The Hard Decision
Chapter Two: Waiting to die and Waiting to Live.
Johnny kept driving farther and farther into the desert. He really had no idea how much distance he had put between himself and the nearest town, which was called Ambrosia.
Finally, however he was forced to stop when his Rover overheated, which subsequently happened when he also ran out of gas.
Slowly the Rover pulled to a stop, yet Johnny made no move to get out. He just sat there in the driver's seat, hands gripping the steering wheel as smoke poured out from underneath the hood.
Breathing in, Johnny coughed because of the acrid smell of something burning, perhaps the coolant in the tank.
Slowly Johnny took off his seatbelt and exited the Rover.
He glanced around, not recognizing anything except the white, hot sand which was all the eye could see from every direction, except maybe a few cacti here and there.
Sighing, Johnny just picked a direction, determined to get himself as lost as possible.
If his friends ever came to their senses about the incident, Johnny wanted to make damn sure that he wasn't easily found.
Turning, Johnny only made it two steps away from his Rover when it blew up…literally!
The small shockwave was enough to knock Johnny off of his feet and on to the hot sand, as a burning pain made itself known all along his back.
Having no other choice, Johnny quickly turned over on to his burning back and managed to get the flames out, but by then he was in so much pain that he didn't want to move, however he knew that it was to dangerous to stay by what was left of his Rover.
Whimpering a little, Johnny slowly climbed on to his feet and hobbled off.
He had no idea in which direction he was headed. In fact he didn't know much of anything at all.
As he hobbled, his burnt flesh yelled out at him, begging him to just be still, but Johnny ignored that call. He just kept moving forward, but what he didn't know was that embedded in his back, near his spinal cord was a small piece of shrapnel from his Rover.
E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!
Five hours later…
A very dusty, dirty John Gage fell to his knees as the cold, night air of the desert hit him.
He had been sweating like a pig earlier, but now not a single bead of sweat could be seen on his features.
Dimly he knew that he was extremely dehydrated and that he had to have water soon or risk passing out and dying, which definitely was not on his list of things to do.
Slowly he crawled forward on his hands and knees, determined to press on, but before he could move much further, the sand around him started to trickle downwards. Slowly at first then it started to pick up speed and intensity.
Not understanding what was happening; Johnny just stopped and watched before he felt himself losing his grip on the sand.
Almost as if in slow motion, Johnny fell backwards on to his back, pushing the metal fragment further in to his back, before he started to slide downwards in to the darkness.
E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!
Dr. Kelly Brackett rubbed his face as he sat in his office, every once in a while glancing at the clock on the wall.
He had already finished checking up on the patients that were in the hospital, so now all he had to do was wait for the autopsy report on the little boy who had died at the house fire.
Earlier in the day, when Squad 51 came in, bringing a heart attack victim, Kel was surprised to see that Roy and Brice were paired up instead of Roy and Johnny.
When the crisis had ended, Kel questioned Roy and learned Johnny had been suspended without pay because of what had happened. He also learned that every single man on the A-shift of Station 51 were working very hard to get Johnny fired.
This Kel couldn't understand. Sure Johnny made some mistakes sometimes while on the job, but everybody did. They were all human and prone to make mistakes.
Kel knew that the autopsy could take awhile because the body was badly burned, not to mention the puncture wound on his chest, but hopefully Kel could shed some light as to why Johnny had decided to remain in the house instead of getting the boy out.
Kel's reverie broke when there was a tap on his office door.
Looking up, Kel saw Dr. Early and Dixie enter the room. In Dixie's hands was a folder.
"Here it is Kel," Dixie said, handing the folder to Dr. Brackett, who took it and opened it up, "Luke Hayden's autopsy report."
Sighing, Kel read the first few lines before he stopped and read a single portion very, very slowly.
Finally he looked up at Dr. Early who nodded his head, obviously having already seen the report.
"That's right Kel. Johnny did the right thing. If he had removed the mask and the air tank then the boy would not have made it out alive." Dr. Early said.
"It's just bad luck that his air tank caught on the debris, otherwise the boy would be alive, and none of this would have ever happened." Kel said, putting the file down on his desk.
"Kel, what do you plan to do? All of the men at Station 51 are trying to get Johnny fired over this. You should tell them…and Johnny." Dixie said, seeing Kel furrow his brow in thought.
"That's easier said than done Dix. Sure I could tell his friends, but would they believe it?" Kel began.
"And Johnny. He's the wildcard. We have no idea what he did when he left the station." Dr. Early put in.
Rising up, Kel said, "What we should first do is alert the police, have them start looking for Johnny while I go and talk to everyone else."
Dixie and Joe both nodded their heads before turning and leaving the office to go phone the police, while Kel shrugged out of his doctor's coat and in to his light jacket.
Next he grabbed the folder and headed out the door.
E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!
Kel pulled in to a parking space at Station 51 before he killed the engine to his car and glanced at his watch.
"7:30" he muttered to himself before he grabbed the folder and got out of his car.
Closing his car door, Kel walked to the front door of the Station and tapped on the door.
He waited several seconds before the door opened to reveal Mike Stoker looking back at him with a semi confused look.
"Ah…Dr. Brackett." Mike said before he opened the door and allowed the good doctor to enter into the day room.
Everyone who had been at the table chatting while Cap cooked their dinner turned around when they heard Mike say "Dr. Brackett."
Everyone rose from their seat when Kel approached them with a serious look on his face.
"What brings you here, Dr. Brackett?" Roy asked, having a gut feeling that he already knew the reason.
"I think you all know why I'm here." Kel said, looking at them all.
With a sigh, Cap said, "John Gage."
Nodding his head, Kel put the file down on the table while Cap continued talking.
"I was notified by headquarters a little while ago. Gage sent in his letter of resignation, and it was accepted."
Kel wanted to cringe at that, but he managed not to as he opened the file before sliding it over towards Roy, who was about the only person who could make sense of it.
As Roy was reading the report, Dr. Brackett said, "It's an autopsy report for the boy who died at that fire."
"We don't need an autopsy report to tell us that Gage screwed up!" Chet said, receiving nods from Mike and Marco.
"That's just the thing…" Kel Brackett began, when Roy softly said, "He didn't."
All eyes turned to Roy who raised his head with a shocked and embarrassed look on his face.
"Johnny didn't screw up." Roy said quietly.
"What do you mean? He didn't screw up?" Cap said, turning off the oven and approaching the table.
"The little boy was already pretty far gone when you reached the scene. Johnny immediately started O2, which kept the boy alive, but in the process, his air tank got caught." Kel began.
"We know that!" Chet said.
"But what you didn't know was that if Johnny had done what you thought he should have done; remove the air mask and tank, the boy would have been dead before he even stepped foot outside. Johnny stayed behind trying to get the air tank loose because he knew this. He did not kill that boy." Kel said.
After he finished speaking every single fireman at that station hung their heads in shame. None of them knew what to do to make the situation right.
Finally Mike of all people said, "We gotta find Johnny and apologize."
"Not to mention trying to get his job back." Marco put in.
Everyone nodded their heads at this.
"Doc, what can we do?" Roy asked, looking up at his friend.
"Hope and pray that Johnny didn't do anything stupid, other than resigning." Kel said before he turned and left the station.
