Short Stories (Multifandom)

Hollow Crown Pt. One

This used to be a book in itself but I gave up after the first several chapters; which is what you're about to read.

The weight in Tyler's arms was one of many.

He's carried all life.

He knows what life can do and he's seen most of it. But this time, he was swamped. He's been put on autopilot as he's told countless mother's that their babies have gone and pass. He can smell the iron in the air.

"It's ok, it's ok," he tells himself over and over as the lifeless young boy he carries dangles in his arms.

Tyler opens the door to a room where other bodies are being kept. They haven't been assessed nor registered, but the times of death were noted.

He lays the body down onto a metal table, zipping the boys coat all the way up before grabbing a blanket to cover him. He hesitates as he covers the boys head, but he does. Tyler sniffles and rubs at his eyes with his arm. He can't cry right now, there's no time for that.

Tyler leaves the room, closing the door as he leaves before making his way down the hall.

"Tyler! Alex needs you in Baghdad," Ryan rounds the corner just as Tyler does. He's relieved he didn't have to go far; there's just so much to do.

Tyler looks at Ryan's attire, he looks a lot different than he did twenty minutes ago. He's got blood all over the front of his shirt and he's got some on his arm. Ryan's name tag is soiled by now, he should've gotten it laminated when Tyler did. The bolded letters of 'Ross' were hard to read.

"I just came from Baghdad, I need to be in the OR," Tyler points behind Ryan, in the direction of where the operating rooms are.

"Jenna and Josh have got it covered, Drew just arrived. Thank god, come on, the fifth round already came in. You got that little boy taken care of? His mother was asking around," Ryan and Tyler walk in the other direction. There's no time for him to hang his head in shame. He could do nothing for that boy, he was already dead when he arrived. Just another sopping mother to add to his grief.

"Time of death: 10:07," Tyler mutters as they walk back into where Tyler was originally stationed.

"Fuck, alright," Ryan hands Tyler a new pair of latex gloves as he does the same for himself. "It'll be fine, I'll tell Jenna to let the mother know. You keep yourself busy- hey! No, over there! You take the patients over there, give them tags. Yes, yellow and if they're worse enough and they need surgery, give them the red." Ryan snaps his fingers in front of Tyler's face after instructing a few volunteers. "Hey, get it together. You see stuff like this everyday, yeah? Go get more volunteers, maybe some of the people from the accident who aren't injured can help. Get Alex to show them how to wrap, etc. I'll see you in fifteen," Ryan runs off afterwards.

Ok Tyler, get it together. Do as Ryan says, you'll be fine, you'll be fine.

"Tyler! I need help over here!" Another nurse, Brendon and his girlfriend Sarah were pushing a gurney into a block. Sarah walks away but Brendon is waving Tyler over. Autopilot, autopilot.

"What's he got," Tyler watches as Brendon pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Tyler looks down and inspects the teenage girl.

"She's got two bullet wounds in her right shoulder, looks like they went in and out. Her left arm is broken and she's got a mild concussion, she's currently knocked out. EMT say she fainted in the ambulance,"

"Ok, get her cleaned and check to see if anything was punctured when the bullets went in. Get an IV in her, get her health back up. She looks dehydrated and her pupils are wavering. Wrap her arm then send her to ICU, she'll be fine but we need more room here."

"On it."

"And make sure her parents are either here or need to be called! Let them know as soon as she wakes up!" Tyler yells as Brendon is wheeling the girl away.

Jenna comes running towards him, she's sweating and she desperately wants a clean change of clothes. "Was that the last wave?"

"Yeah, thankfully." Tyler looks around. The floors were covered in medical cloth and gauze wrappings, there were trails of blood leading from the entry of the hospital to various blocks.

"You ok?" Jenna places her hand onto Tyler's back and rubs.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine, I'm ok. Are you? How's the OR?"

"If you want the brutally honest truth, it's a bloodbath. They ran out of space in the operating rooms so they had to move some to the doctors lounge. The lighting is horrible and the washing area is a complete joke but what can you expect."

"Alex is trying to convince the board to lend us more utensils and machinery. We need more scanners and ultrasound wands. You know we ran out? I've had a dozen of those shitty volunteers trip over the cords and tear them right apart. Yeah, thanks corporate," Tyler rolls his eyes and shakes his head as he and Jenna walk over to a new patient. "We've got this one."

"Entry wounds in the lower left abdomen and upper left peck, his right foot looks to be broken," Jenna takes off the mans shoes and cuts his pants. "Entry wound in the calf and... an entry and exit wound in the thigh. Looks like a graze,"

"His lungs are filling with blood, let's start a thoracentesis procedure. He's not getting any oxygen, I'm inserting a tube," Tyler was lucky enough to not have had his ultrasound cords tripped on this time as he puts them away. He's lucky enough to even be conscious right now. He's exhausted and hungry, he shouldn't have missed lunch.

"They've found the shooter," Jenna points to the multiple television screens around the room. "At least we know there's justice for these people."

Tyler was too busy pumping air into this man's lungs and exerting blood from them at the same time, to be worrying about a shooter no longer wreaking havoc. "I need gauze." Tyler wipes down the mans chest with antiseptic as he takes the gauze from Jenna. He does what he does and he finishes what he should. "He needs to stay hooked up to oxygen, he's not breathing on his own.

Jenna eyes Tyler and she knows he's on autopilot. She can tell. He's squeezing the pump for oxygen all the while bandaging up several wounds. "Hey, they can take care of this. Everyone's taken care of, come here," Jenna instructs for others to take this man to the ICU as she pulls Tyler by his scrubs. "Help clean up and we'll go back to my place-"

"I don't need anything, I'm staying here and-"

"Tyler, listen to me. You're coming home with me, okay? I've got you, Josh will be with us too and then later so will Ryan. This day was crazy for all of us, but now it's time to take care of ourselves, understand?"

Tyler blinks and nods, he's still on autopilot but he understands. He's got this, he'll handle cleaning up.