The Way Home
Chapter 4
By: Montez
Disclaimer: See chapter 1
Running back toward the house a million things seemed to run through Jim Murphy's mind, the two prominent were his concern for not only the injured boy lying in his driveway, but for his friend who was hundreds of miles away in South Dakota. He hated that he'd had to rush past Mackland, only telling the man that it was his son that had stumbled down the driveway, but he needed to get help for both men. After ordering Sammy to get Mac's medical bag from the closet the Pastor grabbed the phone called for an ambulance. He didn't know what kind of injuries Caleb had, but if he had wrecked his Jeep, they had no idea how far or how long the boy had been walking to get to the farm. Once being told help was on the way, Sammy came back through the kitchen with not only with the Doctor's bag, but a lantern from the closet as well. Grabbing the item from the smaller boy, Jim quickly lit it, "Ambulance will be here in about ten minutes, go!"
Without a word the boy ran out the back door, Jim ran his hand through his graying hair as he grabbed the phone again, dialing a number he hoped would put in contact with John. As the phone rang he silently prayed that Caleb was just confused about the vision and that John was all right. The sound of the phone being picked up pulled the Pastor from his prayer, "Singer."
"Robert, where's Jonathon?" Jim asked as soon as Bobby had spoken.
"What? Jim is that you?" Bobby was taken aback by the worried voice on the other end of his line; it was rare for the Guardian to call him.
"Yes, where's John?" Jim's unusual use of the shortened version of John's name told Bobby that something was definitely wrong.
"He left a few hours ago to scout the woods about ten miles from here, is something wrong? Are the boys okay?" The mechanics heart started to race at the thought of something happening to one of John's boys, though he'd never admit it, those kids, as well as, Caleb had really grown on him.
Jim put his hand to his face, this wasn't good, the feeling he had in his stomach continued to grow worse. "The boys are fine, but you need to find John, call in some help and find him, he could be hurt."
"What? What makes you think he's hurt?" Bobby started searching his desk for a list of hunters within a couple hours drive of his place as he waited for Jim to answer.
"I think Caleb had a vision." Jim's words stopped the hunter in his search; Caleb having a vision was never good news.
"What do you mean you think he had a vision, what did he tell you?" Bobby listened as Jim blew out a deep-breath.
"I don't know exactly what happened, he came stumbling down my driveway and collapsed, he's hurt, we think he was driving when the vision happened and he could have wrecked the Jeep, but he was able to say something about a vision and Jonathon, now please, start looking for him, as soon as I know more about Caleb I'm going to be headed your way. We'll be at the hospital in New Haven if you find him before you hear from me; I'll call before I leave Louisville." Jim didn't give Bobby time to respond, hanging up the phone as the boys came in the back door. Within minutes they were headed for the small hospital in town.
oxoxoxoxox
Being Dr. Mackland Ames didn't do a damn thing for him as he exited the back of the ambulance with his unconscious son, only to be stopped from entering the treatment area Caleb was taken. "Please that's my son." Mac tried to plead, he could feel panic rising as he lost sight of the boy.
"I'm sorry, if you could take a seat, a doctor will be out as soon as possible." The nurse gave him a look of sympathy when Mac finally backed up, running his hands over his face.
Knowing that arguing with the woman wouldn't get him to his son, Mac backed up; finding a chair with a view of the doors his son had just passed through. Sitting heavily as everything seemed to catch up to him, all he knew for sure was his son was hurt and unconscious. That he could have possibly been in a car wreck and on top of that could have experienced a vision of something happening to John. Blowing out a deep-breath, he leaned forward, elbows on his knees, his head cradled in his hands, silently praying he would wake up from this nightmare.
oxoxoxoxox
The next time John opened his eyes, it was to the feel of someone tapping on his face, "Come on old man, no sleeping on the job, you'd have my ass if it were me." The familiar voice sounded far away, his mind trying to piece together just who it belonged too. "Come on man look at me so I know your still in there." Turning his head slowly, the cold of the night dulling the pain his body was in, his dark eyes, met all too familiar golden ones.
"Caleb?" John watched the worried expression cross the young man's face. The older hunter didn't remember Caleb being on the hunt with him, in fact he remembered leaving Bobby's by himself. "What…" John's mind going fuzzy a minute as he closed his eyes again.
The incessant tapping on his face returned, "Like I said man, no sleeping, we need to get you moving." Caleb's worried tone filtered through John's mind, grounding him.
"What are you doing here?" John opened his eyes again, noticing the kid rummaging through the duffle the older hunter recognized as being the one he was carrying.
"Hoping your first aid kit is in here…ah ha…" Triumphantly pulling the box from the small bag, he popped it open, pulling out the gauze, then reaching back into the bag for a bottle of water. Once getting water on the material, he tried to rub away some of the blood from John's face, the older man attempting to push his hand away. "Damn it John let me see where the bloods coming from, then we'll see what else in wrong."
"Didn't answer Junior what…" John tried to get the kid to answer him only to be stopped in mid-sentence by a coughing spell. His body instinctively tried to curl, but Caleb's strong hand on his right shoulder stopped him.
Worry clouded Caleb's face as he watched his mentor battle to breath through the coughing, and by the pain on the older man's face and his hitched breaths, indicated broken ribs as well. "Just take it easy, breathe slow. Can you tell me if anything beside your ribs are busted?"
Trying to drag in a breath wasn't as easy as Caleb was making it sound, the pain of the broken ribs grinding together made spots dance in his vision again. "Shoulder…left arm and shoulder."
"What about your legs, can you still feel them?" Caleb moved to look at the older man's legs; both were in somewhat normal looking positions considering John had tumbled thirty-odd feet.
At the mention of his legs John tried to move them, feeling the stiffness from lying in one spot for too long, he was relieved when he felt them shift a little. "Don't feel broken, just sore."
"I bet, look I'm gonna try and help you sit up so I can get a better look at your shoulder. You ready?" Caleb had moved back toward his friends head.
Gritting his teeth as pain continued to come with every breath, John looked at his protégé, "Just do it".
Taking a deep-breath, Caleb slide his arm under the older man as John tried to use his right hand to help push himself up, moving slowly, he had John about half-way up when the man released a pain-filled yell, then went limp in the young psychic's arms. "Damn it…can't we catch a break?" Caleb whispered as he leaned the older man against him, now at least in a somewhat upright position, quickly he checked John's pulse, leaning his head against the top of his mentors when he found one.
A/N: well?