Winning the Lottery

Ch. 20 Fighter

"Why have you been off the charts?"

"I can't tell you."

"How are we supposed to work if you drop off the planet all the time?"

"Britt-"

"Sgt. Major!" the woman shouted.

He sighed and turned. "What, Hawk?"

"Help me show these guys what teamwork looks like," she shouted.

"Give me a sec, okay? I want to talk, I just have to-"

"Go," I sighed.

He and the woman went to the climbing wall. He boosted her up and pushed her bum upward. She grasped the top and climbed up. Then, she pulled Jake up. He climbed over and jumped down.

He gave them an order and ran over to me.

"You're busy. I'm going to go," I spoke.

"What? You just got here."

"You're busy. I'll see you around." I turned to leave.

He got in front of me, stopping me in my tracks. "I get off in an hour. Stick around and I'll take you home."

"Jake, I-"

My phone buzzed.

I sighed and answered, "Hello?"

"Hey, it's your Nan. We stopped by the hospital, but they said you called in sick. Is everything okay?" my worried grandmother spoke.

"Yeah, everything's fine. I just needed some time. Yesterday was harder than I thought it would be, but I'm okay."

"Okay. You'll call us if you need anything, right?"

"Of course. I-"

A scream came from one of the guys as he laid, curled up on the ground.

"Nan, I gotta go." I hung up.

Jake and I ran over and knelt by the soldier.

"Lt., what happened?" Jake asked.

"He slipped," someone explained.

"What hurts?" I asked.

"My leg," he gasped in pain.

I felt his leg.

He cried out in pain.

His leg was swollen. Badly swollen.

I removed my belt and tied it around his femur. "Someone call 911. Tell them we've got a man with a broken leg, possibly a nicked femoral artery."

Jake got his phone out and made the call. Then, he hung up.

I moved to his head and held it still. "Sir, I need you to keep still. I know you're in pain, but if you move and you have a spine injury, it could paralyze you. If you move that broken leg and it's nicking your femoral artery, you could bleed out. I really need you to not move, okay?"

"Okay," he spoke, looking up at me. "You're really pretty."

"Gee. Thanks," I smirked. I looked at Jake. "What are you teaching these guys, Hamilton?"

He smiled, "I wish I knew."

I looked at the marine, then at Jake. "I'm going to ride with him to the hospital. Think one of your guys is capable of bringing my car over?"

He looked at the woman beside him. "Hawk, think you can do it? It's a '57 Chevy Belair."

"Yes, sir."