AN: Enjoy the third chapter.
Warning: The nightmares in this chapter are dark and gruesome
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED
Chasing Fire
Chapter 3
Night Terrors and Surgery
It was now six in the morning. All the pups are asleep on the floor, Ryder is in a Chair snoring, and Everest is sleeping right next to Chase. Chase has not woken up from the surgery yet, but mentally he was awake. A nightmare even.
Chase's Nightmare
"No, No, Leave just leave. I can't move," Chase howled in pain.
"I'm not leaving you," Everest's voice was heard.
"No, AH," Chase was passing in and out of consciousness.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH," he heard Everest's cry of pain and horror.
Reality
Chase was twitching a little and Everest noticed.
She heard him mumble something under his breath, but couldn't make it out. He then started to squirm like a worm on the bed and if he kept that up his life support can come undone and he could suffer a huge amount of pain.
Everest then hit the call button with her paw and in came two nurses.
"What's the problem," one whispered.
"It's Chase, he won't stop squirming. I'm afraid that he might loosen his life support." Everest whispered in a worrisome tone.
"Ok, we might need to wake him up though," the other the nurse said while coming over to Chase's bed.
"RYDER! PUPS! EVEREST! I AM SORRY!" Chase howled waking everyone in the room.
Back in Chase's Nightmare
Chase was up and trying to find his way out while ignoring the pain. Around him was the burning forest. He saw his friends burning and calling his name.
"CHASE! CHASE! HELP US!" they would call out.
When he tried to get to his friends they would disappear and a tree would fall on him every time. He would keep getting up and find them. He was stressed, he thought this was the real thing.
Then something out of the blue hit him. Then all his friends, not just from the PAW Patrol but from town. They have no emotion on their face and spoke in a demonic tone, "You said it would be a good idea to come here in the first place Chase. You led us to our death. You could have helped us. You could have saved us from the fire."
"I'm sorry. Couldn't get out from the tree. I-"
"That doesn't matter. You could have still saved us by sacrificing yourself," they said.
"I know, I know, I'm sorry," Chase then started to cry.
"Then why didn't you save me?" Chase looked up only to see Everest with big burn marks.
Chase then shouted, "RYDER! PUPS! EVEREST! IM SORRY!"
Just then he felt pushing on his side, "Chase wake up, come on wake up," the voice said.
"NO! I FAILED!" Chase cried, "I don't deserve to live."
Reality
"No, Chase. You deserve to live. Just wake up. Come on," Everest encouraged her mate.
"Ya come on buddy, wake up," Marshall said.
"We wouldn't be here without you," Skye said coming up.
Chase then stopped squirming and opened one eye to see that he was in a hospital room Everest nuzzling him and all the pups and Ryder surrounding him and Everest. He then proceeds to open both of his eyes only to realize that he is in a tone of pain from his injuries and is out of breath.
"You guys are alive?" Chase was surprised.
"You thought we died?" Marshall said confused.
"I thought I would never see the light of day again," Chase said keeping his head down.
The nurses fixed Chase's messed up oxygen tube that was giving him oxygen, his two IVs that one was supplying him with morphine and the other supplying him with fluids so that he doesn't get dehydrated. They finished up and said their goodbyes and head out.
"You thought they were dead and that you would never see the light of day again?" Rocky said as he wakes up to them with the other pups.
"I did," Chase said whimpering, "I thought *sniff* I would lose everything." Chase than to cry slowly.
"Everest?" Ryder asked.
Knowing what the boy was hinting to, Everest got as close as possible to Chase and nuzzled his neck which made him calm down a bit. Chase then looked to Everest, he saw the scar across her right eye while she saw in full view his left eye's scar. They studied each other for a good minute then Everest was the first to speak.
"Oh Chase, I'm so sorry," Everest looked away.
"Everest, I know it is my scar. You have the exact opposite of me. I'm sorry," Chase said reaching for Everest's paw. He grabbed her paw and had her come closer. Though it might have been painful they didn't care. They could care less about pain. They just wanted to be together.
Ryder and the pups adored the couple, then Ryder spoke up, "We will leave you two alone. You need to sleep. Come on pups, Marshall, Skye, let's go make sure that your burns are not as bad as we think."
"Ryder they really don't feel that bad," Marshall countered. Skye then jumped onto his back and he felt a sharp sting, so did Skye and immediately got off.
The two pups flinched and then Skye said, "Sorry Marshall. Gosh! I guess we need to go see our after all."
Ryder and the other pups laughed and headed out of the room leaving Chase and Everest to rest.
It was now 7:37, and the pups were heading to the ER to get a checkup for Marshall and Skye. It wasn't that busy, so Marshall and Skye were immediately accepted and the same doctor who was looking after Everest came in and said, "Well, good morning. I see that these to are burned as well."
"Yep, but not as bad as Everest and Chase right?" Ryder asked worryingly.
"No, they are fine, just as good wash with cold water and some bandages," the doctor said.
"Ok good," Ryder sighed with relief.
"I do have bad news for Everest and Chase though," the doctor said while help Skye washes the burns.
"Oh? And what news," Ryder said now worried again.
"I will tell you when the pups are around."
"Ok?" Ryder sighed.
The doctor then helped Marshall his wash and after word had the pups help him with bandaging them. The pups had fun with that. Marshall had bandages around his stomach and for legs, Skye was the same except the small burn on her left hind leg.
"There we go. They should be healed within a week,"
"Thanks, doc," Marshall and Skye said.
The doctor chuckled, "Your welcome."
"All right pups you can go outside to the playground. Just make sure you don't go to far," Ryder said trying to smile.
"Ok Ryder," all the pups said in unison.
The pups went outside and started to play hide and seek. Then Ryder and the doctor went into a private room.
"Ok, what is it, doctor?" Ryder asked hesitantly.
"Please, call me Mark. We need to talk about Chase and Everest," the doctor said.
"Ok?"
"We need to wait from Dr. John. He is Chase's personal doctor."
"Ok," Ryder said as he took a seat in a chair.
After a while, Dr. John came in and greeted Dr. Mark and Ryder, "Hello again," he said with a smile.
"Hello," Ryder said.
"Ok John, we need to tell Ryder," Dr. Mark said.
Dr. John's smile faded into a stern, but a sorrowful face and turned to Ryder.
Ryder's heart wrenched with worry.
"Ryder, I'm sorry but we called a Neurologist and explained to him Chase and Everest's condition and reported Chase's episode last night. He said that both of them are going to have night terrors nightly, not just Chase, but Everest too," Dr. John started.
"Ok?"
Dr. Mark then said, "Also, their burns are super severe now than we thought. They both will need surgery soon. If they don't…," Dr. Mark sundered, " the burns could get infected and both would be in so much pain that they would slowly… die. We would have to put them down."
Ryder then started to visibly cry, "What?"
"That is why we are telling you now. We need your permission to do the surgery," Dr. John said putting a hand on Ryder's shoulder.
"Please do it as soon as you can," Ryder cried.
"That is all we need. We will do it as soon as possible," Dr. Mark said.
"Just a heads up, It will cost about $51,900 for Chase and $30,700 total," Dr. John said.
"I don't care for the money right now. Just save my pups!" Ryder cried.
Dr. John and Dr. Mark came up to Ryder to comfort him, "Hey, let's go talk to Chase and Everest so their nerves are calm," Dr. Mark suggested. Ryder only nodded his head.
Meanwhile back with Chase and Everest.
Chase couldn't sleep, so he was watching Solo a Star Wars Story without sound so Everest could sleep. In the middle of the movie where Solo and Chewbacca meet Lando, Chase saw that Everest started to flinch a bit.
Everest's Nightmare
Everest was running through the forest as fast as her legs can carry her. She was trying to find Chase within the fire. She was looking left and right, under trees, under rocks, and even in caves. She was looking everywhere and anywhere she could.
"CHASE! CHASE! WHERE ARE YOU?!" she would yell.
She would get no answer and she would begin to stress, but then she heard something, "Everest! HELP! PLEASE!"
She then started to run. Run as fast as she can. She didn't care if the fire was around her, she wanted to get to Chase's side.
After what seemed like miles of running Everest came to the scene. The pups were there the morning of a dead Chase who has been burned to death. The looked to her and their sad faces went to a horrid scowl.
"EVEREST!" she heard Rocky yell at her, "Why were you not here? You could have saved him!"
"I'm sorry," Everest started to cry hard, "I didn't want this."
"You say that, but did you want him to die, you're a murderer," Marshall countered.
"NO! I would never want to kill him! I love him too much, I could care less for anything he owns. I just want him!" Everest was crying so much that she could be filling a river.
Just as things couldn't get any worse, Ryder and Jake came up on the pups side. Everest didn't want to hear anything more. She started to run again, away from her friends, away from her love, away from her home. She just ran.
"GET HER!" she heard Ryder say in the distance. Now not only running away from her life but running for her life. Again and again, Everest ran her heart out. She ran back into the fire dogging fire and falling trees hoping the pups wouldn't follow her. They did.
Everest ran until she could run no more. She was out of breath and dehydrated, she couldn't go on. Thinking she lost the pups, Jake and Ryder she hid in a small crevasse. There is where she cried, she cried and cried until she had no tears left. Little did she now that the pups, Jake, and Ryder knew were she was. They had no remorse for her. To them, she was a killer and could be planning a new victim.
Everest was trying to cry herself to sleep but when she felt the presence of others she shot up only to see every pup, Jake, and Ryder staring at her with now red eyes and terrifying grins and knives in their hands and paws.
Everest did one final scream but then was stabbed in the neck and killed.
Reality
Everest shot up scared for her life. She wanted to run but saw Chase with a look of terror in his eyes. She shot up so quickly that she pulled out her IV that was giving her morphine. She instantly started to feel the pain of her fractured paw and burns. Chase hit the call button and it came in a female nurse. The nurse saw the pain Everest was in and quickly came over.
"What happened?" she asked Chase was in shock.
Chase shook his head to snap out of it, "I… don't know…"
The nurse saw that the IV was out and carefully put it back into Everest's left foreleg. Everest was just in shock and when the nurse left, Chase reached his paw out for her. She took it and he motioned her to come closer and snuggle him. She crawled over to Chase and he laid his head on her back gently so it wouldn't hurt, while she put her head into his paws and chest.
"Nightmare?" Chase coed.
"Yes," Everest said in the softest voice ever.
"I don't want you to relive it. It's ok I'm alive, your alive. The only way we can get through this is to do it together," Chase said softly.
Everest started to cry softly into Chase's chest and paws, while Chase tried to nuzzle her.
After a while, there was a knock at the door and it came in Dr. Mark, Dr. John, Ryder, and now Jake who just arrived and got the news on what is going on. Both pups were sound asleep.
Ryder whispered, "How cute."
The nurse came up to them and explained what happened, "Well, Everest also just had a night terror. She did not want to talk about it, but from what I heard from Chase it was bad."
"Thank you, ma'am," Ryder thanked.
The nurse smiled and walk out of the room.
Both Chase and Everest were still asleep soundly for once.
"I think we might have a solution to their night terrors then. We just need to keep both of them close," Dr. John concluded.
"How close?" Dr. Mark asked raising an eyebrow.
"That close," Ryder said, "They need to stay together and since both are injured and will have to rest for the next few months. It wouldn't be hard."
"Ok, but if they need to be that close to not have terrors then, how are we going to do the surgery. We can't have them squirm around, it will only make it worse," Dr. Mark said worryingly.
"Well, how quickly can the surgery be done?" Jake asked.
"With the max amount of people working Everest could be done in maybe 20 minutes and Chase 30," Dr. John said.
"Ok? But we want you to do a good job," Ryder said.
"That is as fast as we can do while also doing a good job," Dr. Mark said.
"Ok," Jake said, "Ryder?"
Ryder nodded, "Now we just need to tell the two love birds about it. I hope that they are ok with it and won't go into shock."
All four of them nod heads and slowly walk up to the two pups. The two doctors examine them both. Both pups' wounds have not been infected, yet. They then confirmed that they can go into surgery. The doctors gave the thumbs up to Ryder and Jake who then proceed to gently wake the two pups.
"Hey Everest, Chase, we got to tell you something," Ryder said in a soft tone.
"Wha," Chase and Everest moned.
"If we are going to fix you-you both need surgery on your skin so it doesn't get infected and kill you," Ryder said bluntly.
Both Chase and Everest looked at each other with fear in their eyes. They then looked to Ryder.
"Well if it is going to make us feel way better than we are now then…" Chase stuttered, "Ok."
Every human in the room smiled. "Who will take the longest and is it ready?" Everest asked.
"Chase will take the longest and they saw it will be another 25 minutes until we are ready. Which one is going first?" Dr. Mark said.
"I will go first because it is the longest," Chase volunteered.
Everest looks to him and smiled. She knew that he used to be scared of the doctor, but now he might be more scared about losing her than anything else in the known world. Chase smiled back and thought the same thing that she was, though she was not afraid of the doctor before.
Dr. John and Dr. Mark started to prepare Chase for the surgery. Everest was worried sick. When the other pups came in she was relieved because they would entertain her while Chase is in surgery.
Soon Chase was ready and the surgery room was prepared. Everest nuzzled Chase once more. He did the same and they began to push him out of the room and to the operation room.
Time: 11:58 pm
Chase was in the recovery room asleep while the other pups were keeping an eye on him to make sure he wasn't having night terrors. Soon enough Everest was rolled into the room. Now both the pups were immediately put close to each other. The results were instantaneous. It looked like Everest was about to have a night terror, but when put next to Chase, she felt his presence and calmed down.
Chase did the same when he felt Everest's presents. The took a huge breath of relief and laid down on chairs or the floor and fell fast asleep.
The next day. Time: 5:02 am
Ryder's POV
I am heartbroken over the fact the Chase and Everest are very injured. I hope they will have a fast recovery because the PAW Patrol is not the same without them. I was in the recovery room with Chase and Everest. Jake and the other pups left earlier to get back to the Lookout. I was about to go get some breakfast when I heard Chase start to mone in pain. I walked over thinking he was waking up only to realize that he was talking in his sleep.
"No! MOM! DAD!" Chase yelled out waking Everest which was right next to him.
Everest instantly tried to nuzzle him and comfort him. He didn't calm down. I then pushed him to wake up. When he did wake up he shot up and screamed, "WHY!"
This stunned Everest and me, we were speechless. Chase then started to cry a little and mumbling something under his breath. Everest came up to Chase and he looked to her and said, "My parents died in a fire."
AN: Wow that was fun writing.
The inspiration of this story is from Ruff Times by VenusDemilo-Shirolover2 and Strings of Sanity by Upsett0Spaghett0