Emergency

Chapter Two

Charlie
It felt like hours later. My body still felt heavy. I didn't want to open my eyes. There was a loud crunching noise. I hurt all over. I saw a bright light in my eyes. "She's coming to,"a woman yelled. "Charlie, honey, can you hear me? Can you squeeze my fingers?"a woman asked. I wanted to nod but it was so much effort so I tried to squeeze her fingers. "Good, nice and strong,"the woman said. I managed to get my eyes open. Well one eye. I think the other is swelled shut.

Across from me a woman sat in my driver seat with her med pack, currently digging in it. "Erin, I need in there,"a man spoke. John. This man must be John. "All yours,"she said and climbed out. The man, who's shirt still read "O'Keefe" climbed into her now vacant space. "Charlie, how are you feeling?"John asked. I attempted a small shrug. "That's to be expected. Listen here, we're going to start extracting you now so I'm going to have to slide these glasses on your face and get this blanket over you. I'll be right here the whole time,"John promised while doing exactly what he said. Clear glasses covered my eyes while a fleece grey blanket covered my whole body, neck down.

Another loud crunching noise began. It was almost unbearable. It reminded me of the sound the car made on impact. "John, where's Jack?"I asked slowly. My tongue felt funny and I faintly tasted remnants of blood. "They're still looking,"he said looking at me sadly. Eventually, the side part of the door broke loose and Erin came to the other side of me. "Okay, Charlie, we're going to have to start extracting you. This may hurt a little, if it's too much shout out,"Erin said. The C collar was still on my neck. A stretcher was being wheeled over with a long hard yellow board.

John had a pair of scissors in his hand and he cut my seatbelt off of me. "Okay, Charlie, I'm gonna need you to take a deep breath and then when we count to 3 we're going to shift you onto this backboard here,"Erin said. I just whimpered quietly before doing as she said. "1....2....3,"John helped to carefully shift my body onto the yellow board. It was hard. Another medic was holding my head still. Erin and John set to work at securing straps on my body. "Alright, Charlie, we're going to move you to the stretcher. We need to get you to the hospital,"Erin said. I attempted a feeble nod. They lifted me onto the stretcher and secured more straps over my body before they lifted up to roll me. It hurt as it jostled my body slightly. "What about Jack?"I cried out. "They're looking for him. We have to get you to the hospital,"John said, looking me sadly in the eyes. "I can't leave without him,"I said with tears welling in my eyes. I felt a stray tear slip down my cheek. John gently wiped it away. "They're doing everything they can. Right now the best thing we can do is get you to safety,"John said.

Tears kept falling against my will as they lifted my stretcher into the ambulance. John climbed into the back with me as well as the other medic that held my head still. I didn't remember hearing his name. Erin shut the doors and then climbed into the front. John was setting to work at getting pads on my chest and a pulse ox on my finger. I began to hear the beeping of my heart on the monitor. The sirens were on and we were moving. My vision started getting shifty and was shifting in and out in a blurry haze.

"Hang in there, Charlie, we're almost there,"John said. I thought I nodded but my head felt so heavy. "Hey, hey, hey, Charlie, are you okay?"John asked, panic heavyset in his voice as I heard the beeping slowing down. "John, what's happening back there?"Erin shouted. "I don't know. I think we're losing her dammit. Charlie just hang on a few more minutes,"John said. "Erin, can you drive any faster? She cannot die on us now,"John shouted. The speed picked up as I passed out to a monotone beep.

I looked around trying to understand what I was seeing moments later. I then realized what I saw. I was in the back of the ambulance still but I was outside my body. I saw my body and John and the other medic working over me. A tube was down my throat now. The other medic was squeezing the bulb attached while John performed chest compressions. "Come on, Charlie, come back to me,"he whispered. "Am I dead?"I wondered in my head. Everything started spinning and then it all turned white.

Pain.

Pain was the first and only thing I could feel. Bright lights. Crying. Yelling. So much noise. I just wanted to sleep. My throat felt so dry. I felt like I was choking. "John, we need to sedate her now. She's going to pull the tube out,"someone said in the distance. I felt my arms being held. Something warm hit my vein and I drifted.

***********

I've run hundreds of calls. I've seen hundreds of mangled cars. I've seen a dozen dead bodies. I'm not sure what was so different about this one. I saw her and my heart dropped to my stomach. I felt sick. The car was just dangling there. The chief was taking point directing our people at getting her the hell out of there. "What can I do?" I asked him. "Get in there. See if she's alive or if this is just a DOA recovery,"he directed.

I did as I was told. I looked at Parker and Carter, two twin sibling firefighters, and explained my plan. They got me a harness that I slid my legs through. If the car began to fall they had hold of a tether to hopefully keep me grounded. The back glass of the car was already gone. I carefully slid through and climbed toward the front. I laid my fingers on her neck and I felt a pulse. Before I could even radio for assistance she began to scream. "Jack! Where's Jack?!?"she cried out. I tried to calm her. She quieted and I radioed that we were looking for a young male in is 20s and that she was conscious.

I went to grab my med pack. The car was beginning to slip but I didn't care. I needed to be with this girl. I knew it in my gut. We were falling. She was unconscious I was doing all I could to keep her alive. Half of the fire department was using all they had to keep the car there. Assistance finally showed and we were able to pull it back onto land. That's when she woke again. She didn't want to leave. I explained that the best thing she could do was allow us to transport her to the hospital. I just knew at this point that it was 4 hours and they'd be lucky to find Jacks body. I didn't say this. I kept my voice level before I began screaming for Erin to drive faster as Charlie coded in front of me. She couldn't die. Not now. Not on me.

I tried to stop the tears and I couldn't as I slammed again and again into her chest doing all I could do to keep her heart pumping blood. I was so relieved that I finally heard beeps again. That's when her hands came up for the tube we had in her throat breathing for her. "You'd better sedate her before she rips that tube out,"Erin said. Then Charlie was slipping away from me again. But she was alive.

"What the hell is your problem?" Erin yelled into my face as she shoved me into the wall of the hospital. I gently pushed back. "Leave me alone,"I responded. "You never ever get this worked up over a call. What was different? Why are you crying?"she asked, shaking her head. "I don't know. Are you happy now? I don't know. Something felt different about this call. We need to get back. They'll be lucky to find his body at this rate,"I said to which she stomped off and slammed the door of the ambulance.