Here's the next one-shot. It's shorter than the last one, but I hope you guys like it all the same!
Enjoy!
*italics are thoughts*
The One with the Death
"Everyone in position?" Ed asked quietly over the comms. Hearing confirmations from every member of Team One, he checked his gun one more time. "Alright, on my count, and remember—slow is smooth, smooth is fast, and—"
"Fast is lethal!" came over the comms and brought a smile to Ed's face.
"Very good, boys and girl. On three—one, two, three. GO! GO! GO!"
Ed's order sounded in the ears of Team One as they entered the warehouse; Ed, Spike and Jules from the east and Sam, Wordy and Greg from the west. A team from Narcotics entered from the north end of the warehouse and the surprise arrival of twelve armed officers sent the drug smugglers they had come to arrest scrambling. Shouts of "SRU!" and "hands in the air" filled the once almost silent warehouse as everyone rushed in.
Of the eight smugglers that were in the warehouse, six were caught and cuffed. The two remaining made a run for it, each going in a different direction. Sam handed the guy he had cuffed to one of the free narcotic officers and took off after one of them, Spike following close behind. Ed went after the second one with Wordy in tow.
The man Ed and Wordy were chasing quickly realized the predicament he was in and made the smart decision to surrender. Sam and Spike's guy, unfortunately, was not going to go down without a fight.
He led Sam and Spike on what could only be described as a wild goose chase through the entire warehouse, ending in a large room filled with rows and rows of shipping containers.
Having lost the subject, and not knowing whether or not he was armed, Sam and Spike radioed in over the headset and soon, the other members of Team One were with them, ready to search for their missing subject.
Everyone spread out and started to search, each person taking a row of shipping containers. As they searched, they stayed on high alert; no one knew where the subject had gone and no one wanted to be caught off guard.
The members of Team One kept in constant communication with each other over the comms. They would quietly call in when they completed searching a row and when they started searching a new one.
After almost ten minutes of searching, the subject was no where to be found and most of Team One were beginning to think that their subject had snuck past them and made his way outside.
Greg was standing in the middle of a couple of rows with Ed, Jules and Wordy while Spike and Sam finished searching their rows. Greg was just about to call one of the police officers they had stationed outside to see if anyone had been out there when two gunshots sounded, in close succession, from the far side of the warehouse. Greg, Ed, Wordy and Jules began making their way towards the source of the gunshots and calling Spike and Sam over the comms for a status update. Their steps quickened to a full-out sprint when they heard Spike yell "Sam!" over the comms, fear clearly evident in his voice.
"Spike, status!" Ed called over the comms, fearful of what the report would be.
"Subject's contained; he's cuffed with a through-and-through gunshot wound to the arm." Spike said hurriedly, then added quietly, "Oh shit."
"Spike, what's going on?"
"Officer down! Get the medics in here NOW! Sam's been shot!"
At Spike's revelation, the hearts of Team One sank. They picked up their speed and ran faster than any of them had probably ever ran. Turning the corner on the row Sam and Spike were on, they came face to face with the horror that was the current situation.
The subject that had been the cause of all of this sat handcuffed up against the side of one of the shipping containers, the gunshot wound in his upper arm sluggishly bleeding. Sam was deathly pale, lying semi-conscious in a rapidly growing pool of his own blood. Spike was kneeling beside him holding one of the pressure bandages they always carried with them to the gushing gunshot wound on Sam's neck. The knees of Spike's "cool pants" were stained with Sam's blood as the pool of blood around him, unfortunately, continued to grow.
The other members of Team One sprang into action. Greg immediately called for the EMS on scene and for an additional ambulance to be sent out. Jules ran to Sam and situated herself behind his head. Her hands locked his head and neck in place and her fingers stroked his hair and cheeks, hoping to give him comfort of some kind.
Wordy dropped by Sam's left side and his fingers immediately went to the inside of Sam's wrist. "His pulse is weak."
Ed dropped down in between Wordy and Jules and put his hand on Sam's chest. He could feel Sam's short, frantic breaths and the rapid rise and fall of his chest. Ed leaned over and looked Sam in the face. "Samo, look at me. Don't try to talk, just look at me." Ed waited for Sam's eyes to find his and when they did, Ed's heart broke at the fear he saw in them. "You're going to be OK buddy, you're going to be OK." Ed told him, trying to soothe the fear and tension he saw and felt in Sam's body. Please be OK, Ed thought to himself. He could see that it was bad, everyone could, and he knew that Sam knew it was bad, but Ed needed to remain positive and hopeful. Sam needed him to stay positive and hopeful.
Sam fought hard to stay awake, but he was too weak from the blood loss and he lost his battle with consciousness just as the first set of paramedics arrived.
They immediately began working to treat and stabilize Sam seeing that he was, without a doubt, the most critical of the two injured victims.
The paramedics made everyone move away from Sam except Spike, who was continuing to apply pressure to the still bleeding wound on Sam's neck. After the paramedics check all of Sam's vitals and get him started on an IV, they tell Spike to move away and they replace his pressure bandage with a new one of their own.
Spike rocked back on his heels and watched helplessly as the paramedics worked to save the man who had become his best friend.
The paramedics tried to keep their faces calm and blank, as to not worry the group of concerned SRU members watching their every move, but their quick, hasty movements showed the true severity of the situation. The two paramedics, Mitch and Justin, along with Ed, Wordy and Spike all gently and carefully moved Sam onto the stretcher.
Strapping him down and securing him to the stretcher, Mitch and Justin rushed Sam out of the warehouse and into the waiting ambulance. Lights flashing and sirens blaring, the ambulance peeled out of the parking lot and sped off towards the hospital.
The despondent members of Team One had followed Sam out to the ambulance but, due to the severity of Sam's condition, none of them were allowed to ride with him. They watched as the ambulance carrying their critically injured teammate and friend off to the hospital.
Stay with us Sam, stay with us.
Come on Samo. Fight.
Come on Sam, you can survive this. Don't stop fighting.
Keep fighting buddy, I can't lose you too.
You can't leave us Sam. We need you. I need you. Please be OK.
Casting one final glance back into the warehouse and the large pool of Sam's blood on the floor, Greg, Ed, Wordy, Spike and Jules piled into the SUVs and headed to the hospital, following the second ambulance that carried their wounded subject, where they would wait for news on Sam.
...
Three hours.
Team One sat in the surgical waiting room of St. Simon's waiting for news on Sam for three long hours. Hour four was approaching and they had still not received any real update, no matter how intimidating or concerned they were when they asked the nurse at the desk.
"He's still in surgery," or "When there is an update to give, I will give one to you," were the usual responses they got and, as frustrating as it was, the members of Team One were clinging to the thought that no news was good news.
So there they sat, waiting and waiting. None of them could even be bothered to go back to the Barn and get a change of clothes for everyone, so they were all still in their uniforms though they ditched the Kevlar around hour one.
Wordy drug an almost catatonic Spike to the bathroom and stayed with him until Sam's blood had been washed from his hands. When the two of them returned to the waiting room, Spike looked a little better, but his pants and parts of his shirt were still stained with Sam's blood and it served as an unfortunate reminder of why they were there.
...
It was nearing the end of the fourth hour when the doors to the OR opened and an exhausted surgeon with blood stained scrubs walked out. The surgeon's weary eyes sought out the group of SRU officers and, keeping his face impassive, he walked over to meet them. "Family of Sam Braddock?"
Greg and the rest of Team One stood up to meet the doctor. "We're his SRU team. His family's out of the country at the moment."
"I'm Dr. Stevens; I operated on Mr. Braddock," the doctor said as he introduced himself to the group of people who obviously cared deeply for his patient.
"How is he?" Spike asked, an uneasy quiver in his voice.
"Because of the amount of blood he lost, he crashed in the ambulance. Thankfully, the medics were able to get him back. When he arrived in the ER, he was in shock and his blood pressure was almost completely bottomed out. After two blood transfusions in the trauma room, he was stable enough to be moved into surgery. The bullet ruptured several smaller arteries in his neck and almost completely severed his carotid artery." Dr. Stevens looked around at the group before him as he shared this information. This was the kind of thing he hated the most about being a doctor. "We continued to push blood transfusions throughout the surgery and worked as quickly as possible to try and repair the damage but the massive amount blood loss and resulting trauma to his body was too much and when he flat lined on the table, we weren't able to revive him. I'm so sorry."
Time seemed to stop as the doctor finished his update and the world crumbled around Team One. They all felt the immediate loss of Sam, but they each felt the loss of Sam on a deep, personal level.
For Greg, not only had he lost one of his officers—one with strong morals, a caring, compassionate heart and amazing skill—but he also lost a man he thought of as a son.
Greg ran a hand over his head, sorrow and hurt replacing any other emotion.
For Ed, he lost a teammate, a friend, and even a role model. Sam's accuracy with a riffle in multiple conditions and his awe-inspiring skill with things like tactical planning were like second-nature to Sam and it was something he greatly admired about the man. He and Sam were a lot alike, that's probably why they always butted heads. Sam's future both in and outside of the SRU was incredibly bright and the fact that Sam's life had been cut short is such a cruel way was sickening and unfair.
Anger at the situation and sorrow overwhelmed Ed and he had to turn away from his teammates, fists and jaw clenched, in an attempt to keep himself from completely breaking down.
For Wordy, his feeling of loss went far beyond the team. Yes, he would miss Sam being on the team terribly, but Sam was more than just a teammate; Sam was a member of his family. Wordy himself thought of Sam as a son, Shelley loved him like a brother and he was Uncle Sam to his three little girls who absolutely adored him.
Wordy rubbed his hands over his face and hung his head. He couldn't force himself to even think of how he would explain this to Shel and the girls. The loss of Sam would be felt in the Wordsworth family and the SRU for a very long time.
For Spike, he lost a brother and a best friend; he lost the man that had stepped up after Lou's death and helped him through the pain and mourning associated with it. Sure, the others helped as well, but Sam had experienced similar things and always seemed to know what Spike needed on one of his bad days.
Spike stood, frozen in shock by the doctor's revelation. Tears welled up in his eyes before he put an arm around Jules and drew her in to his embrace, wanting to receive her comfort as much as he wanted to give her comfort.
For Jules, she lost her best friend and the love of her life. They had just been given the green light to date not even two months ago. They had plans for the future, not only their future with the SRU but their future with each other, and now all those plans had been thrown out the window.
Tears immediately began pouring down her cheeks and when Spike pulled her in to his embrace, Jules went willingly.
Dr. Stevens saw the group of officers in front of him struggle with the multitude of emotions that came with news like this. When he felt that they had collected themselves enough, he offered to take them to see Sam and say goodbye. When they all expressed the want to go, Dr. Stevens led them down the hall and into the room where Sam was.
Sam was lying on the table with just a sheet covering him from the chest down. Under the bright lights of the room, Sam's pale body looked to be the same color as the sheet.
Greg, Ed and Wordy approached Sam first to say their goodbyes. Spike soon followed and Jules was left standing alone by the door, unable to move any further. She knew she needed to see him and say goodbye, but she didn't want to face the truth. Taking a deep breath and steeling herself for what was to come, Jules moved forward towards the lifeless body of her teammate and the love of her life.
... ... ...
Jules woke with a start. Her breathing was ragged as she looked around and tried to get her bearings. A relieved sigh slipped from her lips when, in the dark of their bedroom, she saw Sam sleeping peacefully next to her, alive and healthy. Thank god, it was just a bad dream.
After taking a few deep breaths to get her breathing back under control, Jules laid back down and snuggled closer into Sam's side hoping that the added closeness would keep any more bad dreams away, just like they always did.
The End!
AH! It was all just a dream!
I gotta say, I kind of hate myself after this one, lol. I hope you guys don't hate me!