| ||||||
| ||||||
|
|
 |
 |
|
The Story Unfolds... Season Five, Episode Thirty Four. §§ No Sooner Said... §§ Debut Launch: June 1st, 2006. ************************************************** From: "crash200225" <crash200225@yahoo.com> Date: Fri Jun 16, 2006 2:38 am Subject: Not One Word Paramedics Roy DeSoto and John Gage were heading back to the station from Rampart after their first and only run of the shift. They had been toned out at 1100 hours for a sick child. Arriving at the scene, they had found a two year old boy with a very high fever and his nearly hysterical mother. "Man, I hope the little fella is going to be all right." Johnny sighed. "Me, too." replied Roy. "When Chris was that age, we had to make a few trips to the hospital for high fevers. Mostly in the middle of the night. The fevers usually broke within a few hours after treatment, and he was back to his normal self the next day." "So, what do you think is wrong with Chet today?" Gage wondered. "Huh?" Roy knew he should be used to his partner's sudden changes in subjects, but he was still amazed at how fast he could shift gears. "Chet, you know, bushy hair, mustache, pain in the..." "What about him?" "He hasn't said one word all shift, Roy. Not one word." "Did you ever think he might not have anything to say?" Roy knew it was an absurd question as soon as it left his mouth. "Chet Kelly? Having nothing to say?" Johnny snorted. "And he hasn't bugged me yet either. What's he up to?" |
 |
 |
|
It dawned on Roy that the station HAD been unusually quiet all morning. He wondered briefly if Chet was coming down with something. The name 'Chet Kelly' and the words 'nothing to say' were like oil and water. They didn't mix. Johnny snapped his fingers and announced, "I got it. He's trying to bug me by NOT bugging me." "John, I need to tell you something." Roy stated with the most serious voice he could muster. Concern etched Johnny's face as he turned to his partner. Roy always called him 'Johnny', 'partner', or even 'Junior', but never John. "I'm scared." muttered Roy. Surprised by the words, Johnny stuttered. "What... What's wrong?" "What you just said... made sense to me. I think I'm beginning to understand your logic." "Haha, Roy. First Chet isn't talking and now you're the joker. Why I put up with..." Roy smiled and tuned Johnny out. Just as he backed the squad into the bay while Johnny used the radio to announce that the squad was back in quarters, the tones sounded. Roy idled the motor while they waited for the dispatcher's voice to come over the speaker. ##Station 51....## ************************************************* From: "mkmg365" <mkmg365@yahoo.com> Date: Fri Jun 16, 2006 9:23 am Subject: No Sooner Said In Johnny's recollection, yesterday had started out as completely normal between him and Chet. And that had been way before he had felt the need to even tell Roy about it. Johnny thought back to eight am the previous day..., remembering how it had all begun. ------------------------------------------------------- Roy and Johnny had been changing in the locker room when Chet walked in. "Yeah, and she says..," Johnny said to his partner. "Don't tell me. Let me guess.." replied Chet, interrupting. All of a sudden the tones began to sound... ************************************************** |
 |
 |
|
************************************************** From: Roxy Dee <laterrapincabesa@yahoo.com> Date: Sat Jun 17, 2006 8:32 pm Subject: Canyon Run~~ ##Engine 51, Squad 51, Engine 8. Man trapped. A half mile south of Red Rock Canyon. A half mile south of Red Rock Canyon. Cross street, Scenic Drive. Time out : 0824.## Cap told dispatch that his crew was responding to the call. With Roy and Johnny in the squad, Marco, Cap, Chet and Mike in the engine, they were off. At the end of the driveway, they flipped on their lights and sirens which cleared the road of traffic. Their drive took them away from the city and into the rural mountainous area of northeastern Los Angeles County. Station 51 arrived at the scene ten minutes later to see, among the tall pines and spruce, a dirt road with broken road block bunkers cast all around. Men in hard hats were down in a ditch full of rhododendron and sumac surrounding a tipped over bulldozer. Cap jumped out of the cab and a foreman ran up to him. He began to tell him what had happened. "It's Charley. The cat we were using to knock over those trees lost its brakes and shot down into the canyon, out of control. It crashed into a tree before Charley could leap off and it fell on him. A couple of guys tried to free him but it's no use." ansed the foreman. "Just leave that to us and clear your men out of there. I don't want anybody else to get hurt." said Hank. |
 |
 |
|
The foreman got his crew out of the canyon just as Engine 8 arrived. Captain Stone came over to Cap who filled him in. Hank was thoughtful. He turned to Chet. "How about climbing down the cliff to see how badly he's trapped, Kelly?" Chet nodded and went down, spilling dirt in a rain as he slid down the slope. He got to the bull dozer. Chet saw Charley lying in a furrow made by the cat. The heavy machine's roofing section was solidly fallen on top of his legs. "Charley?!" Chet yelled from where he could see the injured man in between a tangle of trees. He couldn't get closer because of snapped tree limbs and thick underbrush. There was no reply or any signs of movement from the man. "Charley!!" he shouted louder. Chet got no answer. Kelly walked around the debris to the other side of the bulldozer. He saw a thin stream of gas seeping down the slope. "Hey, Cap!" he yelled up the slope. "Yeah?" Stanley shouted back, shielding his eyes under his helmet to block out the worst of the rising sun's glare. "He's unconscious and it looks like both his legs are pinned under the cab's roofing!"reported Chet. "Can it be cut with a power saw?" Stanley asked. "It's possible, but you better hurry. There's gas leaking all over." Kelly replied. At that, Cap sent Johnny and Roy down the loosely bound slope, using rappelling ropes to aid them. "I'll send the stokes down with your gear as soon as you're ready for it." he told them. "Ok.." grunted Gage as he helped Roy rope bounce over a cat tumbled pine tree. Mike Stoker and a few of Captain Stone's men soon followed the two paramedics down with the portable saw and they started cutting on the bars of the caterpillar's roof under a protective wash of hose spray. They decided not to wait for a foam truck before setting to work. |
 |
 |
|
Thick corded lifelines tied off from both fire engines kept the cat from shifting any from its precarious angle perched on top of the man. The last thing they wanted was its bottom heavy chassis re-rolling back down and crushing Charley and his rescuers to death. Cap and Marco got the stokes out of the engine and tied guidelines to the front and back of the stretcher. They slid it down over the side of the road with the most critical boxes of medical equipment attached, the I.V.s, splints and the oxygen resuscitator. Stone's men were fast at cutting away the branches separating all the firemen from their victim and soon, Roy and Johnny were able to get over to the stilled man. "Charley... Can you hear me?" asked Roy as he knelt, pulled off a glove and felt for a carotid. He looked up at Gage. "He's alive." He shouted the man's name once again, loudly so that it could be heard over the buzz of the saw's spinning blade. He got a low moan for an answer following a sternal rub. "Easy. I'm with the fire department and we're gonna get you out of here in a minute, so hang on as best as you can, ok?" He got another moan from the bloodied man lying on his side in the dirt. But the noises he made weren't intelligible words. Johnny started Charley on a fast flow of O2 through a plastic mask after making sure he was able to breathe well enough without being helped. Roy crawled under the roof and slid into a hole Charley's coworkers had apparently tried to dig out around him. He grunted when he landed on his face at the bottom. "Ouch!" "Roy, you ok?" Johnny demanded immediately, half rising from where he was cutting away Charley's clothing in a search for other signs of injuries. "I'm...ok.. Just in a pocket.." DeSoto answered. "Startled me, that's all." "You sure?" "Yeah..." Johnny listened for a few seconds to his partner's repositioning scuffling. Finally, he was convinced Roy was ok. "So far, his chest's clear. His trauma looks like it's all below the waist level, Roy. I got no rib fractures or any obvious gross bleeding past a large lac on his forehead." Roy grunted assent and checked Charley's branch bent legs with his own shears and hands carefully. He found a compound fracture on the right one and a bad cut on the left just above the knee. He got a fireman applying direct pressure over the second wound as soon as he found it. Then he backed out of the hole and waggled some fingers for one of the splints another fireman was holding strap ready for him. DeSoto asked Stoker. "How much longer? He's bleeding out badly from an arterial tear." |
 |
 |
|
Mike answered. "About two more minutes... Three, tops. And most of that time we'll just be moving tree branches out of your way." Roy nodded and grabbed for the biophone. Johnny noticed that Charley was now blinking in a semblance of wakefulness. The oxygen had done its work. Gage saw that Charley's bruised and dirty hands seemed to be weakily guarding his stomach so he pressed on it in a check. The man winced and brushed Gage's fingers away quickly. "A little bit tender, isn't it?" Johnny asked, reaching again to see how far the rigidity extended away from the sore spot. Charley nodded when he found he couldn't talk easily. "Anywhere else past your lower right side?" Johnny asked. Charley shook his head. A groan of rope lifted metal rewarded all of their ears. The cat's roof swung away under many gloved hands and spun off of the construction worker and the sparking saw de-powered down immediately. Charley screamed in pain at the sudden release of weight and he sagged. |
 |
 |
|
Johnny regained a clear airway on him with a jaw thrust and waited for the heavyset man to recover from his near faint. "Ok, gimme his collar. We board him up first before we move him out of here." he told the others around him. A few tense minutes went by as all struggled to immobilize the cat driver as safely as they could without jarring his fractured legs. "Ok, he's free!" said Stoker. "Ready to pull him out?" "Yeah.." said Roy, looking up from his vital signs notes. He glanced over at Gage. "Johnny, I can't get any reception down here. His I.V.'s gonna have to wait until we get him to the top." "He's doing fine on my end. Still semi-conscious." Johnny agreed. "I no longer have to hold his head." DeSoto redirected his attention back to their patient. "Charley,..We're going to pull you out and it's gonna hurt. Try not to help us, ok? It'll only aggravate your injuries further." Charley waved a grimy hand in understanding. Two men moved to either side of the man and they lifted the longboard up slightly so that hand shovels could dig out a boulder blocking their way. Charley screamed in pain. Roy and Johnny held onto his shoulders "You're almost out, Charley." said Johnny. Roy brought the man's stokes near and he was nestled inside of it with the oxygen tank sandwiched in at the foot end. They strapped him securely. Then Stoker hollered up to Cap to take up the slack. "Cap.. Good to go.." Once on the road, Johnny and Roy took off their gloves and helmets and got to work. Roy opened the biophone and contacted Rampart while his partner got out the BP cuff and took Charley's next blood pressure. "Rampart, this is County 51, how do you read?" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dixie McCall looked up as the buzzer sounded over the base station door. She went inside the glass room and toggled a switch. "Unit calling in, please repeat." she specified as she turned on the rescue tape recorder. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Rampart this is Rescue 5-1." grunted Roy, catching his breath back after the climb. ##Go ahead, 51.## said Dixie. "Rampart, we have a male approximately 42 to 45 years of age. He's been a victim of a vehicular accident involving a construction caterpillar in a rollover. He's sustained multiple injuries resulting from it : a compound fracture of the right femur with an arterial popliteal tear on the left that's also a probable non-angulated fracture. Direct pressure seems to be working for that. I would say that he's lost about a 1000 cc's of blood all total. There's tenderness and some rigidity to his lower right quadrant. We suspect some internal hemorrhaging there. He also has a cut over his left eye without signs of obvious skull fracture. However, he remains somewhat stuperous and diaphoretic even on high flow O2. He's exhibiting early moderate signs of shock. Stand by for the current vital signs. Rampart, he has been successfully extricated from a limb entrapment." DeSoto reported. ##Standing by, 51.## said McCall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dixie rapped on the window and Dr. Brackett looked up from the slate he was reading as he was walking by the ER's main desk. He set his chart aside and immediately joined her inside the callroom. "What have you got?" he asked her. |
 |
 |
|
"Caterpillar driver in a roll over. Mechanism sounds worse than what's really apparent to the medics." she told him. Kel read what she had down for notes. "51, this is Dr. Brackett. Have you obtained your new vitals signs yet?" ##That's affirmative, Rampart.## Gage answered, taking the phone from Roy while DeSoto reached for the drug box. ##Vitals signs are : BP is 90/50, pulse is rapid and weak at 116, respirations are regular and only slightly labored at 20. He's responsive to verbal commands.## Brackett looked up in worry as he said. "Dixie, set up Treatment Four. He might be bleeding pretty fast into that stomach of his. We may need to open him up right here in the ER to stop it." "Right, Kel." she said and she left the room. The wavy haired doctor thumbed the talk button. "51, start an I.V. of Lactated Ringers, wide open. Also draw blood for a type and cross. Is your ambulance at the scene yet?" ##That's affirmative, doc. It's just arrived.## Gage told him over the airwaves. "What's your ETA?" ##Our ETA's approximately twelve minutes. Pulse's still very regular and palpable down to the wrist.## "What's the scope showing?" ##Normal NSR, Rampart. Do you want us to send in a strip?## "Negative, 51. Get him in here as soon as possible without delay. Send me one only if problems develop on him rhythm wise. Continue monitoring his vital signs closely, every five minutes, and maintain a high level of perfusion for those fractured legs. Hyperventilate him if you have to, to keep both feet viable." ##10-4, Rampart.## said Johnny. He hung up his connection while Roy quickly got an antecubital intravenous line in on a fast flow. An ambulance attendant pulled the stretcher next to the two paramedics while other fireman kept up the elevation on Charley's leg end of the stokes and his I.V. bag. Gage soon took that and snugged it under Charley's shoulder to keep it pushing fluids while they wheeled him to the waiting rig. "I'll ride in with him." Roy announced as he set the medical gear inside the Mayfair next to Charley. "Ok, meet you there.." Johnny said picking up both their helmets and glove pairs to throw into the squad's open window. Cap shut the ambulance doors and rapped on them. The boxy rig took off with the squad right behind it. Hank watched them go and then he said to dispatch on his walkie talkie. "L.A. Engine 51. My company and Engine 8 are out one hour for brush detail to wash down spilled gasoline from a rolled over construction caterpillar at the bottom of a ravine." ##Engine 51.## |
 |
 |
 |
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ At the hospital, the ambulance slowed and drove under the skyway. It backed up to the emergency doors and the attendants got out. Johnny pulled the squad up next to their patient's transport and quickly went to assist them with moving Charley inside. He took and held up the nearly empty I.V. while they fast-walked the man inside. Passing off the test tubes full of blood to Dixie took only a few seconds. Brackett met them in the hall and said. "In here." Johnny handed off the I.V. bag to one of the attendants just before the door closed between them. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- He and Roy went to the receptionist's desk to await Dixie's return from the lab. "Coffee?" DeSoto offered to his partner. "No thanks." Gage sighed, rubbing his face in fatigue. "Isn't lunch waiting for us back at the station?" "Today it's not. The engine's still in that canyon if you recall." "Oh, that's right.." Gage said, disappointed. "Well, that's ok. We can always stop off at a hamburger stand somewhere on the way back." "What do you mean, we? I'm not hungry yet. I don't wanna drive anywhere extra this morning. I've a feeling it's gonna be one of those shifts again." Roy complained. "Fine. I'll drive then. Gimme the keys.." said Gage, not turning around from where he was sipping his coffee while helping himself to the medical supplies they needed to replenish. He held out gimme fingers impatiently. |
 |
 |
|
"Try not to scratch our new paint job. Charlie the mechanic will have a bird if we damage the squad before what he considers a decent interval's passed." DeSoto replied, handing over the cluster of keys on a bungee coil. Gage ignored him. "Think he's gonna make it?" Johnny asked Roy as he threw a head towards Treatment Four. "Yeah. His pressure went back up. Even before surgery. I guess he was just emotionally shocky like we figured. I know I wouldn't like kissing the dirt so intimately while knowing five tons of machinery was about to roll back down the hill on top of me." Roy quipped. It was a few minutes later when Dixie rejoined them. Smiling, they pro-offered her a cup of Folders before she could offer them an empty wash bowl complete with a green bottle of Phisoderm with which to scrub their dirty faces clean. "Beaten at my own hospitality game, eh?" she joked. Roy replied cheekily..... |
 |
 |
|
************************************************** From : Cory Anda <andacory@hotmail.com> Sent : Monday, June 19, 2006 2:14 AM Subject : The Hidden Danger.. "We learned from the best.." chuckled Roy. Johnny grinned, too. "You were a good teacher in the paramedic program. Your mother hen instincts must have ...rubbed off on us pretty bad... I wasn't even aware I was under your past carefully sowed influence, until you mentioned it to us just now, Dix.." Gage laughed. "Now, fellas,.." Dixie demurred. "...everyone knows that flattery works ninety five percent of the time it's used in practice...except when you're a male with the last name of Gage trying to pick up a date at a single's bar." She crooked a half smile. "Very funny.." Johnny said sarcastically. Roy grinned even bigger. "Yes. It was.." Dixie smiled right back. "I consider myself buttered up. What's the real story here? What else can I do for...such a nice pair of ..., hard working young men such as yourselves today?" she teased, pouring on fake flirtation by the pound. Johnny sighed and came out with it. "When are the paramedic refresher tests coming out this month? Brice told us they were coming last fire call.." he admitted with a pained expression, his word coming out in a rush like a bad hiccup. "Johnny..You know I can't give out classified information like that without getting into a lot of trouble. Kel would have my hide if I told you, personally and professionally." Dixie scoffed mildly. "Roy, I'm ashamed of you for letting him even try to wring it out of me." "I'm the very picture of innocence today, Dix." said DeSoto. "Since when has Johnny ever done anything that wasn't his own idea to pursue in the first place? No, wait a minute. Don't answer that.." he said, rubbing his forehead in discomforture. "Thanks a lot.." Johnny piped up, insulted. "Look, we'd better get going before I drop down to the floor in a hypoglycemic attack. Wouldn't you know?..I'm starving--..." "..again..." said Roy. "..again.." finished Johnny at the same time. McCall laughed. "Why don't you eat here in the cafeteria? That food's closer..." |
 |
 |
 |
|
"You call that food?" Johnny made a face. "I can eat it when I have to. Only the burgers,..heh. But today, I need some real nourishment. Roy thinks we're gonna have a busy day of---" "Don't say it!" Roy interrupted. "...runs.." Johnny finished matter of factly. The walkie talkie immediately began to speak in a response. ##L.A., Squad 51, are you available?## Roy lifted up his radio. "Squad 51, 10-4, L.A.." he said. ##10-4.. Stand by for a response with Engine 51...## Roy, Dixie and Johnny all froze into listening poses. Gage's eyes opened in interest despite his growling stomach. **BEEP....BEEP....BEEP..** ##Station 51, Battalion One. Minor excavation fire. At the Sandstone Mining Company's secondary shaft. Two miles south of West Ridge Pass. Two miles south of West Ridge Pass. Cross street: Pacific Coast Highway. Time out : 10:02.## Roy nodded, fumbling with the box of supplies and their EKG monitor, until Johnny rescued him by taking the HT out of his hand to acknowledge the call for him. "Squad 51. Responding from Rampart General.." Gage told dispatch. ##Squad 51.## "Gotta go, Dix.." Johnny said to her with a short, friendly wave. |
 |
 |
|
"Here.." she said, pulling out a candy bar from her smock's pocket. Johnny barely caught the Mounds Almond bar when it sailed through the air in his direction. "Oh,.. thanks but I don't like---" "Just shut up and thank the lady already.." Roy elbowed him. "If you won't eat that, I will.." he mumbled in irritation through the side of his lips. "Thank you, Dixie. Saved my life.." Johnny fired back dutifully as they turned away from her for the ambulance entrance. "Good boy." Roy retorted. "And I'm driving. You're too shaky to." Gage's next acid comment was drowned out by the sound of Captain Stanley's voice replying back to L.A. from their location on the road. ##Engine 51. 10-4, L.A. Our ETA is eight minutes.## ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A thin stream of smoke billowed out of a horizontal mining tunnel opening, staining the placid ridge's sun soaked landscape with a rusty purple soot cloud. There were no obvious signs of open flames raging from down below. Sirens mingled then tore apart from the rush of the Santa Barbara traffic growing louder as the engine and squad met up and flew around tight gravel road hairpin turns to get to the scene. Clouds of dust rose when the two red, light flashing vehicles screeched to a halt. Captain Stanley stepped off the running board, meeting his two paramedics alongside the squad. "Gage, DeSoto,.. L.A. informed me that the new fire here was detected by radar plane. The pilot reports that no miners are around now and none have been in the shafts today. This might be that old subterranean coal fire smouldering up again under the soil. So let's put it out and then check for any workers who might've snuck into their primary shaft down the road in an attempt to rack up some unofficial overtime." "Right.." John said, buttoning up his overcoat. Roy was already putting on his gloves. Cap faced his other men. "Marco, Stoker,..Get an inch and a half played out. Kelly, you're going down to see if you can scout out the source." he said, glancing and sniffing carefully at the mossy hole. The smoke had already abated somewhat so he added. "Don't think we'll need an air bottle just yet for this one, Chet. It's a fairly cut and dry ground fire as far as I can tell. Probably just a dust flare up with no kindling." "Ok, Cap. I'll be careful. I'll radio in every minute." Kelly told him. "You do that. Go get a torch, lifebelt and a rappeling rope. The shaft lift's not in service today. There're no workers." Hank said as he stepped back into the Ward's cab to give his status report to Battalion. |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
The others moved away to their fire duties. Stanley scraped off some mud from his shoe absently as he watched them set up. The clump of clay fell and landed heavily onto the ground and a dust eddy wafted up from the impact and drifted under the engine's tires. The swirl moved on and passed a freshly dead body of a jack rabbit partially hidden in the grassy rut running along the middle of the road. Nearby, a bird faltered in flight, recovered, then faltered again only to tumble end over end in a crash to the ground. It landed in a fluttering heap and soon became still. No one noticed the absence of animal sounds or the sudden silence falling around them for the engine's radio was still filling the air with situation chatter and firefighting conversations. Cap waited for a gap in vocal traffic. "L.A., Station 51 is out forty five minutes. Our incident appears to be a resurgence of the perpetual underground fire Five Beta already noted by Headquarters on the "to monitor" list. All company shafts appear to be completely uneffected...There's no damage to property." ##10-4, 51. I'm standing down. Keep me posted.## replied Battalion One from his car's frequency. "Will do, Battalion.." said Hank in reply. He sighed and pushed down his walkie talkie radio, looking up. "Mike, go ahead and charge up that hose just to be on the safe side while Johnny and Roy man Chet's lifeline. We'll give him just a quick down then up and then we're out of here after a fast ground heat survey update on that old fire." "Ok..Cap." said Stoker, jogging off to the tall red and white painted water valve clearly marked by the circuit breaker building. A few minutes later, Mike turned off the hose and peered into the steaming darkness of the ventilation hole, satisfied that every flame had been extinguished. All of the guys stood around the new shaft, talking about the peculiarity of the blaze. "It shouldn't have lasted down there this long, Cap." Kelly said, belting up. "Why wasn't all the oxygen used up in the first few minutes after it broke into the shaft from the substrate enough to put itself out?" "Random breezes..?" guessed Gage. "There is a storm front in the mountains. See?" he said, pointing to the Sierra Nevadas on the horizon. |
 |
 |
 |
|
"And rainwater moving down the overflow might account for better ventilation.." Stanley concluded. "Bingo.." Chet grinned, tightening his helmet while Roy checked his belt's buckle and the rope hitched in a double loop attached to it. "Yeah, well, the sooner I get down there to see if it'll stay out this time, the sooner we can all get back to the station to fix up some serious chow. Are you as hungry as I am, Gage?" "You have to ask?" Johnny groaned miserably. "Eat.." Roy said, shoving the candy bar that Johnny had left on the dash of the squad at him. "Oooo, thanks.." said Kelly, snatching it from Roy's gloves. He quickly stole one of the candy bar halves and then tossed the last one up into the air so Johnny had to catch it fast before it hit the dirt. He munched happily. "Thanks for the work reward ahead of time, pal. That was nice of ya.." he chuckled. Gage scowled. "Hey, that was mine.." "Was.." said Chet, disappearing into the hole, his rappelling equipment jingling as he climbed over the lip and started heading down in the direction of his flashlight's beam. "And it was real yummy, too. Remember.. you snooze, you lose.." Johnny had to quickly pop the candy into his mouth before Chet's descending tension fell onto the rope he was holding for safekeeping in between his knees. Kelly continued downward cautiously. "Cap, the air's still fresh down here, and it's not hot in the slightest." "Ok, pal.." said Stanley. Gravel skittered and echoed up the slantwise shaft. Then there was a particularly loud slide past the usual, followed by a sharp thud. Suddenly, Chet's rope whipped taut, nearly dragging everyone manning it off of their feet. Marco was driven to his knees, balancing on the edge in a strain to support Kelly's fallen weight. He grunted, and saw a flash of silver as Kelly's light tumbled away and down. "Canisters?" he grunted. "Cap, something not right down there. I thought this tunnel was supposed to be zoned for air venting only, not storage." Cap fell onto the rope with the others. "Chet?! You all right?! Chet ?!!" The rope creaked back and forth in the empty black space yawning in front of their noses. "He's in trouble." Cap swallowed tightly. "Let's get him out of there. Fast." Painstakingly, hand over hand, the gang retrieved inches back. Finally Marco grabbed Chet's belt at the waist and together, the five of them hauled him out onto the grass. He was limp and his eyes were closed slits. Lopez gasped. "What the h*ll happened? He was barely down there for twenty five seconds." |
 |
 |
|
On a sudden impulse, Roy knelt, placing an ungloved hand onto Chet's stomach over his turnout where he lay. "He's barely breathing, guys." Johnny shot him a crazed look. "What?!" And he got on Chet's head instantly to monitor his pulse. "Holy---" Hank exclaimed while Stoker and Marco sprinted to the squad to get the gear and the oxygen. Roy checked Kelly's eyes quickly. "I don't understand this. Did something hit him on the head to knock him out?" Johnny quickly ran fingers through Chet's hair, feeling for wetness. "No..there's nothing. Plenty of dust but no injuries here. Or anywhere else that I can see. Are you finding anything?" Gage asked incredulously with alarm, thoroughly stunned. "No. Let's get him to the road into com range." said Roy. The three firemen gathered Chet's unconscious form into their arms after they pulled off the safety belt and hastily loosened Kelly's jacket collar. They carried him in anatomical alignment on his back, without jarring Kelly's neck or spine. Cap was beside himself with anxiety. "What-..what's wrong with him guys? Think he slipped or something? The smoke wasn't thick enough to turn or be even the slightest bit bad. I checked. " "We don't know, Cap. It's... I... something's not right with him that's for sure.." Roy stammered. The gang set Chet onto the ground while Roy took over guarding his airway. Johnny froze in his check for broken bones, listening suddenly as he peered at Chet's paling face. "He's stopped breathing." It was Gage's turn to shake his head in denial. He turned a valve on the resuscitator and started Chet on forced, oxygenated ventilations. Mike soon knelt and took over the job while Roy carefully reassessed Chet's pulse. |
 |
 |
|
Cap fairly flew to the engine. Marco followed. Lopez held onto the door, biting his lip while Cap got a hold of L.A. "L.A., this is Engine 51. We've a man down at our location. Send an ambulance and--" He stopped. Marco was shaking his head, apparently dizzy. "Marco, you ok?" Marco blinked and took a breath. "Yeah.. uh...yeah." Cap studied him closely. "Ok.." he retoggled the switch on the cab mic. "..And a full mining survey team. We've got an odd occurrence of respiratory collapse following exposure to old coal smoke. Advise all units coming in to wear their air masks." ##10-4. ETA on your ambulance is ten minutes.## Right away, another Klaxon sounded over the radio, assigning a Ground Fire Hazmat team to 51's incident. Hank tossed down the mic. "We're getting out of here. Marco, get your air bottle on. We'll help the others get into theirs. I messed up somewhere. And I've messed up big.." Lopez was already hefting his scba apparatus onto his sweating back. But he was having trouble. Cap pulled it on for him and got him into his mask. "So it's gas fumes?! Coming from where? G*d d*mn it! " Stanley snatched up four air bottles, one for each man awake, and himself. "I saw...saw cyl-- cylinders, Cap. Silver ones. Down the hole.." Marco coughed through his faceplate. "Go help the others.. I'm getting mine on. Tell them--" Cap took a hesitant step forward, with his burden, and then went down as if poleaxed. Numb, his senses reeling, Marco yelled aloud. "Cap?!" He bent over and nearly tripped over Hank's legs. He started to pick up his HT to turn it on to call out a warning for Johnny and Roy, when dizziness gripped him, too. Lopez fell. For a moment, Marco thought he managed to get out his jacket halligan for a wild swing at the side of the Ward to sound a warning signal, but then the rising blackness cast him deep into a soundless void. |
 |
 |
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Did you hear something?" Roy asked the others who were working to hook up Chet to the EKG monitor. Johnny looked up from the short airway and ambu he had begun using on Kelly. "Me? No. All I hear is Chet expiring O2 after we put it into him." he replied in a rush. Stoker was too occupied with manning a BP cuff with a stethoscope to notice the question. Gage felt a resistance to a generous bag squeeze. He removed the face mask. Kelly coughed out a chest full of oxygen and then some shallow but regular breaths began spontaneously through his new semi-conscious state. Johnny blurted out. "That did it." Mike grinned when he saw some finger twitches. "120 over 74." he reported to Roy and Johnny. Then he got out a non-rebreather mask set to maximum literflow and turned on the suction unit in case it was needed. He slipped the clear mask over Chet's face with a light grip, his face still full of strained concern."Rate's about thirty, guys." he said, studying Kelly's chest movement. "If you don't need me anymore, I'll go check on that ambulance. Cap and Marco went back to the engine to call for one three minutes ago." "We're ok now. Go on ahead." said Johnny, shivering, as he opened up the biophone case. ::That's odd. It's not even cold outside.:: he thought. Stoker jogged around a bush towards the mining road. Gage reached for the phone as another chill gripped him. He stopped and let it pass before setting up the transmission aerial. ::Funny. There it is again. Oh, no.. Could this be a hostile gas working on me?:: he wondered. In mid thought, a spasm doubled Johnny over and he made himself look at his partner, who had gripped his arm in a reflex. Roy was staring at him, too, half reaching for his own throat, a horrified expression on his face. He stood up, stumbling, trying to reach for an air bottle near them on the ground, when he fell like a stone. Johnny saw details only muzzily as a numbing paralysis gripped his arms and legs, and constricted his lungs. It tumbled him onto his left side. "Gas..." he groaned, hearing the live handy talkie chatter on obliviously in his turnout's pocket. He tried to reach for the biophone to knock the receiver free into an open channel, but it was too far away from his hands in the dust. Desperately, he launched out a foot and dimly, he felt his shoe hit something heavy. Gage blacked out. |
 |
 |
 |
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Stoker glanced across the ravine to the mining company's entrance gates. There was no sign of a transport yet. Sighing, he started back the way he had come. Absently, he kicked a stone and it bounced off at a right angle and came to rest close to the gaping mouth of a dead robin. Stoker jumped. He hadn't noticed any dead birds before on the way to scope out for the ambulance. He nudged it with a toe. "Oh, sh*t." He immediately stifled any deep breaths and he started shouting on the tail of his last one. "Cap?! We got gas in the area! Everybody! Emergency! Get into your scba now..!" A twinge of pain quickly silenced him and he was forced to blow out the rest of his breath forcefully. His eyes fell on the carcasses of a rabbit and another bird. Both were dead, like the robin had been. Thoroughly unnerved, he took a calculated risk and started running back for the rest of the gang. He rounded a corner and saw.... Things were blurring.. Spinning... Mike blinked and shook his head. He let out a shout of dismay. Johnny and Roy were crumpled at Chet's side and both weren't moving. And under the engine, Stoker could see two pairs of sprawled arms and legs. Going blind with suffocation, the engineer crawled towards Roy after failing in his attempt to strap on his own activated air mask from a tank near DeSoto's hand. Nausea pitched Mike onto his stomach and on top of Chet. His last thought was that he was glad Kelly was still alive and breathing..... Silence filled the gulley as the firemen gasped, threw up, then lay still. Then the serious minutes began to tick by. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
 |
 |
|
| ||||||
 | ||||||
| ||||||
|
| ||||||
| ||||||
|