Hi guys! I'm sorry it's been so long since the last update, but life gets crazy. Anyway...I'll let you get to what you're really here for.
Johnny drifted towards consciousness. His body felt heavy making it hard to move and think. White hot pain stabbed through him as he worked to wake up. Faint voices swirled around him but he couldn't make them out. Every nerve ending in his body felt like they'd been fried, severed, and hung out to dry in the hot sun too long. In short, he hurt everywhere. His left arm hurt, his head pounded in so much pain he was sure someone had taken a baseball bat to it. Finally, his back and stomach burned and ached at the same time-if that was even possible.
"-get the splint...be careful!" The miss mash of words tumbled through his abused brain. No matter how hard he tried, he could make sense of them.
A loud sound behind him drowned out the fervent voices calling orders around him. Distinctly, he had the impression he recognized one voice in particular. Frustrated, his mind attempted to follow the trail of thought but he quickly lost it. His head hurt so bad! The mercilessly loud noise ceased long enough for the voices to trickle back into his cluttered ears.
"Watch it, watch it!"
"-slower, slower…"
An unexpected stabbing pain in his abdomen chased his breath away. It hurt so bad! Working to breach the surface of consciousness, Johnny concentrated on his surroundings.
The smell of gasoline was less prominent now. The guys must have washed down the vehicles to prevent them from igniting. Subconsciously, Johnny frowned. Where did that thought come from? Who were the guys? He renewed his efforts to keep a conscious thought but once again his mind failed to keep it together. Something was very wrong with him... he determined. Panic lodged in his throat. His mind was so distorted and muddy he couldn't put one rational thought in front of another.
As panic took hold the voices around him got louder and more frantic. The entourage of forgein hands that touched him only served to increase his terror. Reflexively, he did his best to back away from the barrage around him.
"-hnny it's alright calm down...me...Johnny…" Who is that? The voice sounds so familiar… "...Get Rampart…"
A murmur of another voice in the background was followed by a radio's squeal. The unfamiliar hands that touched him backed away leaving him alone with the familiar voice. His fractured brain worked to make sense of his surroundings. The urge to sob washed over him unexpectedly. Something was very, very wrong.
A second jolt of pain mercilessly stabbed through him centered around his back and stomach. Where was he and what was wrong with him? Johnny renewed his efforts to breach the surface of consciousness, but he felt a part of him didn't want to wake up. Struggling, Johnny drug himself to awareness. He needed to know what was going on.
"Alright let's get the door open." The porta power roared to life again. Johnny could only guess they were cutting the Rover door open.
Relishing in the first conscious thought, he turned his senses to more of his surroundings. He didn't bother opening his eyes, knowing they were useless. Instead he let his remaining four senses fill in the blanks. Fabric rustled near his right ear and he turned to it only to find his movement restricted.
"Johnny? Johnny it's me. I need you to answer me." A hand lightly slapped the side of his face. "Come one Johnny, you know how important this is."
"Roy?" That one word felt like it sucked the life out of him. Johnny groaned. This definitely wasn't his day.
"Good. That's real good." What Johnny assumed was Roy's hand, picked up his right hand. "Johnny, can you squeeze my hand as hard as you can?"
Johnny turned his attention to clutching his friend's hand as hard as he could. His body ached enough he didn't mention how Roy's hand quivered suspiciously in his. Guilt trickled through him. There was no doubt in his mind Roy was worried sick over him. It was amazing how quickly Roy could go from partner to mother hen when he was hurt.
"Johnny?" Roy called his name again, drawing his patient's attention back to the present. "Johnny are you still with me?"
"Yeah." A pair of hands held his left arm in a firm but gentle grasp. "Roy?"
Fabric rustled to his right again as Roy shifted closer. "What is it Johnny?" The hands holding his left arm gently moved around feeling the break in the bone.
A quiet conversation in lowered tones was exchanged. Johnny didn't have the energy to pay close attention. It took everything he had to beat back the drowsiness that threatened to take control.
"Um…" Johnny swallowed an unexpected lump in his throat. "How bad is it?"
Without his eyes, Johnny could feel Roy tense in the seat beside him. Immediately he was worried about the lack of response. Roy only hesitated when he was worried. Dark thoughts raced through his mind. How bad was it? Brice had been acting strange and now Roy?
He knew Roy might sugarcoat the cold hard truth. Not being able to see would make it where he was totally at the mercy of what someone told him. That was what bothered him. All control over his life had been suddenly stripped from him.
"You have two radius breaks in the left arm. Brice is splinting it right now."Sure enough, Johnny could feel Brice's hands starting to strap the splint into place.
"What about my head?" Brice's methodical movements to strap on the splint halted briefly before he forced them to work again.
"You have a pretty good lump, but the blindness should be temporary. If anything, you'll just give Dr. Brackett a guinea pig to test out the new hospital equipment." Roy quipped in an attempt to lighten the mood. "You know...you really don't have to work so hard to keep Dr. Brackett busy."
Johnny smiled pathetically. "Na...Can't let him think his job is all that simple can I?" The weak smile faded fast. He knew for sure Roy was lying to him about how bad it was. The warm liquid trickling in rivlets down his stomach told him how dire his circumstances were. "What about…." Johnny stopped to lick his parched lips. "...my stomach?"
Another tense pause from Brice and Roy told him all he needed to know.
"That bad huh?" Johnny's voice was course. Deep inside, there was a part of him that always knew...knew he wouldn't be walking away from this one. Instead of despair, all he felt was a calm resolution. If he was dying then so be it.
"Johnny-" Roy wanted to reassure his friend, but he didn't have the words.
"It's alright...huh. It's crazy to think I could survive radiation poisoning and that bout of monkey virus only to bite it in my own car. Sure makes a guy think...ya know?" Johnny's words startled Roy.
His partner was a man who would fight tooth and nail for every breath he breathed. It was painful to hear his partner at ease with the idea of dying. Tears sprung into Roy's eyes at the thought of his vibrant partner giving up on life. Roy opened his mouth only to find Brice had beat him to the honors of setting his partner straight.
"John Gage, how dare you talk like that!" It was hard to tell who was more surprised at Brice's outburst, Roy and Johnny or Brice himself. "Now you listen to me John Gage! I haven't spent the last ten minutes patching you back together for you to just think you can up and die one me! I may be a lot of things, but I'm a sore loser now you remember that!"
The wail of an ambulance in the distance was warmly welcomed by all working the crash site. Inside the Rover, Roy and Brice exchanged a look. Their hopes had soared to unfathomable heights with the ambulances arrival. But with the arrival came the one thing they hated, removing the rod from John's back and stomach.