Chapter 9

Carter watched Anna take a chart and walk off down the hallway with an unwavering confidence. She however didn't seem like the same person she'd been when they worked together back in 97. Carter just jumped right back into work. But found his thoughts drifting back to the two women who had played important roles in his past.

He rapped a chart against the palm of his had as he got lost deep in thought. After a few minutes he came back to reality and knew that he should get back to work before they realized he was getting behind. Slowly he worked his way through the patients. An allergic reaction, a drunk, a woman who had come off her lithium, a man who needed stitches from accidentally locking his keys in the car that was the gist of his night.

"Jerry, where's Dr. Del Amico?" Carter asked as he watched the desk clerk look up at him.

"She's in exam two with an ear infection."

"Thanks Jerry." Carter said as he quickly headed down the hallway. Carter poked his head into the exam room, "Dr. Del Amico."

Anna looked up from the patient that she was treating when she heard a voice calling her name. "Be back in a minute, excuse me please." She stood up and stepped into the hallway to join Carter, "yes Doctor Carter."

"Care to take a ride with me?" Carter asked.

"Where, what," Anna answered, "I've got patients."

"MICN call came in." Carter said holding out a jacket now for Anna. "Car accident on the Kennedy and they are requesting assistance on the scene."

Anna didn't hesitate sliding her arms into the jacket. Going out onto the scene meant that there were severely injured people out there that needed some help, "I'm with you."

They hurried down the hall side by side and nearly in step with each other. While Carter and Anna hadn't worked together in years, they both knew what needed to be done. The ride up to the roof was short and they were both silent immersed in thoughts of what was going to be needed done.

With their heads down, the whirring of the helicopter blades breaking the silence of the early morning hours before dawn the chopper door slide open and the two emergency room physicians climbed inside and took off from the rooftop of the level one trauma center. The ride would be quick yet one that would be taken in silence. Preparations being made in their heads of that they were going to find on the ground. They landed in the landing zone set up on a section of the now closed expressway. As quickly and carefully as they had climbed on to the chopped they disembarked.

The scene was total chaos. There were a few people up and walking around but they appeared to be dazed and confused. In spite of the confusion, Anna and Carter jumped right in to begin the process of triage.

Anna immediately was caught up by a paramedic and Carter watched her disappeared in the crowds of people. He fell into doctor mode as he went from patient to patient that were lying on the ground. He sent as many as he could via ground transport. Time passed, about fifteen minutes and Carter still hadn't seen Anna. There were fewer people there, a small crowd of firemen around a vehicle that was tipped on its side.

"What's going on Zadro?" Carter asked as he approached the vehicle.

"Family was trapped in the vehicle." Zadro began to explain. "Dr. Del Amico went in to start and IV against the rescue squads' advice and the vehicle tipped the rest of the way over."

Carter fought the urge to drop everything and run the rest of the way over there. He became worried about Anna's well being now that she was potentially an accident victim. Not that he wanted anything bad to happen to Anna. Carter got as close to the vehicle as they would let him. "Anna," there was an awkward pause, "Anna can you hear me?" Carter's voice cracked as he became extremely worried about Anna when she didn't instantly answer him. He frantically turned to the fireman standing there. "We've got to get them out now."

The fireman just gave Carter the same look that he would have given anyone else. "We are working on it doc." How they let Anna climb into an unstable vehicle to begin with was beyond Carter's comprehension and all he knew was that he needed to get Anna out of the dangerous situation that she had found herself in.

"Anna." Carter moved around to try and get a better look to see if there wasn't some small way that Carter could get to her himself. The door she had been working through was now smashed against the cold hard ground the vehicle having fallen from its precarious position against the cement barriers. The doors that Carter could see had been smashed by the vehicle it had collided with and that left Anna, the toddler and one school age child in there. Despite all fear, Carter began to prepare to organize the situation.

He called out a couple more times as he searched along the side of the twisted metal. He could see her now inside the vehicle but couldn't reach her. There was urgency in the way that he was trying to get to her. The toddler was more on top of Anna now that the car had tipped over. Carter climbed on top of the vehicle thinking that he might be able to get in that way. The window of the SUV was broken in but Carter wasn't sure he could fit in that way. He was larger than Anna was and that opening was pretty narrow.

The firemen pulled Carter from the top of the car now that the Jaws of Life had arrived. He was able to relax in his eyes as the cavalry had arrived. He tried to stay back now as he watched the twisted metal slowly peel away from his friend bringing her closer to freedom. He had the medical bag in his hand now ready to jump in there ASAP. However, he was handed the little girl and Carter knew Anna would want him to take care of her small patient. He thought that he would get the child over to the waiting paramedics, checking her out as they moved. He handed her over to another team and as Carter turned around they were pulling his colleague from the wreckage. She was pale looking from where he was standing getting closer towards her. He couldn't tell yet what was wrong with her but he knew something wasn't right with the way that she looked even at a distance.

Her eyes were still closed but she had a grimace upon her face, or something that resembled a grimace. The side of her blue jacket was turning a deep shade of crimson. Carter looked at the two medics that were there both familiar faces. Doris was now trying to start an IV now as Anna had been moved onto the gurney. Zadro placed oxygen on Anna as Carter pulled away the jacket looking for the source of the bleeding.

"What happened?" Carter asked hoping to get a clearer picture of what happened in the back of that car."

"She protected the toddler." Zadro said. "She landed on a piece of bent metal, impaling her lower left quadrant." Both medics were now into patient care mode.

Carter began to check over her battered body. His hand rested on her sternum now rubbing back and forth. "Anna, come on Anna, you need to open your eyes." His hand moved abated breath as he waited for a response from her. She barely brought her hand up to prevent him from hurting her anymore than he already had. Her moving even just that small little bit showed that she was still with them. Carter would take what hope he could get. "Come on Anna, open those eyes of yours for me."

Carter was looking Anna over and they headed toward the ambulance. He thought about putting her in the chopper but the ambulance was right there and at the most they were ten minutes away from the hospital. Carter had the IV wide open trying to keep up with the blood loss from the laceration in her side. He applied pressure to the bleeding in hopes that he could get it to stop. She'd have to go up to surgery, but Carter already knew that much. But right now it was a race to get Anna to County within that Golden Hour. Time seemed to race, but Carter had his eye on the clock knowing exactly where they stood.

They pulled into the ambulance bay and Carter didn't even wait for the door to open to receive them. He had Anna packed up and ready to go. He pushed the door open as he jumped down and started to pull the gurney off the back. Moving with a sense of urgency he started to roll her inside.

"What do you have?" A voice called.

Carter was listening to Anna's chest now so it too a minute for the voice to register with him. "Anna." It was a very simple response to the question but he was too preoccupied to talk right now.

"What happened?" Luka seemed surprised that she had been brought in.

"She was rescuing a patient trapped in a MV when it rolled on her." Carter slammed the breaks on the gurney. "Impaled RLQ by a piece of the car," Carter rattled off the vitals since he'd been with Anna since they pulled her free from the wreck. All he wanted was the best for his friend and he held out hope.

"Page surgery, get Neela down here now. She's going to need the wound explored and cleaned." Luka said as he concentrated on the patient now as well. It didn't take them very long before they had a surgical consult and Anna was on her way upstairs to an OR.