Now and Beyond
by
HelenBeacham
Taking a seat behind the wheel, Face waited anxiously for the team members to be accounted for before he slammed his foot on the accelerator to thrust the van backwards. As the tires dug into the dirt Decker looked up to see one of his MPs leap out of the passenger door. No sooner had he ordered his men to jump into their cars to engage in hot pursuit of the escaping prisoners, Hannibal slid open the side door of the van and shot several rounds into the patrol car tires.
The van disappeared behind a thick cloud of billowing smoke, leaving a fuming Decker behind.
"Hey, we did it Hannibal!" Face shouted excitedly from the driver seat while throwing the key for the handcuffs to Hannibal.
Once his wrists were free from the cuffs, Hannibal drew a cigar from out of his shirt pocket and stuck it between his grinning lips. "I do love it when a plan comes together, but I admit it wasn't one of my best. Luck played a major role. If Decker hadn't agreed to put us all in the van, this might as well have been the end of the road for us."
"I must say I was worried he wouldn't agree to let us all get into the van. I knew it was our only way of escaping together," B.A. said. "Guess the man has a heart after all." He turned to Tawnia and brows furrowed with concern at her anguished expression. "What's the matter, girl?"
Without lifting her eyes off the bandaged patient lying on the floor of the van, she knelt down beside Murdock's body and gently laid a hand on his chest. "Murdock's not breathing."
"What?" Both B.A. and Hannibal chorused with each diving to their knees beside their injured friend. Hannibal discarded his cigar and checked for any sign of life. "I...I don't feel a pulse," he announced tensely as panic slowly crept up on him. "Damn it!" he cursed as he swiftly removed his jacket to prepare to administer CPR.
"Want me to stop the van?" Face suggested, striving to keep his eyes focused on the road ahead.
"Find a location where we can hide the van behind bushes. I don't want Decker to find us."
"You got it." Face got busy scanning the area for the ideal halt spot away from prying eyes.
"B.A., remove the bandages from his face, will you? Tawnia, when I give you the word, you breathe air into his lungs, got it?" he instructed the twosome who nodded their understanding.
"I found it, Hannibal. Hold on just a second back there. I'll park it somewhere inconspicuous."
"Hurry Face," Hannibal stressed as he prepped the patient to receive his shock treatment.
"It's all off, Hannibal," B.A. said after removing the last piece of cloth around Murdock's face. His stomach churned at the sight of the blue-tinged lips and sunken eyes morbidly staring back at him.
Once the van was immobilized, Hannibal began the chest compressions in a steady rhythm, with Tawnia breathing air into the still form at regular intervals. She would monitor the pulse every twenty second.
Three minutes had elapsed and still not sign of life. "Come on, Murdock! You held on this far. Don't give up now!"
"Let me have a crack at it. I'll bring him back," B.A. asserted resolutely, shoving Hannibal aside to take his place at Murdock's side. "Now you fool, breathe!" he barked threateningly as he proceeded to give his friend a cardiac thump to revive him, but that too failed to produce any result. "I'm only gonna said it twice, Murdock, and this time you'd better heed my warning if you know what's good for ya!" B.A. thrust another fist into Murdock's chest with a force that sent a shock wave coursing through the empty shell, whipping it back to life. Murdock sucked in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. B.A. pressed his ear against his friend's chest and cracked a smile of relief. "He's back, Hannibal. He's breathing again."
"The pulse is still weak, though," Tawnia observed dismally, turning to Face for reassurance.
"Hey, don't you worry, Tawnia," Face assured by wrapping a protective arm around her shoulders. "Murdock's a tough cookie. He was wounded twice in Nam and managed to bounce back just fine." He flashed an emboldening smile that faded quickly upon glancing at Hannibal and B.A..
"We've got to get him to a hospital and quick," B.A. urged menacingly, despite knowing the task was utterly impossible to carry out.
"The nearest hospital is only ten minutes away," Face stated.
"Guys, we cannot drop idly by a hospital. You know as well as I do we risk getting caught. Decker's on our heels and he knows we have a wounded man. It'll be the first place he comes looking for us. I suspect he already has the hospitals in the area under heavy surveillance. No, we can't dice it."
"Hannibal we'll have to take that chance, otherwise Murdock will die," B.A. argued. "I'm willing to be the fall guy if that's what it takes to save the fool's life."
"Sorry ole buddy but I can't let you do it. It'll be suicide. Can't risk the life of one of my team members to save another. Besides there's no guarantee he won't be DOA when we get there. No, we've got to find something else."
"What about bringing him to Maggie's?" Face suggested.
"That's nearly sixty miles from here. Murdock won't make it that far." Hannibal raised a fist to his lips in deep concentration.
"I don't think we have any other options, Hannibal," Tawnia stressed.
"Alright," Hannibal yielded to the inevitable. "Face, get the van moving again. "We'll take him to Maggie's. Hopefully she'll stabilize his condition while waiting for an ambulance. She'll look out for him and report to us on his condition."
"You got it!" Face resumed his seat behind the wheel and put the van in reverse to get back on the road.
B.A. placed a gentle hand on Murdock's shoulder and pursed his lips to suppress the overwhelming emotions threatening to engulf him whole. "Hold on, buddy. You'll be alright, now."
With both hands nervously gripping the wheel, Face struggled against the urge to put the pedal to the metal and send the van zooming down the road to make better time to Maggie's. He would steal sneak peeks at the rear view mirror to check on his friends' reactions to the patient's condition. So far, no change.
Ten minutes into their frantic ride, Tawnia checked Murdock's pulse and cringed.
"How is he?" Hannibal queried apprehensively.
"Not good. I can barely feel a pulse and his breathing's dangerously shallow." She gingerly lifted the bloody shirt off Murdock's chest and noticed the blood soaked bandage. "The wound's still oozing blood. He won't hold on much longer."
"Hey!" Face shouted as he slowed the van to a complete stop.
"What's the matter, Face? Why are you stopping?" Hannibal asked.
"There's a doctor over there," he said, pointing to the left side of the road. "A Doctor Kelly Stevens."
All eager eyes followed the finger's direction. "She's a vet!" B.A. groused.
"Doesn't matter, she's a doctor. She can maintain Murdock alive by giving him a blood transfusion. That should hold him until we can get him to Maggie's," Face expounded to his colleagues who all looked at one another to gauge the others' views to Face's suggestion.
"He's right, Hannibal," Tawnia agreed. Then lowering her eyes to gaze sombrely at the wounded man, she added, "It's Murdock's only chance."
"Ok," Hannibal acquiesced. "Face, take us there."
Face steered the van to the left and drove down the small road leading up to the doctor's home office. There, he parked the car in the driveway and rushed out of the van to go lend a hand in carrying Murdock inside.
"Tawnia, go and advise the doctor we're bringing in a wounded man in dire need of blood."
"Ok Hannibal." Tawnia shuffled out of the van and ran up to Dr. Stevens' office. "Is anyone here?" she called out with an anguished cry while frantically knocking on the door. "Please, I need help."
A beautiful ocean-blue-eyed petite woman clad in a white smock opened the door. "I'm Doctor Stevens. What's the problem?"
"Doctor, my friend's been shot and he's in bad shape. He lost an awful lot of blood."
"But I'm a veterinarian, I...."
"Please, you have to do something or he's going to die," Tawnia beseeched.
Barely had Kelly have time for rebuttal that Hannibal, Face and B.A. passed her on the doorstep with their bundle. Her heart sank at the pitiful sight in the sling and instinctively pushed the office door wider for them to enter.
"Put him on the table over there," she indicated as she followed them to the examination room.
No sooner had the team laid Murdock down that Kelly began her probing. "Help me remove his shirt, gently." Tawnia and Face heeded her instructions with delicate ministrations despite Murdock's comatose state. "What happened to him?" she asked as she checked the patient's vitals.
"He got shot in the shoulder. I was able to remove the bullet but I'm afraid infection has set in. He's burning up with fever," Hannibal explained.
"That's an understatement." She removed the thermometer from underneath Murdock's armpit and frowned at the results. "104.2. We'll need to cool him down and drain the infection."
"What about blood?"
"Yes, he definitely needs a transfusion but not before I get his temperature down a bit or it won't do him any good. Problem is I don't have his type of blood, human blood that is."
"You take mine. Me and that man have the same type of blood," B.A. stated assertively, clenching a fist to show he had plenty of bodily fluid to spare for his friend.
"That's good. Right now, I need to lower his core temperature and for that, I'm going to require lots of ice. If you gentlemen would be so kind as to fetch me a few bags down in the cellar?"
Face and Hannibal volunteered to do the doctor's bidding while B.A. went to the window to keep an eye out for any unwelcomed visitors.
"I take it this man is a friend of yours?" Kelly alleged, prompting a grief-stricken B.A. to turn to Murdock.
"Yeah. He's my best buddy, but don't tell him that or it'll go to his head," B.A. confided through a hardened face, though Kelly could see behind that mask that the big guy held the wounded man in high esteem and would gladly forfeit his own life to save his.
"Do you mind my asking who you are?" she asked casually while putting an oxygen mask over Murdock's face.
B.A. lowered his gaze for a brief moment to ponder her question. "My name's B.A. Baracus and this here man is H.M. Murdock."
"I'm Tawnia Baker."
"Are you his girlfriend?"
"No I'm just a friend of the group. I'm only tagging along. "
"And I'm John Smith," Hannibal said as he appeared in the door with the bags of ice.
"And I'm Templeton Peck, but everyone calls me Face."
"Mind as well know the truth. We're the A-Team," Hannibal confessed as he dropped the bags onto the floor.
"The A-Team. Yes I've heard about you but I didn't think you really existed."
"Oh we're real, all right. Days like these I wish we weren't, though" Face confided, relieving himself of his frozen burden. He then walked up to the table to gaze down at the patient. "What do you want us to do now?"
"I'll need you to hold him while I slide a blanket under him. It'll keep the ice tightly wrapped around his body."
While Hannibal and Face followed the doctor's instructions, B.A. suggested hiding the van out back to avoid being spotted from the road.
Moments later, Kelly settled on draining the infection despite the spike in Murdock's temperature that was now hovering at an abominable 105. The team was on pins and needles and waited with bathed breath at the prognostic. Kelly assured them that the patient came through the surgery well and was now in stable condition. "He's not out of the woods yet, but I'm confident that the drainage will bring his fever down and we'll be able to proceed with the transfusion."
"Thank you, doctor. You have no idea how grateful we are of your help and your discretion. As you know we're wanted men and therefore we couldn't bring him to a hospital," Hannibal explained, before wincing at the sight of Murdock's ashen face, sunken cheeks and bluish lips.
"I understand. But you're aware that he needs serious medical attention that only a hospital can provide. I'm afraid I've done all I could for him. I just hope the blood transfusion will infuse the strength he'll need to survive the trip to the hospital."
"I'm sure it'll be enough. Murdock's a born fighter. He won't take the coward way out," Hannibal stated steadfastly, glancing at the patient cocooned in a pack of ice cubes. "He'll be alright," He mumbled waveringly underneath his breath as if losing faith in his belief.
When Murdock's fever dwindled in early evening, Kelly prepped both patients for the blood transfusion. She waited for Murdock's condition to stabilize before calling for an ambulance.
"The ambulance's on its way," she announced to the anguished team members. "I'll wait for the paramedics. You'd better go now . I know what to tell them and I promise not to mention any of your names. You were never here. Murdock dropped on my doorstep and that's all there is to it. I don't know anything more."
"Good girl," Hannibal expressed gratitude with a pat on her shoulder. "We'll drop by later to check on his condition."
"I'll expect you to," she smiled, hugging both Face and Hannibal. She saw them making their way to the bed in the corner of the room where Murdock was now resting comfortably. "Don't worry. He's in good hands."
"Maybe I should stay and go with Murdock at the hospital," Tawnia offered.
"It's too dangerous. Decker knows you're part of the team. If he spots you at the hospital, he will bring you in for questioning. And he'll grill you until you spill the beans."
"Don't worry. I'll see that your friend gets the best care."
"We know you will, Kelly. Thank you again for your help."
"Don't mention it, Colonel. It's my pleasure. I just hope I did enough."
"You did more than you think. See ya later."
All four members headed out the door and climbed into the van. Kelly watched them drive away before returning to her patient who was showing signs of regaining consciousness. A tiny stir caught her attention. She heard a muffled moan as she padded up to the bed.
"Mister Murdock, can you hear me? I'm Doctor Stevens. Please open your eyes." Murdock's eyes fluttered as he strained to pry them open. "That's it, you're doing fine."
Finally, the lids slowly pulled apart and vacuous eyes peer through the mist to focus on the angelic face smiling down at him. "Died and...and gone to heaven?" he mumbled weakly, blinking heavily from the strain.
"Not exactly," she said amusedly. "You're very much alive, but pretty badly hurt. You lie still. The ambulance's on its way."
"Ambulance?"
"Your injuries are very severe. You need to be in a hospital."
Murdock's eyes began to rove around the room to establish his surroundings. "Where...where am I?" he breathed out with a tinge of concern.
"You're in my clinic. Your friends brought you here."
"Friends?" Murdock's brow creased with worry as he failed to construe the meaning behind the word 'friends'.