Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
NASH
Just stress my ass.
Something was wrong with Forest, and it sure as fuck wasn’t stress.
Stress didn’t cause blackouts and seizures.
Not like that, anyway. And the way I’d seen him stumble and trip over his own feet…
No, something was off, and I was determined to find out what, even if he didn’t seem to take it that seriously.
I sighed as I counted the bandages in the rig, checking them off the standard list we used to ensure we had everything we needed.
We’d just returned from an MVC, where we’d treated several patients on scene before sending them off to the hospital in other rigs, and we’d gone through a lot of supplies.
As things seemed to have calmed down a bit—I wasn’t going to say quiet.
No one, including me, was stupid enough to use the q-word because that was inevitably the signal for the universe to send the worst shit possible your way—I’d taken the opportunity to check supplies and restock.
Not my favorite job, as it gave me way too much time to think.
I preferred to stay busy, which was why I loved being an EMT so much.
I counted the IV bags, then added two more and checked them off.
I’d always been a man of action, and it had taken me a while to reorient myself after leaving the Army.
At first, I’d been too busy taking care of Creek, Bean, and Tameron.
Creek’s case had been relatively straightforward.
Hard as it was for him to lose a limb, that had been the extent of his injuries.
Tameron’s issues hadn’t seemed as obvious at first. It had taken a while for the doctors to realize his hearing loss was not only permanent, but progressive. It still hadn’t stabilized, and he was expected to lose more hearing in his left ear, which sucked for him.
Bean had caused the most worries. Brain injuries were the worst since there was still so much that doctors didn’t know or understand about them.
His memory had been impacted heavily, and we’d all learned to repeat stories, remind him of appointments, and embrace the fact that he’d forget almost everything we told him instantly.
The migraines had been icing on the proverbial cake for him.
But he had made it through that period, just like the others. And now they had all found love and had moved out…and I’d been left behind.
Jesus fuck, somebody slap me out of this endless loop of self-pity. How could I resent their happiness when they’d been the ones who’d gotten hurt…and on my watch?
I hadn’t been anywhere near the explosion when it happened, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t to blame.
Creek had warned me about the soldier who’d caused the accident.
Said he’d reprimanded him several times, but the kid didn’t seem to listen.
And then everything had gone to hell, and it had been too late. If only I had…
“You almost done?”
I startled. Kaelan leaned against the open door of the rig, hands shoved into his pockets. The kid looked like a goddamn model with his carefully mussed hair, full pouty lips, and a pair of gorgeous brown eyes, but he was good at the job. Surprisingly so.
“Yeah, just restocking the cooling packs and we’re good to go.”
“Good.” He studied me. “You know, it’s incredibly unfair that no one subjects you to the humiliation of being called Rookie for your first year.”
I shrugged, grinning. “I never told anyone they couldn’t or shouldn’t.”
“Which only makes it more annoying.”
“Hey, you’ve been doing this two years longer than I have. If you wanna call me Rookie, knock yourself out.”
He studied me for a few seconds more, then sighed. “Nope, I can’t do it. It feels wrong somehow.”
I checked off the IV bags, then hopped out of the rig, facing Kaelan. “Wrong?”
“Rookie is for guys like me when they come in. You know, young and cocky. The type that needs to learn their place and maybe get brought down a few rungs in the process. But you’re…
” He vaguely gestured at me. “You’re not like that, bro.
You have this…this air about you that makes people sit up and pay attention. ”
“Well, I’m glad to hear that my twenty-plus-year Army career has had some effect,” I said dryly.
“Twenty years?” He whistled between his teeth. “And you were an officer, right?”
“A noncom, a non-commissioned officer. I was a first sergeant.”
“I have no clue what that means.”
No one did unless they’d served. “The difference is that I worked for a living.” Seeing his confusion, I sighed. “Never mind. Army joke. The difference is that I started out as a private and worked my way up. I didn’t go to some school, like West Point, to become an officer right out of the gate.”
“Okay, that makes more sense. So why’d you quit?”
“I didn’t quit.” That came out sharper than I had intended, so I softened it with a smile. “I’d served for twenty years, so I chose to retire from the Army and do something else.”
Do something else. That was definitely a charitable description for the utter existential crisis I had gone through. Was still going through.
“After twenty years, I can’t say I blame you. You must’ve seen hell.”
Hell…and then some. “Yes.”
“That’s why nothing ever seems to faze you. I mean, we encounter some batshit crazy people and shit, but you’re never flustered.”
I snorted. “I was definitely flustered when that lady ran out buck naked yesterday and all but launched herself at me.”
Kaelan burst out laughing. “God, you should’ve seen your face! I was dying.”
“So was I because I had no idea where to put my hands. She was naked, for fuck’s sake.”
“She sure was…and she had a very nice pair of—”
“I’m gonna stop you right there. Trust me, I know. I had them pressed against me, okay? No need to rehash that.”
I was saved by the bell—literally in this case, as our alarm went off, followed by a message to our radios. “Attention, Engine 3 and Medic 2! Respond to a two-vehicle accident at the intersection of Turk and Lyon. Entrapped driver in an overturned car. Proceed with lights and sirens.”
“Medic 2, copy and en route,” I said into the radio, then slammed the doors of the rig shut as Kaelan hurried to the driver’s seat. The kid was one hell of a chauffeur with balls of steel, always navigating us with almost careless precision through the heavy traffic.
Next to us, the guys of Engine 3 came running as well, but with only two people to wait for, we were faster, and Kaelan turned on the lights and siren as we tore out of the station.
It took us five minutes, which was longer than I liked but about as fast as could be expected considering the route. When we arrived, Kaelan parked on the sidewalk, and we both jumped out.
A bright-blue small car—I couldn’t see the make and model—lay turned over on its crushed roof. I winced when I took in the broken glass from the windows. That could cause some nasty cuts.
The other car was a pickup truck, a massive RAM that had squashed that little car like a bug. A guy was leaning against it, presumably the driver. “You check out the truck, I’ll do the overturned car,” I told Kaelan, who nodded.
I grabbed my med bag from the rig, then hurried to the blue car.
A woman was kneeling next to the driver’s side.
I hadn’t seen her at first, hidden behind the car itself.
She’d been smart enough to throw some kind of blanket on the glass-covered ground, and she was holding the driver’s hand.
“The paramedic is here, honey. I’m gonna let go of you now so he has access, okay? You hang in there, Amber.”
I helped the woman get up, then took her place. The driver was a young woman, maybe eighteen years old, with blond hair that was now dirty with blood from an unidentified source. “Hi. I’m Nash. I’m an EMT. Is your name Amber?”
“Y-yes. Amber S-sullivan.”
“Okay, Amber. How old are you?”
“Seventeen.”
“Okay.” While talking to her, I’d done a quick assessment. She’d been wearing her seatbelt, and thank god for that, or she would’ve been dead on impact, but the crushed roof meant she was now trapped. “Can you tell me where it hurts?”
“E-verywhere.”
“I’m sure it does. Where does it hurt the most?”
“I… I can’t feel my legs.”
Oh fuck. Possible spinal injury. “Okay.”
“Is that bad?”
“Well, there could be a lot of different reasons for it, which we’ll need to figure out, but let’s take it one step at a time, okay? Can you breathe okay?”
In the meantime, I had cleared the window of the remaining glass so I had space to work without having to worry about cutting an artery myself.
“Y-yes.”
“No shortness of breath?”
“No.”
“Take a real deep, slow breath for me.”
She did, and her chest expanded. Good, she had air. “I’m gonna feel your pulse now, okay?”
I waited for her faint reply, then put my fingers on her neck to feel her carotid. She had a pulse, but it wasn’t a strong one. She was bleeding somewhere. No surprise there. “Can you tell me if you’re bleeding anywhere?”
Behind me, sirens had indicated the arrival of Engine 3, whose crew would be tasked with getting her out, but not before I finished my initial assessment.
“My legs are bleeding, I think. I can’t feel them, but there’s blood down there. I…I touched it.”
“Okay.”
Kaelan knelt next to me. “Truck driver is a 4-4.”
I held back a curse at hearing the code for a drunk driver. “Let dispatch know so they can send in the cops. And tell Engine 3 to bring out the Jaws of Life to extract her. By the time they’re set up, I’ll have her assessed and ready to be moved.”
“On it.”
I grabbed a blood pressure monitor. “Can you extend your left arm for me, Amber? I need to take your blood pressure.”
She did, and her hand was covered in dried blood. I wrapped the cuff around her arm and let the machine do its job while I quickly checked her hand. She had a few scratches there, but nothing major, so the blood was coming from somewhere else.