Chapter 7

"So let's see who did their reading assignment last night." Captain Bethel says to the recruit academy class as he moves from the podium to the center of the classroom.

"Mitchell." The brunette's eyes move to locate the instructor's voice as she stops her note taking and focuses her full attention forward.

"What is mercaptan and what it is used for?"

Beca stands as she addresses her instructor and her peers.

"Mercaptan, or ethyl mercaptan is an additive to natural gas to give it a distinct smell so that it can easily be identified if there is a natural gas leak. Natural gas is colorless and odorless and in large quantities and in confined space can cause asphyxiation and death."

The memory plays, almost in slow motion, in the lieutenant's mind as she starts to come to. Blinking slowly, Beca turns her head slightly in either direction. There is no sound around her. She opens and closes her jaw a few times as the ringing in her ears starts from a mellow hum to an obnoxious wail. She slowly rolls to her side, trying to muster the strength to push herself up off the ground. The pungent smell of the mercaptan engulfs her senses and it's enough to make her nauseous.

She hears a grumble a few feet to her left as her hearing starts to come back.

"Lieutenant."

Beca turns her head slowly, the tension in her neck takes hold and she registers how sore the rest of her body has become. Stacie is slowly getting up, the source of the groans only moments ago.

"Are you alright?" Beca asks as she stands slowly, taking a moment to let the blood stop rushing everywhere and letting the light headedness settle before looking around.

"I think so." The tall brunette states as she gives herself a once over to make sure she isn't hurt.

Beca, fully aware now, scans her surroundings and pulls her radio mic close to her mouth.

"Engine 11, I need a PAR." She orders as she starts to move slowly through the dust and smoke surrounding her and Stacie.

"Swanson. No injuries." She heard Jesse say over the radio.

"Allen. No injuries."

"Bryant. No injuries."

Beca waited a moment and listened intently for the last member of her crew. She moved to engage her mic to call Chloe when she heard coughing through the radio followed by,

"Beale. No injuries."

The brunette lieutenant took a breath for a moment before moving on to the rest of the crew members.

"Ladder and Rescue. I need a PAR."

"Wilson and Onakomaura. No injuries." Fat Amy said over the radio.

"Davis. No injuries."

"Dean. No injuries. Edwards is unconscious but breathing with pulses. No apparent injuries."

"Engine copy." Beca stated as she waited for the rest of the PAR.

"Applebaum. No injuries.

There was a long silence. Beca must have waited for a good 15 seconds before she tried to hail her sister over the radio.

"Aubrey, status?" The short brunette asked with a firm tone. She waited a few more seconds but no answer was heard.

"Does anyone have eyes on Aubrey?" Beca asked as she started looking around the rubble and large cement slabs from the buildings that were throw in every direction.

The smoke and dust began to subside and she could start making out everyone's location around the scene. Lily and Amy were helping CR get Donald stabilized and out of the way.

Her heart rate began to speed up and her breathing started to labor. Every second that Aubrey wasn't answering made her more anxious.

"Aubrey, answer me, damnit!" Beca yelled out across the area and in all directions.

"Mayday, Mayday, Mayday." Beca recognized the voice as Luke's and her blood went cold.

"All crews hold Traffic. Firefighter with a Mayday, go ahead." The dispatcher broadcasted over all the radios.

"This is FireFighter Bryant. Lieutenant Aubrey Mitchell is down and not breathing. We are at the north side of the third structure that exploded. I need ALS and a rescue to my location."

Beca was off and running before Luke even finished the Mayday with Stacie hot on her heels. The brunette lieutenant passed Chloe as they rounded the corner and could see Luke in a kneeled position over his sister. He was in the process of unbuttoning the shackles on her turnout jacket when Beca made it to them. Beca jumped in. Her mind was in overdrive as she looked at her sister lying lifeless on the ground.

"Luke, go get the jump bag and monitor off the engine. Stacie, go get a rescue crew over here." Beca said as she finished pulling Aubrey's turnout coat off.

"Chloe, I need your help." Beca commanded, laying Aubrey flat on the ground and starting CPR. Luke was off and running back in the direction Beca had come without another word.

Chloe didn't know what to do but she found herself moving regardless of what she thought she was telling her brain to do.

"I need you to cut off her suspenders and t-shirt. When Luke gets back I need you to spike an IV bag and get me an 18 gauge ready. Luke is going to set up the defibrillator."

"Yes, Lieutenant." Chloe replied as she pulled her trauma shears out of her bunker pants pocket and began doing as she was told.

"Come on, Aubrey, don't you fucking do this to me!" Beca said enraged as she pumped furiously on Aubrey's chest. When she hit 30 compressions, Beca stopped for a moment and leaned up. She pinched Aubrey's nose shut and opened her mouth before puffing two breaths into her sister's body. She could see the air push Aubrey's chest up and down before jumping right back into chest compressions.

Luke returned a second later with the jump bag and monitor. Chloe unzipped the orange bag that contained a ready set of medical supplies while Luke began connecting the defibrillator chord to the monitor. He tore open the adhesive pads and placed one on Aubrey's right chest and the other on her left side ribs just below her armpit. Chloe had the IV tubing ready to go as well as the IV start kit. Fat Amy and Lily wheeled the gurney and the drug box over, while Stacie started putting together a bag valve mask and putting the cup over Aubrey's mouth to start breathing for her.

Luke put the tourniquet on Aurbrey's right arm and cleaned off the area with an alcohol wipe. He took over compressions for Beca as she grabbed the IV needle from Chloe and inserted it into her arm. Once the catheter was inside, Beca retracted the needle, connected the IV tubing, and taped the catheter in place. She set the IV drip and turned to Amy to grab the epinephrine needle.

Beca told Luke to hold compressions for a moment while she looked at the heart monitor.

"She's in V-Fib. Shock her!" Beca commanded.

"Everyone clear!" Luke yelled. Everyone stopped what they were doing and moved their hands away from Aubrey.

"Everyone clear... Shocking!" Luke said before he pressed the 'shock' button on the monitor. Aubrey's body jolted and matched the 'crack' noise that came from the defibrillator.

Beca looked at the monitor again and saw her heart spike to a normal sinus rhythm.

"We got a rhythm. Let's load and go!" Beca said as she handed the unused epinephrine needle back to Amy and helped Chloe and Luke move her to a backboard and then onto the gurney.

Stacie checked her breathing. It was shallow so she kept assisting her ventilations with a bag valve mask. Captain Mayberry met the crew at the Rescue.

"Sir, I'm turning over command to you. There is a gas leak under the street. It's traveling from house to house. I… I have to stay with her," Beca's voice waivered for a moment as she looked over to her crew members as they put her sister in the back of the ambulance.

There were more than enough crews that responded to the incident to take over and now that Captain Mayberry was there he could take over the incident.

"Take care of your family, kiddo. I'll be at the hospital as soon as I can." Beca nodded and climbed into the back of the ambulance with Luke, Amy, Stacie, and Chloe. Lily shut the doors to the back of the Rescue and jumped into the driver's seat and started the engine. She flipped on the lights and sirens and pulled out onto the road towards Barden University Medical Center.

The heart monitor rang out a loud beeping noise and Beca's head snapped to its location on the shelf.

"Fuck! No, no, no! She's in asystole!" Beca jumped from the bench seat and switched places with Stacie. Luke started compressions again while Amy drew up another needle of epinephrine.

"It's getting hard to bag her, lieutenant." Stacie said as she kept a steady pace trying to breath for Aubrey with the bag valve mask.

Beca opened one of the compartment doors above her head and pulled out the intubation kit. Chloe took over compressions for Luke so that he could help their lieutenant.

"Push 1Mg of epi!" Beca instructed Amy as she slid the intubation tube down her sisters throat. Stacie disconnected the mouth cup on the bag valve mask so she could connect it directly to the intubation tube.

"Epi is in." The Aussi states before programing the monitor to charge for another shock.

"Everyone stop." Beca commands as she looks at the heart monitor.

"Shockable rhythm." Amy says. "Everyone clear!"

Amy makes sure everyone isn't touching Aubrey before shocking her friend one more time. Chloe resumes chest compressions once again as Lily pulls into the Ambulance bay of the hospital.

A code team is already standing by outside the Emergency Room doors. Lily had radioed into the hospital during the transport in. Luke jumps out and pulls the gurney out of the back of the ambulance. Chloe hops up onto the bottom rail of the gurney so that she can continue compressions as Luke and Amy pull the gurney into the ER room.

Beca is giving a report to the doctor as she injects another Mg of epinephrine into the IV in her sister's arm. Her crew helps the hospital staff move Aubrey over to the table before the nurse has them all moved from the room and pulls the sliding glass door shut.

Beca stares through the glass as the nurse pulls the curtain across the length of the door; her heart is hammering in her chest and her breath catches before she sinks to her knees on the hospital floor.


I'm an asshole. Back-to-back cliffhangers. Review, review, please and thank you!