Chapter 28
The lights were on at the stadium by the time we turned up the road to the school at a painful, but necessarily slow pace. For once the weatherman was correct and the snow let up. A Medevac helicopter appeared in the glow over the stadium a few minutes later. A cloud of snow enveloped it like a swirling inner tube as it landed. We waited until the air cleared before the firemen opened the doors. They slid Jason and I out carefully, lowered us to waist level and then carried us out to the waiting helicopter.
"We can't take her." the pilot yelled when they slid the door open. "No passenger's."
The EMT climbed up on the edge of the open doorway. "If she so much as moves, the boy will die."
The pilot made a hand gesture for them to load us.
"What do we got?" the onboard EMT yelled over the pounding helicopter blades.
"Crush injuries, broken leg, ribs, possible collapsed lung and a shattered spine. Heart rate stable—the girl's breathing for him."
"Why didn't you bag him?"
"Shattered cervical spine—couldn't take the chance."
"What about the girl?"
"Her name's Izzy—senior med student—if she so much as flinches the boy's dead."
"Okay, we'll be as easy as we can in this weather."
"Trust her, she called most of the shots on the scene—if it hadn't been for her, the boy probably wouldn't have made it this far."
"Got it."
Once we were inside, the engine started to speed up.
"Good luck, kid!" the EMT on the ground said. "That's one lucky kid to have you around." He slid the door closed and then slapped the outside.
"Take it easy." the EMT said to the pilot through his microphone.
The pilot gave him a thumbs up, indicating that he understood. The blades continued to accelerate and then suddenly we were airborne. We climbed straight up and broke through the clouds after twelve-hundred feet.
"Don't worry—just keep doing what you're doing—the weather's clear on the other side of the mountain. It'll be easy sailing into Frederick." The EMT glanced down at his watch. "You must be in incredible shape to be able to do what you're doing. My name's Frank."
I forced a smile between breaths. Loading Jason on the truck as-well-as on the helicopter was hard on him, his heart had skipped several times, but for now, he was stable. I thought about biting him—changing him, but it was impossible. I couldn't let go of his neck which meant I couldn't move him and I certainly couldn't change him here, the helicopter crew would flip. No, we would have to take our chances in the hospital—the hospital! What was I thinking, I couldn't go into the hospital—I was dead by human standards—it would be impossible to pass myself off as human to trained—observant physicians. As I took another breath, I saw the tower light at Lambs Knoll through a break in the cloud cover.
"Elizabeth."
"What's that?" Frank said.
"My parents, they don't know where I am. Do you have a phone?"
He nodded. "Hard to hear up here. Can it wait till we land?"
"I'd rather call them now who knows when I'll get a chance once we land."
"Probably right." He pulled out a cell phone and slipped an ear piece/microphone combo over my ear and then plugged the cord into the phone.
I called out my home number to him. "It's ringing."
Frank gave me a thumbs up, set the phone on Jason's chest and started to check vitals again.
"Hello?"
"Elizabeth, Mom, is that you?"
"What is that ungodly sound?"
"Put Tink on the phone, Mom."
"What's wrong?"
"Please Mom, put Tink on." I couldn't bare to tell Elizabeth or Benjamin.
"As you wish."
"Izzy, what's up?"
I filled Jason's lungs with another breath. "Jason was hit by a car—he's dying."
"Izzy? Izzy, are you there?"
"I'm in a helicopter headed to the Frederick hospital. I'm the only thing keeping him alive."
"I understand." Tink's voice was grim, pained.
"I don't know what to do, I can't let him die." I filled Jason's lungs with another breath. "Me, in a hospital could be bad." I glanced at Frank, but he was busy checking Jason. "I thought you should know."
"I understand. Do whatever you feel is right."
"I'm sorry. I love you guys. Goodbye."
Frank looked up.
"I'm finished. Thank you."
He unplugged the cord and closed the cell phone.
At least my family would have a chance to get away.
"You're going to have to let him go when we land." Frank said.
I took another breath and filled Jason's lungs. With the blankets pulled back, I could see blood soaking through the bandage over the chest tube in Jason's side.
"No way, I'm stabilizing his spine if he moves, he could die. I won't take that chance. His mother's on the way to the hospital, they'll have to wait at least until she gets there. I'm not moving."
"Gotcha." He pressed some buttons on a radio in the helicopter labeled Med 1. "This is Chopper One calling Frederick Memorial, do you have a copy?"
"Roger Chopper One, we read you loud and clear. What's your status?"
"This is Chopper One, we're inbound about five minutes out. We have a pedestrian struck by an automobile with traumatic, crush injuries. I'm sending you his tape." He waited for several seconds. "You get it?"
"Copy that, Chopper One. Is the patient breathing on his own?"
Frank looked at me, he didn't know I could hear both sides of the conversation. "Negative on the breathing. I have a senior med student onboard that is breathing for him."
"Did you say a med student is breathing for him?"
"You heard correct. There's more. The patient has a shattered cervical spine at the minimum, probably worse. She is supporting his spine with her hands. Reports from the scene say if she even flinches his heart stops—it happened twice on scene."
"How is this kid even alive?"
"Couldn't say." Frank glanced at me again. "They rigged up a special backboard for the two of them. You're going to need some extra manpower on the pad."
"Copy that, will do."
"One more thing. The boy's mother is on her way to the hospital in a police cruiser you're going to have to wait for her. The girl with me is determined, you are not going to move her."
"From your description I think that's the last thing we want to do."
"That's the right call, in my opinion. We're starting our decent. Over and out."
"I heard." I said when he looked toward me.
"You're pretty darn brave—never seen anything like this before. The doctors should leave you alone when we get there, at least until his mother arrives—like you said. Let them check him out, they're good people—saved a lot of lives."
I looked up from filling Jason's lungs with another breath. "Thank you." I leaned over Jason staying closer to him, letting his breath escape between our lips before I filled his lungs again. There was only Jason now—saving his life—nothing else mattered.
When we landed, the pilot shut off the engine. The door opened with a blast of frigid air and Frank accompanied us out of the helicopter and into the hospital Emergency Room. He stayed with us, answering all the questions, letting me concentrate on Jason. They set us and our jury rigged backboards on a hospital gurney and the nurses and ER doctor's looked over Jason as best they could with me there. They changed the IV, and replaced the tube in Jason's side while another team hooked Jason up with a bunch of wires.
"What's her name?" one of the nurses asked.
"Izzy," Frank said, "I didn't get a last name."
"That's okay. Izzy, I'm Nurse Greene, keep it up, you're doing great. Jason's oxygen levels are good."
"What have we got?"
"Doctor Diaz," Nurse Greene acknowledged her, "Izzy has been breathing for Jason since the accident. She is also, most importantly supporting his cervical spine."
&nb
sp; "If she moves, the boy's heart stops." Frank added.
I glanced up through my eyelashes. Doctor Diaz and the nurses were checking the readouts on the equipment they'd connected to Jason.
"We're going to have to get some pictures to see what we've got." Doctor Diaz said. "Izzy, is there any reason you can't go into X-ray?"
"You're not pregnant are you?" Nurse Greene added.
I lifted my head slightly so I could speak, but the words came out like a whisper. "Jason's lying on a metal sign." I sunk back down to continue breathing for him.
"She's right." Nurse Greene said. "There's some kind of street sign under him."
"We're going to have to remove the sign." Doctor Diaz said. "Hold Jason as still as you can." She must have turned away from me, because her next words were softer. "How long as she been at this?"
"At least an hour." Frank said.
"Okay," Doctor Diaz said, "here we go, nice and easy."
There were hands along both of Jason's sides, close to the bed. They slowly started sliding the sign out from under Jason. I didn't need it, but the beeping sound of Jason's heart on the monitors would change if they moved to abruptly—I think it helped them. Each time his heart fluttered, I manipulated his neck to stabilize the rhythm. Slowly, steadily, they worked the sign out from under him. Jason flat lined for just an instant as the sign finally came free, but I stabilized him and his heartbeat returned to it's weak, but regular beat before they could react.
"I've never seen anything like that." Doctor Diaz said. "You okay, Izzy?"
I nodded between breaths.
Apparently Frank had left the room, because the automatic door swooshed open and he called from the hallway. "Boy's mother's here."
A deeper, sickening feeling spread through me as I realized what this would do to her. I tried to use the emotion to strengthen my resolve, to give me hope, she was another reason I couldn't let Jason die.
"We better let her see him," Doctor Diaz said and then lowered her voice, "I'm not sure how much longer he has." Her voice faded as the door swooshed closed.
Moments later, the hallway was filled with Mrs. Whitaker's cries. "Oh my God!" she wailed—she must have seen us through the glass wall.
"I'm Doctor Diaz, your son is in critical condition Mrs. Whitaker. He's stable for now, but we have to take him down to X-ray to get a better idea of the extent of his injuries. You can see him, but just briefly."
Her crying stopped, she was trying to be brave for him. "Is Izzy alright?"
"You know her?" Doctor Diaz said.
"They're high school sweethearts. What is she doing?"
"I'm not sure I can put this in the proper perspective, but she's breathing for your son and somehow, she's managed to stabilize his spine. Simply put, she's keeping him alive."
The door swooshed open.
"Just for a minute—time's crucial." The door swooshed closed.
There was a long silence as I'm sure she tried to come to grips with what she faced, but I could feel her drawing closer. She gently rested her hand on Jason's chest—she'd started crying again. Her hand was trembling.
"He's going to be okay." I said in a raspy voice between breaths. "I won't let him die."
She gently rested her cheek against Jason's chest. Our eyes met momentarily. "How..." her voice faded like a dying breath. When it did, she let her weight collapse down on Jason. His chest moved and the pulsing beat of the heart monitor became a solid tone.
The door swooshed open as Jason's mom reared back in hysterics. Doctor Diaz and Nurse Greene rushed into the room, but before they got to us, I had Jason's heartbeat stabilized.
"How?" Mrs. Whitaker mumbled through her sobs to Doctor Diaz.
"I don't know, I've never seen anything like it. I'm sorry, but we need to take him down to X-ray, now."
"Of course, go." Jason's mom replied in a weak, agonized voice. "Has anyone contacted Izzy's parents?" she said as the nurses wheeled Jason and I out of the room.
"She called them from the chopper." Frank said.
"I'll call Elizabeth to make sure." she said.
We rounded another corner and I could no longer hear their voices.
"Here we are." Nurse Greene said. "You just keep our boy stable."
"Whatta ya need?" someone new, presumably the X-ray technician said.
"Chest, spine—particularly the cervical spine and right leg for now."
"What about her?"
"She's keeping him alive."
"Seriously?" A male hand brushed back my hair that lay over Jason's face like a shroud. "Not going to be able to get much with her hands in the way."
"Do the best you can—like I said, she's keeping him alive. I'll help you."
They rolled us into the X-ray room. "We're not going to be able to get them on the table I assume." the technician said.
"Not a chance, you'll have to improvise."
They moved us again, past several heavy doors into another room.
"Izzy," Nurse Greene said, "I'm going to put a paper hair net on you so Boo Boo can see what he's doing. His name's Bobby, we just call him that—he knows what he's doing."
I didn't reply, I don't think I could, but I felt her put the paper over my head and struggle to get my hair up under the thin elastic band.
"You're sure you're okay having X-rays done?"
I nodded ever so slightly.
"Okay. We're going to use a fluoroscope—kind of a handheld X-ray machine. Just keep Jason as still as possible and we'll have a look.
I pulled in the walls I'd created even closer and concentrated harder on just Jason. As hard as I tried, I couldn't hold on to my connection with him—not the one that Benjamin had taught me—but we still had the physical connection. It was weaker—Jason's part—but I tried to press my energy into his thoughts, letting him feel—experience how much I loved him. His love was there—faint, but still there. He was fighting so hard to stay with me.
Soon, we were moving again and the florescent lights overhead slowly flickered past until we were in another room, a darker room, but with a harsh concentration of light from somewhere close. Nurse Greene was speaking again, but I couldn't understand her. I didn't want to let go of Jason, I was afraid I might not be able to get him back.
"Izzy? Izzy? Izzy, can you hear me?"
I managed a slight nod.
"Good, you're doing great, just hang in there a little longer."
"How's she doing?" Doctor Diaz said.
"She hasn't faltered once, but I'm worried about her, she's in an almost catatonic state."
"An IV might be a good idea."
"We tried, but her muscles are so rigid we couldn't get the needle in."
I didn't remember that, unless that was the touch I felt after the X-rays.
"Get scrubbed up and we'll begin." Doctor Diaz said.
"Izzy, I don't want you to be afraid, but we're going to put a drape over you during the surgery. You're doing great, just keep it up a little while longer."
Jason and I were moved into the bright, white glare that turned blue as the drape went over me. Outside my blue envelop, tight gloves snapped with the smell of latex.
"What are we doing?" a different nurse said.
"He's got a ruptured spleen at the very least and as long as he will tolerate it, we'll have a look around and see if there's any other bleeding. The X-rays weren't a lot of help."
"Then you've seen them?" Nurse Greene said.
"I know. We're just going to try to stabilize him—they're flying in a spine specialist from Baltimore, Shock Trauma."
Jason exhaled a sweet, lemon tasting breath laced with a metallic aftertaste—the anesthesia.
"Izzy," Nurse Greene said, "we're going to begin the surgery, just remain very still. If you need anything, you let me know."
Surgery—like in Jason's blood? But not even the thought of that did anything to my thirst—almost like it didn't exist, but it always existed. That probably said something about how I was do
ing, but I couldn't think about that, I was here for Jason. My next breath was filled with the scent of Jason's sweet blood. I exhaled it into his lungs.