John watched silently as Kerrigan and Baker gathered up anything that they had tossed aside the last couple of days. He was still a little wary of them but Jessie recognized Kerrigan, even in her feverish state, and that had made some of his apprehension melt away. He looked down at Jessie. She had drifted off again. It was getting harder for her to stay awake for more than a couple minutes at a time and even harder to wake her up. The latter was unsettling. He took a deep breath to settle himself and looked back up at the two men. Kerrigan was watching him.
"You okay?"
John nodded. "I'm just worried about her."
"You don't look too good yourself."
"I'm fine," John said sitting up straighter.
"Okay."
They both looked up when they heard footsteps approaching the ladder. Kerrigan went over to meet Bailey and Nathan as they walked down.
"They're in bad shape." He looked over his shoulder at John and Jessie. "They're both feverish, probably from infection. He doesn't want to let her go...he kinda freaked out when I suggested I take her from him. I figured you can talk to him...let him know I'm okay."
Bailey nodded and walked around Kerrigan to get to John. He couldn't help but smile. Sure, John looked like hell, but he was alive and that's what mattered.
"What took you guys so long?" John grinned when he saw Bailey and Nathan.
They crouched down on either side of him. Nate put his hand on John's shoulder. "You don't look too good, buddy."
"I don't feel too good, Nate. It's been a long couple of days. How'd you find us?"
"Krieger called Angel," Bailey answered as he looked over John, and then Jessie. Kerrigan was right, they were in bad shape.
"He called Angel? Why would he call her? She-"
"We'll talk about that later, John. Right now, we need to get the two of you out of here. We have an ambulance coming...and it would be easier for them if you were up in the office." Bailey touched Jessie's forehead and his brow creased at how hot it felt. He pushed damp curls from her face and he frowned when she didn't even flinch from being touched. "John, Brian is going to take Jessie up to the office, right now, okay? You know you can't take her yourself...Nathan and I will help you up the ladder...you'll be right behind her."
John looked from Bailey to Kerrigan, then back at Bailey. He conceded. "Okay, you can take her." He kissed Jessie's forehead and smiled when she opened her eyes. "Hey, we're getting out of here, Jess."
"We're going home..."
"Soon," Bailey told her. She moved her eyes toward him and he smiled at her. "Hey, kiddo."
"Bailey." She gave him a weak smile. "Is Dad with you?"
Bailey felt the others around him flinch, but he knew it was just the fever talking. The smile never left his face and he spoke softly. "No, honey, he's not...but it's gonna be okay...Robert will be here...and I'm here."
"Robert? Okay."
"Brian's gonna take you upstairs, now." She barely managed to nod as she drifted off again. Bailey motioned Kerrigan over. "Take her out to the car...if the ambulance isn't here by the time we get John outside, we're taking them ourselves."
Kerrigan leaned down and picked Jessie up, cradling her in his arms. John was watching him. "Don't worry, I'll take care of her."
Bailey put his hand on John's cheek and patted it softly. "Hey, look at me." John did as he was told and Bailey smiled. "Kerrigan's okay. She'll be fine. C'mon, let's get you up."
"Okay. Just take it slow, my legs fell asleep."
Bailey and Nathan grabbed John underneath each of his arms and pulled him up slowly. He was fine, for a minute, and then his legs started to tingle as the blood rushed through them and the numbness melted away. When the pins and needles feeling hit his thigh, he doubled over and rubbed it with both hands, hoping to move it along quicker, because it was making his wounds throb and burn.
"Son-of-a-bitch...that hurts..." John said through clenched teeth.
"What's wrong with your leg?" Nathan asked, looking but not seeing anything.
"Razor wire...Langston wrapped it around my thigh...it's cut up bad...and it's infected."
"Can you walk?"
"Yeah, Bailey...just give me a minute."
Bailey nodded and unclipped the walkie-talkie from his belt. "Grace..."
"We're about a block away, Bailey, there was a detour."
"Okay. We'll have them outside." He turned to John. "Ready?"
"As ready as I'm gonna be, let's get outta here." John walked slowly to the ladder.
Nathan walked beside John, letting him lean on him for support, and Bailey walked behind them in case John lost his balance and fell back. They were out of the office and halfway to the exit when Kerrigan's frantic voice came over the walkie-talkie.
"Shit! Malone, she's...dammit, she's having a seizure! Where the hell is that ambulance?!"
"Get her on her side...hold her, but hold her loosely...just enough to keep her from hurting herself." Grace's voice crackled over Bailey, Nathan, and Kerrigan's walkie-talkies.
Despite the pain, it caused John ran towards the exit, Bailey, and Nathan behind him. He pushed open the doors and squinted when the sun hit his face. When his eyes adjusted to the sunlight he spotted Kerrigan to his right and ran to him. Jessie had stopped convulsing and Kerrigan had her cradled in his arms again. He was pacing nervously but stopped when he saw John, Nathan, and Bailey.
"Jesus, she was talking to me..." There was a slight tremor in Kerrigan's voice. "...and I don't know...her eyes rolled back...she started shaking...Christ! She scared the hell out of me." He took a deep breath. "She seems okay now, though...she's just unconscious. What is taking them so long?"
"There they are." Nathan pointed at the ambulance that was headed towards them. It swung around and started to back up in front of them. Grace and two E.M.T. jumped out of the back when it came to a stop. The E.M.T. pulled two stretchers out with them and followed Grace. Sam got out of the passenger seat and ran over to John. She hugged him as she cried.
"Thank God, you're alright." She said over and over again.
Kerrigan put Jessie down on a stretcher and backed away, so Grace could check her out.
"We need to get her stable before we could move her...we'll need a cooling blanket..." She told the nearest E.M.T. "We need to get her temp down a little so she doesn't seize again." She put her stethoscope to her chest and frowned at the noise she heard. "She's got a lot of fluid in her lungs." She and the E.M.T. inclined the head of the stretcher to raise Jessie's upper body. "Get O2 started and a normal saline drip for the dehydration." The other E.M.T. came back with the cooling blanket and they laid it across Jessie. "Call ahead...tell them to get an ice bath prepped...just in case." She noticed the bandage around Jessie's wrist and began to cut it off. She didn't like the way the skin surrounding it was discolored. "Dammit, this is it...this is what's causing the problems."
"What's wrong?" Bailey asked as he and the others leaned in to see what Grace was talking about.
Grace showed them the discoloration and the faint red line that ran up Jessie's arm, almost unnoticeable. "Blood poisoning." She eyed the two gashes, closely, as she cleaned them. "The one on the left...that's the deepest...there must be a nicked vein...bacteria from the weapon got a free ride...to just about everywhere. We need to get her in now." She nodded to the E.M.T. and they lifted Jessie's stretcher and slid it into the back of the ambulance.
John watched silently as they put her into the back of the ambulance. She looked so pale and weak lying there on the stretcher, while Grace was examining her. He wanted to hold her again, to feel her breathe against him.
"Hey," Sam held John's hand and squeezed gently, to get his attention. "You okay?"
"She looked...I don't know...I'm scared...she doesn't look good." He said miserably.
"Grace will make sure that she is taken care of...that both of you are taken care of, okay? You're safe, now, we're going to get you well."
"Alright John, you're next." Grace stepped beside him, the two E.M.T were behind her, standing on either side of a stretcher. She pointed to it. "Your chariot awaits."
John sat down on the edge of the stretcher. "Grace," He held her hand as she came towards him with her stethoscope. "Will Jessie be okay?"
She didn't want to lie to him, but she didn't know what to tell him either. "We won't know anything until we see how far the blood poisoning has spread into her system and that fever is under control...but I promise you, honey, I'll look after her...until you get better. Now, c'mon, lay down so we could get the two of you to the hospital." She put her hand on his shoulder and eased him down on to the stretcher. She walked with the E.M.T. as they brought John to the back of the ambulance, waited until they got him inside and then walked back over to where the others were standing.
"What do you think?" Bailey asked as she approached them.
"I think another day would have made a big difference...especially for Jessie...we're lucky we got to them when we did. They're both suffering from infection and dehydration and Jessie has pneumonia...John most likely has it too...that's all I can tell without a full examination...if that's all there is, it will take some time, but they should both be fine. I'm going to ride with them to the hospital. Sam?"
"Yeah, me too."
"Okay, we'll be there shortly...I want to check out some things here. The C.S.U. team found some blood evidence and I want to make sure the scene gets locked down thoroughly. I want to wait for Robert too...has anyone heard from him? Most of the other teams are here now." No one had heard from him, so Bailey tried him on the walkie-talkie and his cell phone. He didn't get an answer from either of them.
"Maybe he went right to the hospital...after, ya know, he heard about the seizure." Kerrigan offered.
"Maybe. You two get going." Bailey told Grace and Sam. "Call me if Robert's there. I'll keep trying to reach him."
Grace and Sam left with the ambulance. Bailey went back into the warehouse with the others to walk the crime scene. He tried contacting Robert again as he walked through the doors. There was no answer.
Tbc...