Frank thought it would be a good time to change the subject, before he learned enough Dwyer family secrets to make him a liability.
“So why’d you come back?”
“Same reason everybody else went back home, I guess. They said the whole world was going to die. I figured if I was going to die I might as well die with my family.”
Neither of them knew it at the time, but it might be Frank who’d be the next one to die.
Josie came running at the sounds of Eddie and Stacy screaming at each other and knelt beside Frank in a widening puddle of his blood.
She cursed under her breath, “Damn you, Eddie. When are you going to grow up?”
-18-
Good paramedics think before they treat a severely injured patient. They review their training, weigh their options and try to calm the patient before they start.
Great paramedics spring into action immediately. Their training is so ingrained in them it comes naturally. They already know their best course of action and don’t waste valuable time considering others. And they don’t burn precious minutes trying to calm their patient. They know a good rapport is of no use if their patient is dead.
They save the patient’s life first. There’s plenty of time to swap recipes and Twitter handles later on.
Josie’s family name didn’t hinder her from becoming the best paramedic the Lubbock Fire Department had ever seen.
She applied direct pressure to Frank’s wound while at the same time screaming at the top of her lungs.
“Stacy! If you want me to save your man get your ass back here! You can kill that dumbass later!”
Stacy stopped short and went running back.
“You mean he ain’t dead?”
“Not yet. But he will be if we don’t get this bleeding stopped.”
That got Stacy’s attention. Maybe the chances of her rolling around in Frank’s sleeping bag with him weren’t gone forever after all.
“What can I do?”
“Go get that first aid kit outside the main office. I’m pretty sure it has some saline in it.”
“The big one, with the wheels?”
“Yes. Get it quick. The sooner you get back with it the more chance we can save him.”
That was all the incentive Stacy needed. She was off like a shot.
While she waited Josie continued to apply direct pressure to Franks wound by pushing the two sides of the gash tightly together.
She tried to keep her hands out of the wound itself, though.
She didn’t have time to search for gloves and she knew one of the biggest dangers to Frank’s life was infection.
But she had no choice. The primary risk was him bleeding out. The infection risk was secondary, as great as it was. If she let him bleed to death it wouldn’t matter much if she took him and rolled him around in a pile of cow manure. If he was dead an infection wouldn’t matter.
Stacy was back in record time and cracked open a well-stocked first aid kit.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Clean your hands with that tube of sanitary hand wash. The one with the blue label. Dry them with a sanitary pad. The one right there in the corner. Then put on a pair of vinyl gloves.”
Stacy’s hands were shaking. Josie didn’t know if it was the pressure of having to help save Frank’s life or the rage she felt for Eddie.
In the end it didn’t matter much.
Despite her trembling hands she followed Josie’s instructions to the letter.
After she donned her gloves she asked, “Now what?”
“See the way I’m slowing down the bleeding by pinching the sides of his wound together?
“Yes.”
“You’ve got to take over for me.”
“I don’t know if I can.”
“Trust me, Stacy. If you want him to live, you can. You have no choice.”
“Okay.”
She actually did quite well, placing one hand on the wound and pinching it tightly closed. Josie removed one of her hands and they repeated the process with their second hands.
“It’s still coming out,” Stacy said of the blood.
“I know hon, but it’s slowing. We’re winning the battle. Let’s just hope we can win it before he runs out of blood.”
As she spoke Josie hurriedly washed her hands and dried them, donned her gloves, and ripped open several paper packages marked “styptic-infused gauze pad.”
Once she had several pads out of their packages she placed them in a pile next to Frank’s wound.
Stacy asked, “What are those for?”
“We’re going to pack them into the wound. They’ve got a blood clotter in them that’ll help us stop the bleeding.
“Hang in there a little longer, though. First we have to rinse out the wound to get all the germs out of it. Otherwise he’ll contract an infection that’s just as dangerous as bleeding to death.”
She picked up the three bags of normal saline solution and inspected them. Their shelf life expired some three years before, as she expected it would have.
Still, even out of date it was more sterile than any other water in the place, including the pallet of distilled water two aisles over.
She put the saline solution aside and picked up the single bottle marked Ri-Lac.
The Ringer’s lactate was still in date. She had a critical decision to make. She could waste her only bag of Ringer’s to wash the wound, knowing for sure it was still sanitary.
But she’d need it for his IV once he was stabilized. It was more likely to protect his internal organs, specifically his liver and kidneys, than normal saline.
She made her decision in a split second.
She put the Ringer’s aside and opened the cap on the first bag of saline.
“Okay Stacy, back away.”
She did as she was told, and made a retching noise as the gaping wound opened wide and Josie began to flush it out.
“If you’re going to throw up, go over there. Raise your hands high in the air so you don’t get vomit on them.”
“I’ll be okay.”
“Are you sure? Because if you throw up in the wound you’ll kill him.”
She thought about it for a moment and figured a live Frank was better than a dead one.
She moved about twenty yards away and puked her guts out.
Once the wound was as clean as she could get it she packed it with several styptic-infused pads, then applied a thick dressing and affixed it with waterproof medical tape.
“Now what?” Stacy asked.
“Now we wait. We’ve done all we can for now. The rest is up to him, and how much he wants to live.”
-19-
No one knew what Marty and his group said to Charlotte. They very respectfully asked for permission to see her, and when she accepted Debbie stepped out of the clinic and let them have their say.
She didn’t go far, though, in case their poor choice of words caused her patient undue stress and she needed to be consoled or sedated.
She needn’t have worried.
The men left the clinic half an hour later without saying a word or sharing a clue regarding the conversation or how it went.
Further, the solemn look on their faces was the same look they’d gone in with.
It wasn’t until Debbie reentered the clinic and saw Charlotte bawling she got the mistaken impression it didn’t go well.
“They risked their lives to go back and get them,” she said. “They thought I would blame them for what happened. But I didn’t. It wasn’t their fault. I understand why they did what they did.”
Debbie handed her a tissue and she paused long enough to blow her nose.
“They’re good men for doing that… risking their lives, I mean. They said they talked to Hannah and Mark and they’re going to have a funeral service for them in a couple of days.”
“Will that be okay?” Debbie asked. “Can you wait a couple of days before you see them?”
“Yes. They told
me they’d let me know when they were ready to see.”
Debbie wondered if they told her why.
She wondered if they told Charlotte the bodies had to be thawed before they could be straightened out. Otherwise they couldn’t be posed in the traditional manner, lying flat on their backs with their hands folded in front of them.
It just wouldn’t do to bury them in the positions most of them were in: with their legs bent ninety degrees at the hips and ninety degrees at the knees, in the seated position.
She hoped they didn’t mention that part.
It might have added to Charlottes’ stress level, and was the last thing she needed at this point.
Charlotte gave no indication one way or the other.
And Debbie darned sure wasn’t going to mention it.
Instead she performed a check-up on her patient.
She massaged her toes, which were well on their way to thawing out.
The nerves hadn’t yet become active again though.
“Can you feel this at all?” she asked.
“Nope. Not a thing.”
“I’m going to give you some acetaminophen. When your nerves wake up you’ll feel a burning sensation. That’ll take the edge off of it.
“If you need something stronger, say the word and I’ll give you something else. But I’m not a believer in prescribing narcotic pain relievers unless they’re absolutely necessary.”
She checked the bag of antibiotics dripping into Charlotte’s IV line and saw that it was empty.
“The antibiotic I gave you was out of date. It might not be as effective as it should be. Tomorrow I’ll draw blood and check your white cells. If there’s any sign of infection I’ll give you another bag. In the meantime I’ll continue your drip until your urine output is pretty much in line with your input.
“Are you hungry?”
“I’m famished.”
“I’m not surprised. I’ll bring over a tray of food for you. Sorry, but we’re going to start you out with liquids. Chicken broth and Jell-O. If you can tolerate it I’ll give you something better in the morning, okay?”
“Okay. Thank you so much for everything you’re doing for me.”
She hugged the young woman.
“Oh, you don’t have to thank me. I do the same for all my family members who are sick or injured.”
“Are you related to everyone in the mine?”
“Well, no. Not by blood, anyway. But some things are thicker than blood. One is the situation we’ve all been thrown into together.
“We all consider ourselves a family, whether the same blood runs through our veins or not. Now that you’re one of us, you’re part of the family too.”
“Are you sure you can take me in? I mean, Hannah told me the freeze can be as long as four years this time. And I can eat an awful lot of food in four years.”
“Don’t worry about it, honey. We saw it coming long before it happened. Did you know that Hannah was the woman who discovered Saris 7 and shared it with the world?”
“No. Really?”
“Yes. Right around ten years or so ago. She gave us an early warning about Cupid 23 too.”
“What’s Cupid 23?”
“That’s the meteorite that hit the earth a couple of weeks ago. The one that made it cold again.”
“If we knew to come here instead of trying to make it to San Angelo would you have let my friends and I in?”
“Yes. We would have. We would have had to get the agreement of everyone in the group. But they would have said yes. I’m sure of that.”
“Would you tell them I’ll work? I’ll help out and do chores and I’ll do whatever I can to earn my keep.”
“Sure, honey. I’ll tell them, but they’re not concerned about any of that right now.
“Right now your only job is to get better.
“Now then, is there anything else I can get for you?”
Charlotte started to answer and then clammed up.
“What? You can tell me.”
“No. You’ve done so much for me already.”
“I wouldn’t have offered if I didn’t want to help. Right now you’re the only patient I’ve got, so you pretty much get everything you want.
“Within reason, that is.”
“I was… I was kind of hoping someone might keep me company tonight. I don’t really want to be alone.”
Debbie smiled and said, “Say no more. I’ve got a long list of volunteers who’ve been asking if they could sit with you after hours in case you needed something.
“Including a couple of the guys. I told them to back off because I suspect their intentions aren’t so honorable. I told them after you get out of here you can decide whether you want to spend time with them.”
Charlotte blushed, which struck Debbie as rather odd.
“What?”
“Nothing. It’s just that… well, I grew up in an orphanage and all the boys there were like my brothers. I’ve never had a boyfriend. Never held a boy’s hand or kissed one.”
Debbie smiled.
“Honey, you’re going to be in for an interesting time in the months and years ahead.
“I’ll go now, but I’ll send one of the women in to keep you company tonight. If you’re interested, ask them about all the single men in the mine.
“They’ve got the scoop on all of them. Which ones are honorable, which ones are shady. Which ones will behave like gentlemen and which ones are no better than dogs.”
Charlotte blushed again. This time her face was beet red.
“I left another dose of acetaminophen over there on the counter in a medicine cup. Take it only if your pain level goes over a three. And don’t take it before three a.m.”
“Can I walk over there and get it myself.”
“If you’re up to it. But I’d prefer you stay off those feet for a couple more days. Have your bodyguard hand it to you.”
“Bodyguard?”
“The women who keep you company.”
“But why do you call them bodyguards?”
She smiled coyly and said, “Because I know the single men in this mine.”
“Thank you, Debbie.”
Debbie smiled again and said, “You’re welcome, sweetie. See you tomorrow.”
-20-
Mark and Bryan agreed to take on the gruesome task of thawing out the bodies and then re-posturing them in a pose more suitable for burial.
Hiding them from Charlotte was easy, since she was confined to the windowless clinic.
Hiding the bodies from the children was a different matter.
Marty’s crew took each of the bodies off the back of his trailer. They placed each one, still wrapped in a blanket, on push carts.
Mark said, “We’ll leave them right here, just inside the overhead door, until all the children go to bed tonight.
“Then we’ll push them to the back of Bay 20. It’s in the industrial area, so it’s off limits to the kids. I’m guessing it’s something they don’t need to see.”
Bryan asked Marty, “How long do you think it’ll take for them to soften?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never thawed out a body before.”
“Well, we’ll check them every day. Once we can move their limbs we’ll reposition them all. Then we’ll let Hannah and Sarah plan a dignified memorial service.”
“Yeah,” Mark agreed. “They’ll do a much better job of it.”
“Don’t forget to let us know when,” Mayor Al said. “We’d like to be here too.”
The group climbed back into Marty’s Peterbilt for the trip back to Eden.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” Marty told the brothers.
“Are you sure, Marty? It’s gonna be after midnight before you get back to Eden. And you’ll have to be back out by five a.m. to get here and get your assignment.”
“Sarah already gave me my assignment. I’ll head to it from Eden. And yes, I’m sure. Frank is my friend too. I already feel bad for taking the time off that I di
d.”
Bryan opened the door for the group after getting the all-clear from Karen at the control center. Frank backed his rig out into a driving snowstorm.
As the door came down and they slowly drove away, Mayor Al addressed the elephant in the corner of the room. The subject everyone was thinking about but nobody wanted to verbalize.
“How much longer do you think the search parties can go out in this mess every day without endangering their own lives?”
Marty was honest, and frank.
“My personal feeling is that it’s too late now. They should have buttoned up the search days ago.”
His answer surprised Al.
Marty explained, “Look. I’m a professional truck driver. I’ve done this more than half my life. For ten years I worked a weekly run from Salt Lake City to Detroit and back again. All year around.
“I can apply a set of snow chains with my eyes closed. Change a tire in twenty minutes flat, in ten degree weather.
“And these roads scare me.
“I don’t scare easy. But they scare me because I know what happens on icy roads. Especially mountainous roads like the ones in and around Kerrville and Junction.
“If I’m worried about sliding off the side of a mountain as long as I’ve been doing this, I can imagine how worried the other drivers are.
“But they keep going out, day after day, because they still have this illogical fantasy Frank is alive.
“Don’t you dare tell this to anyone else, but I’d bet money he’s dead in a snowdrift somewhere. Either he rolled down a mountain or somebody shot him for his Hummer.
“Either way, the longer these crews go out in this weather the more likely one of the search teams is killed too.”
“So why don’t you lead the way? Be the voice of reason? Tell them you’ve got more experience doing this than the rest of the drivers put together and you think it’s time to quit.”
“I’ve asked myself that a dozen times, Al. The same answer keeps coming back.
“Frank’s too good a man to leave behind. They’re convinced there’s a chance he’s still out there, and still alive. And as long as they’re willing to risk their lives searching for him, I’ll do the same.”
Final Dawn: Book 12: Where Could He Be? Page 7