Jack's
world was a mass of pain—all encompassing pain.
It radiated
down from his neck into his left arm and into his chest. What worried
him the most, though, was that he didn't feel anything below his
waist.
It was strange, almost surreal, really. A portion of
his mind realized that Janet must have given him some of her happy
juice because it wasn't as bad as it had been before. But, he also
could have sworn he was getting wet.
Opening his eyes, he
looked up into the cloudy night sky. Blinking as small drops of rain
hit his face and his eyes, he vaguely wondered what happened to the
roof of his truck. Normally, when it rained and he was in his truck,
he didn't get wet. This time, though, was different.
"Jack?"
That
sounded like Doc Fraiser.
He blinked again, trying to turn his
head to the sound oh her voice. "Jack, no," she said as her
hand lightly touched his cheek and her face came into view. "Don't
try and move, Jack. We're going to get you out of here. Just lie
still and let us work, okay?"
"Sure, Janet," he
said, his voice strangely quiet and breathy. That was not the sound
he normally made, was it?
How many minutes passed, he didn't
know, when Janet's face returned to hover in his line of sight.
"Colonel...Jack, we're about ready to lift the console off of
your legs and we're going to roll you right onto a backboard, okay?
How are you doing?"
"Peachy. Just peachy."
"Okay,"
Janet said, turning away to look at something beyond his view, before
glancing back. "This might hurt, Jack."
"'kay."
A
horrific screeching and then there were hands all over him, sliding a
board beneath him and securing him down. Been here, done this before.
A few seconds later and he felt as if he was floating on air as the
trees and clouds moved quickly away to be replaced by other tree
branches.
He was moving and he thought he heard Janet's
voice. "I'm going to need a normal saline IV with 50 mEq/L of
sodium bicarb set up immediately. We'll be there in a few minutes."
Janet's short hair was soaked through to her scalp when she finally
appeared once again a few seconds later. "Jack, we're going to
take you to the infirmary. How are you doing? Any pain in your
legs?"
"Nothing, Doc," Jack answered after a
brief thought. "Should I..." he started, his voice trailing
off.
"It's okay, Jack," Janet said, vanishing from
his sight as the ceiling of the ambulance came into view. She
appeared a few seconds later at his side.
A few minutes or
seconds had passed—Jack wasn't sure which—when he spoke again.
"Doc, I'm not feeling so good."
"Jack, what's
wrong?" Janet's voice sounded worried.
"Kind of
nauseous," Jack said, trying to push the feeling to the back of
his mind. Blackness, though, was closing in.
"Jack? Jack,
can you hear me?" Janet's voice got fainter and fainter as if
she was speaking from farther and farther away until finally he
didn't hear it anymore.
