"Is everyone alright?" Laura called out.
"No worse off than before my feet were shaken out from under me," Scott responded.
"How will we get out of here?" a small child asked in a cry.
Laura didn't know how to answer that question so she just kept looking around evaluating what she had to work with and formulating her next plan of action. "We're going to have to figure that one out. Let's just stay calm."
Her eyes had adjusted to the dark enough that she was able to see her bag still in the hands of the two boys she had entrusted it to. Blindly going to the pocket for the light, Laura turned it on to reveal all seven children and the rescuer, Scott, laying on the floor of the tunnel covered with nearly an inch of dust and dirt. While she quickly checked on each of the children and made sure they were all right and the dust was wiped away from their faces Scott painfully rolled over onto his back.
"We can't go that way," Scott evaluated looking in the direction that they had come from, "We'll just have to keep going and hope we can find another opening. But I think we're safe enough now that we can catch our breath before we start moving."
Laura took a few panting breaths and she looked around and agreed before grabbing her bag of medical supplies and equipment, carrying it to the side of the little girl she had been carrying. Then she pulled a series of objects out of the largest of the pockets. Everyone watched as Laura unrolled a black mat that she placed on the ground before gently rolling the injured girl over on top of it. She then attached two coiled cords to the mat before connecting one to a lap top computer and the other to what appeared to be some kind of Camera.
Scott watched with out moving as Laura soothingly talked to the girl as she gently moved her while checking her computer screen and pushing an occasional button.
"That's not too bad sweetheart," Laura reported, "You're going to be just fine." Laura tenderly brushed the small girl's hair away from her face and gave her a warm smile before carefully pulling the mat out from under her.
"I'll be right back honey, you just lie still okay," Laura told the girl as she gathered up her equipment and made her way in Scott's direction.
"Dr. Linstone I presume?" Scott asked between deep grimacing breaths as Laura carefully placed her armload on the ground at his side.
"Not quite," Laura answered in a business like manner, "I'm just a nurse practitioner and medic right now."
"How bad is the little girl hurt?" Scott asked.
"She's got two broken ribs, her breathing trouble is due more to the pain than anything." Then lowering her voice to avoid being overheard, "She has some internal injuries that I'm most worried about. She's stable now but I'm really going to have to keep a close eye on her." Laura skillfully lifted Scott's injured leg with one hand as she positioned the mat before lowering the leg back in place.
"What is that a computerized heating pad?" Scott teased.
"Actually, it's a portable digital x-ray scanner." Laura reported matter of factly, "I thought your group was up on the latest and greatest electronic and mechanical wizardry."
"We tend to focus our attention on big and powerful," Scott admitted, "We don't even notice such cute little toys."
"Well this cute little toy tells me that your leg is broken. Both bones each in two places. Clean breaks, but all this walking you've done has caused some tissue damage." Laura made eye contact with a look of concern and compassion. "How bad is the pain?"
"Not unbearable."
"If you're going to be doing any more moving on that leg we need to come up with some better immobilization." Laura determined out loud.
"I'll have to make do," Scott argued, "We can't stay here and there is nothing else we can do with what we have on hand."
"Actually, I still have a few 'cute toys' left in my bag." Laura teased, "Just let me check all of the others over and I'll see what I can do."
Laura left her x-ray equipment at his side and proceeded to check out all of the children for injuries. After applying a few glow in the dark bandage strips for emotional health and well being Laura pulled a water filter out of her bag and assigned one of the older children to fill it from a trickle of water that was running from a broken pipe. Laura then pulled her medical bag on to her shoulder and carried it to Scott's side where she pulled out another 'cute toy'. Carefully she wrapped what looked like a small thickly padded blanket around Scott's leg carefully smoothing and molding it in places. She then injected a large syringe full of liquid into several valves along the edge of the blanket. After a minute the blanket inflated to fit snuggly around his leg then turned as cold as ice and as hard as a rock.
"That should hold things in place a little better." Laura optimistically reported, "in ten minutes we'll see if it's any better to walk on." Just then the boy assigned to filter some drinking water came and handed the bottle of water to Laura.
"Did everyone else get a drink?" Laura asked to which the boy silently and frightfully nodded yes.
"Did you get some?" Laura asked he nod again as he thrust the bottle toward her.
"Thank you." She said as she took the bottle from the silent boy, "get some rest we'll start looking for a way out of here in just a few more minutes."
Laura then placed her arm under Scott's head and shoulders lifting him so he could take a drink. He took a couple of swallows then signaled he'd had enough. Laura rested his head back on the ground and took her arm from behind him noticing a sticky substance on her sleeve.
"You're bleeding." Laura commented, careful not to use a frightened tone to her voice. "You didn't tell me you're head was hurt."
"It's no big deal, I've had worse," Scott tried to brush it off, but Laura quickly placed her x-ray mat under and around his head then put the camera into place. After a couple of minutes she sat back and studied the digital images that formed on her computer screen.
"You forgot to smile," Laura spoke with a serious tone to her voice as she studied the screen then searched for eye contact through the darkness. "Your brains seem to be present and accounted for but their housing is cracked in a couple of places. I hope that shattered hard hat I found was in use when it got broke."
"There's nothing we can do about it now we need to keep moving, try and find a way out of here" Scott nearly commanded after a moment of worried silence.
Laura stayed silent as she thought then after scanning the room from where they were she could see at least two branches in the tunnel. After finding some medication in her bag that would help Scott, Laura convinced all of the children and Scott to stay together and set out to explore the tunnels to see which one looked the most encouraging. A few minutes later Laura returned with disappointing news.
"The tunnel to the right has been bricked up and sealed," Laura reported to Scott. She had the information and an idea what they should do next, but she really wanted Scott to confirm her choice before she dared to act.
"The left tunnel leads to another stairwell but it's completely blocked with debris." Laura continued, "before you get to the stairwell, there's a room just a little bigger than here. It has a better supply of water and the air is clearer and there's not nearly as much structural damage. I think it might be best to move everyone there for now."
Scott looked around and calculated everything involved in his head. "F.A.B."
"Huh?! What does that mean?" Laura questioned wondering if Scott was hallucinating because of his head injury.
"Let's do it," Scott clarified. "I can't come up with any better plan."
With a plan in place, Laura pulled out another of her cute toys revealing what looked like a hammock with carry handles on the sides. After she showed the children how to use the stretcher she left one child with Scott and moved the rest of the children and the injured girl to the new location and then returned with the strongest of the children for Scott.
"I thought you said we were going to see if I could walk with this, 'thing,'" Scott objected when Laura prepared to slide the hammock stretcher under him.
"I'd rather not chance it, especially with the head injury." Laura tried to convince.
"They're just children," Scott pointed out the obvious; "I'm a full grown man. They could hurt themselves."
"I'll help," Laura showed her concern openly, "If we work together as a team I'm sure we'll be alright."
"I can make it," Scott spoke with in a determined enough tone that Laura knew any further argument was just a waist of time.
Reluctantly Laura helped Scott to his feet and climbed under his arm to help support him while the tallest and strongest of the boys supported him from the other side. The remaining children took charge of the medical bag and together they started down the tunnel.
With a lessened sense of urgency they're pace was much slower than it had been. When they arrived at their destination Scott confirmed that the move was a good idea.
After making Scott as comfortable as possible with an instant ice pack on his head Laura dug in to her bag once again and pulled out a bag full of chocolate bars which she passed around to the children before going to Scott.
"It's a good thing I had just renewed my chocolate stash." Laura said as she offered a piece of chocolate bar to Scott.
"I think you better save it for the kids." Scott turned her down.
Laura looked Scott over, "are you sick to your stomach?" she asked knowing that was a common symptom of head injuries.
"A little," Scott confessed. "But the kids still need this more than I do."
Laura reached for Scott's hand finding him cool and clammy to the touch. Reaching into her bag of cute toys she pulled out what Scott thought at first was a soda can, but when Laura broke the seal, it nearly exploded and a quick shake with her hand produced a twin sized blanket. Laura tucked the blanket around Scott and he was surprised at how warm it felt. Laura then returned to her bag and passed out the remaining blankets, five more, to the children to share.
Laura then withdrew a container of cleansing wipes and proceeded to wash the faces and hands of all of the children before gently washing Scott's. Then the children worked together to wash Laura's face giggling at all the funny faces that she pulled as they did.
In time the children curled up on the ground and slept surprisingly well. Laura made the rounds doing her best to tuck the seven children in with the five blankets before sitting down next to Scott.
"How are you hanging in there?" She asked. She knew he was in a lot of pain but she had already given him the last dose of medication she had in her bag. Her last ice pack was on his head hopefully buying time. She made one more inventory of the contents of her bag and just didn't think an anti-diarrhea medication was the answer. There was a new supply of all kinds of medications waiting for her at her next stop but nearly everything she had in her bag was confiscated by a Policeman of questionable honor two weeks ago.
"It must be nearly midnight," Laura said as if she wasn't talking to any one in particular.
"A little after 2 a.m.," Scott answered after producing a perfectly intact watch.
"I guess that means I've missed my train." Laura continued talking and Scott realized she was talking as much to stay awake as to make conversation.
"Where to?" Scott asked.
"Huh?" Laura turned her full attention to Scott.
"Where was your train to?" Scott clarified.
"Gondar, Ethiopia," Laura answered then turned away again staring into the darkness as she continued to talk. "I'll a, I'll be there for another two weeks helping with a vaccination clinic then on to Australia for the rest of the year.
"Do you think your group is still looking for you? For us?" Laura asked after a moment of silence.
"As long as they think there's a chance that we're alive they'll keep looking." Scott answered, "I just wish there was a way to let them know where we are. They could have us out of here in no time at all.
"I have a couple of smoke flares in my bag," Laura informed numbly, "But I don't think it will do any good down here."
Laura actually let Scott doze for about an hour then she woke him up again.
"I just have to make sure that you still know who you are." Laura stated as she rubbed his arm while she patiently waited for him to wake up a little more fully.
"A piece of hamburger two days out of the grinder," Scott answered back in pain.
Laura smiled at Scott's joke but her face shown of worry and exhaustion.
"How's the little girl?" Scott asked looking over at his fellow patient.
"She's uncomfortable," Laura answered, "I've been able to help her find a position to lay in that helps a little. Otherwise she seems to be holding her own."
"Good," Scott sighed with relief.
Laura took the time to check the circulation in Scott's toes and feel for a pulse as she asked what Scott thought the weather was like above ground.
Scott glanced at his watch but his vision was too blurred to read it so he turned it to Laura. "I can't see straight," he confessed, "can you tell me what time it is?"
"Almost seven a.m.," Laura reported. Now even more concerned about Scott's condition.
"The sun must be up by now," Laura made small talk to try and hide a concern that Scott already felt.
Suddenly Scott got an idea. "Did you say that you had smoke flares in your bag of toys?"
"Yea," Laura confirmed but she wasn't sure if she should be hopeful or concerned about Scott's mental competence.
"How far away is that stairway you told me about last night?" Scott asked.
Laura could feel hope filling her with a new sense of energy. She thought she knew what Scott was suggesting and wondered herself if it might work.
"It's about a hundred yards or so that way." Laura reported. "There's no way we can get through, but the smoke might be able to."
The two shared an encouraging look and nod before Laura grabbed the flares from her bag and took just a moment to wake one of the children asking her to watch Scott and the injured girl while she was gone and away she went.
At the bottom of the stairwell Laura's hope was bolstered by what she felt was air movement in the area. Feeling for an opening in the blockage Laura ignited the flares and placed them as far up the stair well as she could between the fallen support timbers.
It was going to work! She couldn't smell the smoke coming back at her, it had to be going up. Laura raced back to her little group with the good news stumbling in the dark twice in her excitement.