Chris was about maxed out on patience. His temper was being contained by one last thread of control. Going off on Michael wouldn’t help anything, so he walked away to check on the patient.
“Ma’am, you doing okay?” he asked through the missing back passenger window.
“Yeah. Just my back and my leg really hurt. Get me out of here.”
Chris hated that Michael was right. It was sounding like they were going to need to clean the dust off the Kendrick Extrication Device that James had just tossed on top of the backboard on top of the stretcher. That was one of those things they had to do training on every year, but almost never used it. It was a pain in the ass, took forever, and rarely caused a better outcome than rapid extrication which was easier and much quicker in mostcases. Unfortunately, it was looking like they’d be lifting her from the roof of her car.
“Alyssa told me you claim my sister is different,” Michael said as he carried the K.E.D. over and handed it to Chris. “How? And I think you’re going to have to climb the barrier to get to her.”
Chris’s irritation quickly turned to amusement. Michael had always been a man of few words. He was obviously flustered by everything going on. Chris never knew him to pursue a conversation that the other person wasn’t interested in having. Regret began to creep in as he put himself into Michael’s shoes. Chris only had a brother, but if he did have a sister it would probably throw him for a loop if someone he was friends with wanted to date her. Especially if that friend was known for sleeping around.
Chris set the K.E.D. on the trunk of the car in order to free up his hands to climb over the barrier without ruining his uniform. Once on the other side, he leaned on it and faced Michael. He couldn’t do anything until the roof was off of the car anyway, so might as well finish what they started.
“She’s different. Just trust me on this, please. Everything so far has been different. I was telling the truth when I said we aren’t sleeping together, and she’s been to my mom’s house for dinner. I’ve only ever brought one other person over to meet my mom. She’s different,” Chris patiently explained.
Before Michael could respond, one of the firefighters got their attention. “You guys are up. Watch the edges.”
James joined Chris on the other side of the Jersey barrier so they could secure the patient and get her out of the car. Even with both of them being tall, they ended up having to kneel on the concrete barrier and lean against what was left of the car in order to slip the K.E.D. behind her and strap her in. The device was made to slide behind a seated patient with part of it wrapping around the torso and several straps that wouldimmobilize their spine while they remained in a seated position. It wasn’t an easy task.
Together, Chris and James secured the woman to the device. After re-checking for movement and sensation of her extremities, they called a few firefighters over to give them a hand. Even with the top half of the car removed, they still had to lift her up and over in order to clear the barrier. Kathy and Michael stood waiting at the stretcher which was right on the other side of the barrier. Two of the firefighters climbed into the car to lift from the inside.
“On your count, James,” Chris directed.
At the count of three, they lifted the woman up and out as smoothly as possible and placed her onto the stretcher. After unhooking the leg straps, they went on to straighten her out on the board.
“My leg!” she shouted as soon as they moved to straighten her legs.
Without wasting any time, they moved her to the ambulance where they could cut her clothes off to examine her injuries. Chris did a quick head to toe assessment while James started cutting her clothes. She yelled out again when he got to her right thigh, and he noted slight deformity beneath the swelling.
“Looks like a femur fracture,” Chris said to Michael with a nod toward the patient’s leg.
“Kathy, get an order for pain management. We need to set that leg,” Michael said.
“Set my leg?” the woman asked. “That’s going to hurt. Just take me to the hospital.”
Chris glanced at the monitor and knew they were going to have to set her leg no matter what. Her blood pressure hadn’t fallen drastically, but it was slightly lower than when they first took it. Chris continued his assessment and didn’t find anything else major.
“They’re going to have to, ma’am. But don’t worry, they’ll give you the good stuff,” Chris joked in reference to the narcotics the paramedics were getting an order for. “And I wouldn’t suggest the bumpy ride to the hospital without us stabilizing that leg.”
Chris felt his phone vibrating in his pocket, but it would have to wait. “I need to get under that bench if you want to use the Hare traction splint,” he said to Michael.
After rearranging everything to get to the also rarely used Hare traction splint, Chris measured it against her good leg and got everything prepared while Michael started an IV and ran fluids. Kathy stepped back into the truck as she was ending the phone call, and James stepped out to make space.
“Okay we’ve got the order,” Kathy announced as Michael was opening the med box. “I’ll push the narcs if you want to help Chris.”
Chris’s phone vibrated again as soon as they started setting her leg. Of all times for someone to call him instead of sending a text. He was pretty sure he knew who would be calling him, and it could wait until he finished up with his patient. She whimpered a bit but didn’t cry out the way she did when they first moved her. Between the pain meds and the relief felt once the leg was properly positioned, he expected her to be feeling better before they started transporting her to the hospital.
It didn’t take long to transfer the patient over to the staff since they had transported to the hospital up north which was never as busy as the other trauma center. It was rare that they used that hospital, but the accident had been at the very north end of their coverage area. His thoughts went to Mallory, and how it was too bad they worked opposite shifts, since it would be nice to be able to stop over to the lab for a quick hello.
He felt like he was losing his mind when every other thought brought him back to Mallory. He finished up his chart before making his way back to the truck. As he was pulling the stretcherthrough the automatic doors, he pulled his phone out to see who’d been calling him. Instead of seeing “Liliana” appear in his missed calls, he saw his brother’s name. His brother rarely called him. Before he could call him back, he stepped aside for a crew bringing in a patient. One glance at the stretcher and his blood went cold.
Chapter 8
MALLORY
Mallory was so glad it was finally Friday. She still had one more day before she would see Christian, but at least she was closer. And Friday nights always went fast because of her standing dinner date with Dan. She adjusted the passenger seat and turned on her heated seat inside Dan’s car.
“Seriously? You know winter is over, right?” Dan commented, giving her major side eye.
