Johnny, Roy and Dr Morton continued to work at Station 86. Many of the victims being brought to the station had been injured in the storm. Johnny sat down and cleaned his and Roy's boots while Roy washed their uniforms. Their last rescue had them covered in mud. It was just as well they had a spare uniform each, in the squad.
The engine was called out so Roy and Johnny took over preparing the evening meal. Dr Morton was working on a young girl suffering from asthma. The psychiatrist had gone home. The girl's mother sat talking quietly to her daughter as Dr Morton put her on a breathing treatment. He made his way into the kitchen to get some coffee.
"What's for dinner?" he asked as he poured himself a cup of coffee.
"Beef stew" announced Johnny. "I hope you're not vegetarian Doc" he teased with a smile.
"No but I value my stomach. There's no chilli in it?" he asked as he pursued the ingredients.
"No chilli Doc. Just plain old beef stew" informed Roy.
"Well let's not get boring. Where are the herbs?" he asked as he scanned the cupboards.
"Over here Doc" Johnny pointed to a spice rack on the wall.
Dr Morton examined the spices and put a couple aside. He added a teaspoon of each spice to the casserole dish. "That should do it" he happily announced.
"What did you put in there?" asked Johnny with suspicion.
"Oh a little of this and a little of that" Dr Morton answered teasingly.
Johnny raised his eyebrow sceptically. "I sure hope you know what you're doing. It's not just us eating it" Johnny informed Dr Morton. A car could be heard backing into the bay area. Johnny and Dr Morton made their way to the bay area. Roy was washing his hands.
A van with three men sitting in the front was parking, "Hey my buddy needs help" the driver called out.
"I'll set up a bed" Dr Morton told Johnny and headed back to the dorm.
Johnny raced round and looked inside the van. A man was lying on his back holding his leg. He had a long cut on his thigh and had noticeably lost a lot of blood. He also noticed a lot of wet plants lying in the back of the van.
Roy helped Johnny carry the man up the stairs. The two passengers got out helping and the driver followed them into the dorm/makeshift hospital.
"Doc we've got a bad laceration here" Johnny informed Dr Morton.
Dr Morton immediately went to work while Johnny got vitals."Roy can you check on the little girl?" Roy went to check on the girl. "How did this happen?" asked Dr Morton. When there was no answer he looked up at the men expectantly. "Look I need to know incase he needs a tetanus shot" he pushed.
The driver looked at the other two men "Ah it was a blade. We were cutting back some plants and his leg got sliced" the man shrugged his shoulders.
Johnny looked up after taking his BP. The men seemed nervous to him. He passed the doctor some saline solution to wash the leg. He looked over at Roy and gave him a slight nod, with his nod Roy confirmed he had noticed also.
Johnny helped Dr Morton prepare the leg for stitches. "Hope you've got enough Doc?" Johnny looked closely at the cut.
"Yeah, but we'll need to pick up more on our next trip to Rampart" he confirmed.
Over the last couple of years Johnny had learned to respect Dr Morton. When he first met Dr Morton he didn't like his bedside manner, but now appreciated his dry sense of humor. The stitching took a long time. Roy noticed the driver becoming more agitated. "Hey guys, why don't you sit down and relax. They'll be a while" Roy pointed to some chairs in the corner of the room.
Vince Howard casually walked into the make shift hospital and smiled when he saw Roy and Johnny. "I heard there were two hotshot paramedics working out of this station"
"Vince what are you doing here?" asked Roy.
"I live in this area. It's a good way to get away from the city and its peaceful" he answered as he watched the three men sitting over in the corner of the room.
"How long does it take to commute to your precinct?" asked Johnny. The three men looked at each other uncomfortably.
"About an hour, hour and half in traffic. But it's worth it" answered Vince. "You fellows from around here?" asked Vince.
"No we were just visiting and got caught" answered the driver.
"You own that van out there?"
"Yeah what of it?" questioned one of the other men.
"Rear tyre is bald" stated Vince.
"Its our spare, we had a flat couple of days ago."
"Well you'll have another flat if you're not careful" Vince told them.
The lights flickered on and off and then finally went out. "I better get back, the kids will be complaining about no electricity. I'll need to start the generator. Should be one here too" said Vince.
"Yeah its out back" confirmed Roy.
"Any problems, I live just down the road, I've got a two way also. See ya guys"
"Bye Vince" Roy and Johnny said in unison.
Roy went out back to start up the generator. Soon the lights came back on.
When Dr Morton finally finished, the injured man started waking up. He couldn't feel any pain because his leg was still numb. Dr Morton checked his eyes while Johnny took his blood pressure, he was stabilizing. One of the men elbowed the driver. "Ned he's awake...and they've finished sowing him up".
Ned walked up to the bed. "Steve you ready to go" he asked?
"Hang on, this man can't be moved. He's lost a lot of blood and you'll rip his stitches out if you move him" Dr Morton informed him.
"We can't hang around Doc...things to do...besides Steve knows we need to get going" Ned informed the doctor.
"I do not recommend him moving" countered Dr Morton.
"Hang on...just give him a little while. We need to make sure there's no sign of infection. You've waited this long what's another hour?" asked Johnny trying to calm things down.
"Ok one hour, no longer" said Ned. "Joe go check the van?"
"You do know the bridge is out" Roy called out.
Ned looked at Steve. "That's why we've got this make shift hospital" Dr Morton waved his hand around the room.
Ned grabbed the other man and walked outside to the van. Before they could leave Joe yelled "Cop" and ran into the room. Ned pulled a gun from behind his back. He pointed it at Johnny.
"Get rid of him" he ordered Johnny.
"Ok just stay cool" Johnny edged his way to the door giving the gun and Ned a settle down gesture with his hands.
Johnny stepped out into the bay area. "Can I help you Officer" Johnny asked.
The officer looked up and shook Johnny's hand. "Yeah do you know who this van belongs to" he asked?
"Aahh I think it's one of the engine's crew. I'm not normally stationed here, me and my partner got caught here with the bridge out" Johnny shrugged his shoulders.
"You're one of the paramedics helping out" Johnny nodded.
"Like I said my partner and I got caught up here,but we're glad to help" said Johnny.
The officer seemed satisfied and made his way back to his car; Johnny wished he could have warned him about the men. He quickly returned to the dorm. The driver had his gun pointing at Dr Morton. "He's gone" stated Johnny.
"What now" asked Joe?
"Doc her breathing treatment has finished" called Roy.
"You need to let the Doc do his job" Johnny told Ned.
"Ok go...but you come over here" Ned instructed Johnny.
He placed the gun on Johnny's temple. Dr Morton went over to Roy and checked the little girl.
"What are you gonna do when the engine gets back?" asked Roy.
"What are we gonna do Ned?" asked Steve his thigh was starting to come to life with pain.
"We leave" announced Ned.
"What do we do with them? They'll call the cops as soon as we leave" said Steve.
"We tie them up, pull out all the phones" Ned instructed Joe. He pushed Johnny towards Roy, Dr Morton and the mother and daughter. The third man came back with some rope. He tied up Roy. He then went to tie up the mother and daughter. Dr Morton protested.
"You can't tie her up, she's sick" pleaded Dr Morton.
Dr Morton went to stop the man; Johnny saw Ned raise his gun and pushed Dr Morton out of the way. The gun went off and the mother screamed. Johnny dropped to floor.
"Everybody stand still." The mother and daughter were crying, Roy was trying to see Johnny. Dr Morton tried to calm the little girl as she struggled to breathe.
"He's bleeding all over the floor Ned. What are we gonna do now?" asked Joe.
"Why don't you just leave...haven't you done enough damage..." announced Dr Morton
"Doc...don't...you need to stay calm for hers...and Johnny's sake" Roy's calm voice got Dr Morton's attention. "Johnny didn't push you out of the way for nothing...he knew you were needed by these people"
"Ok...ok" Dr Morton calmed down and nodded to Roy, he understood what he was saying.
"Joe get rid of all the phones. Frank finish tying them up...now!" yelled Ned. He opened the door to the bathroom and called to Roy "In here".
Roy sat down under the sink and was tied to the sink's piping. "You ...in here" Ned nodded to Dr Morton. He sat on the other side of the sink and was tied the same way as Roy.
"Pick up your daughter and come over here." Ned pointed to a large cupboard that had linen in it. The mother and daughter sat on the ground inside the cupboard; the doors were shut and locked.
"What about him Ned?" asked Joe.
"Grab the sheet and wrap him up in it and put him into the bathroom out of sight" instructed Ned.
Ned grabbed a mop and cleaned up the blood. When Joe came back from the bathroom, he helped Ned carry there friend back to the van. They all climbed into the van and drove away.
Silence rained over the station. A wind was blowing outside and soon rain was pounding on the roof. The deafening rain drowned out the calls for help.
Johnny was cold, his shivering caused his shoulder to send stabbing pain through his chest. He remembered pushing Dr Morton out of the way and the gunshot. He tried to sit up but his shoulder made it near impossible to move. He realised he was in the bathroom and had no idea how he got there or where the others were. He looked down at his shoulder, there was no exit wound in the front which meant the bullet was still in there. He knew he should stay still but he couldn't just lie there not knowing where the others were. He slowly began to turn.
"Stay still Johnny" Roy called out to him. Johnny looked over and saw Roy and Dr Morton. Despite their protests he crawled across the bathroom floor. He had to rise up onto his knees to get to where the rope had been tied to the pipe. The pain made him breathless and he was worried that the bullet may have penetrated his lung.
"You should be keeping still Gage, that bullet might move and cause more damage" chided Dr Morton.
"I need to get you guys free so you can get this bullet out of me Doc" answered Johnny breathlessly.
Johnny reached back for his pocket knife and thought he was going to pass out before he reached it, from the pain. "Johnny" Roy placed his tied hands on Johnny's chest. Johnny's breathing was coming in short breaths with him moaning with each breath. Using his left hand he slowly cut through the rope. Roy pulled on it and when Johnny was three quarters of the way through, it snapped. Johnny dropped the knife and took one last breath and fell into Roy's arms.