Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I own none of the characters, they belong to Gerry Anderson and Carlton Television.
AN: Once again, I have to thank everyone who has reviewed!! You know who you are, so thank you!
Chapter 4
As the door slid open, a wave of the recycled air wafted over them. Once the door was fully open, they stepped inside the cold sterile atmosphere of Thunderbird 5. At first glance everything seemed normal. Once they had walked quickly round into the main control room of the space ship it was clear that something was seriously wrong. The vid screen didn't do full justice to the actual situation.
Gordon's first thought on seeing John was "There's so much blood". He immediately rushed over to him, closely followed by Scott and Virgil. Both Scott and Gordon had had emergency medicine training, from their time in the Air Force and WASP respectively. Virgil was also trained in basic first aid, as Jeff insisted on them all having this qualification in case it was needed on any rescues they went on. John's chest wasn't moving so Scott immediately put his fingers to John's wrist, trying to find a pulse. His face went pale, and he shifted his fingers to his neck. His face went grey, and he ripped open John's top and placed his head on his chest as he attempted to find a heartbeat. For Gordon, Virgil, and all the others watching on Tracy Island, time seemed to have stopped. Nobody moved, nobody breathed. After what seemed an age Scott sighed in relief, "He's got a pulse!" Everyone else sighed, and started breathing again.
On Thunderbird 5, things now quickly swung into action. Gordon and Virgil carefully turned John onto his side to get a better look at the site of his injury. They winced as they saw the back of his head. John's thick blond hair was matted with blood, the back of his pyjamas was soaked, and more blood still appeared to be pouring from the wound. Scott walked round to look, and sucked in a breath. A gasp from the console reminded everyone on board that everyone on Tracy Island was watching them. Scott got up and switched Vid-screen off, not wanting to upset anyone more than they already were.
When he turned back, Gordon was already holding a wad of gauze in place on John's head, and Virgil was setting up an oxygen mask. Scott quickly set up the stretcher and then as Virgil placed the oxygen mask over John's face walked over to Gordon, to check on the head wound. On Scott's questioning look, Gordon shook his head worriedly. "I don't think that it's stopping the bleeding Scott." Even as they watched, the gauze pad was quickly soaked through with blood. Gordon hurriedly pressed another one on top and looked up at Scott with pleading eyes "He will be ok wont he?" Scott exchanged glances with Virgil before replying "Of course he will, he's a fighter!" Scott stood up and motioned Virgil away from Gordon and John. He turned to look at John before muttering quietly to Virgil "I don't think that we'll be able to stop the bleeding, he needs medical attention, and quickly. We have to move him ASAP" Virgil nodded in agreement, he was deathly worried about his younger brother, but also saw that if he couldn't keep it together, it would do more harm than good. "Ok Scott, I'll help you get him onto the stretcher, into Thunderbird 3 and then leave you to it." Confused, Scott looked at Virgil. "We can't leave Thunderbird 5 unmanned" explained Virgil patiently "Gordon's in no state to be left up here, we need you to fly Thunderbird 3, which only leaves me" Scott looked at Virgil worriedly. He knew that Virgil spoke the truth, but he didn't like the thought of Virgil being up here alone. As soon as he thought it, he mentally berated himself, John and to a lesser extent Alan, went through a period of being alone regularly. Just being up here in the silence with other people was making Scott a little edgy, he knew that he would hate to be cooped up here for weeks on end, and wondered how John managed it without complaining. Alan was always complaining, but he had never heard John say a bad word about it. He vowed to talk to his father about changing things and maybe giving everyone some time up here. Looking over at Virgil, he saw the same thoughts running through his head, they always had been able to read each other's mind. Virgil gave a wry smile "Talk to Father now, I can start the change now." Turning, they both walked back to John.
Gordon was still holding a gauze pad over John's head wound, but had also managed to set up a heart monitor. It was comforting to everyone on board, to see the green line tracing John's heart beat. Everyone stood looking at it for a moment; they all felt choked up as they realised that they could have lost him. They all steadfastly avoided thinking that they could yet lose him. Scott cleared his throat and muttered gruffly "Lets get him home." Gordon steadied his head, Virgil his feet, and Scott his main body, and in one smooth motion they lifted him onto the waiting stretcher. It was like lifting a feather; John had always been thinner than most of his brothers and he kept himself in shape, but now he was thin to the point of scrawniness. Gordon and Virgil carried John onto Thunderbird 3, whilst Scott updated Jeff about what was going on. He was so concerned about John that he hadn't even thought about replacing him. This was a first in Scott's memory; Jeff normally had International Rescues interests forefront in his mind so him not even thinking about it showed how worried he was about John.
Just as Scott finished talking to Jeff, Virgil burst into Thunderbird 5. "Scott, you'd better get moving, and fast." He said urgently "We can't stop the bleeding, he needs to get to a hospital quickly. I umm, I think his heart rates slowing as well" he finished quietly. Scott closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, "Damn" he muttered. He straightened, took a deep breath and said decisively "Ok, prepare for launch" He turned to Virgil, there was no need for words between them, their eyes said it all. The two brothers embraced before Scott strode off to the airlock, he paused and turned in the doorway "I'll see you soon Virgil, take care" and with that, Scott was gone. A few minutes later, Thunderbird 3 separated from Thunderbird 5 and set off back towards Earth. After alerting Jeff to the fact that Thunderbird 3 had left he called Scott to check on John. He had just established communication with Scott, when he heard Gordon's voice, panicky and worried in the background, "Scott, come quick, Johns heart rates dropping, he's losing his pulse!"