Chapter 4 – Shock and Blood
"No… he can't be…" Karl whispered, shocked. It had overwhelmed him; he stood rooted to the spot looking down at his lifeless son. Tears fell from his eyes splashing to the wet ground below. He shook his head to clear it, then realised he should be attending to Zeke, seeing if he was…
He couldn't bear to think it, he looked again at his son, the state he was in, was there any way he couldn't be dea…
Karl stopped himself right there, he needed to go to him, now.
He rushed over to where Zeke lay, fearing the worst, dreading the sight. He gently turned Zeke over so he was lying on his back, Karl put an ear to his chest, hovered his cheek over Zeke's mouth, but no… he wasn't breathing. Karl's heart began to race as he reluctantly checked for Zeke's pulse knowing it was about to bring his world crashing down on him…
He felt at his wrist and then he knew…
"Check his neck" Put in one of the rescue members, "It's sometimes stronger there"
Karl knew that everyone was just clinging on to some desperate hope, so he did anyway… Still no pulse, Karl was about to pull his hand away to breakdown in tears when he felt it…
It was weak, it was slow but it was there…
Karl breathed a huge sigh of relief as he realised his son was still alive but it wasn't over yet, Zeke was lingering on the edge of death and of they didn't do something fast he would slip over it. The thought terrified Karl, he had just got Zeke back after fearing he was dead he couldn't let him die. He took a deep breath then began to assess the damage…
Zeke was a state, he really was, blood covered everywhere; a huge gash in his forehead was bleeding profusely, blood dripping down his face. His hair was matted with dry and fresh blood from the still-bleeding wound at the back of his head. His ankle twisted out in a way that said it was clearly broken. A massive slash across his midriff broke through the wetsuit and into his stomach, blood had spurted everywhere. His arms were covered in cuts and grazes, his wetsuit torn to bits. He was losing more and more blood by the second, if he didn't get to a hospital soon…
All of that was bad… really bad but that wasn't what Karl was worrying about. Zeke's chest…
A deep slit through his wetsuit and into his chest… right by his heart.
If we're lucky and it hasn't hit his heart then his lung will be ripped to shreds, Karl thought. He loosened Zeke's wetsuit so as not to constrict his breathing, not that he was breathing anyway…
One of the rescue squad had phoned for an air ambulance, it was due to arrive any minute…
Karl stayed by Zeke's side as they applied a neck brace, loaded him into the helicopter and sped off to the hospital. Zeke was deteriorating fast, a paramedic was attending to him, pumping air into his mouth to make him breathe but they only had limited equipment, he needed a hospital and even then…
Karl, sitting on the bench next to him, could only wait and hope…
***
Susan felt her phone ring and got up to answer it,
"Karl?" she asked worriedly, all the teens snapped to attention, anxious to hear if there was any news on Zeke.
"Susan," Karl replied, he sounded strained.
"What happened? Have you found him?"
"… Yes… we found him" He answered rather slowly.
"Oh, thank goodness, is he okay?" Susan breathed a sigh of relief.
"He's…" and then the connection broke.
"Karl?"
"Karl?"
Susan put the phone down and turned to face the teens who all looked up expectantly at her.
"They've found Zeke" she said and they all relaxed.
"Is he okay?" asked Rachel still worried about her brother.
"I don't know" Susan answered honestly, "The phone cut off before he could say… it sounded like Karl was going to say 'he's okay' which is a relief"
She smiled at them and they returned it, happy that Zeke was safe and well…
If only they'd known…