Crashed
Joe was just considering hopping into his squad car to run home and check on Barry when his phone rang. He answered it on the first ring.
"Hello? Hello? Barry?" he called into his cell. There was no answer. After a few seconds, Joe could make out the sound of quiet sobs on the other side of the phone.
"Barry? Are you okay?"
No answer.
"Barry?!" Joe called into the cellphone, already making his way out to the parking lot, "Barry, it's okay, I'm coming home. I'll be there soon."
"I'm not at home," Barry's voice finally said from the other side of the line. It was raspy and shaky, and it was followed by another sob. Joe felt his blood run cold.
"Where are you, Bar?" he asked frantically, "What's happened? Where are you?"
"I don't know," Barry choked, "I don't know where I am."
"Are you still driving?" Joe asked, getting into his squad car.
"Y-yes," Barry answered.
"Okay, listen to me, Barry," Joe said, trying to keep his voice calm so as not to cause Barry any further distress, "You need to pull over right away, okay?"
Barry didn't answer. All Joe could hear were his gasps and sobs. His breathing was quickly turning into hyperventilating. Barry was panicking.
"Barry, hey! Stay with me, Bar. Take a deep breath for me, okay?" Joe instructed. He heard Barry take a deep, shaky breath. "Good, Bar. Now please, tell me where you are. Anything you can see. Can you tell me what's around you? Are there any street signs? I'll come find you."
"I couldn't—I couldn't find our house. I couldn't find it," Barry sobbed, "So I just kept driving. I couldn't remember the way. I couldn't remember. I—"
"Barry!" Joe nearly shouted into the phone as he spun out of the precinct parking lot, "Try to calm down for me, alright, and please. Tell me where you are!"
Joe drove frantically through the city, desperately searching for Barry's car. He could be anywhere. He had left the precinct forty minutes ago.
"I forgot where we live, Joe," Barry said hysterically, not answering his question.
"I know, son, but it's going to be alright," Joe assured him, "Just please tell me where you are."
"I don't know," Barry said between sobs, "I just turned onto a street I don't recognize."
"Barry, I asked you to pull over!" Joe nearly shouted, now panicking himself, "Please pull over right now!"
"I forgot where we live," Barry cried, not listening to Joe, "How could I forget something like that? Joe, what's happening to me?"
"Barry, listen to me!" Joe yelled, growing more and more panicked, "Pull over! Just pull over, okay? Pull over, Barry!"
"How could I forget that? How could I—" Barry's sentence was cut off abruptly by a sharp gasp, which was shortly followed by an earsplitting crash. Joe felt as if all the air had been sucked out of his lungs.
"Barry!? BARRY!" Joe shouted, but there was no reply. The silence that followed the crash was deafening.
Joe continued to shout Barry's name into his phone, but there was no reply. He drove frantically throughout the city, panicked tears welling up in his eyes as he hoped against all hope that nothing was wrong, that Barry and him were simply disconnected or Barry had hung up. But he knew better. Even in his desperation he knew that wasn't the case. Barry was hurt. He was hurt somewhere.
Joe turned on his police radio, hoping to hear something about Barry over the radio waves (or maybe, hoping not to hear something).
After a few terrible minutes, he finally heard it. The call.
"Dispatch to DC52. We have an accident on the corner of Dalton and McKinley. Unidentified driver appears to be a young, caucasian male in his mid-twenties. EMS has been dispatched. Driver appears to be in critical condition. ALS intercept and fire department are in route."
Joe's mouth became dry when he heard the words 'critical condition'. He put on his lights and sirens. He swerved to make a right, nearly causing an accident himself, and he made his way to the intersection of Dalton and McKinley. Even though he knew there was no hope, he still couldn't help but think to himself, Please, let it not be Barry. Please.
When he pulled up to the scene, all he could see at first were flashing red and blue lights. There were already several cop cars and an ambulance at the site. Groups of onlookers were standing some distance away, curiously watching everything that was happening. Joe didn't look at any of them as he pulled up though. He only had eyes for the car. With a sinking feeling he recognized it as his own. It was Barry.
The car was demolished. The front of it was completely compacted as though from a head on collision, but the entire thing also looked like it had rolled a couple times before coming to a stop. Debris littered the entire street, showing just how much ground had been covered by the accident. From where Joe was, the twisted, angry metal of the car allowed for no view of the driver inside.
Joe jumped out of his squad car as soon as it was parked and ran towards the vehicle.
"Hey, Joe. Good, you're here," Officer Davies said, blocking his path, "Do you maybe want to start doing traffic control? This side street here should be blocked off and—"
Joe impatiently sidestepped the officer, going around him to reach the car. Even though he was practically sprinting, Joe felt like he was moving in slow motion as he approached the mangled vehicle. There were already two paramedics there. One was standing next to the driver's side of the vehicle reaching in through the open door, while the other had managed to climb into the back seat of the car and was using his gloved hands to stabilize Barry's head and neck from behind.
When Joe got his first sight of Barry, he felt like his insides had been dipped in a bucket of ice water. Barry's face was almost unrecognizable from all of the swelling and bruising that had already started to form. His nose was certainly broken, and he had a large cut above his left eye that was flowing blood down the rest of his face and neck. The entire front of the vehicle had been compacted inwards, and the steering wheel was now pressing painfully onto Barry's chest, while the dashboard had collapsed completely on his legs, crushing them.
Nothing was harder for Joe to see, however, than the look of pure terror that was on Barry's face as the paramedic next to him carefully slid a cervical collar around his neck to immobilize his head. Joe stepped forward to try to comfort Barry, but the paramedic standing next to the car held out a hand.
"Sorry, officer, I need the space here to work on him. You'll have to case the scene after we get him out."
The paramedic thought Joe was just another officer responding to the accident.
"How—How bad is it?" Joe asked fearfully, watching as the medic applied gauze to a large, bleeding wound on Barry's abdomen, which was difficult considering the steering wheel that was in the way.
"When we first arrived he seemed to be having some sort of seizure," the medic responded, not looking up from what he was doing with Barry, "That's probably what caused the accident, if that helps you with your accident report."
"A seizure?" Joe asked, shocked.
He couldn't take his eyes off of Barry. He could see now that his entire body was trembling and his hands were still spasming slightly. Whether it was from the seizure or just from the adrenaline and stress, Joe had no idea. Barry was having a hard time breathing, no doubt from the fact that he had to have several broken ribs and the steering wheel was still compressing his chest. Barry's breaths sounded labored and strained. He had blood pouring from his nose into his mouth which probably didn't help his breathing situation. His eyes were open, but the swelling in his face prevented him from opening them entirely. It was enough, however, for Joe to see that they were filled with pain and sheer terror.
"How bad are his injuries?" Joe asked shakily, desperately wishing he could comfort Barry but not wanting to get in the paramedics' way of saving his son. The paramedic could barely even reach into the vehicle enough to care for Barry as it was.
"We're just trying to get the bleeding under control until we can get him out of here. We're waiting on the fire department. They'll have to take the car apart to get him out," the paramedic said while putting a nonrebreather mask on Barry and hooking it up to oxygen, "I think we might end up calling flight for life for this one, officer. He's lost a lot of blood, and there's bound to be some internal bleeding."
Joe paled. He couldn't believe this was real, that this was actually happening. An hour ago, he was handing Barry his keys. Now this. It had all happened so quickly. Joe didn't take his eyes off of Barry while they waited for Fire Rescue to arrive. He looked so scared and confused. Joe watched the sporadic rise and fall of Barry's chest with each strained breath he took.
A small whimper escaped Barry's throat when the medic applied more pressure to his abdomen. His hand came up slightly in a reflexive movement to guard against the pain, but other than that Barry didn't move or speak. He just breathed. He breathed through all of it.
The paramedic managed to pull Barry's wallet out of his pocket and glanced at it before handing it to Joe.
"Looks like his name is Barry Allen," the medic told him, turning back to his patient, "In case you want to notify his family."
"That's not necessary," Joe said quietly, "I'm his family."
The paramedic gave him a shocked look, but then nodded and went back to treating Barry, now calling him by his first name as he told him everything that he was doing to try to keep him calm while they waited for the fire department.
"Okay, Barry," the medic said in a reassuring voice, "I'm just going to try to slide the seat back to relieve the pressure on your chest. You just focus on your breathing and try not to move, okay?"
Barry couldn't nod because of the collar and the person behind him who was still holding his head still, but he blinked at the medic in understanding. When the paramedic slowly and carefully tilted the seat back, Barry let out a muffled cry, and a few tears escaped his eyes, sliding down his cheeks to mingle with the blood that was already there. The medic continued to offer words of reassurance as he returned to applying pressure to Barry's abdominal wound. Joe had never felt more helpless in his life as he watched.
While they waited for the fire department, Joe called STAR Labs and briefed them on what had happened. They said they would be ready for Barry when they got there.
"Hey, Joe," an irritated voice said behind him as he was hanging up his phone. It was Officer Davies again. "What do you think you're doing just standing here? We could all really use your…"
Officer Davies' facial expression changed when his eyes fell on Barry in the car.
"Oh, Joe," he said sympathetically once he had recognized who it was that the paramedic was treating, "Come on, you shouldn't be standing here."
The officer placed a hand on Joe's back and attempted to steer him away from the wrecked vehicle, but Joe pulled away.
"I'm staying right here, Bill," Joe said stubbornly, "I'm not going anywhere."
"Joe, you can't help him now," Officer Davies said gently, "Let the medics treat Barry. There isn't anything you can do to help by staying here."
Joe's jaw was set as he stubbornly stared the officer down. Officer Davies gave him a sad look before finally giving up and walking away to go back to directing traffic.
When the fire department finally arrived, Joe stood back while they dismembered the vehicle to get Barry out. The medics wasted no time rapidly extracting Barry onto a longboard, and he was then strapped down onto a stretcher within minutes with blocks on each side of his head to keep his spine aligned. His bleeding had worsened after being moved, despite their best attempts not to jostle him.
The paramedics got Barry into the ambulance immediately, wanting to transport as soon as possible. They paused before getting into the vehicle though when they were stopped by Joe.
"You can't take him to the hospital," Joe said urgently.
"Are you crazy?!" one of the paramedics said, "He needs medical attention!"
"They can't help him at the hospital," Joe said, "He has to go to STAR Labs. They're the best chance he has."
The paramedics looked flooringly at each other.
"And why is that?"
"Just trust me," Joe said, "He's my son. I know what's best for him. He has special medical needs that only STAR Labs can accommodate."
The medics continued to look puzzled. One of them looked down at his watch.
"We don't have time for this. We have to transport him now. I'm sorry, sir, about your son, but we can't just take a patient to a different location because their family member requests it. This is a critical trauma. DOT protocol says that we have to transport him to the nearest trauma center, which in this case is St Andrew's. The decision to transfer him to a different facility will have to be made at a later time, when he's in a more stable condition."
Joe's hand moved to rest on his gun in his hip holster, but he didn't draw it. Both paramedic's eyes flitted to it nervously. Joe's eyes were dark as he spoke to both of them again, looking at each of them in turn.
"I don't give a damn what your protocols are," he said dangerously, "We're taking him to STAR labs."
The older paramedic looked nervously at the other one and said, "Get in the driver's seat. We're going to STAR laboratories."
The other one nodded uncertainly and climbed into the front of the vehicle, starting the engine, while Joe and the older paramedic got into the back with Barry.
Joe watched helplessly while the paramedic continued to work on Barry. Everything about Barry screamed pain. He had multiple nasty-looking lacerations on his arms, legs, torso, and face. After the medic had cut Barry's shirt off, Joe could see that the wound on his abdomen was larger than they had thought and organ tissue was visible outside of the wound.
Barry's left eye was now swollen shut, and it was clear that he had several broken bones, the worst of which seemed to be in his legs, which had been crushed by the dashboard. A few of the bones were visible, jutting out through the broken skin at odd angles. His right ankle was almost completely severed, hanging on by just skin and sinew.
The sight made Joe's stomach churn. Barry seemed to be partially conscious. He was making small whimpering noises every time the medic touched him.
"Take it easy!" Joe yelled at the paramedic, "He can feel what you're doing to him!"
The paramedic looked irritated, but he thought it best not to say anything. This was why they didn't allow family members to ride along in the ambulance.
He applied gauze that was soaked in sterile saline onto the eviscerated abdominal wound and added several layers of gauze on top of that.
"Is there anything I can do?" Joe asked desperately.
"Here," the paramedic said, gesturing towards Barry's stomach, "Keep applying pressure to that."
Joe didn't worry about applying gloves. He just rushed over and started pressing down on the gauze that the medic had just applied. Barry groaned when Joe pressed down, but Joe didn't pull away. He continued pressing on the wound. Joe soon felt warm blood seeping through the dressings and onto his hands, but he didn't care. All he cared about now was helping Barry.
"His vitals are dropping," the medic announced, checking Barry's blood pressure, "He's going into hypovolemic shock."
Barry started coughing up blood, and the medic had to suction his airway so that he could breathe. Joe wanted so badly to take Barry's hand to comfort him, but his hands were occupied with applying pressure to Barry's abdominal wound.
The paramedic stepped around Joe to work on Barry's legs. His right femur bone was protruding out of the skin and bleeding profusely.
"He has a major arterial bleed here," the paramedic said fearfully, applying a tourniquet around Barry's upper thigh, "If we don't get him there soon, he's going to bleed out."
…..
Caitlin and Cisco were on edge as they waited outside of STAR Labs for the ambulance to arrive. Caitlin ran through everything in her head. She had all of the supplies she needed waiting upstairs for them. She had plenty of gauze, suturing supplies, and even surgical equipment ready if they needed it. She even had blood on hand for Barry. Since he couldn't receive blood from anyone else, they had saved some of his own blood for emergencies such as this one. She just hoped that three pints would be enough.
As they stood there anxiously, Caitlin ran through everything in her head again and again. She was prepared. She had everything in place to treat Barry. When the ambulance pulled up and Barry was quickly unloaded, she felt her blood run cold. She wasn't prepared. Nothing could have prepared her for this.
They took control of the gurney, quickly wheeling it into STAR Labs and into the elevator. Joe hung back to take care of the paramedics. Caitlin wasn't sure how he had managed to convince them to take Barry here and not to a hospital, but she didn't concern herself with it. She was just thankful that he had.
Once they were in the elevator and rising, Caitlin started to assess Barry's wounds.
Multiple lacerations and fractures. Airway is clear. Breathing inadequate.
She turned the meter on the oxygen tank up to 15 liters per minute. Caitlin tried to focus on Barry's injuries and not on the fact that he was staring at her with eyes fill with pain while she worked. The elevator dinged, and they rushed to wheel him into the medical bay. They didn't put him on the medical bed but instead transferred him onto a surgical table.
"Cisco, switch his oxygen to the STAR Labs tanks," she commanded, "This one's running low."
He followed her directions while Caitlin continued her initial assessment.
Uncontrolled abdominal and femoral hemorrhaging.
"Cisco, I'll need that blood. All of it," she ordered, as she tried to stop the bleeding, "I already have it warmed and ready to transfuse."
Cisco returned with the blood just as they were being rejoined by Joe. He gave Joe a sympathetic look, knowing that as scared as he was feeling, Joe must be feeling even worse.
As Cisco started connecting Barry to monitors, he watched Caitlin start the blood transfusion and then return to treating Barry's injuries. Cisco didn't understand how she could remain so calm. It was like she had completely blocked out the fact that this was Barry and had entered full on doctor mode.
"Push one of epi," Caitlin ordered. Cisco tried to put aside his own panic as he quickly found a vial of epinephrine and injected some into Barry's PICC line.
"No change," he said looking at the monitor. Barry's blood pressure was 82/46 and still continuing to drop.
"Push two more then!" Caitlin yelled, her calm façade cracking slightly as she pulled out surgical supplies.
Caitlin felt a hand close around her wrist. She looked up to see Barry staring at her, his eyes pleading. She gently removed his hand from her wrist and set it back on the table.
"It's going to be okay, Barry," she said, injecting a large dose of anesthetic into his IV, knowing it wouldn't have much effect on him, "It's okay. I've got you. Just breathe."
Joe stood back in the doorway while the two of them worked on Barry. His legs felt like jelly, and he felt like he was going to collapse. He looked down and realized that both his hands were dark red. They were still saturated with Barry's blood. Please, he thought, Please let him make it.
Suddenly Joe saw a movement to his right, and he turned to see Iris approaching.
"Dad," she cried, running to him and hugging him, "How is he, Dad? How's Barry?"
Joe didn't even bother to ask how she knew. He figured Caitlin or Cisco must have called her.
"He's in bad shape," he said honestly, pulling out of the hug to look at her, "They're still trying to stabilize him."
Iris turned and looked into the medical bay to see them working on Barry. Caitlin was draping him for surgery, but his eyes were still open.
"Iris, can you come in here please?" Caitlin asked calmly, although there was a hint of shakiness to her voice. Iris rushed forward in an instant, standing on the opposite side of the table, looking at Barry in horror. She instantly felt dizzy. There was so much blood, and between the organ tissue visible from his stomach and the bones jutting out from legs, Iris felt like she was going to be sick. Joe came to stand next to his daughter.
"I have to open him up and see what's going on inside him," Caitlin said quietly to her, "I've given him all the pain killers and sedatives I can, but he's still conscious. I need someone to keep him calm while I cauterize the bleeds."
Iris nodded, tears already streaming down her face. She turned to face Barry while Cisco assisted Caitlin with putting on a surgical gown and sterile gloves.
"It's okay, Barry," Iris comforted, "I'm here. I'm right here for you. Caitlin's going to make you better, okay?"
He didn't say anything. He just continued to breathe heavily through the oxygen mask as he looked at her with tear-filled eyes. Iris grabbed a clean towel and wiped some of the blood off of his face and out of his eyes.
"Okay, I'm starting now," Caitlin said, grabbing a scalpel. When she made the first cut, Barry's entire body tensed up even more.
"Barry, it's okay, it's okay," Iris whispered to him, "Just look at me, Bar."
Iris gently took hold of his hand. It was slick with blood, and she could feel that a few of his fingers must have been broken. He squeezed her hand tightly nonetheless.
As Caitlin started to explore the wound, Barry started to whimper. Tears streamed down the sides of his face as he crushed Iris's hand.
"It's okay, Barry. It's okay," Iris whispered repeatedly to him running her fingers through his hair with her free hand. Joe cringed when Barry let out a sharp cry.
"You really can't give him more morphine?!"
"I can't, Joe. His liver. I've already given him too much. Suction, please, Cisco," Caitlin said firmly. Looking pale, Cisco suctioned the blood from the cavity so she could see the source of the bleeding.
When Caitlin started to cauterize one of the bleeds, Barry screamed and started to move. Iris held down the arm closest to her. Cisco grabbed hold of the other arm, while Joe rushed forward to gently hold down Barry's legs.
Barry pushed weakly against them all, but they held him down easily. He started to vibrate slightly as he continued to cry. As Caitlin cauterized another bleed, the smell of burnt flesh wafted through the air and filled their nostrils.
"Please. Stop," Barry said weakly through the mask, speaking for the first time since the accident.
"We can't, Barry," Caitlin told him, "I'm so sorry. It'll be over soon. If you feel like passing out, don't fight it, okay? Just let yourself pass out."
"What's happening?" he cried, "Why are you doing this to me?"
They all felt their hearts break.
"Barry," Joe said, "Caitlin's helping you. I know it hurts, but she's fixing you. She's almost done, okay?"
"Please," Barry said weakly, "Stop."
Barry lasted only a few more seconds before he finally passed out.
"I think I've got the bleeding under control," Caitlin said after a few minutes, "I'm not going to close the wound up yet though. I have to move on to his leg."
They had to cut Barry's jeans off in order to access his legs. Caitlin quickly fixed the arterial bleed in his leg so that she could remove the tourniquet before it caused tissue damage. Even after controlling the bleeding, Barry's vitals still continued to drop.
"His BP is 64/30, Caitlin," Cisco said worriedly.
"I know," she said, drawing up more medications.
"He's not going to last much longer."
"I know!" Caitlin yelled frantically, "I've got the bleeding to stop now, but he's lost way too much blood. His systems are going into shock from low blood volume. I've already transfused all of the blood that we had saved up. All we can do now is push epi and hope his vitals stabilize."
She wrapped a heated blanket around Barry's legs. Resetting the bones was not a priority to her right now. Right now, all she cared about was the fact that Barry was not improving. His respirations were slowing, and his vitals were bottoming out.
"He's diaphoretic," Caitlin muttered, feeling how cold and moist Barry's pale skin was, "Cisco, get the crash cart. We need to be ready."
Cisco pushed the crash cart next to the table and turned on the defibrillator. They all waited anxiously for Barry's vitals to either improve or to crash.