“What the hell can go wrong now?”
“Apparently when Wyatt woke, he told the doctor some things, which caused a lot of concern on the hospital’s part. They went back to investigate, and as I was leaving to come here, they were wheeling Wyatt away to go into surgery.”
“For his shoulder?”
“No,” Carl bit out between his teeth and scrubbed his face hard. Both Bernie and Chuck sucked in their breath at the anguished look on his face. “Before I arrived, Wyatt was telling the doctor that he had been awake the entire time. He never lost consciousness, not when his horse stumbled, or he fell off, or when he was hurt.”
“Okay, that doesn’t sound so bad.”
“It doesn’t except he went one step further and told that as much as he tried, he couldn’t open his eyes, he tried to force them open but couldn’t. He didn’t actually feel us check him for broken bones or a pulse, it was more of a sense someone did it.”
“Ah, fuck me.” Bernie said, and gripped Chuck’s hand hard. When he saw the tears streaming down her face, he looked between the two in shock.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“Wyatt broke his neck in the fall. If he hadn’t been jostled and felt a pop in his neck when the helicopter took off…” Carl shook his head and couldn’t finish the sentence.
“He would have been paralyzed from the ears down.” Bernie finished for him. “I saw it with several Marine buddies of mine. Move just right, and this vertebra will snap the spinal cord, if you don’t die from it, you’re basically done living.” At the shock in his face, she nodded. “Just like that actor who fell off his horse and was in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.”
“Holy shit, how are they going to fix that?”
“They took him into the operating room to put plates on either side of his spine to support that vertebra. It’ll be a longer recovery time, but the chances of survival are like ninety-nine percent, vs thirty-eight.”
“Wow,” Chuck was so flabbergasted he didn’t know what to think. He looked off into space, and it took all three of them several moments to realize a phone was ringing.
“Shit, it’s Uncle Chip,” Bernie said as she found her phone to see who was calling. “Do I tell him everything?”
“I would, let him make the decision as to what to do. I could call Morgan to see what she wants you to do while you update him.” Carl pulled his phone and looked at Bernie.
“Do that, I’ll update him on the accident, who we’ve captured so far, then tell him about Wyatt. If he asks, I’ll tell him we’re still waiting to hear.”
“That sounds good,” Carl said as he walked out into the hall. Chuck held out his hand and sighed in relief when Bernie took ahold of it and answered the phone.
THE END
