White-Out by Brownie
Disclaimer: We're just going to pretend these characters are mine for the time being.
Side Note: Any medical term mistakes I make are because of my lack of knowledge, so if you know enough to enlighten me on the subject, go right ahead.
* * *
Corday had found the other criticals. One had died before she even got there. The guy who had been driving the truck, they'd said. The other was on the way to County in an ambulance. The pilot of the chopper had said that once he got back to County, he wasn't going back out. And he might be forced to leave soon, the wind was so bad.
She had reached the first of the cars when she sent for Carter. There were four people and a dog in the car. The dog was the only one unharmed. The two in the back seat had climbed out, one with a dislocated shoulder, and the other covered in broken glass. The two in the front had obvious head injuries and were unconscious. She quickly explained the situation to Carter when he arrived as the paramedics were pulling them out of the car. She could barely see them through the snow.
"Send them on the chopper!" Carter shouted over the howling of the wind, "If he's leaving soon anyway, he might as well be of some use."
"One of us will have to go with them, but we wouldn't be able to get back," she replied.
"You go," he said, "You know more about head injuries than I do. And you're turning into a icicle." Corday nodded reluctantly. Normally she'd give him a hard time, but he was right. She was more knowledgable of head injuries than him. "Fine, help me load them," she said. The paramedics had them on backboards on the ground, snow piling up around them.
"They both have pulses!" one of the paramedics shouted, "But they aren't breathing too good."
"We're taking them to the chopper!" Corday shouted, "Pick them up and move!" She turned to Carter, who was talking with a cop. "Carter, let's go!"
"They need me for something else!" he shouted back, "Can you take care of it?" She nodded and he ran off, disappearing into the snow.
"Dr. Corday? We'd better get moving!" someone shouted.
"Yes, this way!" she said, grabbing a flashlight, and led them off, blind leading the blind.
* * *
The ambulances were finally forced to stop. Greene sat in the cafeteria with his coffee as the paramedics milled around, not knowing what to do with themselves. The only ones left out there were at the big accident where Carter and Corday had been sent. The few people in the e.r. were being taken care of, so Greene was free for the moment. He was supposed to have left an hour ago, but he wasn't about to drive home in this. Especially after all the accidents they'd seen….. His pager suddenly went off, so he took a last quick chug of his coffee before dashing back to the e.r.
"Dr. Greene, we have everything from the accident coming in all at once," Abby said, catching up to him.
"All at once?" he asked.
"Yes, Carter's fault. They can't see a thing out there to treat patients, so they're all being put on backboards and rushed here as soon as possible. Dr. Corday's already on her way here in the chopper." He reached Weaver at the desk, who was waving her crutch angrily at Malucci.
"What's going on?" Greene asked.
"Snowballs!" Weaver exclaimed, "Doctors are supposed to be educated, and he brings in snowballs!"
"Dr. Greene, it wasn't that bad," Malucci said, "There were a bunch of little kids, they looked bored. Dr. Greene, she threatened to revoke my title!"
"Someone slipped and nearly fractured their skill!" Weaver shouted.
"It was just a little bump!" Malucci retorted, shrinking away from her. Greene shook his head. They were always arguing about something.
"When is the marathon going to arrive?" Greene asked, averting their attention.
"As soon as Carter gets some little girl out from under a bus," Weaver said.
"How long?" Greene asked.
"Twenty minutes, maybe," Weaver answered, "Unless there's another disaster."
"Or Carter grows a brain and does his job there," Malucci said under his breath. "What?" he asked when they all glared at him.
"How many majors?" Greene asked, turning back to Weaver.
"The two with Corday, and Carter found four more besides the kid, three of which will be sent to Mercy."
"So we have four coming in,"
"Benton's on call upstairs," Weaver went on, "It isn't as if we've never been very busy."
* * *
"I have to land this thing!" the pilot shouted.
"You can't! We have to get them to County, now!" Corday shouted. One of the victims had woken up, but Corday had been using the defibrilator on the other for five minutes. Onlyh one paramedic was accompanying her.
"I'm sorry!" the pilot yelled, "The storm's too bad! Just hold on!" Corday exchanged a look with the paramedic- this was insanity!- and quickly buckled herself in before continuing defibrilation.
"We aren't going to make it, are we?" the woman asked. She had been watching in horror as Corday shocked the other victim- her husband- even since she'd woken up.
"We'll be fine," Corday assured her. The woman seemed fine, but Corday wasn't taking any chances, and left her strapped to the board.
"What about my husband?" she asked.
"I don't know," Corday admitted. His heart started again, but was weak. They all shouted in surprise as the chopper gave a great shudder and landed. Corday was about to get up when it tilted. "What is this?" she asked the pilot.
"I don't know! Roof, bridge, could be anything!" he shouted back, "Don't move! I'll come back there!" And as he got up, it tipped a bit further.
* * *
"Are you ready?" Carter asked. Lani nodded nervously. He shouted out the window, "Go ahead!" A line of people stood outside the bus- paramedics, police, even random people who hadn't been injured in the car wreck. At Carter's word, they all started pushing on the bus. The slightest tilt would free Lani's arm enough for Carter to pull it out, but it would take a hell of a lot of luck.
The bus did move- it shook a bit, and creaked as its weight shifted. It just wasn't enough. Pull on her arm as he might, is was still pinned. Someone outside shouted, and Carter heard people running around.
"What's happening?" he asked.
"Car jacks," someone shouted back, "Just two seconds, we'll try again." Sure enough, the creaking resumed, then it actually seemed to be bouncing as the car jacks pushed it up. How they managed in the deep snow was beyond Carter's imagination. He started pulling again, ignoring Lani's cries. She'd thank him when the arm stayed attatched.
"Just a little further!" he yelled, realizing it was coming loose. Sure enough, he was able to pull her free. "Got it!" he yelled, picking her up. He rushed out to the line of waiting cop cars and ambulances- absolutely eveyone was leaving the site for either County or Mercy. Carter climbed into the back of one of the ambulances just as all the sirens went off, and what seemed like a mad race for the hospitals began.
* * *
"Malucci, get moving!" Weaver shouted. Kovac was already jogging towards the doors- he could hear the sirens in the distance. Greene joined him, but continued to pace nervously.
"Elizabeth should have been back by now," he said, "They weren't that far away."
"I'm sure she's fine," Kovac assured him. But it was taking more time than it should have. The chopper had left long before the ambulances, and now they were arriving.
"How many?" Malucci called from behind them.
"Four ambulances, carrying two major and a shitload of minors," Weaver said, pushing the doors open. Snow blew inside, but she left them like that. The ambulances were pulling up. Kovac ran out to meet the first one, Greene to meet the second, but when the third arrived, it didn't stop. Kovac was unloading patients when he heard the crash. He watched in horror as it actually entered the e.r., but couldn't see anything beyond that. He could hear the people inside shouting in surprise, then the silence when it finally stopped.
"Stay in there!" he shouted to the people in his ambulance, and set off after Greene to see the damage. He knew there was trouble when he heard Weaver shout, "Get a gurney!" with a touch of panic in her voice. He entered to find Carter climbing out the back of the thing, looking a bit shocked. He had been accompanying the two majors. Greene was helping him get them out.
"Page Benton and Romano!" Weaver shouted to the nurses, "And get this damned thing backed up!" Kovac went around to where she was standing, towards the front of the ambulance. He was about to ask if anyone had been hit when he caught sight of Malucci. Apparently the ambulance had slammed right into him, so he was pinned up against the wall. And judging by the cracks in the wall that the whole crash had caused….
"Luka, tell them to back up NOW!" Weaver yelled.
"Carter isn't done unloading yet," Kovac said. Malucci groaned, and his eyes rolled to the side. "Go get some morphine," he said to Weaver, "I'll see if I can get them moving quicker." Weaver glared at him- no one told Festus what to do- and hobbled off as fast as she could.
"Dave, can you hear me?" Kovac asked.
"I can't breath," Malucci answered through clenched teeth.
"What the hell…." Kovac turned to find Carter behind him, pausing with his gurney. The little girl on it was crying.
"Is everyone out?" Kovac asked.
"Yea," Carter said, looking torn, "You want me to…"
"Take care of the kid, Carter," Kovac cut him off. Carter glanced at Malucci again before taking off down the hall. Weaver finally returned with a gurney, a pile of supplies in the middle of it.
"We'll start an IV here," she said, "Why the hell aren't they moving?"
"The driver…" Kovac said, finally looking up at the window. It was cracked and had blood all over it.
Weaver looked around the scene quickly, and finally grabbed two people who were standing by their sleeves. "I need one of you to go get another gurney and bring it back here, fast. And I need the other to back this ambulance out. Now." The first went running off, obviously frightened to dare disobey the little bitch with the crutch. Kovac had just finished setting up the IV when Weaver grabbed away the gurney.
"Luka, help me with this guy!" she shouted, pulling the door oepn. He ran around the other side and got in.
"He's got a fractured skull," he called to her, "Should I get Benton?"
"Benton's already in Trauma two, Carter's in one," Weaver said, "Unless Greene's treating some dire emergency, drag him out by his nose." Kovac quickly helped Weaver get the man onto the gurney, then bolted to admit.
"Jerry, where's Dr. Greene?" he asked.
"Um, leg fracture in three," the fat man said, "Should I page him?" But Kovac had already taken off again.
"Mark, can this wait? We've got a skull fracture, and Malucci…"
"What about him?" Greene asked, following him to the scene.
"We can't diagnose until we get him out from behind the ambulance."
"God, I ran right by there, why didn't I see him?" Greene asked.
"Because you're missing half your brain," Romano said, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, "Why was I paged? Too busy down here for what seems to be the entire staff? Holy shit, who did this?" They had reached the ambulance- obviously Romano had missed what Kovac had said. "Since when do paramedics drive drunk?"
"Can it, Robert!" Weaver snapped, "We're out two doctors and we just gained two majors."
"Elizabeth isn't back yet?" he asked, "When did you last hear from her?"
"Twenty-five minutes and counting," Weaver said.
Romano was silent for a moment, then said, "I'll run the skull fracture up to OR now. Greene, you take Malucci, and Kovac is on call between rooms." He got at the head of the gurney and pushed the guy towards the elevator while simultaneously setting up an IV. Weaver sighed in relief when one of the nurses showed up to help him.
"What are you looking at?" Weaver shouted to the poor fool she'd tossed into the driver's seat, "Back this thing out of here!" They guy turned the engine on, which wasn't a problem, but shifting into reverse moved its weight around. Malucci threw his head back with a shout, which was cut off when it slammed against the wall. The ambulance back up, and he fell unconscious to the floor.
***Hmmm, how long shall I leave you hanging here? Evil snicker***