"The battery's gone...we're cut off until the engine gets back" Roy looked down at his partner, who was deathly pale with a slight tinge of blue around his lips.
"Set up" Dr Morton was cut off by the frantic call from the bay area.
"Help...someone help please" a male voice in distress was calling. Roy ran to the door and saw a man trying to carry his wife, who was unconscious. Roy helped the man into the dorm and laid his wife down on a bed. Dr Morton checked her while Roy quickly took her vitals.
"What happened to her?" Dr Morton asked looking closely at a laceration on the side of her head. Roy went back over to Johnny to check on his breathing. The tank was almost empty.
"Doc I've got to get a refill" Roy said as he started to run from the dorm.
"Hey you're here to look after us, we come first. You stay here and help him. My wife needs your attention now" the annoyed husband yelled at Roy. He could see that it was a fireman lying on the bed, by his blue shirt that was still half on him. He didn't see the blood on his back as Johnny was lying on his side with his back facing the wall.
Roy stopped and looked at Dr Morton and left the dorm to get another oxygen tank. Sure the public comes first but he wasn't about to let his partner die because someone decided they were more important than Johnny. Roy thought how the public took the motto 'We're here to serve the public' to the extreme.
Roy changed over Johnny's tank and then took a new set of vitals. He then started to help Dr Morton and in the process told the Doc Johnny's vitals. "He feels a bit warm too" Roy told him, his face etched with worry. Infection was already starting to take hold of Johnny's body, without antibiotics he knew Dr Morton would have no choice but to remove the bullet. These were not ideal conditions but under the circumstances the alternative was not an option.
Vince Howard raised the police station on his two-way. He was told no one was available to help as there had been trees falling all over the area and they were busy putting up warnings for blocked roads. The small police station was stretched to its limits. They were able to tell Vince that the van may be a van that had been seen earlier, and it was reported that the occupants were acting suspiciously. Vince was convinced that these were the same men and that they needed to get back to the fire station.
Vince and Officer Baker devised a plan. They didn't want to walk into a situation and be the cause of someone getting hurt. They decided to take Vince's car and approach the station cautiously. If they needed to radio in they could use the Fire station's radio he thought, not knowing that it had been destroyed.
"Still no word" asked a concerned Dr Brackett. His mouth twitched, they had run out of ideas. Despatch had been unable to contact the station or the squad. The engine was unable to check on the fire station as they were in the middle of removing downed trees from people's homes.
"I don't like it Kel. I can't shake this feeling that something is very wrong. There was something about Roy's voice." Dixie knew her paramedics and she recognised the worry in Roy's voice. "Do you think we should send a helicopter up there and resupply them as well as check them out" she asked desperately?
"I don't know Dix...how do you justify sending an air ambulance up there just to replenish supplies that haven't been asked for" Dr Brackett said dejectedly. He was at a loss as to what to do next.
"This is Mike, Roy and Johnny we're talking about Kel" she chided him, knowing she was being unreasonable but she was dreadfully worried.
"Don't you think I know that...but I can't abuse the Fire Departments resources...It wouldn't be right" Dr Brackett sighed, he too was very worried about his friends.
Dr Morton cleaned the laceration on the woman's head. Roy put her leg in a splint and continued to assist Dr Morton until he was told to check on Johnny. He found his partner awake and breathing in short shallow breaths.
"Roy" he whispered breathlessly.
"Hey Johnny, how do you feel" asked Roy.
"My chest hurts Roy" Johnny looked at Roy and knew something was very wrong. "Where's Doc? Is he alright?" he couldn't see Dr Morton.
"He's fine Johnny...He's just helping another patient" Roy frowned; he didn't know how to tell Johnny that they were completely cut off.
"When will the helicopter get here" innocently asked Johnny. He felt hot, tired and light headed. Each breath he took didn't seem to draw enough oxygen into his lungs. Roy sat down next to Johnny so that he was eye level with him.
"Johnny there's something I need to tell you".
"We have to go back Ned. My leg is bleeding again. I don't want to die out here in these backwoods" Steve pleaded. Bumping around in the van had been too much for him and had subsequently split some of the stitches. His leg was throbbing and bleeding continuously. The loss of blood was causing his head to swim.
"What if the engines back, they'll be onto us" yelled Ned. The storm and the downed trees that had caused road blocks were frustrating him; it felt like he was driving in circles.
"Look there's the engine, by the looks of it they'll be tied up for hours" exclaimed Joe.
"Ok...we go back...we'll hide the van and get that doctor to fix Steve." Ned turned the van around and headed back to the fire station.
"Johnny before they left they destroyed the station's radio, the phones and the squads radio." Roy explained.
"W wwhat about the biophone" asked Johnny?
"It's dead and the spare battery and the HT's are gone. The squad has four flats so I can't even drive anywhere." Roy threw up his hands.
"Roy you need...you..." Johnny was finding it very hard to talk "Vince...Roy...Vince" Johnny struggled to breathe.
"Doc, Johnny's struggling...you need to do something...Johnny...Johnny hold on" Roy looked into Johnny's eyes trying desperately to get his partner to keep fighting. It didn't register what Johnny had been trying to remind Roy; that Vince had a two way radio.
"We need to insert an oesophageal airway" Dr Morton said with urgency. He gave Johnny a light sedative and went to work. "It's in and sounds good" he said satisfied with the results. "Take his temp Roy and new set of vitals" Dr Morton rushed back to the woman and finished up stitching her head. "If you can sit with her sir and call out if anything changes, her breathing or if she starts to wake up" Dr Morton instructed her husband and turned to go back to Johnny.
"Hey wait a minute...You should stay and watch her, not me. It's your job, you're the doctor" stated the annoyed husband.
"My job sir is to save lives...and right now that man's life depends on whether I am able to remove a bullet from his back" Dr Morton abruptly turned and went back to Johnny's side.
Roy looked up and said "Vince" Dr Morton looked at Roy "Johnny was trying to tell me" he looked down at his partner "Vince told us he had a two way radio" Roy said with excitement.
"He said he was only down the road" added Dr Morton. "Hey" Dr Morton called for the husband's attention "We need to get a helicopter to take your wife and this man to the hospital. All our radios are out but there's one down the road. Can he use your car" Dr Morton asked?
"Yeah, how far" asked the husband?
"It's not far, just down the road. Vince Howard owns a two way" Roy told the man with desperation in his voice.
"I know Vince, ok here" he threw the keys to Roy.
Roy caught the keys and sighed with relief "Hang in there Junior" he looked at Dr Morton "I'll be back as soon as I can" Roy said as he ran from the dorm.
Four men lurked around the back of the station looking for a way in; wanting to take whoever was inside by surprise. They had heard the voices and saw the car parked in the bay area. They then heard the car start up and back out of the station and drive away.
"Everyone freeze" yelled Ned as he pointed his gun into the dorm. "Nobody move and no one else gets hurt."
Dr Morton groaned with disbelief; they were back.