Author Note….Welcome back to all my favorite readers! So nice to see all the story alerts and most appreciated reviews! The day continues….

Chapter 02 – Shrapnel and Aftermath

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"…Dad, you're bleeding!"

"It's okay, son, I've taken shrapnel before…"

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Eric and Red were still running water over Jackie's eyes when the fire trucks and ambulance rolled up with lights flashing and sirens blaring. Eric was holding her lids open as Red gently directed the water stream towards her eyeballs. The skin on her face was already blistering from some of the acid exposure.

An EMT stepped over and effortlessly lifted the slight girl from the Forman's arms. "We'll take it from here." They put an oxygen mask over her mouth as she was strapped to a stretcher. A second EMT used a tube and an IV bag to irrigate her eyes with a saline solution.

Eric, Red and Jim were triaged outside the garage while the other firemen went inside to investigate. Eric watched as Jackie's stretcher was loaded into an ambulance and dispatched with flashing red lights and siren. He felt sick to his stomach; if Jackie hadn't bumped him….he would have been in direct line of the sulfuricacid spray. A medic was trying to treat Red for the bleeding but Red kept pushing his hands away.

"Sir, we're going to transport you to Point Place Community Hospital. Some of those fragments need to be removed by a doctor."

Red, stubborn as a mule, argued, "No dammit, I'm fine. I just want to go home. Check out my boy." A medic had already checked over Eric and except for a couple of bruises from landing on the floor, he was technically okay. "Dad, you should go. Mom would be worried."

Maybe that was what Red needed to hear. "Jeez….all right, only because you'd tell your mother anyways. Take Jackie's Honda and pick up your mom. Bring her to the hospital. I'd rather have her as my nurse." The paramedic strapped a reluctant Red Forman to a stretcher and loaded him in the back of an ambulance.

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Eric's heart was racing as he broke the speed limit driving home. His mother was going to have a stroke. It wasn't too long ago that his dad had a heart attack and now…..Eric still couldn't believe that battery exploded like that! One second, Jackie's joking with him, the next minute she's screaming in pain and the explosion… it sounded like a cannon going off right behind him. That should have been him!

Bob and Hyde were in the kitchen when Eric tore open the doors. Eric briefly explained what happened and Bob remarked he had heard something about an explosion on the news. It was only when Eric mentioned Jackie had been hurt that Hyde seemed to be remotely interested.

Kitty was first shocked and then overwhelmed before her nursing training kicked into high gear. "Okay…okay. Bob, you and Steven go down to the garage and lock up. Steven, make sure to bring Red's car back. Eric, honey…let me look at you." She quickly looked over Eric's bumps and bruises as she dragged him to Jackie's car. "Let's go, I need to see what happened to both of them.

Eric was still in shock – how could his mom remain so calm? "Mom, Dad and Jackie saved me. It was like a bomb going off in slow motion. You should have seen Dad dive across the room." Eric was still in awe that his dad took the brunt of the hot plastic fragments while he was relatively uninjured.

Kitty patted her son on the arm. "Honey, your dad was in the war. He was trained for things like this. I just hope he's okay. Car batteries have a lot of acid and I've seen how acid can burn flesh. Oh, and poor Jackie – I hope she's okay."

Eric almost forgot how long they ran water over her face and eyes and she was still unconscious. She took a bad blow to the head when Red covered them with his body. But they were all still alive!

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Kitty quickly changed into her uniform and checked in with the on-call nurse in the Emergency Room. "Eric honey, can you call Bob and make sure he got the garage locked up? I'll let you know what's going on as soon as I find out.

Kitty found Red lying on a bed, lightly sedated. Dr. Crystal explained, "It was the only way we could examine him. He kept fighting us off." Kitty smiled at the doctor and then looked at her husband trying not to gasp. His chest and collarbone where covered in bits of blue and black fragments of plastic. Some metallic pieces were embedded in his cheek and forehead.

Dr. Crystal explained, "We're taking him into surgery. These pieces have sulfuric acid and the polypropylene plastic needs to be removed so we can treat the burns. He has a first degree chemical burn which should only be painful for a few days, we just need to make sure all of the battery parts are removed."

Kitty nodded. "What about the girl? Jackie? She was involved also."

Dr. Crystal took a deep breath. "She's unconscious. Your husband and son did a great job of getting her to the eyewash; but we won't know the degree of damage to her vision until I can get an ophthalmologist to examine her. She has some chemical burns as well but she was exposed to the vapor…. Sulfuric acid….nasty chemical. She's in the burn unit right now."

Kitty swallowed the lump in her throat. Such a pretty girl and now she was in the burn unit. The girl and Red saved Eric's life. Her voice cracking just a bit, "Can I see her?"

Dr. Crystal nodded. "Sure, but she took a good blow to the head so she may not respond. When she wakes, we need to keep her sedated. I've requested a psych evaluation due to the potential vision loss."

Kitty took a deep breath. "Yes, she will be alarmed to wake up and find out she can't see anything. I'm praying it's just temporary."

Dr. Crystal smiled, "We are too Nurse Forman, we are too."

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One of the firemen than accompanied the ambulances approached Eric in the waiting room. "Young man, can we ask you some questions about the explosion?" Eric sat down on one of the hard plastic chairs. "Sure what do you need to know?"

Chief Williams sat across from Eric. "Son, walk us through what you remember before the explosion."

Eric closed his eyes and summoned up the horrible scene once again. "This customer had returned a bad battery and I put it on the charger stand. There were three others on the work bench."

"Do you recall the name of the battery?" Mr. Williams asked.

"Jackie called it Day/Night Volt battery brand. My dad just bought a bunch of new ones."

"Jackie is…."

"Oh my friend. She's the one that got….got blinded." He said as a chill went up his spine. Shaking the thought from his head he continued. "I took a new battery out to the customer's car and came back into the garage to finish what I was doing. Oh my god, someone needs to contact all those people that bought that brand of battery! Mr. Martin could have been killed!"

Chief Williams nodded his head, "That's correct son. Now that we know which brand of battery….well, we'll go through your fathers inventory records and contact each customer. Please, continue."

"Jackie asked me to move so she could get a model number off the bad battery and the next thing I knew she was screaming and my dad flew across the room as the battery exploded above my head. There was a smell I can't describe and my dad got up and started dragging Jackie to the sink. He was bleeding and hurt but Jim was putting out the fire with the extinguisher and we just kept pouring water over Jackie's eyes. Is she going to be okay?"

The chief's face was hard to read. "It was a type of chemical explosion son. I really can't answer that unless I know how long she was exposed and how close she was – there are too many variables to give you a definitive answer right now."

Eric slumped back in the chair. "That could have been me."

Chief Williams handed Eric a clipboard. "Son… that very well could have been you. You were lucky. Please sign the statement so we can start the investigation."

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Bob and Hyde met Eric at the Emergency waiting room. The explosion had made the evening news. Not long after Eric left to get his mother, two of the other bad batteries exploded and did damage to the garage, setting some of the walls aflame. When Bob drove up to lock the garage, it was still crawling with police and firemen. Now the pair waited with Eric to find out what happened to Red and Jackie.

An on call nurse came into the waiting room and turned on the evening news. "Hello, this is Anna Cantana with the Channel 8 news team. We are reporting just outside of Forman and Son Muffler garage when earlier today a bank of defective batteries sent two persons to the hospital."

Beautiful Miss Cantana turned to old man Martin. Eric exclaimed, "That was his battery that blew up first!"

Mr. Martin replied, "If I had known that new battery was going to become a bomb, I would never have carried it in my hands. I might just be standing here with stubs for arms!"

Eric cringed, he was carrying the same battery but wearing the Jackie required leather gloves. "…use the gloves because there's a corrosive acid inside." She had told him.

Bob was smiling, "I love Anna Cantana."

Hyde shushed Bob as Anna continued, "The bank of batteries involved in the explosion will be recalled and replaced to prevent further accidents of this kind. Mr. Red Forman, owner and a part-time female employee were injured. Their status is not known at this time."

The camera backed up to show the bay door of the muffler shop still smoking and bowed outwards from the explosions. It looked grim and there was ash and debris lying gray against the last evening's snowfall. Hyde shook his head; he really hoped Red was going to be okay.

"This is Anna Cantana. Tune in tonight at 10 for more on our local report."

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It was three hours later before Kitty came to the waiting room. She was exhausted but seemed happy. Eric stood up and gave his mom a hug. "Oh honey, you smell like sulfur." She turned to Bob and Hyde. "He's going to be okay. There were a lot of small burns and fragments, it took awhile to get the plastic out of his skin but there should be no permanent damage."

Kitty looked at her son. "Your father is a strong man. He'll stay overnight while they treat the chemical burns and he can probably go home tomorrow."

Bob shook his head. "That's just terrible. How's our little Jackie?" Eric looked up; he thought that question would have come from Hyde first. Kitty sat down. "We don't know. She's still unconscious and when she wakes up, she's not going to be able to see."

Bob could feel a tear run down his cheek. "Her pretty little face got burned didn't it?"

Kitty smiled at Bob's caring expression. "She did get some burns but in time they'll fade. The doctors are concerned because she may not regain her vision."

Finally Hyde spoke up, "She's blind? Helen Keller blind?"

Kitty frowned. "No honey, not like that but then we don't know until the specialist gets here. Why don't all of you just go home and I'll call you when I know something."

Bob wiped his face. "She has such beautiful eyes. Two colors! Maybe I can contact Pam. She should be here."

Kitty smiled. "Good luck finding her Bob. But Eric, honey, could you bring me back a change of clothes? Oh and some for your dad – his were damaged by the acid."

Eric could smell the battery acid on his own clothes. "Sure mom, I think I'll take that shower and come back later."

Kitty kissed her son on the head and hugged Bob. "Thank you for coming. Steven, maybe you can call Fez and some of her friends. When Jackie wakes up, it would be good for her to hear some friendly voices."

"Yeah, sure Mrs. Forman." Hyde replied. He seriously doubted that any of the old bunch was going to want to come to the hospital and hang out with a bitchy, blind, burnt princess.

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A/N: The author is not a mechanic or physician – the battery explosion was researched. Author spoke to a real fireman and an auto mechanic for details of the "after" explosion. Remember, this is fiction and author only owns the plot.