Whumptober Day 6

“Ow. Oh. Ow.”

Samson pulls out of the hug and gives his boyfriend a concerned look. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s just my back,” Victor replies.

“Can I take a look?” Samson asks, walking around Victor.

“It’s nothing—”

Victor is cut off by Samson, whose question was obviously rhetorical. “Those are some pretty gnarly bruises. I’m gonna get you some ibuprofen. Where’d they come from?”

“Um…”

Whumptober Day 5

“No, no, no, no, no, no,” Juliet whines.

“We have to do it; there’s no way around it. Let’s just get it over with. Want me to hold your hand?” Anna offers in a calm and sweet yet not condescending tone. “You’re in great hands, Juliet. Dr. Byrne has reset tons of noses.”

“Is there any way we can numb it?” Juliet asks.

“The lidocaine will hurt more than the actual procedure,” Rory responds. “You ready?” He approaches the side of the gurney and softly places his left hand on Juliet’s chin, securing her head. He reaches his right hand toward her nose, but is forcefully swatted away by Juliet.

“NO,” Juliet insists.

Anna sighs. “Fine. I didn’t want to have to do this,” she says, climbing onto the gurney. She places herself across Juliet, her feet restraining Juliet’s legs and her hands pinning Juliet’s arms to the gurney. “This will take five seconds. Rory, we’re ready.”

Juliet squirms under Anna as Rory reassumes his position. Rory grasps Juliet’s nose just under the bridge. On a count of three, he firmly pushes it back into place. The crack of the reset bones barely make a sound over Juliet’s screams.

Anna climbs off the gurney. “All done. We’ll get you some tape to hold it in place and some ice to help with the pain and swelling. My shift is over in an hour. If you want to stick around, I can drive you home.”

Whumptober Day 4

“Do you trust me?” Demetra asked the battered woman. She then paused, rethinking her approach. “You can trust me. I am here to help you. My name is Demetra.” She took a step closer. Only now could she see the bruises covering the woman’s face or the silent tears streaming down her face. “It’s over now. You are safe.” Demetra took a deep breath. “Let’s get you cleaned up.” She offered her hand.

Whumptober Day 3

Kai pressed gauze into the side of Juliet’s blood-stained face. He carefully wrapped a bandage around the gauze and her black hair, securing it against the gash in her cheek.

Juliet winced at the pressure, her bruised arms weakly swatting at Kai. “It hurts,” she sobbed. “It all hurts.”

“I know, babe. Who did this to you?”

“A guy. He- he- he said- he said- that I–” Juliet’s voice trailed off as she lost consciousness, succumbing to both blood loss and pain.

Whumptober Day 2

Kai’s face turned blue and his throat burned. He kept trying to get air but was unsuccessful.

Maria panicked and ran back into the kitchen. What had she put in dinner tonight? Tomatoes, cheese, lettuce. Who’s allergic to lettuce? “Juliet, is Kai allergic to tomatoes?” Maria called out.

“He has no allergies,” Juliet responded. So then why was Kai unable to breathe?

Kai helped answer that question. He placed his hands around his throat, showing Juliet and Chaia the universal choking symbol.

“I love you,,” Juliet whispered as she carefully leaned him forward and then forcefully slapped him on the back. When that didn’t work, she tried the Heimlich, which yielded the same result. She then held a wriggling Kai down as Chaia stuck a gloved hand down his throat and pulled out the offending tomato.

Whumptober Day 1

“You have to let go,” Demetra said to Mekayla. “You can stand with me, but you can’t go with Jordan. Dr. Howell will take very good care of him.” Demetra pulled Mekayla away from the stretcher, coaxing Mekayla into dropping Jordan’s hand.

Dr. Howell walked alongside the stretcher where Jordan lay, writhing in pain. “Jordan, you were in a car accident. We’re bringing you up to emergency surgery.”

Whump in the Woods

This is, of course, for @brutal-nemesis’s forest day, which totally should have been called “whump in the woods.”

Anyway, we’ve got a double whammy here today, but only one of them is directly related to the forest…

Oh and Victor has a new boyfriend, Samson Buhle, MD.

Trigger Warnings – Also Tagged: blood mention, weapons, crossbows, collapsing, medication

———–

“Thanks for inviting us. A triple camping date was totally the best way to introduce Samson to everyone,” Victor says. He continues down the trail, holding his boyfriend’s hand. He is joined by Chaia and Maria and Kai and Juliet, both couples clasping hands as well.

“Of course. Maria and I love it here. It’s the only forest in the state she’s not allergic to,” Chaia responds. She stares down at her wife’s hands, unconsciously scanning them for hives.

A sudden noise rings out in the distance.

“What was that?” Juliet asks.

“I don’t know. It’s probably a bird,” Kai reassures her as the group turns right along the trail. To their right, a creek flows from the waterfall at the end of the trail.

“Hey, can we pause so that I can tie my shoelace?” Samson asks.

“Of course,” Victor replies. He reaches his arm out and leans against the trunk of a big oak tree.

The sound rings out again. This time, it’s noise is more distinctive. The sound is the firing of a crossbow.

“Everyone get down!” Kai shouts to the group. He crouches down and shouts into the distance, “We are people not game!”

Juliet is rushed down by Kai and Samson stays low to the ground after tying his shoe. Chaia is taken down by the sudden weakness of Maria.

“You know how I said that Maria doesn’t react to this forest? Well, I was wrong,” she says, laying Maria flat on the ground and opening her backpack. She pulls out an emergency kit containing Maria’s rescue meds, a pulse oximeter, and a blood pressure cuff. “Maria, what’s going on?”

“I feel faint and my arms are itchy.” Maria’s arms and face slowly turn a shade of bright red.

“Okay. I got you, Mar.” Chaia slides the blood pressure cuff onto Maria’s arm and clips the pulse oximeter onto Maria’s finger. She digs through the med bag and pulls out a box of benadryl. “Blood pressure is a little lower than normal, but I don’t think that you’re in anaphylaxis right now. Take this.” She hands her wife a bright pink chewable tablet.

“Wow, Chaia you are so good at this,” Kai remarks. He pauses for a moment, then says, “Where’s Victor?”

Victor’s legs remain near the tree he had leaned against, but his upper half had not lowered when the rest of the group ducked. Victor cannot duck, as his left hand has been impaled by the cross bow’s arrow and stuck to the tree. “Up here,” Victor manages, pained.

Samson and Kai rush to their feet to attend to Victor. “Oh, babe, that does not look good,” Samson remarks. “But we are gonna help you. How’s the pain?”

“Bad.”

“Can you wiggle your fingers?” Kai follows up.

Victor attempts to move his fingers against the blood-stained bark. He grimaces in pain. “Not really.”

“Okay,” Kai responds. “Chaia, do you have pain meds and an ace bandage in your bag?”
“I’ve got both.” She digs through the bag and pulls the items out.

Samson lightly grasps Victor’s right hand. “As you probably know, it’s not safe to remove the arrow until we get you to the hospital, but we do need to detach you from the tree.”

“I don’t like where this is going,” Victor replies.

“We have to do it,” Samson replies, sending a knowing look to Kai.

Kai grasps the edge of the arrow while Samson pulls Victor into a restraining hug.

“No,” Victor pleads, as Kai lightly wiggles the arrow free of the tree.

“I need to move your hand up to ensure that it stays on the arrow when I remove it from the tree, okay?” Kai didn’t wait for Victor to respond. He slowly slid Victor’s hand up the arrow just enough for him to fit his hand between Victor’s hand and the tree. Victor cried out in pain.

“I know,” Samson whispers to Victor. “We’re almost done.” Sampson gives Victor a reassuring (and more restraining) squeeze.

“On tree, we move off the tree,” Kai tells Victor. He lightly laughs at his own joke. “Get it? Like three? No? Okay. One, two, tree.” He pulls the arrow out of the tree, making sure that Victor’s hand did not come off the arrow. Once again, Victor screamed in pain.

“All done,” Samson told Victor. We’re gonna wrap it to hold the arrow in place and you can take some ibuprofen for right now. Let’s take this triple date to the hospital,” he says, watching Chaia help Maria to her feet.

Saltwater Day

It is saltwater day (brought to you by @brutal-nemesis), and I am finally done with this fic. I would like to thank Nemi for forcing me to create content once again.

Trigger Warnings – also tagged: blood

WC: 966

————

There was no scream, but Kai could tell that something was wrong. A young man seemed to be dragging his leg through the ocean. Kai looked around for the beach’s lifeguard, who gave no response to Kai’s cries for help. He’d have to do it himself.

As Kai neared the man, he noticed a trail of red following the obviously injured leg. Kai held his hand out for the man, hoping to get a response. “My name is Kai. You look like you could use some help.”

The man, wearing a blue swim shirt that matched his floral swim trunks, shook his head. “I’m fine, man.”

“I don’t think you are.” Kai pointed to the man’s leg, which was being followed by an ever-growing red blotch.

“I said I’m fine,” the man insisted. He continued to drag his leg until he reached the shore. Before he could get both feet out of the water, he collapsed onto the wet sand.

Kai rushed over to the man, whose face was now being covered with salty ocean water every time the waves crashed against the shore. He picked the man’s head up and gently stroked it. “Hey, man, can you hear me?” The man’s eyes fluttered open, but Kai got no response. “What’s your name?”

“Roman,” the man managed.

“Okay, Roman, I am Kai, and I am a paramedic. I’m going to take a look at that leg.” Kai pulled Roman up the beach to get his leg out of the water.

On Roman’s left leg, bright red blood clashed against the tanned skin of his ankle. Sand filled the gash that ran from the arch of his foot to the center of his shin about two inches above the ankle. Roman took a peek at his foot and winced, slowly becoming aware of the pain he was in.

“What happened?” Kai asked.

“I don’t know,” Roman responded, a tinge of pain in his voice.

Kai paused, analyzing the injury. “You are going to need to go to the hospital.”

“I can’t drive right now? Should I call an Uber?”

“I know, but no. I can take you. More importantly, I’m going to need to get the sand out of your wound and put some bandage on it before we go.”

“Oh. Okay.” Roman sighed and peered down at his leg.

“I will be right back,” Kai told Roman. He ran up the beach to his stuff. He shook out his purple beach towel and placed it into his black mesh bag, which he then slung over his shoulder. On his way back to Roman, he stopped at the blanket of a family with two young children, both making sandcastles. After a short conference with the parents, Kai approached a young girl. “A man at the shore needs my help, and I need a bucket to do that. Would I be able to borrow yours? I will give it right back when I am done?”

The little girl looked up at Kai and smiled. “Yes!” she cried out, leading Kai over to her family’s pile of beach toys. After studying the pile, she handed Kai a medium-sized purple bucket. “I help,” she said.

“Yes. Thank you,” Kai said to the little girl. After accepting the bucket, he took off running toward Roman. He set his bag down on the sand. Kai shifted his attention to Roman. “Here’s the plan: I am going to get as much sand as I can out of that wound. Then I am going to wrap it in my beach towel. I will then carry you to my car and we will go to the hospital. I can grab your stuff. You ready?”

“No.”

“No?”

“Is this really necessary?”

Kai looked Roman in the eyes. “I need to put pressure on that wound to slow the bleeding and help it be stable until we get to the hospital. It’s not healthy for that much debris to be pressed into the wound.” He grabbed Roman’s hand. “I know it’ll sting, but it’s better to get it done now than needing a huge debriding job at the hospital.”

Roman nodded. “Just get it done,” he said.

“Okay.” Kai grabbed the bucket and scooped up some water from the incoming tide, being careful not to get any sand in. He placed the bucket next to Roman’s leg and quickly applied some hand sanitizer from the bottle he kept in his bag. He used his left hand to brace Roman’s leg just above the cut. With his right hand, Kai slowly poured the salt water over the wound. He moved his left hand to brush out some of the sand. He continued pouring until Roman lurched forward in pain.

“Ow. Ow. Please stop. It hurts.” Roman tried to grab at his foot, but Kai held a firm grip on Roman’s leg.

“I am almost done.” Kai scooped up another bucket of water. “How about you lie back for this?” Kai placed the bucket on the ground again and used his right arm to coax Roman into lying back. Kai picked up the bucket once more and restarted the slow pour.

Roman grimaced in pain and whimpered. Finally, Kai was satisfied with the amount of sand he had cleared. Without warning, he dumped the rest of the water on Roman’s leg, causing him to bolt back up.

“I’m done,” Kai assured him. Kai grabbed his beach towel from his bag and tightly wrapped it around Roman’s leg. He tied a knot and tucked the ends into the wrap. “Ready to head out?”

Roman nodded.

As Kai scooped Roman up, he noticed the beginnings of blood stains forming on his towel. At least he had brought his towel, and not the one Juliet had bought him for his birthday.

Summer of Whump Prompt #18 – Collapse

I am adding two characters to the Rainbow Sweater Squad: Demetra and Omar Musayev.

Also yeah this is for @summer-of-whump creation challenge.

Trigger Warnings – Also Tagged: Collapse, Medical Devices

WC: 1078

Without further ado…

————–

“What was that?”

“What?”

“The thud at the door.”

“I don’t know. You should probably check it out.”

“Me? Fine.” Juliet got off of the couch and headed to the door of the apartment. She peered through the peephole. Instead of finding the expected head at eye level, she saw a woman’s body splayed across the carpeted hallway floor. “Anna! Call 9-1-1 and meet me out here! NOW!” Juliet unbolted the door and rushed to the woman’s side. As both Anna and Kai had told her, the first thing Juliet did was check her pulse and her breathing. Juliet placed her teal-painted fingertips against the side of the woman’s neck and held her ear over the woman’s rising chest. Pulse? There and rapid. Breathing? There and that’s all that Juliet could tell.

Anna rushed over to the scene and knelt beside the woman. Anna placed her phone next to the woman’s head. “Juliet, any info?”

“Breathing and heart’s beating,” Juliet replied as if the phrase had been drilled into her as a child. “Pulse is rapid and I haven’t checked for identifying info.” Juliet scanned the woman for a wallet or a phone. At Anna’s feet, Juliet spotted a bright blue puff–a key chain. “Anna, keys, 11 o’clock.”

Anna picked the keys up. On the ring was a tag with the number 302 on it. Unit 302 was just down the hall. “Juliet, this is our new neighbor. Can you check if someone’s home? They might have more info.”

“Yeah.” Juliet sprinted down the hall and arrived at the door of unit 302. She knocked and got no response. So she knocked harder and longer.

A man came to the door. “How can I help you?”

“Your, uh, roommate collapsed in front of my apartment.”

“Demetra? Oh my gosh. Have you called an ambulance?”

“EMS is on their way. Can you tell us anything about her medical history? Do you want to come see her?” Juliet stepped back to allow the man to walk into the hallway. “By the way, my name is Juliet. My roommate, Anna, is a nurse. She is down there with Demetra.”

The man grabbed his phone from the kitchen table behind him and stepped out into the hallway. “Omar. Nice to meet you.”

They wandered down the hallway. “Anna, this is Omar,” Juliet said.

Anna looked up at Omar and gave a half smile. She shifted her gaze to Juliet. “Can you please grab my stethoscope, the pulse oximeter, the glucometer, and some alcohol swabs? Just grab the whole emergency kit and my purse.”

As Juliet ran off into the apartment, Omar knelt next to Demetra. “That’s a lot of things. Is she okay?” He cradled Demetra’s left hand against his chest.

“She’s alive and has no signs of major injury or trauma. I’m just not sure what’s wrong with her, and I have no clue why she collapsed,” Anna responded, keeping her voice level yet calm.

Juliet emerged from her apartment with a pink purse slung across her shoulder and the white box of the emergency kit in her hands. She passed the kit into Anna’s hands and placed the purse to the right of Anna’s feet. Juliet crouched down next to the purse. “What can I do?”
Anna passed the pulse oximeter to Juliet. “Place this on one of her fingers.” Juliet did as she was told and slipped the clip over Demetra’s right ring finger. Anna pulled her bright pink stethoscope from her purse and placed its diaphragm on Demetra’s chest. She looked up at Omar. “Her breathing is okay.”

Omar nodded. “I should’ve been with her.”

Anna shifted her gaze back to Omar. She had picked up Demetra’s right hand and begun wiping it with the alcohol swab. “What do you mean?”

“Her American friends had taken her out to do something for the wedding. I can’t remember the word for it in English, but her friends insisted that I didn’t come.” Omar twisted Demetra’s engagement ring around her finger.

Juliet perked up. “The dress,” she said. “There’s a big belief here that seeing the bride in her dress before the wedding is bad luck.”

“Yes, that’s it,” Omar replied. “I am so sorry, Demetra normally helps me when I forget the words for things.”

Anna reached across Demetra and placed her hand on Omar’s. “It’s okay. You are doing just fine.” She switched her attention to the phone next to Demetra’s head. “Hey, dispatch, how’s that ambulance coming?”

A voice came from the phone and said, “About a minute. Omar, congratulations on the wedding. If you don’t mind me asking, what other languages do you speak?”

“Uzbek and Greek,” Omar responded.

“That’s really cool,” the 911 dispatcher replied. “How did you meet Demetra?”

“I’m from Uzbekistan and I went to Greece for university. Demetra is from Greece and went to the US for university.” Omar paused as sirens coming from outside crescendoed and then suddenly stopped. “We met during the summer in Athens five years ago. Demetra wanted to go back to the US to be with her friends and I was accepted to graduate school, and now we live here.”

Just as Omar finished, Kai rushed a stretcher down the hall to where the group had crowded around Demetra. Kai glanced at his radio and then down at Anna’s phone next to Demetra’s head. “Dispatch, this is medic Kai Himona, I’ve got it from here.” He shifted his attention to Demetra and grabbed the yellow backboard from the stretcher. Juliet and Anna instinctively cleared their side to make way for Kai. He carefully lifted Demetra’s side and slid the backboard under her.

Anna locked eyes with Kai. “On three?” She waited for Kai to nod in return. “One, two, three.” The two grabbed opposite sides of the backboard and lifted Demetra to the stretcher. As they moved away, Omar dropped Demetra’s hand. Anna raced back to Juliet, who had started to repack Anna’s pink purse. Anna gathered her things and took the purse out of Juliet’s hands. “Thanks.”

Juliet followed Anna back to where Kai had stationed the stretcher. She kissed Kai on the cheek and was promptly cut off by Anna.

“I’ll brief you on her situation en route,” Anna said to Kai. “And thanks for the ride to work.” She turned to Omar. “Omar, you can come too.”

“Okay.” He joined Kai and Anna as they wheeled Demetra down the hall and to the ambulance.

Not-So-Sweet Treat

Me? Posting content twice in one week? It’s about as unlikely as you’d think, but I just finished a bunch of stuff so I had free time, and here we are.

So this idea came to me in a dream a while ago. I started to work on it, but then I got into the international science and engineering fair, so I had other things I needed to focus on. Anyway, the story. It’s an RSS story about, well, I am not going to spoil it.

Trigger Warnings – also tagged: ambulances, attempted kidnapping

WC: 1434

—————

Maria climbed out of her Uber, slamming the blue car door as she stepped onto the sidewalk. She opened a text to Chaia and typed a puppy emoji, their code for a safe arrival. As she stumbled over the curb, Maria switched her phone off before she could hit send.

On a frosted glass window, burgundy letters spelled out “The Cinnamon Room.” At the door, Maria was greeted by two men in white aprons.

The red-haired man on the right stuck out his hand. “Gideon. Nice to meet you. This is Chase.” Gideon motioned to the black-haired man standing to his right.

“Maria. I hope I’m not too late for the class.” There’d been more traffic than Maria was expecting. She was about 6 minutes late.

“Actually,” Chase said, “you’re the first to show up.” He and Gideon cleared the doorway to allow Maria into the bakery. Cookies, danishes, rugelach, muffins, and pastries galore lined a display cabinet in front of the kitchen. To the right of the counter, a long hallway stretched to the back of the shop, connecting the front kitchen to the back ovens and pantry. Chase unlocked the gate to the back and showed Maria to a station in the kitchen.

“We need to grab some ingredients from the back. We will be right with you.” Chase started down the long hallway, and Gideon quickly followed suit.

Upon their return, Gideon and Chase were not carrying as many ingredients as Maria had anticipated. Each only carried a couple sticks of butter in one hand. What was in their other hands was more curious. Gideon and Chase both held a gas mask in their non-butter hand.

Maria, however, did not notice the masks. After seeing the butter, she simply turned around and began to wash her hands in preparation for the baking ahead. She didn’t notice as Gideon and Chase pulled the gas masks over their faces or when Gideon kicked a bright red switch under a cabinet. By the time she had finished washing her hands, Maria was too loopy to notice that Gideon and Chase were dragging her down the hall to a sealed closet.

Chase dragged Maria’s practically limp body onto a pile of hay while Gideon released the valve on a gas canister in the back corner of the room. “That should do it,” Gideon said, slamming the door as he exited the closet.

Back in the closet, Maria’s phone vibrated in her pocket as it received a text from Chaia. With an unsent message, it could only return a bubble with three dots. Moments later, the phone cried out a klezmer tune as Chaia called. Maria could not respond, so the phone just rang. And rang. And rang. And rang.

————————————————————————————————————–

Thirty minutes later, Maria still hadn’t picked up the phone. Or answered Chaia’s texts. Or even read Chaia’s texts. Chaia dialed her wife’s number into her cell phone again. On speaker, the phone rang. After three unanswered rings, she shifted her attention to the landline on the other side of her computer; Maria always picked up by the third ring. Chaia called 911.

Victor’s headset beeped to indicate the incoming call. He clicked on the large “ANSWER CALL” button in the middle of his screen. “9-1-1, what is your emergency?”

“My wife took a pastry workshop at this bakery on Appleton and she isn’t answering her phone. I think something has happened. She has complex medical needs and-”

“Chaia, it’s Victor, take a deep breath with me.” Victor inhaled and exhaled forcefully, being sure to be loud enough for Chaia to hear through the phone. “This isn’t your cell number; where is your phone?”

“It’s right next to me. I’m still trying to reach Maria.” Chaia replied, a slight twinge of panic rising through her voice.

“Okay. I need you to do two things for me. First, I need the name of the bakery she went to.”

“The Cinnamon Room.”

“Okay. I am dispatching police, but they’re a bit busy with the protests downtown today. Do you have Kai’s number? He should be able to get down there pretty quickly and start to investigate.”

“Yes. I can call him.”

“Okay. Do you want me to stay on the line with you? They’ve just diverted all available units to crowd control at the protests. It might be a while to get the police.”

“I think I’ve got it from here. I’m heading down there right now. I’ll text with any updates.”

“Okay. I will keep you updated as well. Bye.” Victor terminates the call.

Five minutes later, Chaia’s phone buzzes with a text from Kai. “Frontman at the bakery says Maria went to grab a coffee. Heading down to Hazel Flower to check. Justin is staying at the ambo to monitor the door.”

————————————————————————————————————–

Kai parked the ambulance block down the street from The Cinnamon Room. He turned to his partner, Justin, and told him, “If I am not back in 30 minutes, get backup.” He hopped out and walked down the street.

He strolled up to a red-haired man in a white apron. “Hi, I’m Kai. My friend is here for a pastry class and I need to drop off something for her. Her name is Maria Glassman.”

The red-haired man paid no attention to Kai. “She went out to get a coffee down the street.”

The coffee shop down the street was empty, so Kai headed back. This time, there was no one behind the counter when he arrived. Sitting amidst floured rolling pins were 2 gas masks. He texted Victor, “They’ve got gas masks. Send cops.”

The red-haired man appeared from down the hall. “I see you’ve come back,” he sneered. He planted a punch in Kai’s face and dragged Kai down the hall to the storeroom. He slumped Kai right next to Maria.

————————————————————————————————————–

Chaia pulled up to the bakery, which was now surrounded by vehicles with flashing lights. She jumped out of her car and approached the first person in uniform she could find, which happened to be Justin. “Where’s my wife?” she asked.

Justin took a deep breath and made eye contact with Chaia. “You must be Chaia. My name is Justin. I work with Kai.” He offered Chaia his hand, which she begrudgingly shook. “The cops are still searching inside, but it may not be pretty. On the way over, Kai briefed me on your, uh, Maria’s situation. I think it prudent that you meet the other on-site EMS crew.” He led Chaia to the ambulance at the other end of the bakery facade. Motioning to the two paramedics leaning against the back of the ambulance, Justin said, “That’s Eaton and Sienna. I’ve filled them in.”

Chaia nodded at the pair. “Nice to meet you.”

Right then, a police officer ran out the door of the bakery. “I’ve found them! They’re gonna need oxygen.” The officer held the door as Justin, Sienna, and Eaton rushed in, bringing two stretchers and supplies into the bakery. Another officer grabbed Chaia’s arm to keep her outside.

“I need to see her!” Chaia cried, tears beginning to slide out of her eyes.

“You can see her when they bring her outside,” the officer told Chaia, shifting their hand from gripping Chaia’s forearm to holding her hand.

Kai was the first to be wheeled out of the bakery. He was semi-conscious. He could almost react to questions and occasionally twitch his face in response to the Oxygen cannula resting in his nostrils. He was brought out by only Eaton.

Justin and Sienna wheeled Maria out a minute later. Chaia couldn’t see the readings on the pulse oximeter but the ambu bag over Maria’s nose and mouth indicated that it couldn’t be good.

“Chaia, over here! Walk with me,” Justin called out.

Chaia joined him at her wife’s side.

“We’re about two to four minutes out from the hospital,” Justin told Chaia. “We’ve got two patients, two ambulances, and only three functional paramedics. Can you bag Maria until we get to the hospital?”

“You want me to be in charge of keeping my wife alive?”

“You are qualified and trained to do so.”

Chaia sniffled. “I–”
“Chaia.” Justin locked eyes with Chaia.

She sighed. “Fine.” Chaia climbed into the back of the ambulance with Justin. Justin handed Chaia the blue bag mask and hopped out the back to run around to the driver’s seat.

“You ready?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Chaia responded weakly. She took a deep breath as she squeezed the plastic bulb at the end of the bad mask and let it go to supplement her wife’s weak breaths.

Plant Day

This is, of course, a RSS story for @brutal-nemesis’s Plant Day 2021.

And please don’t kill me, but I kinda feel like I bent the rules here. The assailant here is not a fungus or protist. It is a part of the plant kingdom, but not like that.Anyway, on to the story part of this.

Trigger Warnings – also tagged: choking, alcohol, knives, blood, surgery

WC: 897

———-

“911, what is your emergency?”

A panicked voice came from the other end of the phone. “My boyfriend is choking and we can’t get it out!”

“Okay. Where are you?”

“Middle of the quad at OakU.”

“Any landmarks nearby?”
“Across the street from the ADG house.”

Victor entered the location into his computer and pulled up a map of the OakU campus. “Okay, help is on the way. My name is Victor. And you are?”
“Raegan.”
“Okay, Raegan. You said that your boyfriend is choking?”

“Yeah,” Raegan said, panic once again rising in her voice.

“And you tried the heimlich?” Victor asked.

“Yeah. It didn’t work. One of my friends tried that and they tried smacking his back. Nothing helped.”

“Okay. What is his name?”

“Hugo.”

“Raegan, put me on speaker.” Victor paused briefly as he waited for Raegan to oblige. “Okay, Hugo, if you can hear me, please give Raegan a thumbs up.”

Hugo barely moved. He was rocking back and forth, his arms slowly reaching at his neck, but his hands made no attempt to show Raegan a thumbs up. His olive skin slowly grew bluer.

On the other end of the phone, a message popped up on Victor’s computer. EMS was on the way, but Raegan and Hugo were not accessible by road. It would be at least 15 minutes until help could arrive.

Victor’s attention was pulled back to the call when Raegan began screaming.

“Victor, he’s not moving anymore! How much longer?”

“Your location is pretty far from any roads, so it’ll be 15-20 minutes. Can you try the heimlich again?” Victor pulled out his phone and texted Kai.

“I know you’re off, but I need help. College age male choking. Heimlich not helping. EMS 15-20 out. I am conferencing you in.”

Kai responded with a thumbs up and Victor entered his number into the console. “Raegan,” Victor said, “this is my friend Kai. He is a paramedic. He is going to help you.”

Kai cleared his throat into the phone. “Raegan, can you tell me exactly what happened?”

Raegan sighed as tears made their way from her eyes to her chin. “I was working on a project for my photography class. It was, uh, humans in nature. We were doing a shoot and Hugo decided he wanted a picture biting an acorn. I got a couple shots and then he tripped over a tree root. He must’ve swallowed the acorn and it got stuck because he can’t breathe and it’s not between his teeth anymore.”

Kai took a deep breath. “I am going to recommend something crazy, but it should save Hugo, alright? I think that you should attempt a field cricothyrotomy.”

“You want me to cut open my boyfriend’s neck?”
“Raegan, it will save his life,” Victor said. “Now, before I ask you this, I want to remind you that these calls are recorded, but I do want to help.” He paused. “Does someone over the age of 21 in the ADG house have alcohol, a knife, and a straw?”

“Yeah,” Raegan responded, but it wasn’t entirely true. She always carried a pocket knife and metal straw, and she had filled her water bottle with vodka at a party the night before. Victor didn’t need to know where it came from.

“Raegan, I need you to sterilize everything. Dump the alcohol on your hands, his neck, the knife, and the straw,” Victor commanded.

Raegan carefully poured the alcohol out of her bottle, through the straw, and onto her hands, her knife, and Hugo’s neck. “Done,” she said, putting her phone on speaker and placing next to Hugo’s short, scruffy black hair.

Kai took a breath and began to instruct Raegan. “Raegan, you are going to find the cricothyroid membrane, it is–”

“In that indentation below the Adam’s Apple,” Raegan finished.

“Yes,” Kai said with a slight bit of surprise in his voice.

“You sound surprised,” Raegan responded. “I find that knowing human anatomy is incredibly important to my art.”

“Alright then,” Kai continued, “You are going to make a 1-inch long incision. You are going to drive your knife in until you feel a bit of a pop. That means you are in the trachea.”

Raegan squeezed her eyes shut before busting them open again. She grasped the handle of her pocket knife and slid the blade across her boyfriend’s olive-colored skin. Dark red blood oozed from the opening. At the center of the incision, Raegan pushed down on the knife until she felt something different than the feeling of slicing through fascia and muscle. She slid her finger into the cavity and there certainly was a hole in something. “Done,” she informed Kai and Victor as she pulled her finger out of Hugo’s neck.

“Slip the straw into the hole in the trachea and take a breath into it,” Kai instructed.

Raegan slid her metal straw into the hole that had just held her finger. She wrapped her lips around her purple silicone straw topper. She gently exhaled through the straw. Surprised, she pulled back when she saw Hugo’s chest rise in his green hoodie. “He is breathing!” she exclaimed.

“Good,” Victor said. “Paramedics are about 5 minutes out. I can stay with you until they get there, okay?”
“Thank you,” Raegan replied softly. She buried her face into Hugo’s shoulder. Her tears joined the bloodstains on his hoodie.

Spiral Day

This is also a combined (ooh snazzy) sequel to Ice DayandKneecap Day. This work can stand on its own, but some characters make more sense in the context of the past two fics.

And of course, this is a RSS story for @brutal-nemesis’s Spiral Day 2021.

Trigger Warnings–also tagged: Hospitals

———-

“Jaydyn, you said that your cousin is Chaia Glassman, right?” Anna asked.

Without looking up from his hospital crossword, Jaydyn replied, “Yeah. Why?”

“Just making sure.” Anna replied, trying to not sound conspicuous. She walked over to the entrance to the ED, where a stretcher lay in wait. “Bring her over to trauma 2,” Anna commanded.

Chaia hadn’t said a word since the ambulance left the lake. Lucy had agreed to let Maria sit on the stretcher with Chaia when they got to the hospital. Maria’s hand reached into the metallic blob at the head of the stretcher.

Upon their arrival at the trauma bay, Maria jumped off the stretcher. “Hey, lifey,” she said, “we need to move you again.”

Chaia squirmed in Aaron’s arms as he lifted her from the stretcher to the exam table. Chaia kept her legs unusually still, which, while concerning, helped Aaron stay safe during the transfer.

Anna walked over and peeled the metallic warming blanket off Chaia’s cold, wet body. “Chaia, it’s Anna,” she said in a slow soft voice. She slipped her hand into her pants pocket, discreetly pulling out her pen light. “Can you look at me?” Chaia didn’t budge. She kept her head firmly in her soaked sweater. “Please?” Anna tried again, sliding her free hand under Chaia’s chin. As Anna gently tilted Chaia’s head to face out, the movement caused Chaia’s eyes to open. They were open just long enough for Anna to shine the penlight and confirm that Chaia’s pupils were reactive. “It’s over,” Anna assured Chaia, sliding the light back into her pants pocket. “What do you say we get you out of these wet clothes?” Anna bent into a white cabinet next to the exam table and grabbed a dotted hospital gown and patient belonging bag.

Maria placed herself at the foot of the exam table and grasped Chaia’s hands. “Up, up,” she said, gently tugging on Chaia’s arms to sit her upright. With Chaia sitting slumped slightly forward, Maria reached down to the bottom of Chaia’s sweater and began to pull it up and off of her wife. She slipped Chaia’s wet, curly head out of the neck hole and pulled the sweater off Chaia’s arms. Maria shifted to Anna, trading the wet sweater for the hospital gown. Anna placed the sweater in the patient belongings bag. Maria draped the gown over Chaia and buttoned the back snaps. She gently lowered Chaia to a resting position on the exam table.

“Now, let’s get those skates off.” Anna grabbed a pair of scissors and walked down to Chaia’s feet. She easily unlaced Chaia’s left skate and slid it off her wet foot. She swapped Chaia’s sopping wet wool sock for a bright red hospital sock and carefully placed the skates on the floor away from the table. Chaia’s right foot, on the other hand, was a bit more complicated. The right skate was entangled in green slimy plants and looked to be filled by a larger foot than the left skate. Anna cut through the mangled lakeweed to expose the skate’s laces. She carefully untied the bunny ears knot and began to unthread the laces from the eyelets.

At the second eyelet pair, Chaia whimpered and thrust a flapping hand toward her foot. Maria took hold of the hand and placed it against her sweater. “I’m right here, lifey. Squeeze when it hurts.”

Anna returned to meticulously unlacing the skates. As the unlacing neared the ankle bend, Chaia seemed increasingly agitated. Her whimpers turned to moans. Tears made their way down her still-puffy face. She finally managed a single word. “Stop,” she said weakly.

“I’m almost done,” Anna assured Chaia. She sighed and picked up the scissors. She loosened the remaining laces and cut down the middle. “Okay. I am going to take the skate off in three, two, one.” Anna placed one hand on Chaia’s shin and the other under Chaia’s heel. She braced Chaia’s leg and pulled the skate off.

As soon as her foot was free, Chaia folded into a ball.

Anna looked over at Maria. “I need to talk to you out here,” she said, pointing towards the center of the ED.

Maria planted a kiss on Chaia’s head. “I’ll be right back.” She joined Anna beyond the end of the side curtain of the trauma bay.

Jaydyn had heard the chaos on the other side of the curtain and was getting curious, so it was surprising when Maria appeared from the other side of the curtain. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

“Um.” Maria paused. She pulled back the curtain separating Jaydyn and Chaia’s sections of trauma treatment. “Ice skating accident.”

“Wh- what happened?” Jaydyn asked. He was shocked to see his cousin crumpled almost entirely into a pathetic wet ball. The only exception, of course, was Chaia’s bright purple ankle, which rested against the white sheet on the exam table.

At that moment, Rory walked in and headed for the back wall, where the portable X-ray had been left. “I am so glad that radiology forgot this here today. Oh, and, uh, Jaydyn, your surgery is scheduled for 2:30. They’ll come by to get you prepped shortly.” Rory grabbed the X-ray and headed over to Chaia.

Maria looked over at Jaydyn. “Surgery?”

Jaydyn nodded. “Something about taking out whatever is left of my kneecap. That’s not important right now. I need to help Chaia.” He glanced over at Chaia, who was doing a lousy job of telling Rory to get away from her. Jaydyn shifted forward in his hospital bed, but was promptly stopped by Anna.

“You, sir, are not getting up,” she commanded. “However, I can wheel you over there.” Anna walked to the head of Jaydyn’s bed and unlocked the brakes on the wheels. Slowly, she pushed the bed to align with Chaia’s. She locked the brakes.

“Chaia, it’s me, Jaydyn. Do you wanna hold my hand?” Jaydyn reached for Chaia’s flapping hand.

Chaia uncrumpled and rotated to look Jaydyn in the eyes. “Hey, loser,” she mumbled.

Rory let out an exasperated sigh. “Chaia, I know it hurts, but please stop moving for a minute.”

Jaydyn saw the pain and fear in Chaia’s eyes. “Look at me,” he said. “I have no clue what I am going to tell your mom. Or my mom.” He let out a little laugh. “Oh gosh, what am I going to tell Bubbe? How am I supposed to explain that her two grandchildren got injured in unrelated accidents at the same time?” He waited for Chaia to react but got nothing. “Come on, it is kinda funny.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Jaydyn saw Rory pull X-ray images up on the computer. “So, Dr. Byrne, what’s the good word?”

“So, Chaia,” Dr. Byrne started, but he didn’t have Chaia’s attention. She was numbly staring at the ceiling over Jaydyn’s shoulder. However, a short nudge on Jaydyn’s part brought her focus over to Rory’s computer. Rory continued, “it appears that you have a spiral fracture in your Talus bone, which is in your ankle.” He used his cursor to circle an area of white bone with a black line down the middle. “There is some good news. It has remained stable and does not require surgery. Your body temperature appears to be steady and normal, so we just need to focus on getting a cast on that leg. Okay?”

With her free hand, Chaia reached for Maria, who immediately took hold. Chaia locked eyes with Rory and gave him an unsure nod.

Ice Day

I’m not good at titles. This is my submission for @brutal-nemesis’s ice day with the RSS.

Trigger Warning – also tagged: near drowning.

Word count: 800

The cold water stabbed at Chaia and shrunk her itchy blue jeans around her legs. The ice froze Chaia’s fingertips, using the heat to melt free of her grasp. She fell back under the surface.

The cold water stabbed at Chaia and shrunk her itchy blue jeans around her legs. The ice froze Chaia’s fingertips, using the heat to melt free of her grasp. She fell back under the surface.
Maria had already evacuated the lake, switching her skates out for black snow boots. Maria didn’t see Chaia fall back under: she was too focused on the nearing sound of sirens.
Chaia kicked in an attempt to push herself back to the surface. Her skate brushed the bottom, becoming entangled in the lake’s hibernating plants. Chaia kicked her free leg again but could not budge. She was stuck.
An ambulance pulled up on the road in front of Maria. Two paramedics jumped out. “My wife,” Maria pleaded, “she fell through the ice and is in that hole over there.” She pointed at the spot on the mostly frozen lake where the green water made an evident appearance. The hole was only about 25 feet from the road.
“Okay,” one of the paramedics responded. “My name is Lucy. My friend Aaron and I are going to help you out. Is she still conscious?”
“Yeah,” Maria responded, “she was a lifeguard back in college and I’ve been seeing her bob up and down since she fell in.”
Aaron had already started to check out the lake. He’d only put one foot on the ice when he was stopped by Lucy. “What do you think you’re doing?” she asked. “If she fell in, why can’t you? Go get the rope. Wife says she’s still conscious.” Lucy turned to Maria. “What is your wife’s name?”
Another unsuccessful resurfacing attempt put Chaia’s panic into high gear. She swam down, feeling around for her caught foot. She was quickly able to wrap her hands around her right ankle. She tried to unlace the skate, but the cold water had stiffened her hands. Every move burned her joints and cramped her muscles. She heard her name in the distance. It was a voice she didn’t recognize. It was the paramedics. Something splashed above her. She reached for it only to graze a finger on the slick plastic surface. Chaia was being rescued, but she couldn’t get herself out. She dove back down and grasped the plants below her skate. Without giving it much thought, she yanked the plants across the sharp surface of her skate.
It had been thirty seconds since Aaron landed the rescue line, and Chaia hadn’t responded. Maria was starting to worry. “Go out there and get her! She’s probably drowning now!” she screamed.
Lucy wrapped the shivering Maria in a warming blanket. “It’s not that simple. We need to make sure that no one else gets hurt. We can’t just–”
“I’ve got her!” Aaron yelled. “Chaia, my name is Aaron. I’m going to get you out. I need you to hold onto that ring really tight, okay?”
Chaia nodded.
Aaron pulled her out of the hole and onto the ice. “Don’t stand up. Just hold on as I drag you across.” As Aaron pulled, Chaia slid smoothly across the ice. While being sopping wet in the middle of winter was quite unpleasant, the water at least mitigated friction on the ice.
When Chaia reached the shore, she collapsed into Maria’s arm’s, taking them both down the frozen grass. Tears poured out of Chaia’s eyes, but her wet face and already red eyes prevented anyone from noticing until she began soaking Maria’s sweater. A metallic warming blanket descended over Chaia’s drenched pink sweater.
“You’re okay, lifey. I love you. You are safe. You are with me.” Maria wrapped her arms around her wife.
Lucy crouched down next to the frantic metallic heap. “Chaia, can I take your vitals?”
Chaia buried her head further into Maria’s chest and pulled her legs closer to her stomach.
Lucy sighed lightly. “Chaia, I need to make sure you’re okay. I just need to take your temperature, blood pressure, and oxygen levels. Very quick. Very low-impact.”
Chaia shook her head in Maria’s sweater.
“Chaia, please.” Maria said softly. “They need to check you out. And then we can get you dry and so much warmer.”
“No,” Chaia muttered weakly. It was the first thing she’d said since falling in.
Maria and Aaron locked eyes, exchanging knowing looks. After a synchronous nod, Aaron scooped Chaia off of the cold, wet, ground.
This did not make Chaia h

Whumptober Day 26

“911, what is your emergency?”

“I fell.” The voice on the other end of Victor’s call pauses. “Who am I speaking with”

“I am Victor,” Victor responds, perplexed by the caller’s question. “Where did you fall?”

“Victor, it’s me–”

“Kai? Where are you on the trail? Do you need fire and rescue or just EMS?”

“At the end of the falls.”

“What is the extent of your injuries. Wait. You didn’t–”

“I did. Rocks scratched me up real good. On shore but I can’t control all the bleeding. Probably a couple broken ribs too.”

“You sound great for a man who almost drowned.”

“It’s probably the blood loss.”

Whumptober Day 25

“Dispatch, am I clear to enter?” Kai asks into his radio.

“Police have cleared the scene. You may proceed, Himona,” Victor replies. “Caller has been hiding in the coat closet by the front door.”

Kai grabs the med kit and enters the house. He slowly approaches the front closet and knocks on the bifold door. “Aliana? This is EMS. I am here to help you.” He slides the door open.

Aliana lets out a scream as the door opens. The carpet beneath her left leg is stained with blood. “Is he gone?” she asks.

“He’s gone,” Kai reassures her. “Police did a full search. Now it’s time to get the wound cleaned up.”

Whumptober Day 24

Demetra slowly and firmly wraps her arms around Omar, who is rocking back and forth, flailing, and screaming. “It’s okay. It’s not real. I, Demetra, am right here. Do you feel me?”

“You can’t take my family again!” Omar screams, interrupting Demetra’s steady voice.

“It’s over. You are safe. Focus on my presence. Feel my arms around your chest. Smell my fruity shampoo. Listen to my breathing. I am here.”

Whumptober Day 23

“Maria, I’m here.” Chaia rushes over to her wife’s hospital bed. “I am so sorry I couldn’t be here earlier, I got caught up in an important work presentation. But I am here now.” She stares down at the waist belt that restrains her wife to the bed and slides her hand down to grasp Maria’s hand, which is held firmly against the bed by its own restraint. “It looks like it was hard today. That must’ve been really scary. I’m here, and I’m going to make sure that they don’t scare you like that again, okay?”

Whumptober Day 22

“How’s the internal med rotation treating you?” Anna asks Rory, handing him a coffee.

“Not as exciting as the ED. But I definitely don’t miss all the screaming.” Rory responds.

Just as Anna begins to walk away from the coffee counter, Dr. Howell calls her name from the ED down the hallway. “Anna! We need all hands on deck in here!” Her shouts are quickly overpowered by a distant screaming.

Anna places her coffee next to the coffee machine and rushes to the ED doors, turning around to ask Rory, “You coming?”

He follows Anna to find a patient screaming in pain from his injuries.

Dr. Howell takes note of Rory’s appearance. “Dr. Byrne, good to see you. We’ve got a mass casualty from a car crash on the interstate. Go take the patient in 3.”

Whumptober Day 21

“Justin, I’m gonna need more bandages,” Kai calls out. “Gauze, cotton, an extra t-shirt! Anything we’ve got!” He shifts his attention to Demetra, whose shoulder wound fills Kai’s first gauze with blood, what has not been soaked up spilling down onto her dark hair, which stands out against the blue (well, now red) rug. “I am going to put pressure on the wound, which will slow the bleeding, but it’ll probably hurt.”

Whumptober Day 20

Demetra rushes over to Omar, who is strewn out on the floor of their apartment. “Omar, are you awake?”

“Yeah,” he replies weakly.

“Where does it hurt? Do I need to call an ambulance?”

“My head. And everything is blurry. Just carry me to the car.”