Chapter 3

I was feeling pretty good about my life as I went home; reliving the day in my head. I couldn’t get Cherry out of my mind and it wasn’t even all about the incredible blow job she’d just given me. There was a real connection with her and I just enjoyed being with her. I wasn’t sure if it was love or not; it was still too early to know that for sure, but I knew I really liked her a lot.

I was pulling up in front of my apartment when I realized I couldn’t remember a single detail about the drive home. Did I run any stoplights or signs? Did I speed or drive ten miles an hour under the limit? I couldn’t tell you and I honestly didn’t care very much at that point. I was on a natural high that I was sure I would never come down from. But I was, yet again, wrong.

The next day, I was at work and still on my ‘high’ from my date. It was a normal day in every other respect. But then we got a call out on a traffic accident. We bolted to the rig, prepared as always, and barreled out with lights and sirens blasting.

As we approached the scene, Chief turned around to us and said, “This is going to be a bad one, guys. One DOS (Death On Scene) for sure. Surgeon: you’re up.” We all just said in unison, ‘shit’.

Brian’s nickname was Surgeon; a name he earned because of his skills with the Jaws of Life—NO ONE was better than Brian.

As the scene came into my view, I suddenly knew what Chief was talking about. The intersection was a bad one: an interstate that ended and turned into local streets at a light. Travelers unfamiliar with the area and not paying attention could easily miss the signs and signals and blow through it. And that was exactly what happened. But this time it was a big rig that blew through the intersection and it was a small car that got creamed.

I couldn’t even tell what kind of car it had been: it looked like a battalion of Abrams tanks drove over it and then used it for target practice. The front half of the car was nothing more than the bottom of the chassis—engine, transmission, wheels, doors, fenders, roof, and seats were gone. They weren’t smashed: they were GONE—scattered in a debris field that led to where the truck finally came to rest about a hundred yards down the road.

As our rig was coming to a stop, we were all saying things like, ‘Holy shit’, ‘Goddamn’, ‘Fuck me’, and even Chief (who had seen everything and nothing fazed him) said, “Son of a fucking Bitch!”

Whoever was in the front seat was dead before the truck finished passing over the car. But that wasn’t what was going to make this one bad. There were no less than a dozen motorists clawing feverishly at the remaining wreckage and I knew immediately what that meant. There was a kid in the back seat.

We jumped out and went to work. Chief sent the motorist packing, but not before I saw how their hands were cut up from trying to pry the shredded metal away. Every cop in town seemed to be on scene and they transitioned from rescue to securing the scene and rerouting traffic.

Surgeon began doing his thing and I took my jacket off so that I could try to squeeze myself inside the wreckage more easily. I looked inside and, sure enough, there was a young girl in a booster seat in the back. She was covered in blood and she wore a face of permanent shock—eyes wide open, mouth hanging open. She was not older than seven. I was just barely able to reach her.

“Honey, can you hear me?” I asked the girl while touching her hand. The girl was hyperventilating, but her breaths were shallow. She just kept whispering, ‘Momma?’

I said, “My name is David and I’m going to get you out of here, ok? What’s your name?”

The girl looked in my direction but it was as if she was looking right through me. She managed to squeak out her name: ‘Katie’.

“Ok, Katie; I need you to stay very still ok, honey? You are going to hear some loud sounds, but don’t be afraid! It’s just my friend. He has a big pair of scissors for cutting metal. So that sound you hear now is just him helping me get you out of the car ok?”

She weakly responded saying, ‘ok’. The roof shifted up and I pushed in further through the twisted wreck. I had a pen flashlight and I used it to check Katie’s pupils. She either had a severe concussion or she had just finished doing enough meth to get an elephant high—my bet was on the concussion.

Seemingly out of nowhere, a small neck brace was handed to me and I put it on her. I continued assessing her and found her shirt was becoming bloodier. I cut the shirt off of her and, sure enough, she had a puncture wound to the chest. Once her t-shirt was removed, I saw that bubbles were forming in the blood with each breath she took and that told me that she had a punctured lung.

I yelled out to Garry, “S.C.W. (sucking chest wound)!” In a flash, a package of plastic, gauze, and tape was handed in to me. I wiped her skin off around the top and sides of the wound, applied the plastic and secured it, leaving the bottom open so that the blood would be pushed out as she inhaled instead of being pulled into her lungs and drowning her.

“Get us out of here, Surgeon!” I yelled. “Flush (Garry), tell Chief to call Airwolf!” I said. ‘Airwolf’ was slang for a life flight; there was no way she was going by ambulance. Garry said, “It’s already on the way, Lucky.”

I asked Katie how she was doing and she said she was scared. I told her that I understood and said that she was going to go to the hospital so the doctor can ‘make sure she was alright’. I knew Katie was far from ‘alright’, but I didn’t want to scare her, of course. She asked if I would go with her and I promised that I would.

The roof peeled back and the sunlight poured in. Suddenly I could see all too clear just how bad Katie was injured and my confidence (which was already low) plummeted. In addition to the injuries I had already found, Katie had a compound fracture of her left tibia which exited through her calf muscle, not to mention countless cuts and bruises. I cut her seatbelt off as EMT’s began to move in and put her on a board for transport and I could hear the sounds of a helicopter landing close by.

Chief was acting as the LSO (landing signals officer) and, as we made our way to the helo, I told him I was staying with her. There wasn’t time to argue, so he just nodded in agreement.

I let the EMT’s do their job and just held her hand so she would know I was there. They got her secured in the life flight and were hooking her up to IV’s, plasma, and a heart monitor as the helicopter lifted off. Suddenly, Katie released her weak grip on my hand and she flat lined.

The small team went into overdrive to bring her back. They worked on her until we landed at the hospital and a team of doctors took over. I only stepped back enough to give them room, but I already knew how the day would end. There was nothing anyone could have done; her little body simply suffered too much damage. The doctor pronounced her and called out the time. I wanted to punch him even though it wasn’t his fault.

I spent a few moments with Katie; telling her that I was sorry. Before leaving, I gave her a small kiss on her forehead and turned to go.

A nurse stopped me and said, “Why don’t you come over here and we’ll take care of you...”

I said, “What do you mean?”The nurse said, “We’ll get you sutured up.” She pointed to my left shoulder and the back of my head.

I craned my neck to look over my shoulder and only then realized I had at least a four inch gash on my shoulder blade and the back of my t-shirt was soaked with blood. I felt the back of my head and it was wet, too.

“Oh, I didn’t even notice...”

She just pressed her lips together in an understanding ‘smile’ and said, “Over here...”

After the stitches in my shoulder and staples in my head were in place, I walked out of the ER wondering how I was going to get back to the station. I didn’t wonder long: Chief was outside waiting for me. One look at my face and he knew there was no need to ask about how Katie was doing.

“You know you did it right.”

“I’m not so sure,” I said.

Chief said, “Listen: you know that there are going to be days like this. We can’t save the world, but we do what we can. You take a few days and think about it—get past the emotional part and you will see that there was nothing more you could have done. OK?”

Chief wasn’t one for long speeches, but his short talks had a way of cutting right to the chase and getting to the point. I nodded without saying a word and Chief drove me home.

The first thing I did was call Cherry. I had to get my mind off of the day and I knew that Cherry would be the answer. She picked up right after the first ring.

“It’s about time you called me! I was starting to think you just used me!” Cherry joked with a smile to her voice.

I said, “I’m sorry: I would have called sooner, but I had a really bad day today. You don’t want to know the details; trust me.”

Cherry’s voice became more serious and concerned. “Oh. Oh, I’m sorry. What happened? Are you OK?”

I said, “Yes and no: There was a major accident and ... it was the worst I’ve ever seen—let’s leave it at that. Can you come over?” I was trying not to tear up and break down and I think she could hear that in my voice.

Cherry answered with uncertainty, “Oh, gosh, I don’t know. I mean I want to, of course! I just don’t know if I can get a ride.”

I said, “What’s wrong with your car now?”

“Oh, um ... the car is fine, but my Mom has it. Let me call Olivia and I’ll call you right back.”

I told her ‘ok’ and she hung up. Several minutes passed and my phone rang. Answering the phone, Cherry said, “I’ll be there in a little while, but I’ll need you to give me a ride in the morning. Is that ok?”

“Yeah, that’s fine; I just really need to see you tonight,” I said.

I gave her my address and directions and she said she would be over as soon as possible. A few minutes later, there was a knock at my door. I knew it wasn’t Cherry; she lived too far away for it to be her already. I opened the door and saw my buddies Brian and Garry at my door.

“Hey guys, what’s up,” I asked. They had never just stopped by unannounced like that before.

Garry held up my car keys and I had a sudden realization for why they were there; they brought my car home for me. I invited them in for a beer as a way to say ‘thanks’. Garry was declining saying that they had to get going, but at the same time, Brian was saying, ‘sure’. In hind sight, offering beer to an alcoholic isn’t exactly the best idea in the world, but I wasn’t thinking clearly at that moment. Fortunately, I didn’t have very much and they didn’t stay long. We did talk about the accident and about Katie, but it didn’t make any of us feel much better.

A few moments of silent reflection preceded Brian and Garry leaving and I prepared for Cherry’s arrival. I was just finishing straightening up my apartment when there was a knock at the door. I opened it and saw Cherry and Olivia at my doorstep. Just seeing Cherry there made me feel better already.