by Jamie Davis
“Okay, Gibbie,” Dean said, taking control of the scene, the way he’d been taught. “I’m here. Step back and let me have a look at her.”
The vampire stood and stepped back as Brynne approached with the heart monitor. “Gibbie, what the hell are you doing here?” She asked. “And what are you wearing?”
“I decided I could help you guys out, Brynne, honey,” the frumpy vampire said. “I got myself a scanner and some equipment. This way I can lend you all a hand on your calls with Unusuals.”
Brynne continued past the vampire wannabe to the patient. She was shaking her head. Dean started working on his patient assessing her injuries.
“We’ll talk about this later, Gibbie,” Brynne said.
A car sped by the scene, coming dangerously close to all of them on the side of the road. Dean looked at his partner. Even though they were wearing reflective vests, that car had come too close for comfort.
“We need some traffic control, Brynne,” Dean said.
She looked around and started to key the radio mic clipped to her uniform’s shoulder. Then she stopped and seemed to change her mind. She turned and looked at Gibbie where he stood next to his van.
“Gibbie,” She called. “Did you, by chance, get any road flares when you were getting your van equipped?”
“I sure did, Brynne,” He said, bouncing on the balls of his feet excitedly. “I have a whole case. I picked them up from online.”
“Ok,” Brynne instructed. “Light some up and deploy three of them in intervals back to about 50 yards on either side of us in both directions. Then take a flashlight and flag down traffic coming this way to slow them up. Got it?”
“Got it, Brynne!” Gibbie said, his voice rising to a squeak in excitement. “Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.” He sped off and disappeared around the back of his beat-up van.
Dean meanwhile finished his head to toe trauma assessment. He had a female in her late teens or early twenties. She was dressed in a summer dress and both her lower legs had open fractures, consistent with being struck by a car. Gibbie had apparently applied Quick-clot gauze to the open wounds to control the bleeding, and that had slowed the bleeding significantly from what had been happening before the dressings were applied, based on the amount of blood soaked into the ground around her.
He rolled her gently towards him, supporting her head and neck with one hand, and checked her back. He found a crumpled pair of wings. She groaned in pain but didn’t wake up or speak. He contained his surprise when he saw the pair of wings. They emerged from between the girl’s shoulder blades above the sundress. They were multi-paneled like an insect’s folding wings. The left one was clearly broken based on the way it bent at the connection between the shoulder blades. There was no bleeding on the back, so that was a minor injury compared to the leg fractures and any internal injuries she had.
“What have we got, Dean?” Brynne asked.
“Female, I’d say she’s about 19 apparent age,” Dean started. “She’s responsive only to painful stimuli and has visible bilateral open tib/fib fractures, bleeding currently under control. She has a …” He paused for a moment, searching for a description. “She has an apparent left wing fracture at the base but no other injuries or visible bleeding. Based on the mechanism of injury, I suspect internal bleeding and a possible head injury. We need to get her to the hospital.”
As Brynne looked over his shoulder, she said, “Good job on the Quick-Clot gauze on the open wounds, Dean. That was fast.”
“That wasn’t me, Brynne,” He said hooking a thumb over his shoulder to where the vampire was waving his flashlight frantically and nearly jumping in front of cars to wave them aside. “Gibbie had that done before we got here.”
Dean looked around and said, “I wonder who called us? I didn’t see any cars pulled over but Gibbie’s van. Maybe the people who hit her called and then left?”
“Maybe,” Brynne said. She stood up and flicked on her flashlight, shining it into the woods and brush on the side of the road. She called out, “If you’re still here watching us, it’s okay. We’re going to help your friend. You can come out.”
“Is it safe? I wasn’t sure when the vampire came,” said a tiny voice above them.
Brynne took a step back and shined her light up in the tree branches overhanging the road. Dean looked up, too. Crouched on a branch about ten feet up was a small, shadowy form. Brynne’s light revealed a girl about the same age as the one he was treating.
“It’s alright,” Brynne repeated. “You can come on down. It’s safe. The vampire’s with us. He’s helping.”
The girl stepped off the branch into mid-air. Dean shouted and lurched to his feet to catch her. He stopped when he saw her wings unfold behind her, and she fluttered gracefully to the ground. She walked closer and knelt down beside her friend’s head, the wings folding out of sight against her back. Dean noticed that their delicate laciness blended in with the dress and looked like part of the dress’s ruffles when folded. He wasn’t sure he’d have known they were there if he hadn’t just seen them.
“What’s your name, sweetie?” Brynne asked.
The girl brushed her curly, platinum blonde hair out of her face, tucking it behind a slightly pointed ear. “I’m Anuja, Anuja Drinkwater,” she said in an airy voice. “This is my sister Jamila. We were walking home to the Barrens when this car came around the curve very fast. I jumped out of the way, but they hit Jamila. They stopped a bit down the road for a moment, then sped off and just left us here.” She started crying. She touched her sister’s face, stroking her cheek with a fingertip. “Is she going to be alright?”
Dean crouched back down and gripped her free hand to comfort her. “We’re going to do our best. You did the right thing calling for help.” He turned to Brynne. “Do you want to get the collar bag and backboard?”
“Got it,” She said. She moved the monitor up next to the girl on the ground. “Get her hooked up to the monitor. We’ll get IVs in the ambulance on the way.” She left to get the stretcher and other gear.
Dean hooked her up the heart monitor and saw a sinus tachycardia of 142 on the screen. No surprises there, he thought. She’s in pain and lost some blood. The blood pressure was 136/82, again not surprising given her injuries. It was not bad, she must not have lost enough blood to crash her blood pressure.
Brynne came back with the head and neck trauma gear and the stretcher. Dean didn’t think much of backboards for anything but lifting devices anymore. They were not terribly effective body splints, though they had been used that way for over fifty years. The fact was, the body was pretty good at splinting itself in most situations as far as back injuries went. Still, it was easier to lift the girl onto the stretcher after putting a cervical collar on her and carefully moving her onto the backboard. She groaned a little as they lifted her, but that was all. The two paramedics tried to be gentle.
Dean climbed in the back of the ambulance after they loaded her inside and started two IVs in case her blood pressure dropped, and he needed to give Jamila fluids. He planned on splinting and finishing the dressings Gibbie started on her legs on the way to the hospital. Anuja climbed in the front with Brynne’s urging to come along with her sister. Brynne got in the ambulance and pulled into the road, pausing briefly to call out the window to Gibbie, who was still animatedly directing the traffic and stopping cars.
“Don’t forget to put the road flares out before you leave, Gibbie,” She called and pulled away with the lights and sirens blaring. Dean looked out the rear windows as the vampire was illuminated in the night by their flashing lights. He was waving at them as they sped off into the darkness toward the trauma center at ECMC.
———
Brynne made sure the ride to the hospital was both smooth and fast. Dean was able to bandage and splint Jamila’s lower legs before they arrived. Her vital signs remained stable on the way. He called the hospital on the med radio to alert them of the trauma patient inbound, using the code that the patient was part
of the Unusual population so that the appropriate ER staff could be arranged.
As they pulled up on the ambulance ramp, a team of nurses and doctors waited for them to take the injured fairy girl right into the trauma assessment room and then probably surgery. Brynne opened the back doors, and Dean saw Ashley standing off to one side dressed in her scrubs with the other members of the trauma team. Dean unhooked his patient from the monitor and laid the IV bags on the stretcher mattress next to her after shutting the valves in the tubing. Doc Spirelli was on tonight and came right over to help Brynne pull out the stretcher and lower the wheeled undercarriage.
“Any changes since you called in, Dean?” Doctor Spirelli asked looking in at the tiny patient on the stretcher.
“No changes,” Dean said shaking his head. “The vitals are stable, and I was unable to find any other injuries other than the ones I listed on the radio. She did not regain consciousness and is still responsive only to painful stimuli.”
Dean and Brynne rolled the stretcher over to the hospital gurney there. With help from a few nurses, they lifted Jamila over to the gurney using the backboard that was still beneath her.
“Ok,” The doc said. He turned to the trauma team as they moved the patient. In towards the double automatic doors to the hospital’s emergency department and trauma rooms. “We’ll do a full trauma work up …” he continued talking as they went inside.
Ashley hung back, smiled at Dean and turned to look at Anuja, who was looking at the doors through which the trauma team rolled her sister. Dean introduced them to each other.
“Anuja, this is Ashley Moore,” the paramedic said. “She’s a nurse here at the hospital. She’ll take you inside and get some information from you about your sister.”
The Fairy girl turned to look at Ashley and her eyes widened. She bowed deeply, touching her hand to her forehead in what looked like a salute. “Eldara, I’m humbled that you would arrive to help my sister. It is such a pleasure to meet one such as you.”
Dean looked on in amusement. That was certainly interesting. He thought Ashley was pretty special, but that was obviously for just mundane reasons. There was something else going on here with his new girlfriend and the Fae child.
“It is my pleasure to meet you, Anuja,” Ashley said lifting the girl out of her bow with a hand to her shoulder. “Let us maintain human appearances here at the hospital. I assure you, I’ll take no offense. Come inside and tell me about your sister and what happened. Then I’ll find out how she’s doing for you.” Ashley turned and winked at him and led the girl inside.
Brynne came over and tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, help me get the stretcher made up so I can put us back in service.”
“What was all that about?” He asked as he helped with the sheets.
“I told you,” Brynne said. “She has a halo, an aura that is clearly evident to the other Unusuals. James told me that he recognized her for an Eldara Sister immediately after he first met her a few years ago.”
“Wait,” Dean said, stopping what he was doing. “You mean you weren’t kidding when you said she had a halo? Like a real angel-style halo?”
“Yes, Dean,” Brynne said rolling her eyes. “You are such a guy. You don’t listen very well. She’s an Eldara, a messenger of the Gods. They are the basis of the angel myth. For all we know, she could have been one of the heavenly hosts singing over the birth of Jesus Christ.”
“I heard you but I thought you were kidding,” Dean said. “I didn’t think you meant that she actually glowed with some sort of divine light.”
“You’ll have to ask if she can show it to you sometime,” Brynne said, climbing into the back of the ambulance rig cleaning up the bandage wrappers and putting things away. “She can probably turn it up so you can see it, too. I would suspect that she can do something like that. It would explain why we think of angels as having halos or auras today.”
“I would feel weird asking her to do that,” Dean said.
“Why?” Brynne asked. “One of the perks of dating an Unusual is watching them do weird stuff. It’s like a magic show, but better, because it’s real.”
Dean thought about that as they finished picking up the trash from the call and wiping down the stretcher and surfaces in the back. The two paramedics climbed out after cleaning up and shut the rear doors of the unit. Brynne jumped in the driver’s side as Dean got in his familiar seat on the passenger side. Something else occurred to him.
“What are we going to do about Gibbie?” Dean asked.
“I don’t know,” Brynne said as she pulled the ambulance out onto the street and started back towards their station across town. “It was a good thing he got there before us. He did stop the bleeding before we showed up. Without that she might have been a lot worse off. He also did a passable job at traffic control, but I hesitate to encourage him. He doesn’t have the training and could get himself or someone else hurt.”
“Could we get him the training?” Dean pondered, thinking out loud. “The Fire Department has an auxiliary, and the surrounding volunteer companies still have volunteer EMTs.”
“Hey, that’s a good idea,” Brynne said. “We could hook him up with the ECFD as an auxiliary member. Maybe he could even get EMT training. We’d just have to find him an evening class. I’ll call Chief Ari about the auxiliary thing and Mike Farver at the academy about EMT training.”
“There is always CERT training,” Dean suggested. He referred to the federal government’s Community Emergency Response Team training meant to serve a community in the event of a disaster. The training included disaster preparedness training and some basic first aid. They also learned some basics of light search and rescue activities.
“That’s a good idea, too,” Brynne said. “One of those should work and will help make sure Gibbie learns the right way to do things instead of him running around freelancing like he did tonight.”
“Where did he get all that gear, and the quick clotting impregnated gauze?” Dean wondered.
“Probably online,” Brynne answered. “You can get all that stuff on Amazon, the uniform shirt, pants, trauma shears, and even the quick clot gauze. I used it to put together an emergency kit for my apartment and car.”
“Really?” Dean said. “Can you get a good commercial tourniquet? I’ve always thought I should have one in my glove box just in case.”
“Dean, you should know by now. There’s very little you can’t buy on the internet,” Brynne said chuckling. “Put us back in service in case they need us for another call.”
Dean picked up the mic and called dispatch to alert them that U-191 was back in action after the call and wondered what else he could get on the internet for his personal first aid kit. It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to check out what was available to have on hand just in case. He continued to think about it as the ambulance sped off into the night of Elk City.
CHAPTER EIGHT
One thing Dean found waiting for him when he returned to the station was an email from his former teacher, Mike Farver. Mike wanted to meet up for breakfast and check in on how he was doing after that night’s shift was over. Dean was glad to hear from his mentor. He was looking forward to the opportunity to check in with him about his run-in with Zach. Mike would be able to counsel him on how to proceed. He trusted him.
The rest of the shift went quickly. There were a few routine medical calls for some elderly patients in the Unusual community. The remainder of the night was spent doing paperwork and chores around the station. By the time morning arrived, Dean was ready to go to breakfast and see his former academy instructor.
The next shift paramedics showed up with Bill, and then his partner Lynne arriving. The two were an interesting pair. Bill was older and balding, in his late fifties. He had been a paramedic for a long time. Bill had been one of the original Station U paramedics with Mike Farver. Lynne was a little younger, in her early forties. She had been instrumental in early programs to set up community paramedic outreach in the Elk
City region. That had been why she had been tapped to move to Station U, where another underserved community needed attention.
“Hey, Dean,” Bill said as he came in followed by Lynne. “How was your night?”
“It wasn’t too bad,” Dean said. “We had a pedestrian struck first thing last night, but the rest of the shift was pretty slow. Brynne’s in the ambulance bay doing a final check on the gear for you guys.”
“I heard the pedestrian struck call on the scanner at home,” Lynne said. “That was out by the Barrens. We need to get a program in place out there for some wellness visits. There are some kids there who could use some attention instead of always waiting until they get bad enough to call an ambulance.” She looked at her partner. “Bill, maybe we can make a run out that way and check in with August, the unofficial mayor of the Barrens, about doing that during day shifts a couple of times a week, when we can get away.”
“I’m up for that,” Bill said. “August always gives us some of his home-made beer to bring back with us. That stuff is good, like something from the Old Country or something.”
“Good to know you have your priorities straight, Bill,” Dean quipped.
“You have no idea, Probie,” Bill replied. “If you get out there and see him, don’t turn him down. It is some truly excellent brew. Better than the piss-water beers most mainstream American brewers make. I keep telling him that he should start up a micro-brewery. He just laughs and says he makes just enough for himself and his friends. He doesn’t want to make more.”
Brynne came in from the ambulance bay into the squad room. “Make more of what?”
“Bill was going on about August Beche’s strange brewing capabilities,” Lynne said.
“It is good stuff,” Brynne said. “James gets a case or so every time he brews a batch. He keeps it around for special occasions.” She glanced at her watch as she heard a horn sound from the parking lot outside. “That must be him now. James said he was going to pick me up. Gotta go. Have a good shift, guys. See you tonight.” She grabbed her purse and jacket and headed out the door to the parking lot.