CHAPTER 7: Gates

"All right, are we all here?" Dr. Weaver shouted as we crowded into the ambulance bay.

"Aye, aye, ma'am," Morris answered.

"I'll take that as a yes!" Weaver said as the first of two ambulances pulled up. "Okay, everybody, it's going to be messy!"

Boy, I'll say it was. As soon as those words were spoken, the ambulance doors swung open, and out came our first of many patients. "What do we got?" I asked.

"35-year-old man, chest trauma, fractured right femur, possible concussion. We gave him five mics of morphine, crashed en route," the EMT reported.

"I've got him!" Luka shouted, following the gurney inside.

"Next ambulance?" I asked.

"Pulling up right now. Go!" Luka commanded.

"26-year-old woman, crushed larynx, LOC en route 74 percent. We criked her in the field, and she's alert," the second EMT said. "Second patient is a 12-year-old boy, blown left pupil, concussion, and altered. It's her cousin."

"Shelly!" the boy screamed.

"She's on her way inside," I told him. "We're going to take good care of her."

Upon hearing my voice, the boy looked up at me, and a huge grin spread across his face. "Hey, Pigpen!" he slurred happily. "Oh, man, I thought you were dead! Hey, how's Jimi?"

"Yeah, he's altered, all right," Neela agreed. "Get him to Trauma Two, and Abby to a private room upstairs. Move!"

"Come on, Ray!" I called, and the two of us headed back inside to Curtain Three.

"What's going on?" Abby asked as we rushed into the room.

"Mass cas at that Deadhead convention," Ray said grimly as we settled Abby onto a gurney, put up the side bars, and started to wheel her out. "They need the room."

"I guess this means now strawberry shake now, huh?" Abby groaned.

"Afraid not," I answered. "Ray's going to take you upstairs to a private room, and we'll keep you posted on how things are going down here, okay?"

"Okay."

We'd just gotten Abby to the elevator when Neela shouted, "Tony, I need you!"

"You're on your own with her," I said, pressing the elevator button. Then, I turned to run toward Neela. "Yeah?"

"It's Sarah and Meg," she said in a trembling voice.

"What!" I exclaimed. I felt my whole body go numb. I mean, this was my best friend's widow and her daughter. What was going on? "Where are they?"

"They're in Exam One, and they both look banged up pretty badly."

I'm sure Neela was still talking to me, but I didn't hear her, because I was running as fast as I could. "Sarah!" I yelled. And I burst into the room.

Both of them were injured, but thank God, not as seriously as that kid who thought I was Pigpen (the deceased member of the Grateful Dead, not the Peanuts character). Sarah had scrapes and bruises all over her face, and her left arm was bleeding. Meg had a splint on her right ankle, a broken nose and left index finger, and two teeth knocked out. "Oh, dear God!" I blurted out.

"Tony!" Sarah sobbed, jumping off the gurney and running to me. I hugged her. "It all happened so fast! Mom and I were at the salad bar, and the next thing we knew, this mail truck was coming right for us!"

"Where's that little boy?" Meg moaned.

"What little boy?" I asked.

"There was this little boy, he almost got hit. I pushed him out of the way!" Meg said, fighting to keep her voice steady. "Oh, God, please let him be all right!"

"Shh, it's okay," I whispered as I stroked Sarah's hair, then helped her sit on the nearby stool. "We'll get you two taken care of."

I pressed the call button on the wall. "Frank, I need a nurse in here! Who's available?"

"Just Chuny."

"Good. Send her to Exam One, now!"

Less than a minute later, Chuny arrived. "Ay, Dios mio," she murmured.

"Chuny, this woman has multiple fractures. I need you to call Ortho and see who's available," I reported. Then, as I helped Sarah back up on her feet, I continued, "This little girl has an incision on her arm and cuts and scrapes all over her face. Who do we have in Sutures?"

"I thought Sam and Pratt would be, but they're MIA," Chuny answered.

"Okay, take the woman to Ortho, and make sure she's taken care of. I'll take the girl to Sutures myself."

"I'll call Lydia," Chuny said.

"Good. Go!"

I led Sarah to the Suture Room. All the while, I was saying, "Just keep your arm elevated, and whatever you do, keep applying pressure to it."

"It hurts so much," Sarah whimpered.

"I know, honey. One of the nurses will give you some medicine, okay?" I said soothingly. When we got to the Suture Room, Conni was waiting. "Where's Lydia?"

"Trauma One, with Weaver and Kovac," she answered. "What do you need?"

"She needs stitches in her left arm. It's cut up pretty bad," I said as I helped Sarah down into the chair.

"Yeah, it sure is," Conni agreed. "I'll irrigate, you give her the betadyne."

"Got it."

As we fixed Sarah up, I kept thinking to myself, What else can happen today?