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| Page Four |
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Roy and Joanne were disturbed from their hard won, peaceful afternoon nap soon after they had comforted each other physically. It was their malamute, Shania, howling a short series of yaps from the yard. At first, Joanne thought it was Bernice, escorting the kids back home early. But then the house began to rock, very slightly. Joanne cracked an eye, watching the tassels on the lampshade dance. She buried her head in her pillow. "Oh, for Pete's sake. Hon.. it's another tremor.." "What?" Roy mumbled sleepily, he was still groggy but relaxed from the aftermath of their lovemaking. He shifted from his back from how he had been slumbering, to his side, snugging up close to Joanne once more, wrapping protective arms around his wife's barely rounded, pregnant belly. "Oh. The ground's shaking. Yeah, I can feel it. Nothing to worry about. It's just a .....just a... " and he began to snore. His breathing levelled off once more. Joanne was instantly comforted by his lack of concern. "Just so you're ok.. And the kids.. That's all I need to know...." She too, soon, drifted off to join him in dreams. |
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Rampart General was alerted through the same agency that ran the fire department dispatch in all of their emergency paramedic calls. About the Richter alert, she herself didn't feel anything. Rampart had backup generators and backups to those backups in a redundant three way linkup. And the main hospital building she was in was too big to even twitch for a level two. Needless to say, she entered the base station as per protocol, reaffirming city wide communications with all nine firehouse paramedical units. Dixie picked up the land line confirming full band transmission to them first, through the fire department's dispatch manned base. Then waited to see if any rescue squad wanted to check out their equipment afterwards. There was only one call ; from Station 36, in Anaheim. They wanted only a session on the radio monitor to test their defibrillator's EKG relay readout. The head nurse obliged them, getting a perfect EKG series from 36's equipment from their location at their station. Including a mock defib against their unit's test plating, remotely. "36. Your defibrillator's output calibrates green. You're good to go. All four leads register fully." "10-4, Rampart. Squad 36, out." Shrugging, Dixie McCall left the tiny room and she turned on the red lined radio above her work station. It was tuned to the state's official EMS bulletin scanner frequency. Soon, topographical data began issuing on the ground tremor's progress across Los Angeles. She saw Dr. Morton walking by and he raised an eyebrow when he saw the disaster scanner turned on. "Oh, it's nothing, Dr. Morton. A minor tremor , topping only a 2.4 peak in Anaheim, which lasted, in any one spot, for only 20 or so seconds. The EMS room is quiet." she said jerking her nurse's capped head at its status board, showing all stations at their bases. "Not so much as a peep so far from any of them.." she meant of the firehouse rescue squad departments city wide. "I see. That's the third alert this month." "Yeah.." "I'm feeling lucky, Miss McCall.." he muttered, changing the subject and he hefted his chart in her direction, meaning the patient whose data was contained within it. "Oh?" she toned, up a scale, looking for good news. Dixie caught the name of the chart Mike was looking at. "Marco Lopez.." she read aloud, "How's he doing?" "Swelling's going down. He's still comatose and the aberrations on his EKG have gone away. He's off the respirator, breathing on his own." Mike said with a half smile. Dixie looked up still serious, "Is that good?" Morton's face fell. "It's hard to say.. His pupils are still fixed, showing deep coma, but it's encouraging to see he's off life support. That might be a sign that Kel's steroidal treatments are having a positive effect and that the Narcan has begun to clear out all traces of Diazepam from his cerebral tissues." "When will you know more, doctor?" Dixie asked. "The neurologists say if there's any rallying to be done by Marco, he's got to show further improvement by nightfall. If he doesn't respond to stimuli appreciably then, we'll have to start speculating that this toxic coma of his might be permanent." Dr. Morton walked away after leaving Marco's chart in the wooden carousel on her desk. Dixie was left only with immeasurable sadness. Unconsciously, she looked at her watch. It was 3 pm.. ::Marco Lopez. You've got four and a half hours to wake up. Or you're never going to, ever.:: Dixie turned back to her work. |
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Joanne shook out of a featureless dream, jolting awake and she sat up. Around her, the house was sunny and silent and the birdsong outside the window soothed her spirit. Mrs. DeSoto pulled back the curtains and saw that Shania, too was resting, curled in the sun, by the dog house outside, oblivious to the jays bathing in her water bowl. Grinning at her pet's somnolence, she shifted in bed, and saw Roy's broad back as he slept next to her. She reached out to caress him once more to reassure herself of his physical nearness but changed her mind. ::It's better he rests. Tomorrow's only going to be hard on him, too.:: She looked at the time. It was 4:47 pm. ::Oh my. I've got to go to Bernice's before her company comes over. What time were they arriving for her party again? Oh, yes. Five o'clock. I still have time. :: Rising carefully, Joanne got on some clothes, undergarments followed by a soft plaid shirt. She had just buttoned her jeans when Roy shifted, complaining that he couldn't hear the radio, calling in his sleep that he was "available." A familiar mothering pang made her go into the living room for his walkie talkie. She returned to the bedroom and switched it on to a universal frequency, so he could hear the usual babble between the fire departments corresponding with each other and with dispatch as they went about their day. She set the radio on the night stand near him but turned it low enough so that it wouldn't wake him if a call went out for his station. At once, Roy settled down and stopped mumbling. He grew still again, sinking back into slumber. ::He's most probably listening to it right now.:: she mused. ::That's just fine. The station is his second home.:: Joanne kissed him and hurried down the street to collect the kids from Bernice's. |
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The lunch dishes had just been piled by Mike who had been assigned that detail when a knock on the outer door caught all of their attentions. Puzzled, Cap rose from his chair, leaving the newspaper he had been reading on the table. He went to the kitchen's side entrance access door and opened it. Kelly Brackett stood there in flight fatigues with a folded bundle under one of his arms. "Hello Captain. Thought I'd drop by and start doing some of that adjudicating I promised you I'd start doing." and with that, he barged into the kitchen. He had a field medical pack with him, a teaching one. Grinning, Cap got out of his way. ::Time for Operation WakeUp.:: he thought happily. "I thought this was your scheduled day off, doc?" John remarked. "It is. I'm not really here if anyone asks. Kapeche?" Brackett challenged. "Clear as crystal.." Gage said, getting back to his plate of food. John had an inkling of what his superior was planning, but hadn't quite yet pegged exactly what it was yet. Cap ambled back over to his chair. "Coffee's right over there.. doctor. Have you eaten yet?" "Heavily.." Kel answered, he grabbed the cup Moreno hastily pro-offered him after he received a less than subtle cue from Cap to give him one. Detective Fielder was rolling up his sleeves, his suit coat over the back of one chair when he noticed the doc standing next to him, "Oh, hello, Doctor Brackett. Come to do some paperwork? I was just going to help out here some.." and he smiled hugely. "Don't let me stop you. In fact, I just might keep you on the job, Fielder, afterwards.." The rest of the gang already knew what was up and gathered around to watch curiously. Finally, the light dawned on Gage and he began to chuckle, too. The detective felt being ganged upon but to his credit, didn't let it effect him. He stayed relaxed and friendly, "Oh? How, so..?" Brackett reached up and pulled off Fielder's expensive clipon tie and tossed him his folded bundle. "Put these on.. I just heard from your superiors that you have to listen and follow every request I make of you..." Fielder caught the clothes, dropped his dish towel on the counter and opened them to see what they were. It was a tunic identical to the one Brackett was wearing. "Well, yes. Technically that's true..within reason." he answered truthfully, but confusion still marred his voice. Brackett grinned diplomatically back, "Oh, believe me. I am being very reasonable, Mr. Fielder. You see, I've just authorized you to be allowed to participate on a paramedic ride along for an entire eight hour working shift. That way, you can see what our front line medical men do up close and personal. Maybe by the end of the day, you'll see just what kind of stresses and pressures that men like Johnny and Gil here, face everyday." Fielder nodded, "If this has something to do with your man DeSoto... I can't reverse his rescinded license without due cause." But he got into the suit without protesting further. "Fair enough. I am only asking you to ride along with us just as an observer. Captain... That creates a problem. The squad can only hold three men.." Captain Stanley didn't even hesitate. "Sheppard, take the rear pumper slot on the engine next call, you're a water man until situations change it." "You got it, Cap." Gil said instantly.. Cap held his hands up in a there you go gesture...and got back to his paper. "Problem's solved, Dr. Brackett." "Oh." Kel said, blinking a few times, "That was easy.." Cap muttered from his pages, "Always is when you're captain." The guys around him laughed until a glare from Hank over the paper stopped them. "Need anything else?" Cap asked Kel cheerfully. |
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Brackett pursed his lip, thinking but Gage finished his eventual thought. "No..no no.. no... We're set. Now all we need is a r--" A two tone call went out over the intercom. ##Station 51. Citizen reports a smell of gas on the 1800 block of Supulveda Ave. The gas company has been notified. On the corner of Mitchell and Supulveda. Mitchell and Supulveda.. Time out 16 : 49.## Moreno remarked, "Hey I know that area.. It's a warehouse district on the edge of an apartment complex. The site's an empty lot if I remember correctly." "We all know that area, Carlos." Cap said, "That's the edge of the Streger factory wing. Remember them guys? There's a track worn in their frontage road from our squad pulling in every week to hand out pipeline violations." "Oh, that's why they're so familiar." Moreno groaned. The guys got up and moved out. John shouted when Fielder just stood there.. "Let's go. Let's go. That's us..Get the lead out, Fielder..I gotta fit you for a helmet for you to wear..too." And he shoved the man to hurry him along. Brackett took his pack with him. Cap acknowledged their response, "Station 51, KMG 365." And then he got on his overcoat. There was some initial elbow jostling as the bigger Fielder squeezed into the squad with the smaller Brackett in the middle with Johnny taking the wheel but they made good time and still pulled out ahead of the engine. Station 51 activated lights and sirens which cleared the busy boulevard of traffic and both rescue vehicles turned left to head north into the suburb district of West Lake Village. |
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They stopped about 800 yards from the corner they were given and halted their vehicles. Cap stepped out of the cab of the engine and ordered. "Everyone put masks and air on until we find the problem. I don't want to put anyone at risk until we know more.." "Right." they said. Gil got his apparatus on quickly then jogged over to the squad with a gas spigot wrench. He tapped Johnny, who had geared up just as quickly, on the shoulder. "Do you want me to help him get this on?" He pointed to the detective turning straps over, trying to see how the harness went on. Gage nodded, and handed his spare tank to Gil to give to Fielder. Awkwardly, the tall civilian man put on the strange equipment with the fireman's help. Brackett, already trained and equipped, was ready to go. He stood by Cap as Stanley coordinated plans for a search. "Stoker. Moreno, head east to that substation. See if you can find anything. Odegard, Sheppard, head north. Doctor Brackett, hang back with me. Johnny, take Fielder. He'll be an extra nose here, pal. Tell him what to expect and keep..him...safe.." "Got it, Cap.." Gil said, "What about me?" "You're with us. We'll head south. I see yellow gas line flags over there down in that ditch.. O.K. move out people and keep in contact via radio at all times. Check in every five minutes. Move out." The men split up into their four groups and headed into four different directions. Five minutes walking distance from the trucks, the stench of the nitrous oxide indicator grew stronger. It was Johnny who found the leak. It was coming from a fresh crack in the earth. Luckily, a nearby valve was downpipe from it, sticking up in the open field. He had spotted it easily. The day breeze was blowing the deadly gas downwind, away from the nearby apartment houses to flow harmless over the LA riverbed. Breathing heavily inside his mask, he brought his radio to his mouth, "Cap! We found it. Looks like the earthquake disrupted this line. There's a new erosion crevasse intersecting the pipeline over here. I have found the shutoff valve.. But I'm seeing clear signs of further substrate instability.. Over.." He gestured to Fielder to hand him the pipe wrench. Dimly the radio in his hand replied. "Got that, Gage. We've just been notified that the gas company is turning off service for the whole area in less than a minute." Gasping through his regulator mask, Johnny tightened the emergency valve until the hiss of gas ended. Then he pulled Fielder back with him to the road. Back in clear air, Johnny removed his hazard helmet and pulled off his face mask. Fielder joined him doing the same thing. |
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"Wheow, That was close.. Another five minutes and that whole neighborhood would've gone up into smoke.." "How so? It seemed to be such a small leak." the detective said, eyeballing his unfamiliar breathing equipment. Gage watched the indicator on the valve station sink to zero as Cap's promised gas company shutdown, happened before his eyes. Johnny's expression grew very serious. "Fielder, that's natural gas. It hangs together on the ground like fog and is very violatile. Even a leak that small can spread for hundreds of yards until it encounters someone's open window well. After that it's just a matter of time before the gas bank encounters a pilot light in the basement. Then, " And he gestured a huge explosion.. Fielder paled. "How often does this kind of leak occur?" Gage sighed wearily, "During every earthquake man, during every single, solitary one of them.. This part of town lies in a fault line.. My station's been handing out pipeline violations to this land owner for years. Nothing gets fixed. He's rich enough from those warehouses to keep up paying all the fines." The detective thought on it. "You think the city would have planned ahead and not put in those warehouses over there so near the fault. Even I can see it along there... and there.." "Tell me about it.. What you see before you is a good example of your typical inane land developer's ignorance at work." Gage said sweeping a glove over the landscape showing the factories and the riverbed and the field they had just escaped. He stood a moment wiping the sweat from his eyes before sighing. "All right, looks like the gas has dissipated. Let's start heading back." Fielder, unknowingly, stepped back into the field near the crevasse.. heading towards where the unseen rescue trucks were parked. "Fielder! No!! That ground's unstable!!" But the fragile ground gave way under the big man made even heavier by the forty five pound breathing apparatus strapped to his back. He plummeted into a fast yawning hole. Johnny leaped and by some miracle, caught him. He grabbed his arm at the elbow, "Hang onto me! Hang onto me.." Fielder gasped, yelling.."Ahh!" "Give me your other hand, Fielder. Your other hand! Ughhh!! I got ya..!!" He tried not to watch the earth sink and disappear underneath the detective's dangling feet. "Don't look down. Just hang on! I got ya.." |
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Gage could hear the ground still caving in underneath him beneath the ribbon of road. Slowly, over agonizingly long seconds, he hauled the detective out of the growing sinkhole and crevasse using the straps from the air bottle and finally, using his pants belt, dragging Fielder onto the solid concrete road beyond the gaping edge. Both men collapsed on their sides, gasping for a minute while they got their wind back. Then they helped each other to their feet. Gage looked at Fielder carefully, "You ok? I just about tore your arm off grabbing ya.." Fielder shook his left arm, "Good thing I work out with weights every morning. Or I would've been missing that arm.." he leaned over unsteadily but grinning. Gage said, "Here, we won't be needing these things anymore. The gas is off.." And he helped the shaken detective out of his air bottle equipment. The radio, by an odd stroke of luck, hadn't been swallowed in the cave in. It still lay on the frontage road. Johnny scooped it up again. A cloud of dust rose into the air from the crater where the field had been. "There's no way Cap's going to miss seeing that. He's going to come running. Man, that's a big cloud of debris... I wonder what's happening down there...." No sooner than the words escaped his mouth, than the spidering crevasse grew, sinking in a new crack straight towards the row of houses and the trees lining the yards there. "Oh, no.." He got onto his talkie, "Cap! Cap! Looks like we got us a full fledged sinkhole in progress. Fifty yards across and growing.. It's headed for those homes over there!" "We're checking it out, pal. Do the same!!" he ordered. Gage pulled off his apparatus and started running down the only safe place he could, the concrete road, trying to follow where the rumbling crevasse was heading.. Fielder kept up. |
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Then he saw a large Eucalyptus tree containing a treehouse. He briefly saw a head in its window looking up in horror before the whole tree toppled over from its roots losing purchase in the loosening ground. Gage heard a male scream just before the rumbling ended. It cut short just as the massive splintering tree settled to earth. Silence reigned, the sinkhole was finished eating. For the moment. He took a risk and leaped over the crevasse into the effected backyard. He turned right back shouting at Fielder, "Go back to the squad. Get the guys and the medical gear!! Right rear compartment. Grab the white, red and black boxes.. We've got a man trapped in here! Go!!" Fielder disappeared over the rise pelting away strongly. Johnny pulled out his radio as he fought his way through the jumble of branches. He made sure his helmet stayed on his head, feeling vulnerable among the cracked tree limbs jutting all around him. He got to a heavily shaded section and saw a nailed wall, partially crumpled. The treehouse! "Hey! Can you hear me?!! " Only the wind filled the backyard and birdsong. "Hey!!" Johnny yelled even louder. He couldn't see anything through the leaves. Then a moan. To his left. Gage scrambled over a thick fork of the tree and down into the shattered house. His victim was a teen aged boy, wearing a blue football jersey. |
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Johnny got onto his radio.. "Squad 51 to engine 51. I have a casualty." He looked around at the surrounding houses for an identifying landmark or house number, none were apparent from his angle. ::Damn.:: He reached for the boy's neck for a carotid. It was there, but fading fast. Nor were there any cars or people about in the neighborhood. ::Everyone's still at work.::he speculated. ::Fat lot of good it'll do me now. I need someone to tell me where we are...:: "Go ahead, Johnny!" Gil answered back on the radio. Gage got an idea.. "Hang on for a 10 -20.." he gasped, crouching nearer the teen's head. He set the radio on a branch and leaned down. "Hey.. can you hear me?" The boy moaned and opened his eyes. "Listen.." Johnny said, holding his face carefully to keep the boy from moving around. "Help's on the way.. but I need to know what your house address is here." The young man began to sag in shock. John dug a pen cap into the top of one of the boy's fingernails to rouse him further. "Listen to me.. What's your address?? Hey..we're going to need help getting you out of here." The teenager gasped at the inflicted pain and didn't open his eyes. But Johnny thought he had been understood. He moved near the boy's mouth to listen as he began to move his lips. "Sev-- nn, ni.." The effort wore out the injured teen, he fell silent, just trying to draw breath.. "All right.. All right.." Gage said, keeping a hand on the young man's chest. "Just take it easy. We'll find another way to let them know where we are.." he said, beginning to cut open the football jersey to expose a soft spot his fingers had found from his assessment, with his shears. "Just try to relax.." Gage didn't like the way the teen was breathing. It seemed that he had broken ribs on that discolored left side and a distinct sound of bubbling which attested to fluid building in his chest. Johnny mumbled to himself. "Oh great. Pneumothorax.." ::His lung's collapsing..:: But his sweep of the boy's legs showed no fractures and his back and neck were fine and in proper alignment the whole way down his spine from what he could feel. He got back to Gil, clicking the talk button, "Gil, He said something like.. seven or seventeen or seventy nine... I can't be absolutely certain. We won't be able to get a definite address of this house." Then, he remembered. He fell onto his backup plan. "Watch for Fielder!! He knows where we are!!" "I'm on it!" A few seconds later.."I think I see him a quarter of a mile up the road. Hang on!!" Johnny could hear Cap and Moreno and the others calling back and forth to each other, both live and on the talkie trying to find him. He had done all he could. He had to start concentrating on keeping his victim alive now. He crouched back over his patient. "Hey.. how are you doing?" The teen focused uncertainly on Gage's face, but the nail rub had definitely brought him more to consciousness. |
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"I'm with the L.A. County Fire Department.. Saw your tree go down.." he joked. "Quite a sight." The teen smiled a bit, then winced in pain as something sharp dug into his side again. "Ow.. something's busted. I..." A low rumble made him cut off what he was saying. A sudden new shift in the ground made a new dust cloud roar up around them. The shattered tree began to "crawl" around them as the sinkhole shuddered into life once more. The ground sagged beneath them. Gage threw himself on top of the kid's face and chest as a huge section of tree came down on top of them both. --------------------------- Gil and the other men got together to swap info. Breathlessly, Fielder shared the news. "You say Gage was near the leak on the other side of the field..?" Cap said, leaning out of his cab, looking toward the rising dust cloud. He didn't think either the engine nor the squad were light enough to drive onto the weakened frontage road. Only the concrete's rock hardness kept the road in one piece. A lot of the earth under it, had vanished. "All right. Grab your gear, all. We go in on foot. Show us where he is Fielder.. " He raised his talkie to his lips. "Engine 51 to Squad 51, come in.." There was no reply. "Engine 51 to Squad 51, Come in..." Still nothing. And Captain Stanley didn't like the fact that the ground was rumbling again from over where Fielder had come running. Cap leaned in the cab and flicked on the air horn, hitting it twice in a summons. Then he shouted over the loud speaker.."Gage!! If you can hear us... Hit your squelch, buddy.." They all looked at the Cap's handy talkie, waiting for the double squeal that was the standard reply for any man lost. The static remained. Cap got onto his CB radio. "L.A. we've got a search and rescue operation on our hands. Roll an additional responding unit to our location. We've multiple caveins. Casualties involved. Tell them to use the east road only upon arrival.." "10-4, 51." Cap hopped out of the engine and ordered all to grab extrication and medical gear and two sets of stokes as he heard the new rescue call roll out from dispatch following a new set of summoning tones. Station eight was rolling out to aid her sister station. "Engine 51. This is station 8. Our eta is... ten minutes.." "A long time.." Brackett who had been listening intently, had his medical bag. "Would it help if I tried to find a way in down that lane in front of those houses?" Cap looked where Kelly Brackett was pointing. "Couldn't hurt.. Fielder.. You go with him." Gil handed the detective the biphone and trauma kit. "You got airways in there?" he asked the doc about his satchel. "A ton. I got a D tank in here, too." Sheppard nodded. "Good, then we'll keep our O2 on this side of that crevasse. That way will have a double chance on one of us reaching Johnny with one of them." Brackett and Fielder left on the run towards the tree filled neighborhood's entrance road. Cap, Gil, Odegard and Moreno ran back down the frontage road to the site of the leak. The dust made it hard to see much so they ran north a bit more until they got into clear air. The sinkhole was huge, stretching more than sixty yards across and its far edge had eaten more than six large trees. Gil's heart sank. ::I hope Johnny's not down there. He doesn't stand a chance..:: |
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Roy woke up, tightening every muscle. He wasn't yet awake, but he could've sworn he heard Johnny nearby. Then his eyes focused past the clock to the walkie talkie beyond and he heard a pain wracked voice again. "Squad 51 to L.A. Do you ....c- copy?" Roy flung himself across the bed to grab the radio.. "Johnny! It's Roy.. Where are you?" But Johnny's dry voice just repeated its hail. "L A. Over.. I'm with a victim.. caught in a landslide....*ugh*.. I've been injured, do you read..?" Roy tried again to contact his partner but it was horrifyingly clear that Johnny could only send and not receive on his radio. DeSoto dressed as he had never dressed so fast before, into a T and jeans, and then switched the frequency to dispatch headquarters. "L.A. This is squad 51. Repeat Engine 51's 10 -20. Emergency.." He knew dispatch would react to his call sign anyway, being ignorant of personnel shift assignments for each paramedic at each station. Roy would get his information regardless of whether or not he was on duty. "51, the address was reported as being on the 1800 block of Supulveda and Mitchell.. Last update, Engine 51 reported a resolved gas leak, then multiple cave-ins. A paramedic is transmitting but isn't replying to incoming hails. His location is unknown." Roy's voice cracked, "That's six blocks from here..." He lifted his talkie to his mouth. "10-4, LA. Out." It was 5:45. At the door he caught Joanne and the kids coming in."Oh hi Roy.. Bernice offered the kids hotdogs at the party and I couldn't resist her fondue." She held up a crock pot, "Saved you some.." Michael launched himself in a child's greeting at his father and so did the younger Jessica. Roy caught them into an automatic hug, but set them down immediately. "Kids, not right now, Daddy's real busy." His urgency caught his wife right away.."Roy, what's the matter..?" she said, setting the pot on the hallway table. "It's Johnny. He's at a rescue just over the hill. There's been a cave in and I think he's trapped." As he spoke his fingers twisted the radio back to Johnny's frequency.. showing her what he had found. "My patient's vitals are worse... I think my arm's broken..." They all heard a pained soaked Gage report. Roy took off at a dead run around the house after snatching up a sweatshirt John had forgotten at his house a week ago. Joanne ran after him, telling the kids to stay in the house and to wait for her. She met Roy, oddly, in the back yard. He was undoing Shania's chain. "Roy,, I know it sounds bad. But you can't leave here!.. Aren't you under house arrest? The other men on the crew can get help to him.." Roy looked up from the knot he was untying around Shania's collar. She was whining picking up the human's sudden distress. She began howling. "I'm going, Joanne! I'll deal with the legal consequences later on. I know that neighborhood. I've got the best chance of reaching Johnny. Our house is on the other side of the hill from the cave in.. I've got clear access from this side!" He knelt by the excited Malamute, grabbing her collar. "Shania.. " He thrust Gage's sweatshirt he had snatched up under her nose. "Find Johnny.. Go. Seek.. Find Johnny. Now.." He let her go as the dog latched onto something on the wind and lifted her head. She took off running uphill towards Mitchell Road. Joanne called after Roy, shouting desperately, "Oh Roy,, be careful..!" |
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"Keep the kids inside, Joanne. Don't let them follow me." He fought to keep up with Shania, regretting that he had flung her leash off in his haste to start her tracking Gage. As he ran, he listened to the radio pressed next to his ear for more clues.... ::Come on , Johnny. Keep talking. I'm coming..:: ------------------ In the wreckage of tree, Gage was leaning against a huge limb, favoring his left arm. He suspected a humerus fracture on himself. ::A simple one. But enough to cripple me..:: he cursed. He curled around the teen's head once more as he sent another radio transmission out on his station's frequency. "I'm at a treefall, inside a collapsed treehouse." he cast his eyes around the hidden tangle. "I'm hearing ...water, so I can't be that far away from the riverbed." he gasped. He didn't know if the radio was even working. A heavy limb had cracked its casing in the last cave in. A moan from the boy drew his attention downward. "L-Lissst-n.. to me.. If ...I...on't make it--" the teen panted. "Hey, who said you're going to die now?" Gage told him, adjusting the boy's head and neck to give him the best airway possible. "Just stay with me.. all right. You're going to have to keep awake from now on. You think you can do that for me?" The teen coughed, and bloody froth bubbled out of his nose. Johnny cursed. ::Yep. Definitely a pneumo. A tension pneumo from the looks of it.:: "Hey, what's your name? I see you are a Pittsburg Steelers fan here." and he pointed to the teen's cut open jersey, and nodding. The teen smiled, "Steven-n.. S- Sure am.. Best team in the whol--" his eyes began to roll in the top of his head. Johnny dug his pen back into one of Steven's nails.. "Hey.. Wake up.." Steven's eyebrows rose but he didn't open his eyes. Johnny told him the reason to fight harder. "Steven.. you've got to keep awake. I know how hard it is. But we've got a problem if you go out on me. I've only got the use of one arm here." ::If he codes. I won't be able to do his CPR. :: "Not much I can do after that to help you. So keep listening to my voice and try to concentrate on staying with me. Ok ? Help is on the way.. But you're going to have to just hang in there as long as you can. It won't be long now." ::I hope.:: he amended. Another nearby rumble created another cloud of dust and twigs and more branches rained down on Gage and Steven. One caught Gage across his broken arm. He blacked out. ------------------- When he came to, the dust was only slightly less. ::I couldn't have been out long.:: Frantic, he looked over to Steven. A thick tree trunk about six inches in diameter lay across Steven's throat. His face was blue. Groaning, Gage dragged himself over to the boy and used his legs to push it up and off of his neck. He flopped down in agony around his arm at the pain the effort cost him and gasped for long tortured seconds. ::Come on. Check him..:: he told himself. Gage found a weak heartbeat but there was no sound in his lungs. ::Not even trying to breathe anymore.:: He dug a hole in the dirt with his good hand until Steven's head flopped back opening his airway again. Gage tucked his broken arm into his shirt with his other hand, swallowing around his own pain, then leaned over, giving the boy a couple of short breaths mouth to nose, using the grip of his good hand to hold his jaws shut. It was the best he could do with the use of only one arm. "Come on, Steven! Don't give up on me now." The chest beneath his hand didn't rise. Again, a series of short breaths, this time more of them, more forcefully, but not enough to exacerbate the torn left lung. "Hey.. wake up..!!" Steven jerked, and began to cough and wheeze weakly, Johnny used a shred of jersey to soak up the blood in the boy's mouth as he began to breathe once more. "That's it. Be a fighter.." He slid his fingers to Steven's throat to monitor the thudding pulse there. ::Come on, Cap. Find us. We don't even have that golden hour for this one. We gotta make every second this boy has count.:: |
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Dr. Early and Dixie McCall were bent over Marco's bedside with an aural scope and penlight. It was almost six o'clock. The deadline the neurologists had said would mark the demarkation between a miracle and a tragedy for Lopez's future prognosis. It was time for a change. Dixie handed Dr. Early his different scopes as he checked inside Marco's ears for the color and perfusion of his eardrums. "They're pink. His parasympathetic nervous system's made a comeback. Open one of his eyes and shine this light in it...I want to see if he reacts." Dixie did so, peeling away the protective tape, soon, noting again the awful dialation of Lopez's pupil from the norm. Dr. Early ordered. "Observe his pupil closely." He raised Marco's metal chart and brought it sharply down on the bedside table inches from Lopez's ear creating a very loud impact sound. Dixie saw the black circle shrink sharply, then relax back into its normal size.. "Joe! It's reactive!" Dr. Early freed Marco's other eye and saw the same result, "He's coming out of it." And one of his hands found a waiting epinephrine syringe from a nearby crash cart and quickly injected a few cc's of it into Marco's IV port. Joe and Dixie held their breaths. Then the EKG monitor began to speed up into a blissfully normal sinus rhythm. "Uughhhhhhhhhhh......" Lopez said and blinked. "He's awake." she grinned. "Yeah, but does he have any frontal lobe damage?" Joe wanted to know. Dixie leaned in, "Marco.. Marco.. Can you hear me?" His eyelids twitched and he sighed, a rich wonderful voluntary sigh.. "..w-who wants to know??" Then his eyes opened and he smiled with a full intelligence behind his look at doctor and nurse. "Oh, it's you guys.. Though you were mama calling to me for a sec, Miss McCall." Joe straightened. "Well. I guess the answer to my last question is a very resounding,.No." "No !!" Dix said simultaneously beaming happily. "I guess Gage finally gets his dream phone call after all. she said. Dixie reached for the landline on the wall, "Yes, hospital operator? Patch me through to the fire department's dispatch. I need to get in contact with a Fireman Gage at 51's in a relay as soon as possible. Yes.. I'll hold." "Hey, what's going on?" Marco asked. |
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Roy's lungs were near to bursting. He could see the dust cloud coming from a backyard in the next row of houses down from where he was running. In order to make time, he'd have to find a short cut. Shania seemed to agree. For she took a low hedge fence in a giant leap into precisely the most direct descending yard, whose last fence framed the one the sinkhole had claimed. Roy held onto his radio a little tighter, and shouted into it. "Hang on, Johnny, I'm coming..! Shania.. locate Johnny. Find him. There's a good girl.." Together, dog and paramedic ran towards the fallen tree and the debris they could both see inside of it, 500 yards away. There wasn't any more dust rising from it, nor were there any more transmissions from Gage. "Johnny!!" ----------------------- "Mr. Gage?" It was the detective. "I got your doctor here." Brackett leaned over the edge of the sinkhole, "Johnny how are you? You sound bad..." Gage looked up even though his head was beginning to spin, "I'm fine.. Just my arm. It's this kid I'm worried about.. A possible tension pneumo.. He's already quit breathing once on me.. Get down here!" "How? We don't have a rope." Fielder said. "Use this!" a new voice said, and a good solid clothesline was flung down into the hole, already tied to a secure tree. Fielder gaped, "DeSoto? What are you doing here? You should be in house custody." "Yeah well, there's two people who need me more than any court justice does so I'm going. Arrest me later." he said, "Come on, doc. You first. You've got the equipment. Me and Fielder will hold on to your line until you're down there." Shania showed her fearlessness and negotiated the loose earthen wall, showing the men the most solid places to put their feet. She leaped the rest of the vertical drop and ran to the object of her search, Johnny. She sat by him, and pawed his leg once to show she completed her task. Roy quickly rigged a seat rope web and Kel stepped into it. "Use the same footholds my dog used. Her instincts are always good whenever I rock climb. Should work here." The malamute rose and went over to Steven, staring into his face, whining. She licked his chin once and barked at Johnny. "I know. I know...." Gage muttered. "Just hold on there girl, we aren't as nimble as you are.. kay?" he grinned, pushing her away from his patient's face with his foot, to make room for the doctor to land near them. "Ok, doc!! Come on down..." Kel was lowered to the bottom in record time. He dropped the rope and unslung his pack, opening it. He paused near Johnny long enough to see how shocky he was. He ordered, "As soon as I get this kid stabilized, I want you to get on a cannula, Johnny. You'll be more comfortable. Without it, you're fair game for passing out. I wouldn't give you ten minutes more before that happens. I don't want the guys to have to stokes you out too. That'll slow us all down getting the kid out." Gage just nodded wearily. "I will. See to him first." "Spoken like a true hero...." Brackett said. The words weren't lost on the detective watching them. He grew thoughtful. Kel got to work. |
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Johnny spoke from where he was folded on the ground, "His head and neck's clear. No abdominal guarding, no fractures apart from the ribs on that left side. His pulse's rising. He's breathing shallow and he's got rales in that lung, doc. And I think I heard some crepitus under the skin over that spongy area." Brackett felt the site of the rib breaks. He heard and felt the plastic bubble wrap like patch Johnny mentioned right where he said it would be, "You're right Johnny, He's leaking a lot of air here. Definitely a tension pneumothorax." But Johnny wasn't listening. He was watching Steven. "Doctor Brackett.. Check him. I think he's--" Kelly felt for a neck pulse. He didn't find one. "He's arrested. Roy! Get down here!! Johnny's not going to be able to help me.." Fielder shouted, "Wait a minute, I can't authorize that!! DeSoto can't treat a man without a license..and letting him could cost not only my job, but yours!" Shania began to growl at the nervous stranger above her. She didn't understand why her dislike of him grew. Only that it did. Brackett looked up from delivering a breath to Steven before he shifted to his chest, beginning CPR. "Do you want this kid to die, Fielder? Cause most assuredly he will.. in very short order! Hurry up, Roy." He shifted his hand position again, keeping his compressions even to mimimize the damage internally. "Gage, you stay put.." he snapped when Johnny tried to move closer. "Twelve, thirteen, fourteen.." Then Johnny and Roy's radio came to life. It was Dixie. "Rampart to Squad 51, guess who's wide awake and asking for breakfast?" They all could hear Marco's voice talking in the background. Brackett turned eyes on Fielder as soon as he finished delivering another set of breaths. "Looks like you no longer have a case, detective. Let him pass!! NOW!!!" Fielder sobbed, relieved that he was legally freed and he moved aside, grabbing the rope. Soon, Roy got to where he most wanted to be, down to where two lives could be saved by the skill of his own two hands and...a little bit of luck. |
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Click Ambulance to Go To Emergency Theater Live.. |
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