode. "Beck. Turn him over. I'll take over on the bag. " Julie's words finally made Gage look over his shoulder at them and the signs Julie was examining. Chet didn't hear him, intent as he was. "Beck, start the chest compressions. We've already waited too long here." |
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Gage yelled, knife sharp at his coworker. "Stop! It's lividity, Chet! Open your eyes and get a good look at him. It's over. Can't you see that Pete's really g--." But he broke off. Stunned, Chet's face fell out of urgency to one of profound sadness as the suction tube slipped from the boy's mouth and dropped to the sand from his gloves. He lowered his head... and the curly haired fireman lifted his hands away from the boy. The wind died then, and the forest filled with a smoky brooding silence and a strange blackness. The grownups tensed as the sound of the approaching hungry fire grew, hissing and popping. It made their ears ring with its fiery noise. The only thing louder was the violent, choking sobs of a little boy whose heart was broken. "Kevin.. it's ok to cry..." Johnny said to him, almost reluctant to touch the angry frightened little boy who was shrinking away from him. "Pete's in a better place now.. There's nothing else we can do. He's not cold or hungry any more." "..no..." "Kevin.. we have to go now." Gage said in a firmer voice, rising to his feet, bending over to grab the cocooned Kevin's shoulders. The boy, looking up at the adults with his eyes red and weeping as he tore out of Johnny's grip., snarled. "I'm not leaving Pete! Ranger Tim says that you never, EVER leave a buddy. I'm not going!" He turned to run but the river stopped him. "Kevin.. Look.." came a woman's call. "I brought Dot with me so she can take us home. I know it's very dark but can you see her spots?" "What?" Kevin sobbed. Beck held out her hands and the reins lying there. "Show Dot how to get back to camp. She's lost and..and I don't think she remembers the way. She needs you.....*sniff* .....Here." Again Julie offered Kevin the reins of the horse. Bravely, the tearful boy nodded and he accepted them, mounting quickly in front of Julie on the saddle. Beck turned her horse and galloped towards the direction of Tim and Marco and the cave site. |
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Behind them, Gage and Kelly put Pete's covered body into an uprighted kayak and launched it into the river followed by a hastily made anchor of rock and a long length of rope. Gage nodded at Kelly when they were through. "The fire won't be able to reach him out there. A recovery crew can come back to get him later." The two firemen grabbed their horses and hurried after Julie and Kevin. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cassidy and Lopez found the other three children in a cranny deep inside the shallow granite cave at the top of the cliff. It took very little effort for Gage and the others to climb up, reach them, and harness them down safely to the pine needle carpetted valley floor. They were dirty, and scared, but uninjured. Two fireman each took a child and so did one ranger ranger as front passengers aboard their mounts. The five horses were galloped quickly back to the trail.. But the fire had beaten them first. Tim's horse Flash, reared as a fireball of burning tree crashed to the ground in front of them. But he held on to the little girl in his arms so tightly, that she didn't fall off. The air immediately grew too thin to breathe. "*Cough*! Fire storm! Get back to the river!" Tim yelled. "*Choke* Masks!" Lopez ordered. "Share yours with the kids!" he said, controlling Diablo's head so he wouldn't jar the child sitting in front of his knees. The air bottles immediately provided breathing room for the humans. But the horses began to stumble; to trip in the lack of oxygen as sparks flew down from the fire in the pine tops. Julie gave a shout and smacked a rope so loudly on Dot's haunch that it startled the other horses into a bolt after her. "Go back! *Gasp*! We gotta reach the river and go across. It's the only way we'll find any breathing room for the horses." She whirled Dot the appaloosa around in her tracks. |
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