Chapter 3
Leon's vision was narrowed and blurry, the car's windshield was shattered, his ears were ringing. One sound began to pierce through the haze, the sound of screaming.
Leon: "Ugggh, what happened" he groaned as he stumbled from his car.
Before him lay dozens of people, mostly children, all with injuries consistent with an IED explosion. His training took over and he started barking orders exactly as he was trained following 9/11.
Leon: "Remain calm, EMS is on the way" He raised his badge above his head "Apply direct pressure to any bleeding wounds, DO NOT attempt to remove any shrapnel from wounds. If direct pressure can't control the bleeding of an injury on a limb apply a makeshift tourniquet above the wound. Belts, scarves, neck ties, garment sleeves can all be used as tourniquets"
The speech was simply running on autopilot as Leon made his way through the casualties . He was actually specifically looking for Jackrauser. He finally came upon his son lying in a small pool of blood. There was a large wound in his chest that appeared to be from piece of shrapnel entering his chest. Leon sprinted the remaining distance to his son, diving to the ground next to him.
Leon: "Hey buddy *lightly tapping his cheek* you gotta talk to me bud".
Jackrauser: "Dad?".
Leon: "Yes, it's me, it's dad., We're gonna get you some help" Leon was speaking with a near hysterical pace. He had removed and folded up his jacket to apply direct pressure to the wound.
Jackrause: "Dad, It smells like…. Like a battlefield…".
Leon: "Shshsh, everything is going to be okay".
Leon looped his necktie over his right shoulder and under his left arm. He repeated the process with his belt on the left shoulder. He gently rolled Jackrauser onto his side so he could tie them both behind him. These would at least attempt to keep pressure on the wound and slow the bleeding. Leon cradled him in his arms and began carefully carrying him back to his suburban. Distant sirens could be heard, growing ever closer.
Jackrauser's eyes remained closed as he was loaded into the back seat, his labored breathing being the only assurance that he was still alive. Leon climbed into the front passenger's seat. The windshield was far too badly broken to drive with so he was left with no other option than to kick it out from the inside. He leaned the seat back and brought both legs up. He pushed them forward against the glass with all of his strength again and again until the mass of glass and plastic lay on the hood. He scrambled over the center console and into the driver's seat. Leon started the car, sparing a quick glance back at his son, before putting it into drive and speeding off, running over two curbs in the process.
As he sped away from the school fire trucks and ambulances passed him going the opposite way.
Leon: "Shit" he exclaimed as he turned his red and blue lights on.
Leon had never quite seen the necessity to have them on his vehicle, 'most of my field work is over seas anyways' but today was definitely a time to use them if there ever was one. He continued towards the hospital as fast as the roads would allow, only yielding slightly at traffic lights to avoid T boning traffic.
Leon: "They have no idea what is going on, they are just going about their business like nothing has happened!" he cursed the other cars as flew past them.
As he approached the hospital he was forced to stop, a line of traffic had backed up nearly a quarter from a malfunctioning traffic light.
Leon: "This is one hell of a mess we're in," he said to himself as he hopped the curb and drive along the sidewalk.
Between him and the hospital parking lot stood a chain link fence, the only way in was to drive to the other side of the hospital, unless
Leon: "No choice, gotta take it down!" he floored the accelerator and broke through the fence.
A section of the fence flipped up onto the hood and slid towards Leon. The open frame where the windshield should have been did nothing to stop the jagged metal. He raised his right arm to stop the fence from reaching his neck.
Leon: "Aarrgh!" he wailed as the jagged metal cut into his arm. But it didn't matter, the emergency entrance was right in front of him.
He parked on the sidewalk to leave path clear for the ambulances that he knew would soon be following. Before he could even get the rear door open a hospital security guard was already walking towards him.
Hospital Security: "Sir, you cannot park the- JESUS CHRIST! Did you just drive through our fence" Leon simply ignored the guard's remarks as he removed Jackruser from the car
Hospital Security: "Sir, SIR! I'm gonna need to talk to you!" by this point Leon was already carrying his son through the door to the hospital"
Leon: "Write me a parking ticket" he shouted before the doors closed behind him".
The secretary at the check in desk was oblivious to Leon walking towards her, answering the phone like she had a hundred times before.
Secretary: "Whesker Memorial Medical Center, how may I direct-... I'm gonna have to put you on hold for a minute" she finally noticed the man carrying a bleeding child towards her.
Secretary: "LISA! WE'RE GONNA NEED A GURNEY!"
Without being prompted Leon began listing Jackrauser's condition to the best of his abilities.
Leon: "Male, age 9, 90 pounds, puncture wound to his chest, possible shrapnel inside. blood type A" the gurney had arrived and several hospital staff were removing the makeshift dressing he had made.
Nurse: "Dear god, what happened to him?".
Leon: "He was a student at the elementary school, how have you not heard about the explosion yet?!" he said with some stressed induced anger sneaking it's way in.
Nurse: "We know about the explosion but we are not expecting the first ambulance for another 20 minutes".
The talking ceased as the professionals began to work on Jackrauser as they wheeled him to the trauma bay.
Doctor: "I have no breath sounds on the left side, prepare a chest tube kit!".
The frenzied work began to blur for Leon. People yelling, machines beeping, equipment being wheeled in. He had some medic training, it was required for his job, they didn't want a HVT kicking the bucket before they gave up the intel, but here it was different. Watching your own child, surrounded by medical personnel, was a completely different experience.
As they inserted the chest tube he roared back into consciousness with a scream as he tried to sit up.
Doctor: "Restrain him! Push 5migs morphine!".
Jackrauser: "DAD! DAD!" Leon pushed his way into the crown so Jackrauser could see him.
Leon: "I'm right here buddy, everything is going to be okay!".
Jackrauser: "I love you dad" he said, voice wavering as the sedative began to take effect.
Leon: "I love you, now try to rest and let these people help you".
Even though the boy was woozy, the last thing he said was clear as day.
Jackrauser: "You may be able to prolong your life, but it's not like you can escape your inevitable death" he lost consciousness as he finished.
Leon was directed to a waiting room where the longest hours of his life began. He first called Ada, she had heard about the explosion at the school but had hoped that Leon had been running late and missed it. Her mother was on her way to the house to take Ada and the girls out for brunch, so it was decided that she would stay with Cda and Bda so Ada wouldn't have to bring them to the hospital.
Ada: "Have they told you anything yet?" she said as she walked into the door of the waiting room.
Leon: "The only thing they've told me since I called you is that he is going into surgery"
Ada: "My god, how could this happen? Right in our home town ".
Leon: "Ada….. there is one thing I didn't tell you about on the phone".
Ada: "..." she glared at Leon, but her gaze lacked it's usual fire, Jackrauser's condition weighed heavy on her.
Leon: "This arrived in the mail today"
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the keychain.
Ada: visibly surprised asked "What does that have to do with anything".
He explained how it had been delivered right as he was leaving the house. He told her about the child that called him on the phone right before the incident.
Ada: "That means….. That this wasn't a random attack, but this was targeted at us?"
Leon: "It looks like it".
Ada: "But what about the twins? If their grade didn't cancel school ...".
Leon: "Then they would have been a few feet from Jackrauser outside the school"
Ada: "I need to call my mother".
Leon: "Good, I called my office before you got here and explained the situation, they are sending over a protection detail. You should probably let her know to be expecting them. Also, tell them to pack a bag, they're being moved to a more secure location within the next 4 hours".
Ada: "Can you trust the people from your office?".
Leon: "More than I can trust the people from yours".
What felt like year went by as waiting room became steadily more crowded. Parents of the other children at the school slowly trickled in. The sound of stifled sobbing was common. A hospital worker had brought in a cart full of clip boards to fill out with information on their children. Some parents were taken into small rooms down the hall, there they would be given the news, however good or bad it may be. Small groups of people began to form. Some groups were crying, others were angry that the hospital was taking too long to update them, one groups was full of people telling funny stories and laughing.
Leon: "Everyone has their own way of coping with tragedy" He said to nobody in particular.
The door opened once again, and another Doctor emerged, just like the dozens of times before.
Doctor: "I'm looking for a Mr and Mrs Kennedy?"
Ada: "Right here!" her heart racing once again.
Doctor: "Could you please follow me?" he said and began walking towards one of the private rooms.
Once inside he closed the door behind them and directed them to sit down.
Doctor: "Your son had a piece of shrapnel embedded in his left lung, lacerating the pulmonary artery. As a result of this he lost a huge amount of blood" Ada and Leon moved to the edge of their seats .
He continued
Doctor: "We started a blood transfusion and oxygen right away. Once we had x-rayed him to determine where the shrapnel was and how much we were dealing with we moved directly to surgery. While in surgery we gave him 5 units of blood while attempting to repair the artery…" .
Ada: "...and?".
Leon: "... go on.".
Doctor: "Mr and Mrs Kennedy, there was simply nothing more we could do. He had lost too much blood and we couldn't replace it fast enough. Your son, didn't make it".
Leon felt his blood begin to boil, the ringing was back in his ears and his vision was narrowing once more. Leon had seen death, he had seen zombies, BOWs, Ganados, Novistadors, and regenerators. But when he looked beside him he saw something for the first time in his entire life. Beside him, Ada was crying. She hadn't cried when he proposed, she didn't cry on their wedding day, she didn't spill a single tear when their first child was born or when her father passed away. But now, she was sobbing in the seat next to him.
He tried to place his arm around her but she slapped it away and ran out of the room, her heels clicking loudly down the hallway. Leon stood in the doorway and looked back to the doctor.
Doctor: "Sir, we will need you to do some paperwork later, but for now I suggest you go comfort your wife".
Without saying a word Leon ran after Ada, he rounded the corner just in time to see the red of her silk dress, as the elevator doors closed behind her. Leon opened the door to the stairwell and started going up, he had a pretty decent idea where she was going.
The roof of the hospital was segregated into two halves by a fence. On one side there was the helipad and the large service elevator for moving patients onto and off of the helicopter. On the other was the guest smoking area, where Ada sat.
Leon: "You could have held the elevator" he said, out of breath .
Ada: "Well if I don't make you exercise, how do you expect to keep your girlish figure?" The sarcasm comforted him in a way, it let him know that she had calmed down.
She stood up and walked to the edge of the building, protected a 4 foot high wall. Leon Followed and stood beside her.
Ada: "So what happens now?".
Leon: "Well, we have a few options. Option A, we bury Jackrauser, and then go into protective custody. They will give us new names, a house, jobs and so on."
Ada: "You know what I do for a living, so you know how easy it would be for someone like me to track us down".
Leon: "Option B, the government puts us into and underground bunker for a while with round the clock protection".
Ada: "I believe your words were that 'just isn't your style'".
Leon: "Right, that leaves us with our last option, Option C. We go on the offensive, and we don't stop until everyone responsible is dead".
Ada: "You know we won't be able to do this your way right? Waiting for clearance, arresting suspects and so on. We will have to do it my way".
A grey fog had rolled in across the city.
Leon took Ada's hand in his
Leon: "That is what I was counting on" .