Buried Alive
Chapter 7
Nick kept his eyes on Greg the entire ambulance ride while the kid's lifeless hand was clasped in his. Sara remained quiet, not really knowing what to do or say, but hoped the extra company made Greg- and Nick- feel a little better. The Texan repeatedly let his eyes scan Greg's body and every single time, his guilt would start getting the better of him. And then he snapped. His chin wobbled and his eyes became blurry with oncoming tears; sniffing, Nick put his head in his free hand.
"Nick?" Sara moved over and sat next to her friend, placing a hand on his trembling back. "Nick, what's wrong?"
"You mean besides seeing my best friend trapped in a box, almost eaten alive by ants and die?"
Sara remained silent, waiting for Nick to continue.
"I did this to him."
"Nick-"
"And don't say I didn't; this is my fault. I yelled at him, I left him alone and now look what happened."
"You couldn't have known."
"But it's my job to protect him! That's my role as a big brother and I failed."
Sara inhaled through her nose and just as she was about to say something, Nick looked up in surprise.
"Greg?"
"What? What happened?"
"I felt…I thought I felt his hand move."
"Maybe it was just your imagination."
"Yeah, it probably was." And just as Nick finished his sentence, two things happened.
Greg's hand weakly gripped the Texan's along with a soft groan escaping his chapped lips.
"Greggo, can you hear me? Come on bud, open those eyes for me."
After a few seconds of waiting, the young CSI's eyelids flickered open, revealing dull, fever-filled eyes. He looked confused, but Nick thought that was just normal; little did he know how wrong he was.
"Hey bud," The Texan smiled.
Greg's forehead creased. "N-Nick?"
"Right here, man."
"Ni-ick…what are you…doing here?"
"What are you talking about, Greggo. We're-"
"Did you get put in here too?"
"In where?" Nick was starting to get worried. He glanced down at Greg's arm and noticed that it would tense and relax repeatedly. "Greg?"
"In the coffin…y-you're in h-here too? Nick we need…" Greg grunted, pain washing over him. He squeezed Nick's hand tightly, trying to breathe through it. "We need to get…out of here. Get…m-me out!" Greg's breathing started to become erratic and his body was beginning to shake violently.
"Greg! Greg, calm down!" Nick was terrified. The kid was hallucinating.
The paramedic came over, gently pushing Nick away; causing him to release Greg's hand and watch it shake with the rest of his body. "Sir, I'm gonna need you get back. The venom is starting to take effect."
Nick and Sara were forced to watch from a distance as the paramedics tried to get Greg sedated and calm. The brunette grasped Nick's hand, fearful that they might lose Greg right now; that they'd never make it out of the ambulance. And then her fears came true.
"He's crashing!"
"No," Nick choked out. "No, no, no, no, please, Greg, don't do this."
"Get the paddles and charge them to 200!"
Nick wiped his sweaty forehead with a shaky hand, mumbling a short prayer. Please God, don't take him away. Please! He watched as Greg's battered body jerked up before falling back limply onto the stretcher.
"No pulse. 260!"
Thump! Up and down.
"300!"
Thump! Up…down. Nick squeezed his eyes shut, gripping Sara's hand tightly. Come on G. Fight!
"He's back. Start him on the I.V. Call the hospital again, ETA ten minutes."
Nick and Sara let out a sigh of relief, but when the paramedic moved to get the I.V bag, Nick wanted to cry even more. Greg looked like he'd been run over three times by a truck. And the paramedics were right; the venom was starting to take effect. He didn't know much about bullet ants, but the effects of their bites weren't pretty. Greg's arms, hands, neck and face were swollen about twice the normal size.
"Oh Greg," Sara whispered. Tears trickled down her face and onto her lap. This was not something that should be happening…especially not to Greg. The rest of the ride was quiet. Nick didn't want to open his mouth, because he knew he'd puke and Sara was just trying to breathe. If they lost Greg before they even reached the hospital, Nick didn't what he'd do with his life. It'd be too much to handle; too much guilt to carry. Pull through it, Greggo. Just pull through it; don't leave me little brother.
~+CSI+~
Catherine exhaled loudly, trying not to let her tears fall. The scene before her was horrific; seeing the place where her surrogate son nearly died. Shuddering, the blonde snapped a photo of the fingernails lodged in the lid of the coffin.
"Son of a bitch." She stood up, wiping her forehead.
"This is a fucking nightmare," Warrick said, coming up beside her.
"Tell me about it…have you heard from Nick or Sara?"
"No."
"No news is good news, right?"
"God, I hope so." Warrick knelt down to take a dirt sample. "Man, if Mason wasn't dead already I'd rip him to shreds. Sanders didn't deserve any of this."
Catherine stepped into the coffin and bent down, taking a picture of the tape recorder before picking it up. She frowned in curiosity as she pressed play, however white noise played through the speakers so she quickly rewound it to listen to the message Greg had listened to. It was a horrible thing to hear and she almost stopped it when a familiar voice came on. And as she listened, tears trickled down her face. Warrick had noticed Catherine went silent and he slowly joined in to hear the rest of the message. When it finished, they just looked at each other, both hearts broken.
~+CSI+~
The emergency doors burst open and Greg's limp body was wheeled into Southern Hills Hospital, Sara and Nick close behind. A doctor came rushing up next to the stretcher as it was being pushed down the hallways.
"We need to get these ants off now and then bring him to the ice bath immediately before his throat starts to swell shut and the venom spreads anymore." A bunch of nurses were surrounding Greg's stretcher, cutting off his clothes, making sure he was still breathing and getting him ready to go. "We'll go to surgery as soon as the inflammation starts to go down."
"Wait-" Nick began, trying to get around the nurses, but it wasn't working too well. "Greg!"
"Sir, you need to stay back." Someone pulled on his arm and he was forced to stop as his little brother disappeared behind the double doors. He tried to get away from the surprisingly strong nurse, but then Sara came up next to him, grabbing his hand.
"He'll be okay. He's in good hands now."
"But-"
"Let's go sit down."
Nick suddenly pulled away and shook his head. "I-I need some air." And with that, the Texan left Sara standing alone in the waiting room. This was really getting to the man and she knew if Greg died, it was game over for Nick. No longer would he want to work at the lab. Greg, don't leave; don't leave Nick like this.
~+CSI+~
Dr. Amanda Moorhead grabbed her patient's ankles as she and many other nurses and two other doctors lifted him into the ice bath.
"Careful, his shoulder is dislocated." She had seen her fair share of gruesome injuries but this…this was just messed up. Whatever the hell happened to the kid, it must've been traumatizing. Taking a deep breath, she watched and waited for the shivering to kick in…though she didn't know how deep in unconsciousness the kid was in. Thankfully, Greg's body started to tremble and his chest heaved up and down with frantic breaths.
"Mr. Sanders? Mr. Sanders, can you hear me?"
The young man wheezed and his eyes flew opened. They were bright with fever and the size of saucers. He began struggling in the orderlies grip, panic increasing.
"Greg, it's alright; you're safe now. You're at the hospital."
"N-Ni-Nick?" His teeth chattered loudly.
Amanda was about to ask who that was, but then she remembered the Texan who didn't want to leave the kid's side. "He's right outside the door; we just needed to stop the venom from spreading."
"S'c-cold."
"We're almost done, sweetie."
All of a sudden, Greg started shuddering violently and his eyes rolled to the back of his head.
"He's seizing!"
They quickly lifted him out of the water and placed him back on the stretcher. "We can't hold the surgery off any longer," Dr. Moorhead breathed. "Get him prepped stat!" They hurriedly pushed him out of the room, almost knocking right into Nick who had come back and was now pacing outside the doors. Immediately, his face drained of color; his big brother senses were going off, saying that something had gone absolutely wrong. He started running beside the group, shooting off questions.
"What happened? Is he…" Oh god. Greg was seizing again. "What happened!?"
"We aren't sure," Dr. Moorhead said calmly as she and the others started drying Greg's body off with towels. "We might've been too late with trying to stop the spreading of the venom. We're gonna have to inject him with multiple doses of Antihistamine and Prednisone while he's in surgery. It is also possible that he's having an allergic reaction."
"H-How bad would that be?"
"Very. It could close up his airways in seconds."
"Is he…is he gonna be okay?"
"I'm not sure." She stopped in front of the doors as Greg disappeared behind them once again. "I promise I'll do everything I can to make sure he comes out of this alive." With that, she left the Texan standing alone with his thoughts and fears. This was a fucking nightmare! He collapsed against the wall and slid to the floor, head in his hands. Why didn't this happen to him; he deserved it more, not Greg…never Greg. They should've been faster, they should've looked harder. Now Greg might not make it because of them…because of him. And if that happened, he'd never forgive himself.
After many hours of waiting, pacing and swearing, Nick started to get agitated. Catherine and Warrick had shown up and so they were all trying to get the Texan to sit and calm down.
"Nicky, could you please just relax," Catherine pleaded. "Greg will be okay."
"You don't know that," he said bluntly.
"No, but I do know that if you exhaust yourself, you'll pass out before you even get to see him."
Nick stopped and sighed heavily before going to sit next to the blonde. "I'm just really worried."
"I know." She began rubbing circles on his back. "But our Greg's a fighter; he won't give up."
Suddenly, Mr. and Mrs. Sanders came rushing into the waiting room, Emma looking frantic and Mr. Sanders looking exhausted. Catherine immediately got up and went over to them, getting them up to speed. Nick watched silently as Greg's parents tried to hold it all together, but were having a tough time. He wiped his face and waited until they finally came over to sit, no matter how anxious they were to see their son. They ended up waiting for another hour before Dr. Moorhead came out; her face was unreadable when Nick looked up and it scared him. His breathing hitched and he pushed himself from the chair along with everyone else.
"How is he?" His voice shook.
"I'm sorry Nick, but I can only divulge information with his immediate family."
"What?"
"Doctor," Mr. Sanders said. "Whatever you have to say to us, we are just gonna repeat it to them; might as well just say it. They're Greg's family too."
"Alright, let's go sit down then."
They all followed the doctor back to the chairs and sat down, fearful of what the news would be. Dr. Moorhead sighed and gave them all a sympathized smile. Nick's heart sank; usually when a doctor did that, it meant that they were really sorry and that the patient died.
"Please, is my son okay?" Emma said, crumpling a tissue in her hand.
"I'm not gonna lie," Dr. Moorhead replied sadly. "He had another seizure on the table and we're sure it was caused by the swelling of him brain…and I'm afraid I have bad news."
TBC…
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A/N: another cliffhanger! Sorry, I can't help it :) stay tuned! The next installment of Replacement will be up later tonight btw!