We will be ok
"…can you hear me? Respond?"
My mind was fuzzy. It couldn't connect the world that was surrounding me correctly as it normally did. In a strange way, it felt like that my head was only piecing together only part of the story. And that the other half was lost to me in that moment.
I tried to sense where I was, but at the moment I couldn't remember where I was. But one thing that I knew very clearly was that I was close to heat source. My skin was getting warm from something in the environment around me. And the temperature in the room was still rising. Then the smell of smoke filling my nose, it was in that moment I knew that I was in trouble. I could feel my radio on my chest and that it could only mean that I was on a call and something had gone very wrong.
My radio. There was words that were coming from the machine were not clear to me, my head wasn't putting the words in a sentence that made sense. They were call mixed up. I was on a call and with the heat rising I guessed that something had happened to me in a fire call. But I couldn't remember what had happened. However the noise of a groan made me open my eyes.
I was in a dark room or basement, I couldn't really see much in the room. The smoke was not too bad at the moment however what didn't help was when I moved my head my eyes were met with a warm liquid that met my eyes. I closed my eyes to stop my head from splitting open with the pain that had started the moment I had opened my eyes. My fingers ran through my hair and found where the deep cut was. It ran from my hairline across to my left ear, lucky it ran on the hairline and not onto my face but like all head wounds, it bled a lot. My hand was now stained with my own blood, however looking at my hand I noticed that I was wearing my medical gloves. Which could only mean that I had been dealing with a patient.
I looked around me, trying to see if anything made sense.
I had been right, I was in a basement. The walls were made from brick and the floor were made from concert. However wood now littered it. I was laid on my side, but I could feel pieces of wood pushing against my back. I looked up at what was the ceiling only to see a large dangerous hole that showed the floors above it. My mind was now piecing together what had happened or more likely guessed what had happened. I had fallen through the ceiling and from the pain that was shooting through my body I knew that I was right.
My mind quickly went into medical mode, I gave myself a quick assessment to see what my injuries were. My arms were ok, a little pain in my left wrist but nothing that worried me. My back was sore but not to a point where I was worried about it. My neck was fine and expect from the cut on top of my head it was fine. However as I got to my legs I started with my right only to find that I couldn't move it. As I looked I found that a wooden floor beam was pinning my leg to the floor on my knee. I started to panic a little, I couldn't be pinned. I just couldn't.
My left leg hadn' escaped either. It was also pinned however instead of whatever was pinning my legs wasn't at my knee but higher on my thigh. I needed to find a way to get out and as I tried to pull myself free from the beam but couldn't it was too heavy. However I stopped. Something had caused me to stop and that was a noise. It sent chills through my spine. The sound of a groan, and it wasn't from me.
Luckily by this point my eyesight had improved and I could see the basement more clearly. I saw movement not too far from me , a form of a person who was trying to get to their feet. The reflection from the high vis lines of his firefighter jacket was clear to see in the dark light. He was a firefighter, but his name tag wasn't clear from where I was. His jacket was littered with dust and debris from the floor above.
However as the man built up more strength, he pulled himself up to his knees. Knocking the debris that had fallen on him to fall to the ground and at the end of his jacket read the name 'CAPP'. I could see that it was taking all the strength in Capp's body to push himself up but at the same time I was trying to work out why Capp would be with me? Did I need Squad's help with a rescue? And why would they need a paramedic in a burning building when normally the firefighters pulled the injured out before we could treat them.
However before I could say something to caught Capp's attention to me, a large piece of ceiling fell onto the beam that lay across my legs. I cried out as it caused a sharp pain to shot through my body, however my cry did catch Capp's attention. As soon as my cry reached his ears, Capp's eyes locked onto me and tried to pull himself to his feet to help me but couldn't. He fell as soon as he tried to pull himself up.
But soon I watched as more burning debris fell towards me, fear soon gripped my body as more and more fell down directly at me. I tried to cover my face and my body as it fell however as my legs were trapped I was unable to move away from the danger. Suddenly I felt a breath against my neck and as I opened my eyes I saw Capp's face directly against mine with his body over the top of mine protecting me from everything that fell towards us. His arms pulling the material of his jacket as far as he could to cover me from the rubble that dropped and smashed around us.
A few minutes later I couldn't hear any more rubble hitting his jacket and to the floor around us. Capp pushed himself to his knees and looked around them and at the whole that they had both fell through. I placed my hands on the ground to push myself so I could sit up only to feel a sharp pain through my legs, I gasped at the sudden pain. I had hoped that Capp hadn't heard it but he had.
"Dawson." Capp said, with concern clearly on his face, he then looked down at my legs. He knew that I was pinned by the beam but some of the rubble had cut little nicks in my skin. He looked at me and then moved to work on the task of removing the beam from my leg. It was then that I saw the back of his head. A long deep cut ran from his left ear to the center of the back of his head.
Capp, luckily was close enough to me to allow me to touch the red skin below the wound. I heard him gasp as my fingers pressed against the wound. I knew that with the wound wasn't that bud however by the way that Capp was moving that he was suffering from a killer headache or even a concussion.
"Capp, I need to check it." I said hoping that he would let me at least look to make sure that nothing was in the wound. But I knew Capp too well. He wouldn't let me if he had didn't want too.
Capp turned to look at me; I knew the face. There was no chance he was going to let me look at him.
"Gabby I need to get you away from that…" He said pointing at the floor above them. He was right, and I knew it. The makeshift ceiling could break up at any time causing whatever was up there to land right on top of us. That was the main danger and I knew that I couldn't treat someone if we were in danger of being crushed.
I nodded and watched him moved towards my legs to work out how he was going to get me out from under the beam. I watched as Capp carefully looked at the size of the beam and started to look around him for anything to use as tools. It took a few moments before he picked up a broken floor beam that had clearly been broken by our fall. I didn't know what he was planning. But as he moved back to where I was more rubble fell from the floor above.
As the rubble hit the beam I felt it cut deeper into my legs. I hissed as I felt the beam cut into my leg. I grabbed at my left leg right before the beam and knew very well that the beam had in fact cut into both of my legs. My only worry now was that the beam had not only cut into my skin but had also had fractured or broken my tibia and my femur.
"Get it off." I said trying to control the pain as Capp started to move the rubble from the beam but I didn't know how long I could deal with the pain that was burning up my legs.
"Dawson I am going to try to lift this off but I need you to pull your legs out when I say go." Capp said looking at me. I nodded. I knew that this was going to hurt but I needed to get away from the rubble that could easily serious hurt me or Capp.
I watched as Capp started to place the broken beam underneath the beam. And he slowly pushed to try to get the beam to move. Quickly I heard Capp groan as I felt the weight slowly start to shift. And then the pain started. As the beam move pain shot though my leg which made me feel that l was going to lose my lunch.
However what made me so determined not to throw up or scream was that I could hear Capp struggling to lift the weight of the beam. But I had a strange feeling that his groans were a mixture of the pain of lifting the heavy beam and whatever injuries he was hiding. Even if he wouldn't admit it.
When I felt the weight of the beam lift off my legs. My right first and then my left, but I couldn't help but cry out as I felt the blood start to seep out of the deep cuts.
In that moment I hoped that it had been the beam that had cut into my legs and not any bone fragments. 0pen fractures were always a mess and a huge risk to infections. And been stuck in a basement with smoke building, I knew we were already in enough trouble. As soon as both of my legs were free l quickly pulled my legs out so Capp could allow the beam to drop back on the floor.
As he did this I was able to pull myself away from the death trap; I knew that I was leaving a blood trail behind me. I didn't look up at my legs until I felt someone's hands wrapped around them. Out of the corner of my eye I saw my medical bag. It had must have fallen alone with us, and luckily they were well padded so I could only hope that everything had survived the fall. I really wanted some pain killers however I knew that I needed to keep a clear head. We were still in danger.
"Capp, my bag." I said pointing at it, I turned to see him nod and quickly collected it and placed it over his shoulder. He looked at the distance from us and the whole in the ceiling above.
"We need to move away from that first," He said and then added, "Can you walk?"
He was right, but I also knew that Capp was only asking because he knew that I would have punched him. He was like another older brother and wouldn't allow me to walk anywhere with my legs in the state they were. I nodded my head, I needed to try to move and as the bleeding to my legs weren't that bad I knew that I needed to try to walk on them. I held my hand in the air, so he could help pull me to my feet.
I was going to walk but I made sure that I had my arm was gripping his shoulders as we moved. As I stood up straight I quickly felt light headed. I knew that I had lost some blood but I wasn't worried about it too much as I knew that I hadn't lost too much. Capp's arm was security wrapped about my waist holding me up. We walked as quickly as we could away from the centre of the room to one of the corners that was the furthest from the hole. We were taking no chance on that falling in on us.
As we got there Capp quickly helped me to the ground and opened up the medical bag between us so we both could get in it. Luckily Capp's touch also had survived the fall and was bright enough to see what we were doing. As the touch fell over both of my legs I saw the damage. On my right leg there was a deep cut across my tibia were the beam had been however it lucky hadn't gone too deep to expose the bone. And on my left was a cut that wasn't as deep was the one on my other leg however it had already started to bruise and with the small cuts from falling rubble I knew that I had gotten off lucky.
"It looks pretty bad, Dawson.' Capp said opening the pocket that held the bandages. And looked at me waiting for instructions.
"There is saline in the front pocket." I said holding back the pain. I knew the risk of infection was high and at least he could try to wash out some of the dirt from the wounds. I closed my eyes waiting for the sting of the saline hitting the wound. However it hadn't come, so I opened my eyes to see that Capp had pull off his firefighter gloves and replace them with medical gloves from the bag, so he had remembered his training, we had redone everyone's medic training a few weeks before.
I watched as he poured the cool liquid onto the wounds. I nearly hissed I felt the water hit the edge of the wound and knew that he was flushing the wound correctly. I just hoped that he didn't hear me as I closed my eyes, trying to stop the tears that were forming in my eyes.
I felt as Capp wrap a bandage around both of my legs but the pain had increased with the pressure the bandages were giving. He hadn't wrapped them tight but with my clothing , they had to be . "Do you want something?" Capp voice asked. I opened my eyes and looked at him. I smiled and shook my head. I needed to be able to think clearly in case something was to happen.
It was then that I remembered Capp's head injury. "Let me look at your head." I said pulling myself up so I was sitting up more so I could get a better look at it.
"No I am fine." Capp said pulling away from my hand and went back to focusing on my injuries.
I sighed and then gave him the stern look that he knew only too well. "Capp I need to check if you are ok. And stop arguing or I will make sure that Chief goes through about reporting any injuries to the paramedics when we get out of here."
That shut him up, he nodded and then sat down next to me. I turned my body so I could see the long gash that ran deep. It was going to need stitches from a doctor but could do my best with what I had to help.
I picked up another pack of saline and a pair of gloves, as I poured the liquid into the wound I could just see some black dirt been flushed from it. But I knew with the dust in the room I needed to close the wound somehow or protect it from any more getting in to it.
"Pass me the biggest bandage I have in there." I asked as I wiped away the dirt water that was now running down his head to his neck. He passed me the bandage and I quickly placed it over the wound and tapped down the edges, luckily it was big enough for it. I had been worried that he would need a full head bandaging but I knew that there was little chance that he would let me do that.
Then I heard a noise, a sound of some music or words been spoken. It was then that I remembered that I had heard my radio however my hopes were dashed when I saw that the radio itself was under the rubble and Capp's radio was broken and was hanging off his jacket in pieces. "Wait can you hear that?" Capp asked turning to look at me.
It was coming from me or more so my jacket.
Capp watched me as I pulled out my phone which was lighting up with Shay's picture.
I quickly answered it but placed it on speaker. "Shay?" I said as loud as I could hoping that she could hear me.
"Gabby? Are you ok? Wait…" I could hear the worry in her voice. But at the same time I was just happy to hear my friend's voice.
We both could hear the rush of feet running towards Shay. "Dawson, Capp are you guys ok?" Severide's voice filled the phone.
"Yer, we're fine. Hope you guys know how to get us out of here?" I asked looking at Capp who had an odd look on his face, he was a member of the rescue squad and I could tell that he had been trying to work out how to get us out. However as Severide didn't answer I knew that there was a problem.
"Gabby, Capp we are working on getting you both out of there however that collapse has caused the building to become unsafe. We are working on another way of getting you guys out of there but we need to know some things first." It was the Chief's voice that came through. He was trying to keep us calm but at the same time I could tell that he was worried.
But before we could reply Severide's voice again. "Capp can you give me a report?"
And with that Capp took the phone off me and got to his feet. "We are in the basement but the whole ceiling is unstable, the whole we fell through looks like it has some of the floorboards stopping the large parts to fall in on us. Luckily I can't see any flames through the parts I can see through but there is smoke in here. One side of the basement wall is brick work…we might be able to break through to the other building and get out that way." If I wasn't so tired, I could have heard the cocks in Capp's brain work out a plan.
"We are on it." I heard Casey's voice.
"Capp, Dawson hang in there." And with that Severide cut the call, not wanting to waste the battery in case we were trapped longer than they thought.
I heard Capp sigh before heading back to me; he however then did something that I didn't expect. He sat down next to me, and pulled me in close. I could feel him breathing as I let my head roll onto his chest. I wasn't cold but when I placed my body next to his I felt the warmth come from him and could only guess that due to blood loss I was getting cold. The smoke has slowly started to build when I heard a noise.
I felt Capp move also, I didn't know how long we were sitting there but I watched him as headed over to the bricked wall. I watched the wall to see where the noise had come from. But I didn't need to look for long, soon I watched as the bricks started to move making the dust fall from the wall.
Capp shone his light into a small whole in the brick work in the wall, it was in that moment that the noise stopped. "Severide?" Capp shouted through the wall.
"Capp? Can you hear me?" The voice was Severide's but then was joined by Casey's voice. "How are you guys holding up?"
However before we could answer, the room was filled with smoke and a loud bang. I covered my face as the smoke filled the space; I couldn't breathe right. The smoke had removed the breathable air in the room as quickly as the sound we had just heard. As I opened my eyes I found that the ceiling that had been holding the rubble from above had failed and fallen in.
I tried to get to my feet to find Capp who I knew was somewhere near the brick wall. However I didn't know if he was hit by any of the rubble that had fallen through. Had the rubble fallen on top of his? Trapping him underneath it all. I just wished that I could see what was happening right in front of me.
It was then that I heard my name. "Dawson, you ok?" It was Capp's voice.
I sighed with relief, I was so glad that he wasn't dead or hurt. However then I could hear the sound of bricks moving from their place. I felt that someone else was now with us.
I may not have been able to see them but I could hear at least two people moving towards me. I couldn't see who it was till he was sat next to me. It was Severide. Quickly I watched him take off his mask and held it to my face, I welcomed the fresh cool air pour through the mask and I happily breathed in the air, however I knew we needed to get out of here and soon.
I pulled the mask off my face to see Capp collect my medic bag and then past it back to Severide. Who didn't put it back on straight away but instead asked me the one question which I knew he would ask. "Can you walk?"
I knew the answer that I wanted to give however if I tried on my own I could damage any broken bones in my leg that was already broken. But I wasn't going to let Severide or Capp carry me out.
"I can, but I can't put much weight on my right leg." I said, knowing that that one was my weakest leg.
He nodded, replaying his mask back on his face so he didn't have to worry about it as he helped me. He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me to my feet. I quickly felt light headed and nearly fell, if it hadn't been Severide.
"I got you." I heard him say as we followed Capp out of the smoke filled room and through a whole that they had cut in the wall.
I quickly spotted Casey holding out his hand for me and I took it without holding back, I needed to get out of there as quickly as I could. As soon as I had passed through the whole I felt Severide's hand be replaced by Casey's
I wanted to make sure Capp had gotten out ok but Casey had already lead me out of the building. I closed my eyes as the fresh air hit my face. But I still could smell the smoke. I reopened my eyes when I heard Shay's voice close to me.
"Don't you scare me like that again girl." She said pulling me into a bone crushing hug, however I could still feel Matt's hand on my waist like he didn't want to let go of me.
"Come on, let's get you checked out." She said pulling me away from Matt and into the back of the ambo.
She quickly looked at my legs however didn't take off the bandages.
"Another ambo took our patient, but you are going to get that looked at." Shay said but as I looked up I saw Capp heading towards us and so Shay turned to look at him as well. "And so are you. That head needs looking at."
Capp pulled a face at Shay but before he could argue with her which I knew he would lose as Shay wouldn't back down from a fight very easily, I watched as the Chief came up behind him. "Capp, you are getting that head wound looked out. We will meet you there." Boden said looking at Capp before heading over to where the others were stood dealing with the fire.
"I will drive." Matt said still looking at me with worried eyes, as Shay ordered both me and Capp into the back of the ambulance. Shay nodded at this and climbed in after us. As she set me into the stretcher and Capp took a seat next to me. Shay took the time that it took us to drive over to the hospital to take a closer look at my head. And at the same time she kept complaining that I had scared her to death and she was going to kill me when I got released from hospital
I however wasn't listening to hear rant, Cap had taken my hand as soon as he had sat down. I knew that we both were lucky to get out of the building alive.
In the hospital the doctor's stitched up the wounds on my legs very quickly and then covered it with a thick bandages with instructions to rest for a couple of days. I knew that the stitches wouldn't be coming out for over ten days but I also knew that Boden wouldn't allow me back to work until they were out.
However as I waited for Shay to pick me up in my hospital room when Capp had come in to see me. His head had been stitched up nicely. And that he was heading home.
"Thanks for everything." We said to each other at the same time. We smiled and laughed. We both knew that we needed each other down there, but then we heard someone knock on the door. I looked up when the door opened to see Matt.
"Hey, I said I would pick you up Dawson as Shay is already at your place ordering food." I smiled at the thought and sat myself up on the bed.
Capp took that moment to leave us alone. "I will see you at Molly's tomorrow." And with that he left.
I was alive because of him and I didn't know how I was going to repay him. But the next day I found out how. By doing nothing. All Capp said to me was "what were friends for?"
And he was right.