Johnny began to regain consciousness when water splashed him in the face and he heard shouting in the distance of awareness. He kept his eyes closed for a moment, as his head was pounding like a jack hammer. Then, pain shot up his right leg, taking his breath away. He tried to move again and the pain returned as more water splash him in the face.
He opened his eyes slowly, the sun blinding him for a moment. His movements were sluggish, his brain not really connecting with the rest of his body for a moment. He looked around, taking in the fact that he was on a pontoon boat, but he was in the water too. For the first time he noticed a silver and blue speed boat sticking straight up in the middle of the pontoon boat. Suddenly, memories from the afternoon flooded back to his mind. He remembered floating with everyone else, then getting back on the boat. Whatever happened after that, he didn't remember.
He tried moving his leg again, but was still rewarded with pain. The reality of his situation began to dawn on him. He could see his leg sticking out of the water, but it looked like his foot was obscured by the speed boat. He squinted, trying to figure out where the pain was coming from. He gasped when he saw that his foot was actually wedged between the speed boat and the pontoon boat. How that actually happened, Johnny wasn't sure if he really wanted to know.
He began taking stock of his injuries. Well, I can tell I have a concussion, just how bad, I'm not sure. Obviously, my foot is messed up, but I think my leg is broken too. I think I'm okay everywhere else.
He heard voices shouting and tried to look around. He winced as he hissed in pain. He realized that he couldn't do that again.
"Johnny! Can you hear me?" Cap yelled. He had been yelling for a minute or two to Johnny when they first noticed that the junior paramedic was trapped on the boat. Cap couldn't believe that all the fun they had earlier had ended with half his crew being injured by a run away speed boat. After the Coast Guard had arrived, they called in for a squad to help with the scene. They were waiting for the squad to show up so they could begin the rescue.
"Yeah, I can hear you!" Johnny yelled back, instantly regretting it, the pain in his head pounding again. He heard a splash; a moment later his partner was next to him.
"Hey, you okay?" Roy asked as he began to check his friend over. He had left Marco in Mike's care so he could check the severity of Johnny's injuries.
"As long as I don't move, I'm a-ok," Johnny replied, forcing a lopsided grin onto this face.
"Well, we're working on that. The Coast Guard called in for a squad. They should be here soon," Roy said, trying to see what it was going to take to free Johnny.
"I have a dumb question for you Pally. What the hell happened?" Johnny asked, looking Roy in the eyes.
"The speed boat's accelerator stuck and the driver couldn't swerve fast enough and rammed into your guys' boat. The force of the impact threw the 2 people in the boat out and threw Marco and Chet off your guys' boat and into the water."
"Are they okay?" Johnny asked as sirens could be heard.
"The man and woman from the speed boat do have some minor injuries. Mike fished both of them out. The guy swallowed in some water and had stopped breathing. Mike had to do rescue breathing on him. He did come around before Mike had to jump back in to get Marco and Chet out."
Roy had to wait to tell Johnny about their two friends because Cap began yelling to them, "Roy! The squad is here! What do you need to get Johnny free?"
"Definitely a K-12 and a stokes! His foot is pinned between the speed boat and the decking of the pontoon boat!" Roy yelled, trying not to rock the boat so much because every time it moved, Johnny winced in pain.
"Alright! We'll be out there in a minute or two!"
"It won't be much longer Junior and we'll have you free," Roy said with more enthusiasm than he felt.
"I know. How's Marco and Chet?" Johnny asked, trying to keep his mind off of his own pain.
"Both took in a lot of water. Chet was face down in the water when Mike pulled him onto Cap's boat. Mike had to do CPR on him. But, he responded quick. Marco also was face down, but all I had to do was mouth to mouth. Both are awake; Cap sent them in with the girls and Mike to the marina. He had to get the girls away from the scene and I didn't want the kids to be traumatized, so Mike drove back. The Coast Guard was going to have an ambulance waiting. Chet and Marco wanted to stay, but they weren't in any shape to do so."
Johnny couldn't ask any more questions because Cap's boat appeared next to the wreckage with Tom Dwyer and Doug Phillips on board, along with their equipment.
"Hey, you guys okay?" Dwyer asked, handing the K-12 to Roy.
"I'm fine, just need to get Johnny out of here," Roy replied, taking the saw on board. Tom and Doug jumped into the water; Tom getting on the pontoon boat to cut the part that was trapping Johnny away. Roy and Doug got on each side of Johnny and held him up a bit so he didn't move suddenly while Tom was cutting.
The next few minutes passed in a blur for Johnny. He felt the pressure give way, white hot pain shooting up his leg, then hands grabbing him as he floated backwards. His world faded to a pinpoint then he lost consciousness all together.
Roy and Doug lifted him up onto the boat to Tom and Cap. The two of them laid Johnny in the stokes that Doug and Tom had brought on board. As Tom, Doug and Roy worked on stabilizing Johnny, the Coast Guard moved in to secure the wreckage.
Cap maneuvered the boat out of the Coast Guards way, heading back to Tahiti Marina. The Coast Guard had called in another ambulance for Johnny and it would be waiting for the boat when it arrived.
Tom began checking Johnny's injured foot and leg while Doug was checking his eyes and head. Roy was trying to take his vitals as Cap tried to keep the boat steady.
Doug pulled out the biophone after he finished and called Rampart. "Rampart, this is Squad 51, how do you read?"
After a moment he heard, "This is Rampart 51, go ahead,"
"Rampart, we have a male 28 years old, victim of a boating accident. Be advised victim is John Gage. His right foot and ankle have been trapped between a speed boat and the decking of a pontoon boat for around 20 minutes Rampart. He lost consciousness when we released his foot. He is slightly responsive to verbal stimuli. He has multiple breaks in his foot, his ankle has a definite break and he has a compound fracture of his tib/fib. His pupils are normal and reactive, but he has a bruise over his left eye. Vitals are BP 106/83, pulse 97 and respirations are 28."
"51, start and IV D5W TKO, immobilize his fractures, take full spinal precautions and transport immediately," came the voice of Dr. Early.
"Negative on starting the IV Rampart. We are still on the boat transporting to the marina. ETA is 2 minutes. We have the fractures immobilized, but we will not be able to start the IV or implement the spinal precautions until we arrive at the marina," Doug replied, watching Roy and Tom splint Johnny's leg.
"10-4 51. As soon as you are back at the marina, start the IV, take spinal precautions and take new set of vitals."
"10-4 Rampart," Doug said, closing the biophone.
Roy looked up when he felt the boat slow down to see they had arrived back to Tahiti Marina. As promised, the ambulance was waiting for them to arrive. As soon as Cap had the boat stopped and tied off to the dock, Roy and Tom moved Johnny off the boat, Doug grabbing the equipment. The ambulance attendants moved in with the gurney.
"We need a minute guys. Cap, could you grab us a back board and a cervical collar off of our squad? Tom asked.
"Right," Cap replied, coming back a moment later with the requested items. Swiftly and in one motion, the three paramedics moved Johnny from the stokes to the back board and had the cervical collar on him. Roy strapped him down as Doug checked his vitals and Tom started an IV.
Doug had just finished getting the BP when Johnny began to wake up. "Hey Junior. You need to keep still. We're getting ready to transport you," Roy said as Doug got back on the biophone to update Rampart .
Johnny sucked in a breath as the pain of his injury hit him again. "Damn, it hurts," was all he could say.
"Just hang in there Johnny," Cap said, kneeling near Johnny's head.
"Yeah, I know Junior. Like Cap said, just hang in there. We going to move you now," Roy said. He and Tom moved Johnny's backboard to the gurney. The ambulance attendants rolled the gurney to the ambulance and loaded Johnny in, Doug hopping in too.
Roy was about to jump in the back when Cap placed a hand on his shoulder. Roy looked back into the worried face of his Captain. "Roy, I'll be there in a little while. Take care of him, okay."
"I will Cap," Roy replied, jumping in the back with Doug and Johnny.
Cap watched as the ambulance took off down the road, then headed for the office to tell Johnny's buddy about the accident. He prayed that Johnny was going to be okay, a sentiment that he knew was shared by all of the men under his command.
Just a note to all who may be wondering, a friend of mine who owns a boat told me that the life jackets that you wear when you go boating have been known to roll you forward if you are knocked unconscious.(This was the inspiration for this story). I had to look it up (since my boating jacket is a Type III) This is what .com says about these life jackets that most boaters carry, "These life jackets are generally considered the most comfortable, with styles for different boating activities and sports. They are for use in calm water where there is good chance of fast rescue since they will generally not turn an unconscious person face-up." Scary, huh? Yeah, I thought so. The floatation vests are apparently are the best, as they keep you up if you are thrown from a boat and knocked unconscious, or ones that are Type I of II. I have also noticed that on Emergency!, when they worked with the Coast Guard, they wore these orange floatation vests. So, to all who take advantage of the warm weather to go boating, please be careful out there and choose your life jacket carefully.