The Dream Puzzle-8
Johnny clicked his flashlight on to illuminate the dungeon-like hole he was being lowered into.
"Brandon? Where are you? Can you hear me?"
"I'm ov…over here."
Johnny heard more sniffles as he shot a beam of light in the direction of the frail voice. The shaft of light fell on the torso of a young boy who sat leaning against an old bookshelf with his left hand holding his right arm. His knees were pulled up towards his chest and Johnny noticed that his jeans were torn at the knees. There was some blood around the tears but not enough to cause him concern.
"Hey there" he said as he released himself from the rope and began to climb towards the frightened boy. "My name's Johnny and I'm gonna get ya outta here in just a minute ok?"
The child nodded his head affirmatively but didn't speak. Johnny began a quick assessment and determined that Brandon most likely had a dislocated elbow and some minor lacerations and bruises. Behind him he heard the sound of boxes bumping the debris and turned to see that Roy had lowered the trauma box and drug box to him. Roy would man the biophone from above as it would most likely not have a good signal so far below ground.
He made his way back over the debris to the boxes and removed only the items he'd need to immobilize Brandon's elbow so that he could be harnessed up and removed from the dusty hole.
"Brandon, do you know if Calvin and Jacob are down here with you?"
"Uh, Jake went out that door over there to try to find a way out," he said pointing toward an interior wall, "but I don't know what happened to Calvin."
"Well, I'm gonna look for them both just as soon as we get you up top, alright?" Johnny tried not to let the sound of worry enter into his voice. That wouldn't help Brandon and he knew it.
In no time at all, Brandon was being hoisted to the first floor and into the welcoming arms of Mike. Roy had been given directions from Rampart to transport when possible but since no IV was needed he and Johnny were to remain on scene for the other two victims. Brandon's mother had arrived and Mike became teary-eyed at the joyful reunion of mother and son. He patted the young man on the head and assisted his crying mother into the back of the ambulance. He secured the doors and gave the obligatory two slaps to signal to the driver that they were ready to roll. He then turned his attention back to the building and the two remaining victims somewhere deep inside.
Once Johnny was certain that Brandon was safely back on the first floor of the rickety building, he turned his attention to locating the other boys.
"Jake? Calvin?" Johnny called out as he shined his flashlight around the basement room and maneuvered his way around toppled book cases and overturned desks.
Marco walked gingerly down the hallway in search of the source of the ringing sound he'd heard earlier.
"Calvin? Jacob?" He called out hoping that one or both of the boys had miraculously found their way into another room rather than being trapped in the basement. He heard creaks and groans as the old building protested his weight but there was no sign of either boy. In the third room he entered, two rooms down from the one with the hole in the floor, he noticed a small bell toppled on its side on the floor beneath the chalkboard. Well Marco, at least you weren't hearing things!
"Calvin? Jacob? Can you hear me?" He called as he headed toward the chalkboard. He bent down to take a closer look at the bell but what he saw made him catch his breath.
Johnny could see dust floating in the beam of light he was shining around the room. The musty odor mingled with the dust tickled his nose and he began a series of sneezes. The final sneeze was so violent that he lost his grip on his flashlight and swore to himself as it fell to the floor between two toppled bookcases.
"Damn it!"
His HT came to life with a crackle as Cap asked him for an update.
"Cap, it's cluttered and musty down here. I dropped my da…..uh..my flashlight," he said as the strain in his voice let Hank know he was struggling to reach it. "I, ah….Cap I see something. Standby."
Marco gasped as he picked up the old bell. The tinkling sound it made in his hand was clear even though the bell was covered in a very thick layer of dust. Marco clicked on his flashlight for a closer examination and returned his gaze to the spot where the bell had lain. The nearly clean spot on the floor in the shape of the bell stood witness to the fact that the bell had not been moved since the last day this building had been used. Whatever sound he had heard had not been made by the bell he now held in his hand. He gently laid it back down in the exact spot where he had found it and wiped away the rivulets of sweat that had suddenly begun to pour from his temples.
Johnny reached for the small hand that lay beneath a bookcase. He felt for a pulse; it was weak but it was there. He keyed the microphone on his HT. "Cap, I found one of the other boys. He's unconscious but I got a pulse. I'm gonna need a backboard and stokes." He turned his attention to his newest victim.
"Hang on, son. I'm gonna get you outta here."
"John, we're sending them down to you now. Can you manage alone or do you need help?"
"Cap, I think I can manage. I'll let you know if I can't do it by myself. I don't know if that beam will hold anyone else's weight. It's risky."
Johnny set down his HT and began assessing how to remove the bookcase. After a couple of minutes he determined that the only way to remove the bookcase without pressing on the child's body any harder was to pick-up both ends simultaneously – and he couldn't do that alone. He again keyed up the microphone. "Hey Cap, I'm gonna need some help down here. We gotta pick up both ends of the bookcase at the same time to keep from doing more damage to him."
Chet heard what Johnny was saying to Hank – sound carried quite well in the empty building – and he began immediately harnessing up. Once he was lowered and unhooked, the rope was hoisted up so that Roy and Mike could send down the stokes and pediatric backboard.
"Follow me, Chet but watch out for the broken boards."
Chet followed Johnny over several steps to the place where several bookcases had toppled in domino fashion. "Here, Chet, take this end and on three slide it back your way. Then I can pull'im out this way."
Chet and Johnny quickly lifted the empty bookshelf and stepped back toward the darkened corner. Johnny was careful to step clear of the boy and then they set it down so that the boy accessible but the moved bookcase still supported the others behind it.
Johnny assessed the boy for injuries feeling up and down his limbs; no obvious fractures. He checked his pupils the left was blown but the right was equal and reactive. He had a large laceration on the top of his head just above the hairline. His hair was matted together where the blood was beginning to dry. He had trickles of blood running down the left side of his face. His breathing was somewhat shallow and his pulse was rapid. Johnny breathed out a sigh of relief when he palpated his abdomen and found it soft.
Chet returned quickly with the backboard and trauma box. He knew that they had to assume a spinal injury. Within a few minutes the child was strapped to the backboard with his head and neck immobilized. Chet and Johnny carried the boy gently over to the stokes and prepared him for the ride to the surface.
Marco stood up slowly; his legs suddenly feeling like limp noodles. He found himself sweating and shivering at the same time. He leaned onto the teacher's desk that stood like a guard in front of the old chalkboard. He needed to catch his breath and clear his mind. Was he hearing things? Great, Chet is having visual hallucinations and I'm having auditory hallucinations! We're toast! He scrubbed his face with his hands before standing again. He had to get back to assist the others. As he turned to walk back out the door he noticed a strange pattern on the chalkboard. Was it dust or old chalk? He really wasn't sure. The light was dim in the room but he found that his flashlight was too bright and actually made the image disappear. He stared at it for only a moment when it dawned on him what he was looking at.
"The kid's bad, huh Gage?"
"Yea, Chet, yea he is. I don't know how much of his 'golden hour' is left but it ain't much."
Both men watched as the stokes was hoisted up through the jagged hole in the floor.
"Ah, John, why don't you go back up and help Roy. I heard Brandon say that Jake walked through the door in the back so we know he's ambulatory. I'll stay down here and look for him while you and Roy work on Calvin." Chet's face was filled with concern. He wanted to give Calvin the best chance he could and that meant he needed the dynamic duo of Gage and DeSoto on his side right now.
"Chet, you sure?"
"Absolutely, Gage. Just give me your flashlight a'right?"
"You got it, man." Gage looked back up just as the stokes was pulled out of his line of sight. "Hey, fellas'? Send it down again. Chet's gonna keep looking down here so I can come up and help Roy." There was a slight echo of his voice within the damp and darkened basement which felt like cold fingers walking up his spine making him shiver.
"Here it comes, Gage." Mike lowered the rope back down and waited for the signal that Johnny was harnessed up and ready to be pulled out.
"Mar.." Mike started to say as he looked around for Marco but realized he was nowhere to be found. "Hey, Marco?" Mike shouted but got no response other than the faint echo of his own voice. He felt the end of the rope being picked up and turned to see Cap standing behind him ready to help pull up their other paramedic as Roy began working frantically on Calvin.
Johnny signaled and both men pulled in unison. Slowly Johnny began to appear from below. With each pull the heavy beam above them groaned and popped. Just as Johnny's lower legs came into view, the beam gave one final cracking sound and crashed through to the basement.