BLACK FRIDAY

CHAPTER ONE

"Lasagne made from scratch, not that store bought rubbish. Dripping in fresh creamy sauce. Mmmm I can almost taste it now," Heath said dreamily, looking at his watch as he drove the ambulance back to base. "It'll be mine in an hours time." Cate laughed to herself as she listened to Heath.
"Your poor mother," she said, laughing, looking out the window where the sun was setting fast.
"What?" Heath asked.
"She's here on holiday visiting you and she has to cook you dinner!"
"She's a good cook!" Heath said defensively, laughing.
"You should be taking her out to dinner and show her how much you appreciate her," Cate suggested.
"She knows I appreciate her," Heath replied.
"Pull over," Cate said sharply.
"Oh do you want to take this outside?" Heath said jokingly.
"Heath, pull over!" Cate said again. "Someone's in trouble." Heath pulled over on the side of the road and Cate jumped out of the ambulance.

"What do you think you're doing?" Heath heard Cate shout out angrily. He followed her and saw that she was headed straight towards a gang of young men who had surrounded someone.
"Cate! Stay back!" he shouted out to no avail. He radioed for police back up immediately. "Cate!" he shouted again. Cate ignored him.
"Why don't you guys look for a real fight? It's not exactly a challenge beating up one man is it?" Cate asked as she approached them.
"Stay out of it, bitch," one of the men snarled.
"Cant do that," Cate replied. "The police are on their way. I'd say you've got three minutes tops. Now you can all either hang around and get arrested or you can get lost and let me take care of your mate here." The men looked at each other, unsure.
"She's bluffing," one of them said, sizing up Cate. The sound of sirens could be heard in the distance.
"Shit!" one of the men yelled as all five of them piled into a car and took off.
"Heath, get the number plate," Cate shouted.
"Got it!" Heath replied, writing it down.
"Hi mate, my name's Cate. I'm a paramedic," Cate said to the injured man.
"No shit," he replied. Cate sighed.
"What's your name?" she asked.
"Jackson."
"Right, well are you gonna let me take a look at your face? You're pretty messed up."
"I'll be fine."
"You're gonna need some stitches above your eyebrow," Heath said, approaching them. "Six at least. And from the way you're holding your arm I'd say your shoulder's giving you hell." A police car pulled up. Jackson looked hesitantly at it.
"Do whatever you want," he said to Heath and Cate. "Take me to hospital then."

"Hey you," Dan said with a smile as he entered a cubicle where Erica was tidying up the resus bay
"Hey," Erica replied with a sigh.
"You look wrecked."
"Oh thanks," Erica replied sarcastically. "Well while you're just starting your shift this is my second for the day."
"Go take a shower and wake up a bit," Dan said. "I'll take over here."
"Thanks, babe," Erica said gratefully. Dan leaned in and kissed her on the lips.
"You know what the date is today?" Dan asked. Erica shrugged. "It's Friday the thirteenth," he said with a mischievous grin. "It's a full moon out there tonight too. Something tells me this is going to be a very eventful night."
"Great," Erica said, rolling her eyes. She studied Dan. "You don't actually believe that, do you?"
"Didn't you watch all the Friday night horror movies when you were in high school?" Dan asked.
"I had a life when I was in high school, Dan." Erica replied. She made a face. "Ugh I don't have the energy to deal with vampires and werewolves tonight."
"Think about where we'll be at this time tomorrow," Dan said as she left. "Snuggling up by the fire." Erica smiled to herself. She and Dan were taking their first trip away together on the weekend; camping. She looked at her watch, hoping that the hours would pass by fast.

Cate and Heath wheeled their reluctant patient into the ED.
"This is Jackson," Cate said as Charlotte approached them. "He won't tell us his last name. He's being rather uncooperative as a mater of fact. I'd say he's approximately twenty years of age. He's been beaten up and has an open head wound, dislocated shoulder and other abrasions and contusions."
"Thanks guys. I'll take over from here," Charlotte said as they wheeled Jackson into resus.
"Hi I'm Dan, your nurse," Dan said to Jackson. "Ouch, that must've hurt," he said, looking at his head.
"Look if you can just fix me up and get me out of here," Jackson said, anxiously.
"That's the plan, mate," Charlotte said, approaching him. She held up a torch. "Did you hit your head on the ground at all?" Jackson shook his head. "Okay well just look into the light here. I'm just going to do a basic neurological examination." Charlotte took careful observations. "Everything seems fine there," she said when she was finished. "But I'll get a CT scan of your head anyway. Now I have to put your shoulder back into its socket and then strap it and it's gonna hurt like hell."

"That was bloody stupid, Cate," Heath said as they walked through the ED. "Going up to those guys like that."
"Well what would you have done?" Cate asked.
"Waited for the police to arrive as per protocol. Or at the very least I would have listened to my partner."
"The guy could've been dead by then," Cate said. Heath sighed.
"Or you could have been. You know, Cate, I have a lot of respect for you. I think that its great that you wanna stand up for the underdog, but one day you're gonna get hurt… if I don't make a complaint before then, that is." Heath walked ahead, leaving Cate standing there.
"Are you gonna make a complaint about me?" Cate asked.
"I'll see you tomorrow," Heath replied. "Lasagne awaits me."
"Heath!"
"Trouble in paradise?" Von mused, approaching Cate. Cate smiled, embarrassed. "Tell me all you know about this Jackson."

"All done for the day, Doctor Gallagher?" Bart asked Zoe as she headed for the staff base yawning.
"I sure am," Zoe replied. "What about you?"
"I'm gonna stay on for a few more hours."
"You're a sucker for punishment, Bart," Zoe said with a smile. Suddenly they heard a male scream out in pain from the resus bay.
"Geez," Gabrielle said, approaching them with a cup of coffee. "What's going on in there?"
"Let's find out," Zoe said.
"I'll take it, Doctor Gallagher," Bart chimed in.
"It's fine, Bart," Zoe replied. "You call it a night. You're doing really well and I don't want you burning out on us." Zoe went towards resus as the man screamed out again.
"What the bloody hell…?" Frank asked no one in particular as he emerged from his office. He followed Zoe. She pulled back the curtain and stood back in shock as she saw the face of the man lying there. He looked equally horrified to see her.
"Oh shit," Jackson said, panicking.
"Hey, stay still mate," Dan said, trying to hold Jackson down.
"Zoe?" Frank asked, concerned, noticing her demeanor.
"Call the police," Zoe stammered. "He killed Sean."