EMS Heat 06 - Red Lights and Silver Bells (5 page)

 

"Yeah. He, Lucas and I always got it the worst. We could never stay out of trouble. But Dad never used his fists on us until that night with Dylan."

 

He blanched. When she put it that way, it almost sounded as if it were normal and business as usual. "Did you know that Dylan still hasn't told Lucas about what happened?"

"That would make sense. They were always trying to protect each other, that is when they weren't watching out for me. That's what makes me so sad about Dylan not getting into Christmas this year. If anyone deserves a good holiday, it's him."

Kaleb thought a moment longer before he made up his mind as to what needed to be done. "Dylan can take his car into work. I'm going shopping with you."

 

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Why? Are you worried that I'll overspend and max out his card? If so, don't worry. Lucas is the clothes whore in the family, not me."

 

"No, I need to pick up a few things of my own. The first being a big tree."

 

Becca let out a squeal of excitement before she sprang from her chair. She ran over to Kaleb and embraced him so tight he winced in pain before awkwardly returning the hug.

 

"You are the best. No wonder Dylan is gaga over you," she exclaimed as she continued to cling to him.

 

"I guess that means you'll be willing to help me. I've never had a family celebration, so I may need some guidance."

 

She pulled back to give him a frown. "You guys weren't kidding about that whole dysfunctional family thing? You really didn't have a close relationship with your parents?"

"Try I didn't have
any
relationship with them period. I would get a lot of presents on Christmas, but they were all purchases by my mother's assistant. She never actually took the time out for something as trivial as shopping for her own kid."

"You never really had a childhood," she observed in a small voice. "That's so sad."

 

He shrugged, uncomfortable with the sympathy. As far as he saw it, he hadn't had it half as bad as Dylan and her. "I managed. No biggie."

 

"It is a biggie," she declared before giving him another bone-pulverizing hug. "But that's all changed because now you have me and Dylan and we're all the family you need."

Kaleb became glad that her face was buried into his chest so she couldn't see the way her words affected him. How was it that this small girl could give him more in five minutes than his own parents had managed in his lifetime?

Chapter Five

Dylan finished the last of his taco before balling the greasy wrapping up and throwing it into the plastic bag they were using as garbage. While the rig came equipped with a small trashcan, he and Lisa had been so busy, neither of them had bothered to empty it. As a result, it overflowed with empty bottles, tissues and candy wrappers.

The pre-holiday rush just hadn't been limited to the stores and mall. The mess spilled over and now the ambulance crews and hospitals were overwhelmed with accidents, heart attacks, strokes, low blood sugar and various other calls. "Is this day from hell over yet?" Lisa asked from the passenger seat as she finished off her own dinner.

Even with as greasy and unappealing as the food had been, Dylan still considered it good fortune that they'd managed to eat it all in one sitting without having yet another call interrupting them.

"We have another hour," he glanced at the clock on the radio.

He'd be willing to bet his favorite stethoscope that they'd be on for much longer though. There was no way in hell they'd make it through the next sixty minutes without getting another call. Then they'd be stuck until they treated and transported the patient. After that would be the paperwork and cleaning of the rig before they could finally clock out.

She made a hissing noise through clenched teeth before declaring, "We're about to get a long, drawn out car accident call. I can just feel it."

 

Most EMS workers were at the very least a little superstitious and Dylan wasn't about to buck the trend. He let out a low curse. "Great, you just jinxed us. Now we'll get on for sure."

 

"Sorry," she sang out in that Lisa patented airhead tone of hers.

For the millionth time, Dylan wished for his old partner, Sue, back. While Lisa was sweet and everything, she had the intelligence and attention span of a gnat at times. Sometimes Dylan wondered how she even managed to keep her job. There was a good reason why he drove to the calls, but she had to drive once they got the patient in the back. To say Lisa didn't have the best medic skills would be a vast under telling.

That didn't mean her driving skills were any better. In the short time they'd been partnered together, she's hit three poles, two parked cars and one very unfortunate squirrel. Not that most drivers hadn't committed vehicular squirrel-cide at one time or another, but she'd been the only one who managed to do so while the animal had still been in a tree.

When the radio crackled to life and dispatch hailed their rig number, he shot her his filthiest I-told-you-notto-fuck-with-the-fates look. "This is Alpha-245."

 

"Be advised you have a priority one call. It's a multiple causality MVA with possible injuries at the 175-north 475 split. Fire and police are already

 

enroute."

Dylan had to resist the urge to beat his head against the dash in anger. MVA stood for Motor Vehicle Accident. In other words, Lisa's prediction had come true. He didn't know whether to give into hysterical laughter or just go with a couple soft whimpers. In the end, he just settled with responding to dispatch, "Copy, we're on our way."

With quick, practiced movements, he switched on the lights and sirens and pulled away from the gas station parking lot they'd been camped out at. Heavy traffic filled the streets, many of the cars refusing to pull over to the side to let the ambulance through.

Aside from a few snarled curses, Dylan didn't react. One of the first things he'd learned as a medic is that people couldn't care less if an ambulance needed to get to a call. Why worry about something as trivial as someone else's well-being when one had to get home in time for dinner? Lisa started doing the move-over gesture with her arms. As if that extra bit of urging would actually work.

"Why don't you yell at them?" Dylan suggested in jest. He jerked in surprise when she actually took him up on his advice.

 

"Get out of our way you asshats. Can't you see the lights flashing?"

 

Since he didn't want to burst her bubble, because he really did like her, he praised, "That's it. You tell them."

She gave him a can-you-believe-it look. "It amazes me how dumb some people are. How hard is it to just pull to the side of the road for one second? For all they know, we could be going to help their own mother or

something."

Even with the uncooperative traffic, they managed to pull up to the call within five minutes. Dylan weaved his way through the police and fire vehicles already on scene and parked near the accident.

"Looks like there are at least three cars involved," Lisa surmised as she pulled on her gloves.

For once, that comment wasn't naïve. The cars were all such a jumbled mess of crushed metal, it was impossible to determine where one started and the other ended. He keyed up the radio and assured that more ambulances were enroute.

"You get started. I'll grab the backboard and collar," Dylan suggested.

 

As soon as they got out, a loud voice boomed, "Oh, great! They sent the junior squad."

 

Dylan groaned, he'd recognize that snide, stomachcurdling tone anywhere. "Hey, Chad."

A medic from the same company, Chad could have been considered good looking if he weren't such a jerk. With soft blue eyes and brown hair, he had a muscular build that most guys work hours in the gym to obtain. Add in his dimples that came out whenever he smiled and he became even more drool-worthy. The problem with Chad though, was despite being young, he was still stuck in the Stone Age and clung to the old adage that woman or gays had no business in the EMS field.

Lisa brushed by Chad, her face pinched tight with anger. Chad ignored her and leaned against the side of the rig, his arms crossed over his chest. "I would think the company would have a policy against two girls working on the same crew."

Dylan clenched his jaws together and refused to be baited, instead opening the rear doors of the ambulance so he could slide out the backboard. Of course, something as simple as silence didn't daunt Chad.

"So, I have a question for you, peaches. Do you like it when that big fireman of yours fucks your ass? Or do you cry like a girl the entire time he uses you?"

The hateful words stunned Dylan so much he almost dropped the C-collar he'd just grabbed. While Chad always made snide comments before, he'd never said anything so blatantly sexual. On reflex, Dylan looked around to see if there had been any witnesses to Chad's harassment, only to find the medic had chosen the perfect time for his verbal assault. The accident occupied everyone else on scene so nobody paid them any attention.

"Shouldn't you be gathering up your own equipment?" Dylan demanded pointedly.

 

Chad shrugged. "The guy in the first car is dead and the others are going to have to be cut out, so I have time."

Dylan's gut churned at the medic's callousness. Even if the patients couldn't be reached in order for treatment, at the very least, Chad should be talking to them in order to offer some comfort. "Well, I'm still going to see what I can do for them."

He turned his back on Chad, ignoring the tingle of apprehension that went up his spine. While Chad had never shown any violent tendencies, something about him set off Dylan's survival instincts. It was as if Dylan realized it'd been a mistake to present his back to the medic and leave himself vulnerable.

Since he couldn't very well undo the gesture, Dylan shook off his feelings of apprehension and trotted over to the pile of cars. A fine sheen of black ice covered the highway and Dylan slid a few times, but blessedly didn't fall on his face.

By the time he reached Lisa, she'd already begun speaking to one of the patients. Dylan squinted to assess the victim's condition and winced when he saw the way the front dash was impaled into the poor man's thighs.

"How many patients do we have?" he asked.

 

"One in this car and two in the next one. The woman in the first car didn't make it," she lowered her voice as she delivered the last sentence.

Dylan glanced over at the other car and noted that Chad's partner was already aiding those patients. Since fire was also helping there, that left him free to focus on the man Lisa already made contact with.

"How long before fire has him cut out?" He studied the car, looking for any opening that he could squeeze his body into. A gust of arctic wind blew by, the cold biting into his skin. It made him wish for a second pair of thermals instead of the single set that currently covered him.

"They haven't told me yet." She impressed him when she opened up the medic bag and got out an IV bag. "We should figure out a way to get a line in this patient though. We don't want him going any further into shock."

His surprise must have shown on his face because she put a hand on her hip and gave him an annoyed look. "I do know some things. I did manage to get my license after all."

 

Dylan held his hands up. "Sorry, you're right. I shouldn't have expected less from you."

 

"Now one of us is going to have to find a way to wiggle in there enough to reach him." She peered into the mangled remains of the car.

 

"I'll do it. I'm better at hitting a vein."

 

She rolled her eyes. "True, but I'm less likely to accidently hurt myself somehow. There's a reason everyone calls you
Trippy.
"

 

"Hey, that's not cool," he protested before taking the IV bag from her.

 

"All I'm saying is remember the last time you crawled into a demolished car? You ended up cutting yourself and fainting in front of everyone."

"As if I could ever forget that particular humiliation." Even though his teeth chattered, he shed his coat and tossed it carefully to the side. He didn't want it to get caught on something while climbing through the wreckage.

"Well, I thought it was way more embarrassing the time you tripped over a patient and fell in front of half of Flint Fire." She then went on to list the other, numerous times his clumsy ass had humiliated him.

He tuned her out and wiggled through the narrow opening that used to be the passenger window. While it would have been much easier to go through the driver's side door, it was pressed up against another wrecked car.

The rear of the vehicle was smashed in, making for little space. He somehow managed to get close enough to touch the patient. "Hey, what's your name?"

 

The man turned, his face a mask of pain and blood. "Duncan."

 

"Hey, Duncan. My name is Dylan and we're going to get you out of here real soon."

 

"Please do. I hurt really bad."

 

Dylan glanced down once again at the hideous leg wounds.

Yeah, that had to hurt like a son of a bitch. Even worse, he couldn't give the patient anything for pain until they had him loaded in the back of the rig. Only then, once Dylan had a good set of vitals, could he call in for an order for some morphine. Until that happened, all he had to offer was the damn IV and the only thing that consisted of was some saline. Even that proved problematic once Dylan realized how tricky it would be to find a vein. The man's heavy coat covered his arms and he'd gone so far into shock, the veins in his hands were inaccessible.

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to put this in your neck." Dylan shivered as another hard wind blew past. Even within the confines of the car, he felt the cold.

 

The patient let out a sound of distress. "Won't that hurt?"

 

Dylan gave the patient what he hoped came off as a reassuring smile. "Probably not any more so than your legs."

 

"I guess you have a point there."

"If there was another way, I'd do it, but we have to get some fluids in you. It may be a bit before the guys get you out of here." Dylan learned a long time ago not to even mention the word firefighter around someone trapped in a car since it tended to make them panic. All they heard was
fire
and they became sure the car would go up any second.