It turned out that the third ambulance was, indeed, needed. Elisa rode in one ambulance while the two men were on their way to the same hospital as her in the other two rigs.
She desperately wanted to know if everyone else was alright, but she was so tired. It was a herculean effort to open her eyes, let alone to talk. She closed her eyes, preferring to let herself drift for a while.
"Ma'am," the soft voiced tech insisted, "I'm sorry, but I need you to stay awake."
Elisa frowned. She knew that, but she was just so tired.
"Ma'am," He said again.
"I know, but it is so bright in here," Elisa said, prying her eyes open to blink at the man. "And I am pretty sure that my head is going to pop off at any time."
"Headache?" The tech asked.
"Yeah," Elisa said.
"I can't really give you anything until we get you to the hospital," He said apologetically. "Until they get you in and take some scans of your head, and rule out any internal injuries…"
Elisa closed her eyes again and sighed. "That's o.k. I know the drill, but I can't keep my eyes open right now. The minute the lights hit, I feel like I have ice picks being hammered into my skull. If you want me to stay awake, talk to me."
That seemed to stump the young man.
"Talk?" He asked.
"Yeah," Elisa insisted. "I don't even care about what. What's your name? Do you have a pet? Tell me about your family. Your favorite vacation spot. Your favorite color. Do you like Pina Coladas and getting lost in the rain? I don't care, I swear."
"Okay," He said, seeming to search for something to say. "My name is William. WilI for short… and, uh… I have two Shih Tzu puppies and a pair of Russian Blue cats."
"Shih Tzus?" Elisa asked, surprised. "You don't seem the type."
"Yeah, well," He stuttered.
"No judgement," Elisa assured him. "I have a big ol' tomcat that I rescued as a kitten from a storm drain almost five years ago. I named him Cagney."
Elisa could hear the smile in the young emt's voice. "The other guys make fun of my when they hear what kind of dogs I just got."
"Nah," Elisa said breezily. "Shih Tzus are cute. You just seem like more of a retriever kind of guy."
"Well…"
"Uh, oh," Elisa chuckled. The sound and vibration hurt, but she simply couldn't help herself. "Let me guess: You would have rather had a retriever but your s.o. decided otherwise."
"Got it in one," Will said, surprise reflecting in his voice. "You sure you're a cop, and not some kind of psychic?"
"No. Not a psychic," Elisa said softly. Her head was really starting to pound, and the effort to keep talking and joking was not helping. At all. "I'm a detective."
"Same thing sometimes."
"Yeah," Elisa sighed.
"How's the head?"
"I feel like I have two little gremlins playing the bongos in my brain," Elisa admitted.
"Not unusual," He said, reassuringly. "We're almost there, and they can give you some of the good painkillers."
"Yay," Elisa said, weakly.
The chit chat kept up until Elisa knew Will's favorite color, vacation spot, the name of his girlfriend, hobbies and his shoe size.
Finally, Elisa felt the ambulance slow to a stop. The back of the ambulance was opened, and more loud voices joined the cacophony in her head. Her information that had been gathered in the field on on the way from the scene was passed from William to the nurses and whoever else was in the area.
Elisa still didn't want to open her eyes until it was absolutely necessary. It was coming, she knew, and was just hoping to put off the inevitable.
Stats were called out. Blood pressure and oxygen levels were checked.
"Alright, officer, my name is Dr. Valerie Litster and I need to take a look at your eyes," came a no-nonsense female voice.
Elisa sighed, and braced herself. She opened her eyes as far as she dared, cringing when the white coated sadist used a pen light to check her pupils.
"Pupils are reactive, and really light sensitive. Sorry detective," the doctor said, not sounding sorry at all. "Alright, we are going to take you up to CT, and I will see you again in a few minutes."
"Can't wait," Elisa said weakly.
"I can't do anything about the lights in the rest of the hospital," the doctor said on her way out the door, "but I can do something to ease your discomfort for now."
Even through her closed eyelids, Elisa could sense the lights being turned off. It was a brief reprieve, but it helped Elisa relax a bit.
All too soon, a pair of young women came to wheel her down the bright hallways for the rest of her tests. Elisa kept her eyes shut as tightly as she could, but the first sharp turn on the way there brought back the dizziness, and Elisa nearly embarrassed herself by vomiting on the interns who were wheeling her down the hallways.
She was wheeled down a winding maze of hallways, and suffered through the noisy scan machine. She was wheeled out again and left alone for a brief time in a quiet private treatment room in the emergency wing, the only sound in the room was the slight beeping of the machines.
Some benevolent soul had thought ahead, and had turned off the lights in the room for her.
Gods, but she was tired. Sleep had been so elusive lately…
Elisa drifted off to sleep to the rhythmic, steady beeping of her heart monitor.
