Once Bitten Twice Shy: Part 4
"All do respect…" Matty begins.
"…He basically just confirmed his intention to disobey your direct order to evacuate should the need arise and you accepted it! This is outrageous, he's walking all over you just like he did Thornton and you're content to sit back and take it!" Jim rants.
"Really? That's your take? I think your perspective may be biased when it comes to your son. He didn't outright refuse to leave, but merely said he wouldn't abandon his team. Personally, I can and do respect that. I don't want to employ an agent that would sacrifice his team to save his own skin and I sure as hell wouldn't want to be in the field with that agent! You've known me long enough to know I have no problem using a firm hand, but I will not let you dictate when that is and isn't called for. I'm afraid I took your opinions at face value, especially when it comes to Mac, instead of forming my own. That stops now. Either you trust me or you don't." Matty fires back.
Jim sighs, "Of course I trust you, but I also know my son better than…"
"… That's my point. He's YOUR son and you'll always see him as such. You'll never see just the agent, but I could if you'd let me. I need you to step back and let me get to know him without you in my ear. I deserve that much and so does Mac." Matty interrupts.
"Alright, just don't let him…" Jim falters with what he wants to say.
"I'll do everything I can to keep him safe." Matty promises.
Meanwhile in Africa, Mac is consumed with guilt over the plight of his friends.
'Ten day! How did I fail to notice for ten days!? I knew the tsetse fly could transmit sleeping sickness to humans. It's rare, but I should have been watching for the symptoms! I took for granted…' Mac's internal ranting is interrupted by the sounding of a medical alarm.
Mac looks toward the sound and watches helplessly as Riley's body shakes and convulses with a seizure. The doctor is already at her side administering medicine into the IV.
When Mac finds his voice it is weak and hesitant, "Will she be alright? Are the others going to start seizing too?"
"We can manage the symptoms and she is being given the appropriate medication to help rid her body of the parasite. Only time will tell if the others will also have seizures. I can tell you that it makes sense that her disease would be more progressed since she has a smaller frame than the gentlemen. Was she the first to exhibit symptoms?" Tad replies.
Mac thinks briefly and answers, "Yeah, I guess I just sort of attributed the mood swings to feminine issues."
Tad nods his understanding and leaves to attend other patients.
Mac addresses his friends, fighting back tears, "I'm so sorry. I let you all down. I promise I'm going to do everything in my power to get you through this and back home, even if it kills me. I'll understand if you don't want anything to do with me afterward. I've be a terrible friend and an absolute failure as a leader."
Over the next couple of days, Riley, Bozer, and Jack continue to receive IV fluids and medicines. Thankfully there had been no more seizures. They sleep the bulk of the time, but each notice the guilt and anguish Mac wears so heavily. They hate it for him, but none are able to remain awake long enough to even try and address it. Mac sits at their sides, only eating or sleeping when Tad threatens medical intervention should Mac refuse to comply. Mac knows what's coming. He's heard the sounds of battle drawing closer and closer to their little clinic, but it doesn't make it any easier when the time comes.
"We need to evacuate. It's too dangerous to stay. The rest of the village has already left." Tad advises.
"They're in no condition to travel and I WON'T leave them. I understand you have an obligation to get the other patients to safety, and you should go but I can't." Mac replies tired but firm.
Tad sighs unsurprised, "Yeah, I suspected as much. You're right, a long journey could be detrimental to your friends' recoveries but so will being caught in the cross-fire coming this way. I have a plan, it's not ideal but it is safer than staying here. There is a hunting shack a few miles northwest, the terrain is rough so I suspect the fighting will steer away from it. About an hour hike downhill is a fresh water stream. I've already packed the medical supplies you'll need with some contingencies. You've been helping with them already so you know the schedule and how to change the IV meds and set the manual drip. I will have to take out their catheters, but they'll still be weak so you'll have to support them while they take care of those needs. I suggest you try to get them on a schedule. It's no ATV, but my cart should get you there. The brother of one of the other patients is bringing a van to help evacuate the rest of us. I've already written out directions for you."
Mac takes the bags and written directions, "Thank you. This means a lot."
Tad helps Mac get his friends situated in the cart and in turn Mac helps to get the others loaded into the van.
"Good luck to you all." Mac bids them farewell.
"Thanks. May the spirits guide you and keep you safe." Tad returns.
Once at the cabin, Mac goes to check it out and thinks to himself with a chuckle, 'And Jack thought the set up in Uganda was small.'
Luckily, there are a few sleeping bags in the little shack and he unzips them and lays them out before going to retrieve his friends. After Mac has his friends situated with makeshift IV poles and as comfortable as possible, he begins to unpack and sort the supplies the doctor sent. He smiles realizing how thoughtful and thorough Tad had been; each of the contingencies are clearly labeled with explicit directions. Mac pulls the sat-phone out of their gear and tries to reach Phoenix but apparently no satellites were in position to provide relay. Mac did establish and stick to a bathroom schedule for his friends even if it meant waking them up. For obvious reasons caring for Riley proved to be the most awkward, but they found a system that worked. As promised, Mac always kept his eyes closes while she took care of business. Mac allowed all of his friends to set their own boundaries when it came to the sponge baths.
Three days later, Mac groans as he awakes. To his credit, he had been eating the granola bars Tad sent and sleeping about six hours a night. After all, his friends were counting on him and he knew he needed to keep up his strength. Still, he is exhausted between being the sole caregiver and the daily trek to retrieve water. The journey down to the stream isn't bad; lugging the water back uphill has proven quite challenging though. He had been using four pails and a wooden pole he found in the cabin, balancing the buckets on the pole to transport the water. In a couple more days, they'd run out of saline bags and he'd need to make multiple water trips to keep his friends hydrated. Mac sighs hoping he can get in touch with Matty before that happens. Mac drags himself up off the floor, realizing the day would only get hotter and he should head out on his water run. Ninety minutes later, Mac finds himself finishing up at the little stream as his stomach growls.
'I must be hungry, I can hear the sizzling of bacon frying.' Mac thinks.
Moments later pain shoots through Mac's calf as he spies a small multi-eyed light brown snake quickly slither away. Mac sits on some nearby rocks and digs out a snakebite kit out of his cargo pants. He uses his pocket knife to spilt his pant leg, cleans the area with the alcohol prep, reopens the wound with the kit razor, and begins to pump out the venom with the extractor. After he is finished, he places a bandaid over the wound. Back at the hunting cabin, courtesy of Tad, there are several different anti venoms labeled meticulously with pictures of the various poisonous snakes. Mac recognized the West African Carpet Viper from an earlier examination of this particular contingency. He sighs heavily, knowing the trip back will suck. He glances at the filled buckets of water, deciding it would suck more to have to make another trip to retrieve them. Each step is excruciating, but the knowledge that his friends need him spurs Mac on. Finally back at the shack, Mac hurriedly sets down the water and prepares the anti venom. Thankfully at this moment, his friends are all sleeping so there are no prying eyes. The last thing they need is to be worrying about him. Mac injects himself with the antidote and goes about checking his friends' IVs. A tickling begins in his throat that steadily worsens until he's struggling for breathe.
'Agh! You've got to be kidding me.' Mac thinks as he realizes he's having an allergic reaction to the anti venom.
Mac rushes back over to the medical supplies and retrieves one of the Epi-Pens, Tad really did think of everything. After dosing himself, Mac finishes changing his friends IVs before drinking some water and deciding to take a nap. It had been a hell of a morning. A couple hours later, Mac stirs groggily.
"Well looks who's finally awake. I was beginning to think you'd come down with this sleeping disease too." Jack greets weakly.
"Nope, just took a nap. What can I say? The company's been a bit of a bore lately." Mac teases easily.
"You sure you're alright? Naps aren't really your thing. I've only known you to nap when you're not feeling well." Jack asks.
"Really, I'm fine. Just a little tired. It's been a rough week." Mac replies.
"Yeah, okay. You know this isn't your fault right?" Jack yawns.
"Get some rest, Jack." Mac deflects.
"I'm serious Mac. You can't blame yourself for this." Jack insists, but falls back into sleep before Mac replies.
Mac shakes his head and limps outside to once again try the sat phone. Logically he knew that he'd have signal for a few minutes every couple of hours, but he had never hit that window in the midst of trying to care for his friends. This time however the light indicates there is signal so he dials Matty's secure line.
"About time you checked in again! It's been five days. How are Riley, Jack, and Bozer?" Matty asks straight off.
"Riley had a seizure that first day, but has been stable now that the Melarsoprol is in her system. They've all been stable and fever free for the past two days, but are still sleeping most of the day. We had to evacuate the clinic three days ago. We're hold up in a small hunting cabin a few miles northwest of our last position. This is the first time I've found signal on the sat-phone. There's only a couple of days worth of saline left and maybe another days worth of meds past that." Mac answers.
"Well the rebels are still putting up a fight, but good news is currently the legitimate government controls the airspace so we should be able to arrange Exfil. I see your coordinates. The road that runs by the cabin dead ends ten miles from your location at a steep but not tall cliff. At the top of that incline is an abandoned airfield. I'll be able to send the medical jet directly there; besides I don't see anywhere closer to land a chopper. Do you have transport to get you those ten miles?" Matty inquires.
"I do, but I'm more concerned about the steep incline. Matty, I…" Mac begins to explain.
"…Mac I don't see another option here. You're going to have to figure it out. I'm fully aware of the challenge, but this sort of thing should be right in your wheelhouse. Plan to rendezvous with the medical jet tomorrow at 14:00. I'll send exact coordinates. Mac, I trust that…" Matty directs until the satellite signal is lost causing the call to drop.
"No Director, you're not FULLY aware of the challenge." Mac snarks to no one in particular and lets out a long sigh.
Since Exfil is tomorrow afternoon, Mac decides he can fill the canteens and skimp on the sponge baths today so that he doesn't have to make a water run tomorrow. On top of caring for his team, Mac spends the day building a stokes and making a rope out of their clothes, shoe laces, and anything he can shred and tie together, hoping it'll be long enough. Once he's satisfied with his work, he uses his "rope" to tie the stokes to the top of the cart. Mac's leg is throbbing as he finishes up. He limps inside and checks on Riley, Jack, and Bozer one last time. It occurs to Mac to clean and redress is own wound, but he's just too exhausted to do anything but collapse on the floor until morning.
The next morning Mac wakes up feeling stiff, sore, and a little flushed. Ever so slowly he pulls himself up and gets to work. He wants to run a bag of saline and a dose of medicine into each of his friends before they set out.
"Damn Mac, you don't look so good. You feeling okay?" Bozer asks concerned as he watches Mac set up the IV bags.
Mac manages a small smile, "Yeah Boz, I'm good. Just tired."
"I can relate," Riley teases but then gets serious, "Maybe you should rest some more. You're really pale."
"Too much to do. Exfil is today. I'll rest on the plane." Mac answers.
"You'd better. You've pushed yourself much too hard. It looks like you could drop any minute." Jack pipes up.
"Yeah, and that's coming from three people whose combined energy couldn't power a flashlight." Bozer adds.
"Speaking of which, you all should probably rest up before we leave." Mac suggests.
"How about you do the same?" Jack returns.
"Can't. I need to get everything packed up and loaded." Mac advises.
While the IVs run, Mac gets everything packed and loaded into the cart. After the drips finish, Mac disconnects the tubing while leaving the lines in place to facilitate reestablishing treatment on the jet. There is still six hours until Exfil, but Mac is going in blind and figures it may take a hour or more to hoist each of his friends up the cliff. He helps his team get situated in the cart and hands them all a canteen advising them to take a few sips whenever they're awake. Mac whistles as he stops the cart and begins to examine the cliff side. Mac estimates the angle of the climb to be about 63 degrees. The height appears to be around 82 feet. Mac briefly wonders what Matty defines as "tall." Mac sighs, grateful that his rope will be long enough but knowing the next few hours will suck. With each foot hold on the initial free climb, Mac's injured leg screams in agony as uninvited tears run down his cheek. Once atop, Mac collapses panting for several minutes. After recovering his breathe, Mac sits up and allows himself to take a few sips of water as he looks around. He finds there is a sturdy post nearby to anchor his rope to, and after securing the knots, he tosses the rest of the rope down. Glancing at the time, Mac steadies himself for the job ahead. He'll have to repel down, secure his friend in the stokes, climb up, haul up the stokes, and then repeat the process twice. While not as physically demanding, repelling back down the cliff side proved just as excruciating to his leg as climbing up. Mac decides that it would be best to move Jack, Bozer, and then Riley figuring that as his own energy wanes at least the jobs will be getting lighter. Thankfully Mac is able to keep his friends in shade during this process. Mac takes a break after the second haul to assist Jack and Bozer in relieving themselves; he will do the same for Riley before getting her in the stokes. As Mac disappears over the cliff for the last pickup, Jack frowns.
"Did you notice if Mac stumbled or fell at all during that last climb?" Jack asks of Bozer.
Bozer mirrors Jack's frown, "Not that I saw, but I can't say I was watching. Why?"
"He's limping on the left. I think he's hurt his leg." Jack replies.
"What are we going to do?" Bozer asks concerned.
"There's nothing we can do yet. Even if he wasn't already repelling down to get Riley, neither of us are in any shape to assist. BUT when the Mede-vac arrives, whichever of us has the first opportunity should ensure the medics know about the limp." Jack directs.
Bozer nods his agreement.
Mac hauls Riley over the cliff with twenty minutes to spare. He situates her in shade next to Bozer and plops down next to her. The exhaustion pulls him under almost immediately and his friends follow suite. The rumble of the jet landing doesn't even cause the team to stir. Mac awakes with a start when medic Juliet Johnson, J.J. for short, leans over him to check for a pulse.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. Finding you all completely passed out was a bit unnerving." J.J. admits.
"Yeah, long day on top of a couple of long weeks." Mac smiles weakly.
"Well seeing as you're the only one awake, you think you can help me get them loaded and set back up with IV meds? Matty suggested you've become well acquainted with caring for these three and I'm flying solo today. Trish went into early labor and is officially on maternity leave. Mede-vac 1 and 2 were already dispatched to other Exfil assignments. You all are the sixth team being extracted this week. As I understand, three other teams will be hitting base about the same time we do and two of those also sustained injuries so Phoenix will be a bit of a mad house." J.J. advises.
Mac nods, "Trish had her baby, that's great! Of course, I'll help however I can."
The plane takes off after everyone is loaded and Mac and J.J. work to establish the IVs in air. Mede-vac 3 was more spacious than 1 and 2. While the other two can only accommodate three patients, Mede-vac 3 comfortably fits five stretchers but Mac had seen it squeeze together seven in a pinch. Mac stumbles over and falls into the couch once Jack, Bozer, and Riley have been cared for and drifts of to sleep.
Jack awakes when J.J. is checking his vitals and adjusting the drip on his IV. She notices eyes watching her and greets, "Hey sleepy head. How's my favorite Delta?"
"Honestly, I can't remember ever being this tired. It's frustrating. How's Mac?" Jack inquires.
"Exhausted, I think. He's sleeping." J.J. answers.
"And his leg?" Jack asks.
"What about his leg? Damn, I should have checked him out. I wasn't told he'd sustained injuries. What happened?" J.J. questions, kicking herself for neglecting a patient.
"I don't know, but he was limping on his left leg earlier. He did a lot of rock climbing today to get us to Exfil. Maybe he hurt it then, but I'm really not sure." Jack admits.
"Alright, I'm all over this." J.J. promises.
"Knew you would be." Jack smiles as he drifts off, glad his favorite medic is on the case.
Again, Mac jolts awake as J.J. leans over him to check his pulse and complains, "You've got to stop doing that. Aren't your hands full enough with the three patients you already have?"
J.J. laughs, "Nah, they're kinda easy. All they do is sleep. I need more of a challenge. Besides you're looking feverish. So what's up with your left leg?"
Mac sighs heavily knowing the jig is up, "Snake bite. Yesterday morning. West African Carpet Viper. Immediately extracted venom with a kit. Took a dose of anti venom about 90 minutes later, but had an allergic reaction to it. Used an Epi-Pen."
"And today you repeatedly scaled a steep cliff on that leg. It must hurt like hell." J.J. surmises.
"It does." Mac confirms.
"Let me see." J.J. directs and whistles as Mac rolls up his pant leg.
"That's some rash you're sporting. It's obviously swollen. Muscle pain and weakness?" Mac nods so J.J. continues, "any nausea, abdominal discomfort, headache, or blurred vision?"
"All of the above." Mac confesses.
"Alright, I think you're experiencing an immune response called serum sickness. Let me get your vitals. Then we'll get you cleaned up, in a gown, and set up with an IV and some meds to manage the symptoms. The back cabin is full. I can set your stretcher up in front with Riley or right here across from the couch. What's it going to be?" J.J. advises.
"Are those my only options?" Mac asks but at J.J.'s firm look he quickly answers, "Here is good. At this point the less I need to walk the better."
"Okay. I'll be right back," J.J. starts to leave.
"J.J., who ratted me out?" Mac asks knowing the medic would have checked him out much sooner if she'd noticed the limp.
"I'll give you three guesses." J.J. winked, tilting her head toward the back cabin.
"Jack." Mac figures.
"Got it in one." J.J. heads off to retrieve the necessary supplies.
J.J. returns and gets Mac squared away with IV saline and a push of ibuprofen, antihistamines, and steroids. In a way, Mac feels tremendous relief to no longer be the sole caregiver for his friends. Of course guilt for that feeling also creeps its way into the mix. Now that Mac's injury is out, he loses whatever hold he'd had on appearing well and promptly loses the meager contents of his stomach into the nearest emesis bag.
"Hey, easy now. I guess it's a good thing I didn't let you talk me into oral medications." J.J. deflects handing him some water.
"Yeah. Thanks." Mac rinses and falls back heavily onto the stretcher, while not the most comfortable it's heaven compared to the floors he's slept on for the past couple of weeks.
"Get some rest. There's still fourteen hours left in flight. I need to reach out to Phoenix med and send an updated status report since my initial one left out a patient," J.J. gives Mac a half-hearted glare, "Seriously though, I'll be back after I check in with Doc Pierce. I'm going to work from the couch, you been my most critical patient and all."
Mac's groan elicits a laugh from J.J. as she excuses herself to make her call.
Matty sinks into her desk chair having just completed back-to-back debriefings for two teams and knowing she has four more teams in route to Phoenix. Three of those teams sustained injuries or ailments and the one that didn't were unsuccessful in their task so mission failure protocol will ensue. As expected, she finds her email filled with status updates from the mede-vac teams and after-action reports from each member of the failed mission. Matty decides to scan the Mede-vac updates before digging into the after-action reports. Seeing two reports from Mede-vac 3, she opens the most recently and scrolls down far enough to see that Jack, Riley, and Bozer are stable. She closes the update without noticing the status report included a fourth patient and continues to the next email.