A/N: I need to apologize. Everyone has been so wonderful with the reviews and a few people made the comment that I'm such a faithful poster. Real life tightened my leash last night and I had nothing ready to go up. I'm working on the rest of this fic now and it may disappoint some of you but it's taken a different path and I seem to have no control over this one. MY MUSE HAS TAKEN OVER! Please enjoy this one and I'll give you the rest of this one as soon as it comes to me. I now know better than to PROMISE a chapter every night. Please review anyway and let me know you don't hate me for letting you all hang. At least this chapter is slightly longer. May it appease the review gods that are my readers.
Chapter 7
Jeff and Terri followed the road grader's slow pace up the mountain to the cave that had caused the town of Everett to lose two of its best and several more good people who were only trying to do their job. Jeff's hand beat out a nervous rhythm on the steering wheel as his anxiety grew.
"Jeff." Terri said, making his name the soft spoken tones that calmed him down like nothing else. His hand stilled and he looked at her. A smile twitched at the corners of his mouth. "We'll get them out."
"I know. I just hope it's in one piece." He pressed on through the heavily falling snow, staying a couple car lengths behind the grader. They rounded the corner in the road and saw that the ambulance that had been requested was waiting, lights flashing, and sirens silent for the long trek up the mountain. Jeff cast his eyes to the overhead console in the rugged SUV that was Everett, Washington's best rescue rig. The temperature display read twelve degrees. "Terri, those guys are gonna suffer before we can get to them."
Bobby stopped his movement towards the next boulder, something catching his attention via his sharp hunter hearing. He recognized it for that is was. The crash of stone against stone. It seemed to be coming from the other side of the fallen wall. John moved another boulder and looked at Bobby. "What is it Bobby?"
"I heard somethin'. I think we're close to the boys." John stared at Bobby before turning back to the wall. He got as close as possible and looked at the crevices in the rocks. He glanced back and realized that he and Bobby had moved over twenty feet of rubble. He could see the other side. Darkness loomed past the wall. He put his face to the rocks and yelled.
"Sammy! Dean!"
"Dad!"
"Dean?! Dean, we're comin'!"
"Hurry… Sammy. Hurry……"
"Dean? Dean?!" John turned to his old friend. "Bobby, he's hurt. My boys are both hurt. We have to get in there now!" John turned back to the thin wall of boulders that separated him from his sons. He reached for a boulder and his friend grabbed him roughly before he could pull the flat four foot long slab from it's resting place.
"John, damnit stop! We have one layer of rocks separating them from us. Everything is stacked up like a house of cards. Gimme that friggin' map you have." John pulled the rumpled copy from his back pocket and brushed the accumulated dust from it. Bobby snatched it and opened it up, smoothing out the wrinkles and pushing a tear closed. "Look here. See this?" Bobby pointed to the widening of the dead end tunnel, and just beyond, to where he figured they were standing. "This is where we are. We heard Dean on the other side. Sam's there too. If we're here," Bobby said tapping the wrinkled map with his forefinger, "Then that means that those boys don't have more than ten feet between them and the back wall. If we take down these boulders wrong we're gonna crush those two. You have got to calm the hell down and think about each piece."
"JENGA." John whispered.
"What?"
"It's like that game Sammy and Dean used to play. JENGA. Dean bought that game to teach Sam to think strategy. I thought they used it to pass the time while I was on hunts and they were stuck in some dive of a room but Dean used it to train Sammy. Dean is always doing that, picking something innocuous to teach Sammy something valuable."
"Well then, sounds like you need to learn too."
"I gotcha Bobby." John and Bobby started in on the remaining boulders, stacked at they were with gaps, and all dependent on the weight of another to keep from falling in on his boys. They scrutinized the wall and agreed on a stone, battle strategy coming to the front of their minds as they used it to plan every move and whisper against the boulders. John picked one from an area and Bobby would move one from another, working to clear a tunnel through without jarring the framework of rubble overhead. They made their own cave entrance in the wall of broken stone and got to the boys. Bobby whipped a flashlight from his jacket pocket and flipped it on, illuminating the fallen boulders that filled most of the chamber. His beam fell on the two youngest Winchesters and he made a noise low in his throat.
"God, Boys!" He said.
"Sam, Dean!" John cried out. He raced to his eldest's side and gingerly touched Dean's face. He was unconscious and cold. "Aw God, he's cold Bobby." John spared a glance at his friend to find him lifting Sam's limp form off the cavern floor, cradling his lanky frame close. "Bobby?" John watched as Bobby pulled off a glove with his teeth and ran a hand through Sam's dust ridden hair.
"It's Sam. Something's really wrong John. He's barely breathin' an' he's cold." Bobby turned his full attention back to the seventeen year old that he thought of as his own son. "Sam, Hey kid. Need you ta wake up for me, ya hear?"
Sam's brow furrowed, his eyes screwing tight as pain rocketed through his head. A familiar voice was telling him to wake up. It intruded on the blackness that had brought a comforting silence from the pounding of his head. "Unnnhh." He moaned.
"Yeah, Sam. That's it, wake up. C'mon kid." Bobby continued to run a cold hand over Sam's chilly brow, moving bangs matted with dust and blood back from eyes that continued to move behind their lids.
"Bobby?" Sam whispered. Pain glazed hazel orbs met his brown ones in the dim cave. Bobby had left his flashlight on, lying on the floor by his knee. The ambient lighting caused a shaft of pain to sear through Sam's head. He closed his eyes, willing the darkness to take him. Something was nagging him, forcing him to rouse fully even as Bobby captured his wayward attention again. "Dean?" Sam swallowed hard, the dryness of his throat making it near impossible to do more than rasp out monosyllable words.
"Ohnn." He moaned, trying to put a hand to his head. Bobby stopped him, instead touching a cool hand to his forehead. "Dad?"
"I'm here, son. I'm right here with Dean. We're gonna get you both outta here."
Sam bolted upright, fighting Bobby's soothing grasp. "Dad! Don't touch Dean!" Sam dissolved into a coughing fit and sagged into Bobby's arms.
"Why Sam?" Bobby asked, rubbing Sam's aching back gently as the coughs subsided into gasps
"He's… hurt. His legs…said he can't feel….his legs. I think his back…"
John ghosted a hand over Dean's spine gently, afraid to touch it at all. He felt it; the bump and heat of swelling that accompany a bad bruise or fracture. It was located just below his shoulder blades across the wide part of his back. His heart leapt into his throat, bile rising rapidly behind it and choking off his air completely as he struggles to get the words out. "I'm not sure if it's broken or not."
Jeff and Terri pulled to a stop behind the road grader as it rolled to a stop near the mouth of the cave system. Jeff pulled a portable radio from the keeper on the dash of the rig and keyed the mic. " Dispatch, this is Everett Rescue One. We're at the cave. We're gearing up and going in. Possible injuries to at least two Fish and Game officers caught in a cave in down the left branch. Could be more there were two other officers working at getting to the others."
"Rescue One, be advised, the snow is getting worse and the chopper cannot make it. Repeat, there will be no possible airlift. We're sending another ambulance to your position. Advise Barry to remain there to plow back to town. Be careful Jeff, you too Terri." A female voice said over the crackling radio waves.
"Will do Mary. Rescue one out." Terri looked at her partner and took in the grip he had on the radio.
"Jeff."
He turned his eyes to her. "Let's gear up and get them safe." He got out of the rig and headed to the doors along the sides that held their gear. Terri came around and helped, loading two folding stretchers and a large med kit onto a rolling cart that they would take down the tunnel. The cart had large air filled tires and could roll over the roughest terrain if steered by competent hands. They put on hardhats fitted with lights and heavier jackets with sturdy work gloves. They walked past the grader, the driver looking down as he slid open the small side window of the huge machine.
"Jeff, I'm stayin' put. I'll lead back to town if the snow gets worse."
"Count on it, Barry. Dispatch said it's choking the roads already. No airlift."
"Damnit." Barry said, his hope for the two trapped guys dimming. Jeff pulled the heavy cart and Terri paced with him as they entered the mouth of the cave. They headed down the left branch without hesitation.
Tears came to Sam's eyes at the confirmation of his worst fear. He'd hurt his brother badly, possibly paralyzed him. They couldn't move Dean for fear of doing permanent damage. He buried his head in Bobby's neck as chills coursed through him even as fever raged. Bobby held him as tight as he could without risking aggravation any injuries that Sam had that he didn't know about.
"Hey, Shh. Sam, Dean'll be okay."
Sam sobbed, "My fault Bobby…my fault."
"What do you mean Sam?" Bobby asked gently, shifting Sam when pain crossed his features.
"My bullet brought the wall down. My fault."
"No Sam." Bobby said. Sam shifted again, pain dimming the hazel of his eyes. "Sam, where do you hurt?" Bobby said, noticing how Sam had begun to writhe.
Sam coughed and began to wheeze, shifting again. Bobby felt the chill of the youngest Winchester. Sam moaned and his eyes rolled back in his head. "Sam! Damnit, he's goin' into shock. Has to be the cold and the dust."
John hurried to Bobby's side and stroked the hair back from his little boy's forehead. "Aw god, he's cold." A noise from the opening that John and Bobby had made drew his attention and he looked up to find two uniformed medics coming into what remained of the dead end chamber.
"How bad are they?" Terri asked, moving quickly to take vitals as Sam lay unconscious and writhing in Bobby's arms. Jeff quickly moved to Dean's side and John left Terri and Bobby to handle Sam, following the other paramedic to Dean.
"I'm not sure but I think his back's broken. I was afraid to move the boulders over his legs." John said, cupping his eldest son's cheek gently, careful not to move him.
"Terri, I need you here." Jeff barked, concerned with the injury and the young unconscious man before him.
"This one's in shock." Terri replied tersely. It hurt to see someone obviously so young suffering. "He's suffering from a head injury and has a bad cut on his knee. Bleeding's sluggish, he's slightly hypothermic." Sam wheezed and began coughing. "He's going into respiratory distress!" Terri slid a portable oxygen tank out of the large med kit and settled the mask over Sam's mouth and nose. "What's his name?" She asked Bobby.
"Sam, his name's Sam."
"Sam, my name is Terri Michaels. I'm an EMT with Everett Rescue Services. Can you hear me?" She pulled a stethoscope from the med kit and placed it to Sam's chest, listening to his heart struggling to beat. As she listened, Sam's heart evened out some, thanks to the oxygen he was now breathing. She left the tank in place and allowed Bobby to continue to hold Sam as she quickly put a silver emergency blanket over his body, tucking it around his shoulders. "He's breathing easier now, the dust he's inhaled is starving him of oxygen. The tank will help; don't let him slip the mask." Terri said as she patted Sam gently on the shoulder and moved to help Jeff with the other young man.
The paramedics and John slowly moved boulder after boulder off Dean's lower body. Jeff cut Dean's jacket and shirts away to reveal nearly black bruising marring otherwise waxy looking skin. Terri quickly pulled another silver foil emergency blanket from the kit and spread it over Dean's bare upper body. Jeff flipped a corner back up to look over the mottled black and blue flesh. He gingerly probed an area covering half of Dean's back from just below his shoulder blades to his belt. The whole area was badly bruised. Jeff stopped when he felt a pronounced change in the swelling and rigidity of the tissue. "Okay, we need to brace him. His back is fractured. I don't think the fracture has shifted. We need to make sure it doesn't. Let's get him secured and then we'll move him them by stretcher. There's an ambulance and more EMTs waiting at the mouth of the cave."
Terri stepped closer to Dean's head and crouched down again. Jeff had pulled a cervical collar from the large med kit and laid the back of it against the back of Dean's neck. She supported Dean's head as Jeff secured the Velcro closures. Terri caught the flutter of Dean's eyelids. "Hey, he's coming to." She touched his cold cheek and then opened his eyes one at a time, checking his pupils by shining her bright pen light in them. "Equal and reactive. He's got a gash on his head but no concussion." Dean flinched away from the light and moaned.
"Sammy." He said weakly, the words coming out muffled because of the collar limiting the motion of his mouth.
John leaned in. "Dean, shhh. He's here. You're both gonna be okay."
"Dad?"
"Yeah son. I'm here."
"'m scared. M' back hurts."
"It's okay Dean." John said, blinking back the unwelcome wetness that clouded his vision. "Paramedics are here. Just let them take care of you."
The female spoke. "Dean, I'm Terri and this is Jeff. You have a bad bruise on your back and a lot of swelling. Can you feel your legs?"
"Can't move 'em. Feel heavy. 'm cold."
"Okay Dean, we're going to flip you over and get you ready to go. I need you to tell me immediately if anything changes in the way your back feels alright?"
"Yeah."
"Mr.…"
John had to think for a moment what name was on his fake insurance card and what alias he was using for this hunt. "Waits."
"Terri and I are going to roll Dean over. As we do that I need you to slide the backboard under him."
"Got it." John said, reaching for the padded long board that Terri had unfolded and locked in an open position so that it could be used to prevent further injury to Dean's back.
Terri supported Dean's shoulders while Jeff got his waist and they rolled him onto the board, keeping his back stable. He was soon strapped to the backboard with his head taped down. Jeff listened to his heart beat and found him to be congested. The dust and cold were taking hold. Jeff quickly put him on the same oxygen set up that now helped Sam. "Dean, nod if your back feels okay when we get you on the stretcher." The two paramedics and John helped to put Dean on the collapsible stretcher that Terri had set up. They raised it to a comfortable ride height and Jeff looked anxiously at Dean. Dean nodded weakly and his eyes slipped closed. "Let's get him secured and to the hospital." Dean's eyes flew open at the feel of the first strap crossing his chest. It held his bare arms down beneath the silver foil blanket. Dean began to fight the restraints, pain making him gasp for breath.
John quickly put a hand to his forehead and met his imploring gaze. Dean's eyes welled with tears and John understood. He glanced at the paramedic that was fastening another strap. "Look, Jeff. You have to loosen them up." He said, pointing to the tight straps crossing Dean's body now at his chest, hips and shins. "He'll fight. He hates being strapped down. If they're not tight he'll control himself."
"If they're not tight and the stretcher hits a rough spot it could injure him further." Jeff argued.
"I'm trusting you know how to do your job and get my boys outta here without hurting them worse." John said with a deadly calm that had the EMT loosening the straps.
Dean felt the straps give just a bit and looked for his father. John saw the movement of Dean's head and stepped into his line of sight, smoothing a hand through his hair again. "It's okay now. Just relax and we're gonna get you to the hospital." Dean leaned into his fathers touch and closed his eyes. Soon two gurneys came out of the cave entrance and two more EMTs ran up through the blinding snow, taking over and hustling the injured into the ambulances. The road grader left, clearing a path back to town and the medics stabilized the two young men. Bobby stayed with Sam, not relinquishing his hold on the boy's shoulder for anything. Two ambulances and the rescue rig carrying Terri and Jeff rolled slowly along the cleared road back to town through swirling snow that showed no promise of letting up anytime soon.
A/N: Again, sorry if anything medical reads like it came from someone who's never been seriously hurt, taps fist to head-knocking on wood 'cuz I haven't been. Also to Nana56: I was thinking back and the only cave I was ever in had an open ceiling in one place. I found it in the woods on my property when I was camping and it was cold. Hope the things I can't wrap my head around about caves don't take away from the story here. See you all as soon as I get this story finished. Please review for me. It just might appease the muse!