Chapter 4: The hospital
Red and blue lights color the sky around him. While the black smoke coming from the club next to him colors the rest of it black. He can't stop coughing, he has ash all over his body. But that doesn't matter. Nothing matters if she doesn't make it. Suddenly he knows what his father feels. But there's no time to think about it, no time to even consider that. Tears well up in his eyes as he looks at her unconscious body. As he looks at the once so strong Martha, who now lies broken on the floor. He wants to cry but he doesn't. If he cries now, he knows he will never stop. And he has to be strong. For her.
The ride to the hospital was, in his mind, the longest ride he ever took. He looked at Martha, at his Martha. Looking for a sign of the girl he fell in love with, the girl he married, the girl he still loves. But nothing remains anymore. He saw the blood that colored her clothes and her body red. He looked at her face, that was pale now. He wished he could do something for her. But he couldn't do anything. All he could do was hold her hand and hope. Hope that she would survive this.
20 minutes later he was standing in the hallway of the hospital all alone. He would have gone with Martha but Rachel had told him to wait. It had only been 20 minutes, but it seemed like eternity. The girls that had been outside of the club walked in, followed by Ric and Tony. Tony walked to him without saying a word. Because he knew there was nothing he could say that would make him feel better. Nothing to say, nothing to do. All they could do was wait.
Hours have passed and most of the girls have left. Only three remain, sitting silently on a couple of chairs. They're the ones that saw Martha before the fire. The police had asked them to wait there, but only one of the girls was there because she cared to. Brooke looked at Jack and wished that there was something she could say to him. But she couldn't, how could she tell him she had ran out of the building and had left Martha inside. She felt so guilty, but she didn't know. She didn't know. It wasn't her fault, it was Cams. But no matter how many times she reminded herself of that, it didn't matter. She couldn't get the guilt out of her heart.
Jack is standing there looking out of the window. It's raining outside, almost as if the weather was showing how he felt inside. He starts to cough again, he can feel his father look at him. He can almost feel the concern. He's been coughing non-stop since he got there. But Martha was more important then that. He would worry about himself when he knew that Martha was alright. Alf and Sally are sitting next to the girls. But Ric, Ric is sitting at the other side of the room, all alone. Remembering something that had happened years ago. 'She's not breathing, you've got to help her.' He could still hear himself saying that. This couldn't be happening. Not again.
Rachel came trought the door just as the police arrived. They wanted to know what had happened, so they started interogating the girls. So that Martha's family and friends would first find out if she's alright. Jack can feel his hearth beating harder then it's supposed to. He coughs again but it doesn't matter. All that matters was what Rachel would tell him.
'Martha?' Sally whispered only one word, she didn't even have to say the entire sentence to let everyone know what she wanted to ask.
'She's alive.' Rachel replied. 'But she has lost a lot of blood.'
'What does she have? Where is she'?' Said alf
'Well she had a lot of burns from the fire. But what intrigued me most was all of the blood.'
The police officer came from nowhere.
'I'm sorry, I thought she was a victim of a fire. Why then blood?'
'She was the victem of a fire. Which is why she had a lot of burning wounds. But the fire started about a half hour before she was brought in right?'
'Yeah. That's correct.'
'Well than I can tell you right now, that I don't think that the fire was an accident. More like a cover up. You see 10 to 15 minutes before the fire started Martha was shot twice.'
'What?' The police officer was all ears now.
'Yeah, she was shot once in the area of her shoulder. That wound didn't cause much distress only a bit of blood lose. The second shot was around her stomach, and it penatrated her kidney.'
The police officer sighed. 'Could she have gotten out in time?'
'If she hadn't been shot? Sure. But the wounds created a major blood lose, a lose of strenght. That combined with the fire, and the smoke that made her have trouble to breath, was bad. Even without the fire there was no possible way she could have gotten out of there alone.'
'But she's alright?' That was Jack. Rachel turned her atention inmeadiatly away from the police officer and to her family. The police officer caught the tip and said nothing anymore.
'I'm not going to lie to you, it doesn't look good. She survived surgery but I don't know what will happen from here on. Now the most important thing is that she wakes up.'
'I'm sorry, how long did she have?' That was the police officer again.
'Euhm, well without the fire she could have fought for another half hour and then the blood loss would have been deadly. With the fire? Ten more minutes. Less maybe like 5. Jack came just in time. You're a hero, you really are.'
'A crazy fool, that's what he is.' Said the police officer who was also Jack's boss.' A crazy fool but a hero. I'll have more questions for you Jack later, but I'll first go and ask her some. So you can go visit Martha.'
'Oh no.' Said Rachel.' He isn't seeing anyone.'
'What?!' Replied Jack.
'Not until I check you out, you'v been coughing non-stop since you got here. I want to make sure that you're alright. Look before you say anything I'll let Alf, Sally and Ric pass. So that by the time you are checked you can see her inmeadiatly. And I'm not taking a no. So move it Hero.'
Jack wanted to protest but he knew she was right. He would see her later, the main thing now was that she was still alive. That's what mattered.