Rescue 12 Responding, page 23
The captain glanced at the car. "If someone can survive in that, they'll wait until we get Joshua out of your unit, or until the second engine gets here to help. I'll get my firefighter out before I'll do anything else." Even as he was speaking to David, his men had prepared the equipment to get to their brother firefighter. The generator for the hydraulic tools instantly cranked on, and the Jaws of Life once again began the process of freeing a trapped victim. But this time it was the firefighter inside.
The noise of the generator for the Jaws of Life covered the muffled groans of the young pinned fireman. The sounds of his favorite piece of equipment somehow had awakened him from his distant dark sleep. He knew he would be out in a moment and he smiled before slipping back into unconsciousness. The driver’s door of the ambulance ripped open slightly, and Joshua's hand fell out through the opening. The fireman on the Jaws of Life froze. His hands trembled as another man grabbed Joshua's arm. "He has a pulse." Cheers yelled out above the sound of the generator. The hand was held out of the way, and the mechanical jaws continued to eat the metal.
The door opened. One man swiftly grabbed Joshua's neck to keep it straight. Another man placed a firm collar around his neck. A third man reached around his brother and checked to make sure Joshua's feet were free. "He's free, let's get him out of here!" The helicopter crew had landed and had their stretcher ready. Joshua was carefully lowered onto their spine board. One paramedic began cutting off his clothes, while the RN from the helicopter crew stuck his arm with a large needle. They had brought universal blood with them from the hospital. The blood poured into Joshua's arm.
Rapidly, the helicopter team began to examine their young male patient. His face had multiple deep jagged cuts and blood poured from his nose and mouth. The flight paramedic grabbed the portable suction unit and cleared Joshua's airway. However, the bright red blood continued to flow from his wounds and filled the vacuum chamber of the suction unit. He needed to be intubated, but the injuries to his face were too deforming to attempt to intubate with an ET tube at his mouth. They didn't want to take the chance that it would land in the brain, and there was just no guarantee where the tube might end up.
The Flight RN began to use the Ambu bag to help force oxygen into Joshua's lungs. His chest rose and fell to her hand pressure on the football-shaped bag she pressed, but the stream of blood was still able to flow into the back of his throat, and into his lungs. The two flight medics looked at each other. In a flash of a moment, the decision was made. One paramedic removed the drying blood from the firefighter's neck. The Adam’s apple of the neck was felt, and the location of structures just below it was confirmed, as the RN began to cleanse the neck with betadine and then alcohol.
Without warning the watching firemen of their decision, the flight paramedic took a scalpel and with one motion slit the neck of the unconscious fireman. Blood poured from the one-inch incision. Tears flowed freely from the watching fire crew. One man's face paled as he weakly stepped back. Immediately another slit from the scalpel was made to the incision. This time the sound of escaping air could be heard. The specially prepared ET tube was slowly slid into the incision toward the lungs. It was instantly secured in place. The Ambu bag was then attached to the ET tube. The patient's airway was now safe and secure. The bleeding from his face was no longer able to drain into his lungs, and a higher concentration of oxygen was able to be delivered to him. Within moments, Joshua was en route to Tampa General via this rescue helicopter team. He remained unconscious and unaware of the accident he was leaving behind.
David watched from the bumper of the fire engine parked close behind his ambulance. As the rescue scene continued to unfold before his eyes, he numbly thought it must be a dream. Men and women were rushing around to different tasks, and his mind continued to try and take in all he was witnessing. Police and fire department teams worked in perfect harmony. A second fire engine team had arrived on the scene, and they worked to free the patient trapped in the white car. The middle-aged man was pulled from the rear window, head first. He had been strapped to a wooden board to protect his back. His neck was being held still by a woman firefighter. The only feature of this patient David could see from where he sat was the red hair on the top of his head. The hair was matted by dark reddish-brown blood. He knew he was missing something obvious about the red-haired patient and white Cadillac. For a moment, he tried to remember but quickly returned to just watching everything around him in stunned silence. David decided he had seen enough and slowly walked to wait in the ambulance cab parked several rescue units away from the accident noise and chaos.
A fireman examined the front seat passengers of the white car. Their faces were ripped, their flesh and hair hung from the broken windshield. Dark blue bruises had already begun to form on their faces. The fireman threw a white sheet over each dead man. The roadside bystanders would be saved from seeing the images that nightmares are made of. The noises of power equipment began to quiet. Now, the voices of orders to be followed and plans to be made filled the air. The next rescue helicopter landed in the field.
Their flight crew ran over to the fire rescue team who were trying to control their patient. The redheaded man was somewhat conscious, but only awake enough to fight any help they tried to give. He fought the rescue crew and yelled, "Let me go. I won't die. Let me Go!" His fists flung out at anything they could find. Three firemen held him down as another one tied his feet and arms to the wooden backboard. The patient spat and bit at the man holding his head. "Let me Go. I won't die. I want out of here." His screams horrified the bystanders who had come up close enough to watch. "You can't do this! Don't you know who I am? Who are you?"
The flight nurse walked over to her patient and gently said, "Sir, I'm going to give you medicine that will paralyze you from the neck down. You'll remain awake, but you won’t be able to move. It is for your protection. If you broke your back in this accident, all your moving around may kill you." As she spoke, the patient felt a warm sensation run up his arm. When he felt its heat touch his neck, suddenly he could not move. Horror filled his eyes and his spit out abusive insults to the team.
The fireman who had been holding the patient’s neck and head as straight as possible leaned over and whispered in this abusive man's ear, "Now, we are in charge. You're not. Just shut up!" His words pierced the man's pride. He had never lost control before, now he watched as it was snatched from him.
The nurse reached down to his foot and took off his shoes. She checked for response. He knew what she was doing because he could see, but he couldn't move. “We need to see what other injuries you have so we are going to have to remove your clothes,” she said out loud as she grabbed his pants and instantly cut them as the others pulled the clothes out from underneath him. For a split second, he lay naked in the middle of Highway 41.
The bound patient watched as he was stripped and examined by these emergency personnel but suddenly realized he didn’t care anymore. He took his eyes off the caregivers and stared at the blue sky beyond the activity around him. He enjoyed the quietness that was rapidly replacing all the sounds that had been bombarding him a moment earlier. The clouds drifted overhead, and he rested as he noticed what a beautiful day it was, and his mind drifted further and further from the car accident. Up through the clouds, into the sky, into the darkness of space, he felt himself rise free of all earthly restraint. He could no longer see the road upon which he had lain. He tried to return his thoughts to the accident; however, where he was now seemed more real than that distant memory of the life he once knew. Gradually, he realized that darkness was fully saturating him, and this darkness was colder than anything he could imagine. He couldn't move his hands to warm himself, nor could he open his eyes. He was falling further into the darkness of eternal silence.
The earlier flight crews had already taken Jonathan and Joshua to Tampa General, so they diverted this helicopter crew to St Joseph’s hospital. The rear seat passenger had become an unresponsive, unconscious patient who was secured to the spine board with IV fluids running. His blood pressure and pulse remained stable, and hopefully, he would remain alive until the emergency department trauma team could evaluate him.
Captain Sawyer leaned against the trunk of the wrecked white Cadillac. He was finally able to relax as he slowly inhaled his cigarette. His emergent tasks were done. Debra, the girl on Rescue 12’s stretcher, was the only one without injury from this accident and she had left earlier by another ambulance to go to Tampa General to be evaluated for her recent delivery of the preterm baby. The last ambulance on scene was now pulling off to drive David to Tampa General to get his wrist treated. Within seconds, he and his men would have to return to duty and await the next call. Right now, all he could think about was the critically injured firefighter and paramedic. He looked down at the trunk as he bent his head to light his next cigarette. He noticed a streak of dried blood that stopped at the trunk. Richard looked up at the damage to the car and tried to figure out how there could be blood at this corner of the car. He bent down to look at the damage on the back of the car. He thought he heard something. He placed his head against the trunk and held his breath.
"Help!" came the soft broken whisper.
The captain’s eyes grew wide as he yelled to his firefighter, “Kevin, bring me the Halligan bar. I think I found someone!" Kevin leaped from the fire engine and ran to the captain with the large metal tool. With one strong thrust, its pointed end was struck into the trunk lock. The trunk snapped open.
Joey looked into the face of his rescuers, each had the same shocked expression of both pleasure and worry. Joey's eyes returned to the darkness as unconsciousness covered him like a warm blanket, and his blood pressure slowly began its descent to zero.
Captain Sawyer picked up the portable radio, "Dispatch have Rescue 33 return to the scene. We have found another patient." David heard the radio, was surprised and wondered where they could have found another patient. He was frustrated at the delay in getting to Tampa General to see Jonathan, but he had no choice as the unit turned around and headed back to the scene.
The captain examined the young beaten patient sleeping in the trunk of the car. The bruises were obviously old. The patient's face was swollen and purple. Large green rings had formed around each eye. A large gash with dried blood was on top of his head. The men were slow to pull him out of the trunk for fear of a broken or damaged spine. Every precaution for spinal injury was taken. The few extra minutes might save his life.
David watched as the rear doors of the ambulance were opened again and the rescue crew rolled in their newest patient. Steve, the paramedic, assigned to this unit, offered an apology with his explanation. "David, I'm sorry, but this kid is beat up bad. We can't take him to Tampa General. They are full. We've got to go to St. Joe's."
David grimaced. He knew his friend was right. Tampa General couldn't handle another critical patient. He put his own concerns aside. His attention turned to the unconscious male now being attended to by his fellow paramedics in the back of this unit. The broken and bruised face of this young man was swollen, but suddenly David recognized him. He yelled out at the deputy standing near the ambulance, "Get in here, Quick! I know this guy!"
The Supplier of men's lives heard his name spoken from a hideous voice, "Robert, Robert, my purchased token, wake up." Robert saw the unveiled face of a thousand horrors, and he closed his eyes. Fear held him captive as Death grabbed the fool and sneered, "Don't you want to see your partner?" Pain pierced Robert’s flesh as the words penetrated his mind.
Robert knew he was looking at the one he had moments before thought he controlled, but now he understood that Death was not one to make partners of humans. However, he clung to any chance that his deal on earth would matter now, "I thought we had a deal. I thought you promised me that I would live," he paused on these words, "Forever ... "
Laughter pierced his ears as scorching pain shot through his head as he heard, "You shall live forever. You shall live forever yet be dead." Again, the voice laughed at his tormented soul, and the darkness increased until Robert could again see nothing but the utter darkness that enveloped him.
"What do you mean? I don't understand." Robert turned to the left and then the right trying to find the location that this voice was coming from. He saw nothing but darkness, even the stars had disappeared in this eternal void.
Hideous laughter rose around him. Robert hated to be laughed at, and his hatred erupted beyond his fear and spun to the memory of the first time he killed someone. As clearly as a movie playing in front of him, he saw the scene replayed before him. It was morbidly interesting and pulled his mind further away from his fear, “What is going on? I remember what happened. Stop this!” He yelled into the void, “I remember, I was at a bar, and some redneck made fun of me because I was looking for a male date. I taught him a lesson though, and a lesson for all his friends. I stuck a knife in his belly, and he died in my hands. I'll not be laughed at! Whoever you are, stop it!" Robert's voice rose higher as he screamed into the darkness filled only with mocking laughter.
Robert tried to move his legs and arms, but he could not feel them, and fear came quickly again as his anger found no response to his screams "Death, you are my partner," Robert's voice whispered in the darkness. "I thought we had a deal." Darkness enveloped his words until Robert knew he was totally alone.
Suddenly a bright light appeared. Robert fought to leave the darkness and find his way back to the light. Robert gradually felt the intense throbbing pain in his broken body, and his eyes squinted from the bright light of the emergency department exam room. He looked up at the doctor wearing a blue face mask and goggles who was actively exploring the wounds on his chest, then turned to see the nurses moving rapidly around him. He took a deep breath in relief believing the darkness had only been a dream. For a moment, fear gripped him when he realized that he still couldn't move, but then he recalled that he had been given something to keep him from moving at the car accident. "It’s just the drugs. I'll be fine," he whispered, but no one noticed. The intense brightness from the overhead light caused Robert to close his eyes, and again he detached from the activity going on around him.
He found himself standing, watching himself during the church service he had gone to yesterday with Jonathan and David. The words of the sermon could not be ignored, so Robert began to mock the sermon and reject this God who would offer forgiveness. “I don’t need you!” he said and laughed as he thought that Death's laughter was surely only a drug-induced dream. "See, I have a deal with Death. I can't die. And when I do die, I shall reign in hell as his partner. I laugh in the face of God. Death is Mine. I am the supplier for Death, not his sacrifice." Robert rested in the knowledge that the brutal truth of his choice was as complete as it was perverse.
"I will reign in hell," his words drifted through his mind as he watched a bright light form before him. He began to rise into the light until it completely enveloped him, and he drifted toward its source. Robert found himself standing in a long white tunnel. He looked at the surroundings and said, "Huh, I must have died. This must be the tunnel I have heard about. Funny thing, how being here, I'm not afraid. Death isn't so bad" He smirked as he began to walk down the tunnel. The source of the Light was definitely at the other end.
The first few steps were full of peace, yet, as he continued farther up the tunnel, the memories of his own life and his decisions returned. As he took each step, he would remember another day. His decisions were seen in the Light that surrounded him. Fear had no place here, but sorrow did. His memories began to haunt him as his mind exploded with the knowledge of how evil his acts had been. Robert, not wanting any more light on his life, sought to return to the entrance of this place. Behind him, he found no tunnel, and no light to lead the way back; just darkness. He waited as sorrow dismayed him in the weight of his choices. From within the darkness, he heard a voice he recognized. "Go and receive your reward." Robert knew this voice. This voice called to him to kill. It was this voice that had given him wisdom and unnatural success in his business endeavors. This voice hissed and pressed him; however, no path appeared into Hell, the kingdom in which he had expected to reign. There was not a kingdom of darkness, only the void of darkness eternal.
Robert waited at the divide between light and darkness until he knew he had no choice but to follow the only way available. He slowly took each step toward the Light; this time it was not the past that haunted him, it was the knowledge of his future. He knew he was about to face the Judge of all men's lives. The tunnel ended into a large room with an ascending staircase. The Eternal Voice spoke, "You have seen your life in the revelation of My Light. How do you plead?"
Robert's mouth was dry, he was thirsty. He could barely speak. "I, ah, I thought I would stand with another. I would rule in . . . " Robert stuttered and thought about the foolishness of these words. He wondered why they didn’t seem foolish before. "I thought I would be a ruler in the . . . " he paused again, "the other kingdom."
Before Robert, stood the men and women he had killed or destroyed. The dead teenagers stood silently before him. The drugs that had killed them suddenly rested at Robert's feet. Robert stood trembling. The Voice of God spoke, "Their blood cries out to me for justice. I am Just."
Robert screamed, "But, I didn't know for sure about you. If you are just, how can you judge me? I did not know!"
The Voice again spoke, "I have written my laws upon all Men's heart, and the whole Earth declares my Glory and my Presence. Do you deny the knowledge of me and of my law?"
Robert would have loved to have lied, but he couldn't. Tears formed in his eyes and he fell to his knees because he knew that these words would be the purest truth he had ever spoken, "I knew, but I chose the darkness."
