Elmer felt Lona's pulse once more, cringing at how weak it was now,
barely even detectible, her breathing coming in gasps as she tried to draw air into her damaged lung. No matter how hard he tried to fight against it, he felt a tear trickling down his cheek, dropping onto her dead white skin. He reached out, gently touching her face and wiping it away. This couldn't be happening! Why wasn't someone coming to help them? She was going to die if she didn't get help fast! Didn't anyone care or....
"Please, someone help us!" He screamed again, barely able to keep hysteria out of his voice as he looked from Lona to the doorway.
Nothing. Either no one could hear him or the just didn't care,
Elmer reached out, taking Lona's hand carefully in his, That was the least he could do, hold her hand and comfort her when she.... "No!!" His voice was sharper, harsher than normal, almost unrecognizable as his voice to his ears. He shook his head as he looked down at Lona's pale face. He had lost his mother and his brother and hadn't been able to do anything to save them. That wasn't going to happen with Lona! He wouldn't let it! He could save her and he would somehow! He forced himself to his feet and started to frantically search the sleep lab once more. There had to be something here, he didn't care how makeshift it was, that he could use to help her.
"There's something," He muttered under his breath as he tore drawers open, searching frantically. "And if you weren't such a total loser, you would have found it by now. Your brother would never have acted like this, panicking, giving up instead of...." No matter how Elmer tried to ignore the little voices in his head, they continued to speak, berating him for his shortcomings until he felt that he would sob. He was all too afraid that what they were saying was true and if anything were to happen to Lona because of his failures, he would never forgive himself.
Suddenly Elmer's remonstrances against himself were interrupted when he finally spotted something in a drawer buried under a pile of papers and disks. He reached out with an unsteady hand, picking up the pair of scissors gingerly. Okay, these might work if....
"It's going to be okay, Lona," Elmer said in what he hoped was a confident tone as he started to searche even harder. He had found one thing that he needed. Surely he would find more things as well. This was going to be okay. He would get this patched up and Lona would be just fine. She wasn't going to die.
A couple of minutes later, Elmer was kneeling by Lona's side,
looking nervously at the things he had gathered as he ran some alcohol from a half empty bottle over the left side of her chest. Okay, this was definately not the way that he had been taught to do this in med school but hadn't he seen it plenty of times on television? It would work. It had to work!
"Lona?" He called her name softly, barely able to stay in control as he noticed that her lips had now taken on a blue tinge. She didn't have much time if he couldn't do something and quickly to get that lung reinflated. He reached out, picking up the scissors, not really sure if he could do this but knowing that he had no other choice at this point, not if he wanted to save Lona's life.
"This might hurt a little," he murmured as he opened the scissors,
using the edge of one blade, pressing down firmly between two of her ribs as he cut into her chest. Lona lay absolutely still as he probed deeper and deeper into her chest with the scissors, a fact that made Elmer very incomfortable. She ought to have at least tried to flinch, to have reacted in some way to the pain. Why wasn't she.... 'No,' he firmly thought to himself forcing his mind away from that train of thought. He didn't have time to dwell on that now. He had to do what he needed to do to get that lung fixed before he lost her. He could worry about any other injuries later.
"I'm really sorry if this hurts too much," he whispered as he finally felt the lung tissue beneath his fingers, reaching out and cutting into it with the scissors before slipping the rubber tubing from a stethoscope into the opening he had made.
"Okay, it's going to be okay." He moved faster now, frantic to make sure that he did this exactly right or as exactly right as he could manage under the current circumstances. He slipped the free end of tube tubing into another bottle, this one filled half way with water. A moment later, he sighed with relieve when he saw bubbles starting to form in the water and as he carefully felt Lona's chest once more he could feel her breathing changing, not exactly even but slowly returning to a normal pattern.
"It's going to be okay, Lona." He had fixed one problem. Now he just had to find a way to get them out of here.
barely even detectible, her breathing coming in gasps as she tried to draw air into her damaged lung. No matter how hard he tried to fight against it, he felt a tear trickling down his cheek, dropping onto her dead white skin. He reached out, gently touching her face and wiping it away. This couldn't be happening! Why wasn't someone coming to help them? She was going to die if she didn't get help fast! Didn't anyone care or....
"Please, someone help us!" He screamed again, barely able to keep hysteria out of his voice as he looked from Lona to the doorway.
Nothing. Either no one could hear him or the just didn't care,
Elmer reached out, taking Lona's hand carefully in his, That was the least he could do, hold her hand and comfort her when she.... "No!!" His voice was sharper, harsher than normal, almost unrecognizable as his voice to his ears. He shook his head as he looked down at Lona's pale face. He had lost his mother and his brother and hadn't been able to do anything to save them. That wasn't going to happen with Lona! He wouldn't let it! He could save her and he would somehow! He forced himself to his feet and started to frantically search the sleep lab once more. There had to be something here, he didn't care how makeshift it was, that he could use to help her.
"There's something," He muttered under his breath as he tore drawers open, searching frantically. "And if you weren't such a total loser, you would have found it by now. Your brother would never have acted like this, panicking, giving up instead of...." No matter how Elmer tried to ignore the little voices in his head, they continued to speak, berating him for his shortcomings until he felt that he would sob. He was all too afraid that what they were saying was true and if anything were to happen to Lona because of his failures, he would never forgive himself.
Suddenly Elmer's remonstrances against himself were interrupted when he finally spotted something in a drawer buried under a pile of papers and disks. He reached out with an unsteady hand, picking up the pair of scissors gingerly. Okay, these might work if....
"It's going to be okay, Lona," Elmer said in what he hoped was a confident tone as he started to searche even harder. He had found one thing that he needed. Surely he would find more things as well. This was going to be okay. He would get this patched up and Lona would be just fine. She wasn't going to die.
A couple of minutes later, Elmer was kneeling by Lona's side,
looking nervously at the things he had gathered as he ran some alcohol from a half empty bottle over the left side of her chest. Okay, this was definately not the way that he had been taught to do this in med school but hadn't he seen it plenty of times on television? It would work. It had to work!
"Lona?" He called her name softly, barely able to stay in control as he noticed that her lips had now taken on a blue tinge. She didn't have much time if he couldn't do something and quickly to get that lung reinflated. He reached out, picking up the scissors, not really sure if he could do this but knowing that he had no other choice at this point, not if he wanted to save Lona's life.
"This might hurt a little," he murmured as he opened the scissors,
using the edge of one blade, pressing down firmly between two of her ribs as he cut into her chest. Lona lay absolutely still as he probed deeper and deeper into her chest with the scissors, a fact that made Elmer very incomfortable. She ought to have at least tried to flinch, to have reacted in some way to the pain. Why wasn't she.... 'No,' he firmly thought to himself forcing his mind away from that train of thought. He didn't have time to dwell on that now. He had to do what he needed to do to get that lung fixed before he lost her. He could worry about any other injuries later.
"I'm really sorry if this hurts too much," he whispered as he finally felt the lung tissue beneath his fingers, reaching out and cutting into it with the scissors before slipping the rubber tubing from a stethoscope into the opening he had made.
"Okay, it's going to be okay." He moved faster now, frantic to make sure that he did this exactly right or as exactly right as he could manage under the current circumstances. He slipped the free end of tube tubing into another bottle, this one filled half way with water. A moment later, he sighed with relieve when he saw bubbles starting to form in the water and as he carefully felt Lona's chest once more he could feel her breathing changing, not exactly even but slowly returning to a normal pattern.
"It's going to be okay, Lona." He had fixed one problem. Now he just had to find a way to get them out of here.