Chapter 248

Tegan heard something in the distance. The hum of helicopter rotors.
"Yes! Thank you!" she cried and started jogging down faster.
She saw the chopper in the distance circle the crash site looking for somewhere to land.
"I need to get down there" she mumbled. Tegan's foot slipped and she slid down an embankment. Faster and faster. She tried to stop with her feet, she tried to grab onto grass or rocks or twigs, cutting her hands in the process. The next moment she was falling… falling… then… black.
-0-
Sara watched Kate's chest barely move up and down. She turned her head up, Kate's lips had a blue tint to them.
"Kate…. Baby?" she said when the struggling sound stopped.
"Kate! No no baby, come on breathe!" Sara screamed. She looked at the pulse ox meter on Kate's finger. It was in the mid 70s and falling fast. Her pulse was slowing down again.
Kate didn't breathe… she didn't move.
Sara dragged herself closer and carefully tilted Kate's head back. She pinched her nose and pulled her jaw down to open her mouth. She sealed her lips over her wife's and breathed into her lungs. She quickly turned her head to see if Kate's chest was rising. She saw slight movement. Sara quickly opened the air valve in Kate's chest again and the air hissed out. Kate still wasn't breathing. Sara breathed into Kate's again.
"Come on baby breathe… just breathe, you're going to be okay"
Another breath.
"Kate I love you, stay with me"
Another breath.
"I'm NOT losing you dammit! Breathe!"
Nothing… Sara checked the pulse ox. Kate's sats were slightly higher but still in the 70s, her pulse only around 35.
Sara didn't hear the rotors… she frantically focussed on keeping her wife alive. Then… after a few minutes of mouth to mouth breathing she heard it. "Hello… emergency rescue, call out!"
"Help! Help us" Sara tried to scream but it came out on a whimper.
She blew into Kate's mouth again. "They're here baby, hang on, just hang on"
Another breath. "Come on Kate hang on… please!"
-o-
Tegan slowly became aware of her surroundings. She was lying on her stomach and pain shot through her entire body. Her stomach turned and she swallowed down a wave of nausea. She couldn't move because she was in excruciating pain. Her arm lay at an awkward angle and it hurt to breathe.
"They're going to be okay… rescue's here… they'll find them… they'll find me" Tegan thought to herself. She tried again to sit up but cried out when she moved her upper body.
She tried to orient herself. She was at the bottom of some sort of ravine... maybe?
"Fuck… please let them be okay" she breathed in pain.
-0-
"Help" Sara cried out weakly again.
She felt relief was over her as she saw two people enter the plane. She breathed into Kate again.
"Hello ma'am. We're here to help. What's your name?" asked a female paramedic.
"Sara… help her!"
A girl knelt next to Kate and checked her breathing and pulse with her ear next to Kate's mouth and two fingers in her neck.
"She has a weak, slow pulse. No spontaneous breathing. Get an ambubag and prepare for intubation" she instructed calmly.
Sara blew into Kate again.
"I've got her. Just lie back now, we're going to take care of her" said the brunette placing the plastic mask her male colleague just handed her over Kate's face. She gave her two quick breaths.
"Her chest… air valve" said Sara opening the valve.
"How did you do this? You a doctor Sara?" asked the male medic.
"No… she is… she guided my sister"
"Good job… laryngoscope" the girl instructed her partner.
"I can't see the chords…. Cricoid pressure…. Dammit… hang on, give me suction… good let's try again…. Yeah… that's it, I'm in. Bag her with 100% O2, her sats are tanking at 70"
Two more people entered the plane and immediately attended to Sara.
"I'm okay just take care of Kate"
"They're doing just that. What's your name?"
"Sara… my sister is out there. Can somebody go find Tegan!"
"They'll find her Sara, just stay still for me" said another girl checking Sara's pupils.
"Pupils are slightly sluggish. GCS 14"
"We have a probable tib-fib fracture here. Possible unstable pelvis. Breath sounds equal bilaterally. Pulse ox 89 on normal air"
"Belly's soft but there's rebound tenderness" said a medic before putting an oxygen mask on Sara's face.
"Tegan… find Tegan" Sara muttered.
"Get her on a monitor, now" said the girl next to Sara.
"There's a line in already, starting another one" said another medic.
Sara turned her head to see Kate. An endotracheal tube was sticking out of her mouth and somebody was bagging her. Kate still looked pale, almost blue.
More people were now next to Kate working feverishly to stabilize her.
"Oh god this isn't pretty" said one looking at the piece of metal sticking out of Kate. He swiftly attached electrodes to Kate's chest.
"I can't get another line in, she's shutting down peripherally" said one of the medics attending to Kate.
"BP's tanking 40 over 30… get that line in and push saline through the one we already have. Do an IO in the meantime"
"Pulse is slow, she's bradycardic. She needs fluid she's in severe shock. Get dopamine into that IO now and hang a bag of O neg"
Somebody drilled into Kate's leg to get through the bone into her bone marrow.
"IO's in – starting dopamine infusion"
"I just can't get this line in" somebody else muttered.
"Pupils equal but sluggish. GCS is 5"

Sara felt as if her heart was going to leap out of her chest. "Kaaate, hang on baby" she sobbed.
"Sara I need you to stay still okay" said a medic pushing another IV line into Sara.
Somebody was moving Sara's leg into a blow up brace and Sara screamed in pain.
"Get 10 of morphine on board"
"No, I don't want to sleep, don't make me sleep" Sara begged.
"You won't, but you need something for the pain okay"
"Find Tegan" Sara mumbled again.
"Do you know where she went Sara?"
"Up the hill…. She said she was going... up the hill"
"Okay, John here is going to give that information to the search team right now. Just lie down now"
"Sara are you feeling dizzy, nauseous?" somebody asked.
"Uh huh… yeah" Sara grunted.
"Okay let's get the C-collar on, get her on a backboard and get her out of here"
"No! I'm not going without Kate! NO!" Sara yelled.
"We'll take you in the same helicopter Sara. Just calm down"
"Is she okay? Is Kate okay? What's happening?"
"Sara, she's got a very good team working on her"
"Pressure's dropping, we're losing her" somebody working on Kate screamed.
"Oh god… Kaaaate... no baby... fight" Sara cried.

A/N: Oh no Tegan! What a hero! Hope they find her and Kate makes it. Sounds pretty dire at the moment. Apparently some of you that subscribe didn't get the notification emails for the last few chapters. Hope you get this one, check back and make sure you didn't miss a chapter, there's been quite a few updates.