Authors note: Sorry for not posting sooner. I might be having seizures, so, yeah, been busy. I'll try to post at least once every three or four weeks. I do not own anything, not the original characters. I researched them and own nothing. All I own are these fantasy ideas and my fantasy characters in this chapter: Michael Carson, Cary Lamar, Sasha Cane, Dr. James Carter, Ezra Coburn, Dane Ruskin, All the conditions, hospitals, codes, procedures, locations are real. In this story, Lucas only lives with his mother.

Chapter 3

Lucas's P.O.V.

I woke up with everything hurting. It felt worse than if I had been at football practice and then thrown off of Tombstone. Then I noticed very bright lights as well as the dings of some monitors. Slowly looking around I found myself in a hospital bed, all bandaged up as well as a breathing tube under my nose, IV in my hand and monitors attached to my finger and chest. My whole body, especially my face and legs seemed to be searing with pain, and I realized the right side of my head and face, as well as both of my lower legs were bandaged with gauze.

'What happened' I thought. Then it hit me. The cab, my friends, the vehicle being hit twice and then being rolled. The girls screaming. Myself yelling. Searing pain. Glass shattering. Metal tearing, crumpling and dragging against road and glass.

"Maya! Riley! Guys!" I yelled, immediately regretting it. My chest and the rest of my body was immediately filled with a stabbing and electrifying pain so strong, I forgot how to breathe. ####. As I struggled to breathe, some of the alarms went off.

"Shhh, sweetie, you're okay now" A blond nurse rushed in with a badge reading Cary Lamar. "Your friends are here. You're going to be fine."

"What happened? All I remember is pain and a bunch of sounds." I told her. As I spoke the right side of my face seemed to ignite into an inferno of pain, I stifled a scream.

"Lucas, you were in a bad car crash, you need to take it easy. You've broken some ribs, sternum, have a partial collapsed lung and bruised a couple of organs. You also have several stitched wounds, dislocated shoulder and a sprained ankle. Along with, your 2nd and 3rd degree burns. That's why your face, legs and right arm are bandaged."

"And the others?! Please tell me they're all okay." I said, tears flowing out of my left eye. My friends where everything to me. I tried to do everything in my power to protect them, because I couldn't bear to have them in pain. And now… they were hurt.

"Zay and the Isadora are better off than you. Since I'm not their nurses I don't know exactly what is wrong."

"Wait, what about Farkle, Riley and Maya? How are they, please tell me there okay too."

"Unfortunately, the three of them have the worse sustained injuries. They have all pulled through their first surgeries. We are still waiting for a full report but none of them have woken up." she said softly.

I could tell she wasn't telling me the whole story, but I'm just in too much pain to really bother.

"How bad is your pain, and be honest. It may seem better to try to be tough but with your situation we need to have it be accurate." She asked, she seemed to know me well as I was going to try to ignore the pain.

"I play football and have rode Tombstone the bull, but I've never had pain this bad."

She nodded and pressed a couple buttons on some of the machines next to my bed. After a couple of mechanical whirs and beeps my pain started to lessen. Whatever meds they had given me to help with pain were making me very tired. I knew rest could help, so I fell asleep.

Zay's P.O.V

I walked over to the nurses' station and looked for my nurse. I spotted Sasha pretty easily, she was a little like Vanessa, but without the southern accent.

"S'cuse me ma'am but is it possible for me to see my friend Lucas or the others?"

"I'm not sure, how is your arm and head doing?" she asked gesturing.

"Nothing I can't handle. Since they set it and put the cast and sling on it hasn't really bothered me."

"Any nausea or dizziness, don't try to tough it out either, Babineaux. We're looking for any possible brain damage or concussion."

"No, just a bit of a headache. So about Lucas?" I pestered.

"I guess, but wait until your parents come."

I thank her and headed back to my room. Nothing much really, just a standard emergency room with a mirror. I peek at myself and regret it.

I saw a bunch of bruises and some burns. I had plenty of cuts, but the worse was around 10 inches long on my left leg. It cut diagonally from my knee towards my ankle.

Not to mention I had a black cast from my fingers to my shoulder, in a blue sling under which I wore two hospital gowns, yes two. I did not like the whole "everyone see your butt" thing, not to mention my clothes were a mess. They had a bunch of tears, holes, rips and a few blood and chemical stains.

From what I've collected, I'm doing the best of all of us. I was 'lucky' enough to remain conscious the entire time. I'd love to debate with them about that. I remember everything. The searing pain of my arm breaking as I was slammed into the door frame of the vehicle. The sound of glass shattering, metal crunching, screams of pain and then the worse of it all. The eerie silence. I remember calling out for anyone's response. Then there was a mess of sounds. Ambulance sirens, police cars, people trying to direct traffic.

"Is anyone there?" I had called out, desperation filling my voice.

"Kid, you okay? Can you talk to me?!" a Firefighter asked me as they continued to rip open the SUV.

"I think so," I let a painful cry out. "I think I broke my arm, but please… just help my friends."

I remember the EMT's pulling us out one by one, I was the first one that they reached and while loading me onto a stretcher I tried not to cry. Looking in horror at the scene in front of me. Broken glass, shredded metal, various bodies, blood… lots of blood. Both mine and my friends'. I watched as they unloaded my friends from the ruined vehicle, upon the sight, it became too much and I started to cry. The bodies were so disfigured I could barely tell who was who. It was even worse when I heard shouts of

"This one needs oxygen!"

"Intubate her!"

"That one has open fractures!"

"Major hemorrhage"

"We need someone to help us! A few of them are trapped by crumpled metal and the fire is only getting worse"

Then they shut the doors of the ambulance and we left the scene.

No One's P.O.V.

It was a large group to say the least. Ms. Friar, the Matthews, Hunters, Minki, Smackle's, Babineaux's. All crowded into the ICU family waiting room. When the group had entered there had been a lot of commotion. As of the moment they were all waiting for the doctors to come in and brief them over what happened.

Finally a large group of doctors and Surgeons came out. As well as a police officer and EMT.

"My name is Dr. James Carter, I am the head trauma doctor. Are you guys all family of Isaiah Zay Babineaux, Isadora Smackle, Farkle Minkus, Lucas Friar, Riley Matthews and Maya Hunter?" the doctor asked looking at the large group.

They all nodded.

"How are they? Are they okay?!" Several people asked. "What happened?"

"We'll divide up the team and explain to each child's parents and explain what happened." The doctor informed them. All the parents started to object.

"No, we all know each other's kids. Besides. It will be faster if you tell all of us at once." Ms. Friar said. All of the other parents nodded in agreement with her.

The group watched nervously as they saw the doctor try to decide what to do. He then went on telling the group.

"Okay then… Let's start with what happened. Officer Ezra Coburn and EMT Michael Carson where some of the first on the scene." The officer than spoke first.

"Well, from what we've collected, the driver of the SUV they were all in was speeding and became distracted. He then ran a red light at a very busy intersection. Two other vehicles hit him and the SUV spun and rolled a couple of times before landing on its side. After our observations we believe that the driver was going at least 45 mph. I think EMT Carson can take it from here." The officer looked over at the man.

"When we arrived on the scene the only person who was conscious was Zay. He was able to give us all the names and contact number for Mrs. Matthews. I will spare you most of the details but for some of the occupants it was hard to identify them. We handled some major bleeding, crush injuries, no breathing and no heartbeat. We also had to intubate a couple of patients. Maya Hart and Riley Matthews were Life Flighted due to the extent of injury sustained" He replied. Several of them gasped. The head doctor than took the reins again.

"Here's the rundown, every one sustained some lacerations, bruises and mild burns. We also had a few with sprains and dislocations. Very normal for any car crash. The ones that needed it were stitched and all of them dressed and bandaged. Zay sustained the least injuries. He broke his left arm at the Radius, Ulna and right at the top of the Humerus. He had many cuts, four which needed stitches. We splinted his arm and set it in a cast. We are however concerned about a possible concussion. He is fully alert and has been walking around his room.

"Isadora sustained a grade I concussion, broken clavicle, sprained wrist, mild bleeding and a 2nd degree burn under her eye, it's a bit bigger than a half dollar. She has nine lacerations that were stitched. She has woken up and been able to pass a neurological test."

The Smackle's new exactly what this all meant, they knew that while the other injuries were able to easily heal that the concussion was probably the most concerning. Once brain damage occurs there is usually no turning back or it healing. You only get the brain cells you're born with. They were concerned about the effects of the injuries and their daughter's intelligence.

The Babineaux's were concerned about the effects of the injuries and the future of their son being able to play sports. A bad arm could easily ruin ability to aim. Moreover, a concussion could affect motor skills.

As worried, as the families were, the Minki, Hunters, Ms. Friar and the Matthews became increasingly worried. They started to connect the dots. No breathing, no heartbeat, surgeries...It just became more and more concerning. They tried to prepare themselves for the worst but in no way could.

"There is no easy way to tell you this.

"Lucas has a grade II concussion, a bruised diaphragm, and liver. From an orthopedic standpoint, he has five broken ribs, broken sternum-which have led to bruising of both lungs with a partial collapse of the left lung. He also dislocated shoulder with a severely torn rotator cuff, and sprained ankle. He has needed some oxygen support since almost all of his major injuries occurred in his chest and upper abdomen. He needed eight lacerations stitched. He has woken up, is able to remember the accident, and only has a handful of neurological problems. The worst injury however… he was burned in many places. Some are only 1st degree burns but both of his legs below the knees and above his ankle, have a 3rd degree burns. The right side of his face is majority 2nd degree with some 3rd degree. He was fortunate in that it has not affected his eye, airway, or mouth. He is going to need surgery for the rotator cuff tear, possibly for his sternum and lungs, and will need debridement and skin grafts as soon as possible."

Everyone turned to look at Lucas's mother. She stood there silently, some tears were in her eyes, but for the most part she seemed okay. However, in her mind she was freaking out.

The doctor starter up again, but with an apologetic look in his eyes.

"Three of the patients needed lifesaving surgeries however; we'll start with Farkle because he is not at a high mortality rate. Farkle has a bruised rib cage, grade II concussion, six stitched wounds. However…" the doctor's eye gaze dropped to the floor, the Minki felt a sinking in their guts, "He suffered from moderate and severe burns. His entire left arm is burned most of it is second or small patches of 3rd, but his hand was burned down even into the bone. We had to do an amputation of it as it was too far damaged. He has woken up briefly, not coherent but it gives us confidence that the level of brain injury he's had is not severe." Mr. and Mrs. Minkus were in shock, there only child, a brilliant boy, had lost his left hand. They could barely comprehend the effect it would have on their lives.

"However, we have bad news for Riley Matthews and Maya Hunter. They both have sustained life-threatening injuries, and both needed urgent surgery. We'll start with Riley who is better than Maya. When we found her she had been in one of the most crushed areas of the vehicle, therefore leaving her with a crush injury. She had some open fractures which led to a moderate-severe loss of blood and we had to give her five units of blood out of a ten unit blood transfusion. When we were transporting her we had to give her oxygen. We had to do surgery to stabilize a flail chest with 6 anatomically contoured titanium plates. The second repair was for her right femur, her crush injury came from part of the car crumpling around her legs. It damaged her lower legs and knee so much that to save her life, and give her a better outcome, and we had to remove slightly above her left knee and below her right. Since both of her lungs were collapsed we placed a chest tube in to it to drain any fluids or blood. While she was in surgery her heart stopped…" he had to pause as Topanga let out a heart shattering cry and then started to sob. Cory had to grab her to keep her from falling. He slowly sat down with her. Cory was trying to be strong but he had started to cry silently as he held onto Topanga. "As I was saying, she also suffered from a cracked skull. We are worried about traumatic brain injury and therefore have an Intracranial Pressure (ICP) Monitor in her skull. She was unconscious on scene and we have kept her in a medically induced coma and on life support. I will tell you that we think she has a 71% morality rate. When you go to see her there will be many tubes, wires, and monitors. She has many casts, dressings as well as the fact of having had amputations on both legs..." Topanga and Cory still held each other, continuing to cry.

"And now to tell you about Maya. When we found her she had been thrown out of the SUV and then part of the car rolled over on her." Katy started to cry. "She was not breathing and had no heart rate when we found her. We immediately found that she had a broken spine." Everyone gasped and were then shocked when Shawn audibly started to cry. "After we got a stable heart rate and breathing, we had to perform surgery for collapsed lungs, as well as stopping internal bleeding near and around her lungs and abdomen.

She has 6 broken ribs which was a flail injury, broken both Femurs, Fibulas, Tibias, Patella's and her left ankle and foot, Basically all off her leg bones are broken. She has sustained broken vertebrae's in the Thoracic Spine columns eight through twelve, we have to wait however before we can do surgery on her spine as we had to fix life threatening problems and need to wait so that her body has a chance to heal. We do not know the full extent, but we know that there is going to be at least some permanent neurological damage. Her internal injuries are to her lungs, heart, spleen, diaphragm, liver, kidneys. She also suffered severe burns with about 40% of her neck and face with a 2nd degree burn, as well as severe 3rd degree burns on both legs. We have an ICP monitor and chest tube on her as well as standard monitoring. She is in a coma and on life support as well. She has an 82% mortality rate" The doctor sighed knowing that all of the families 'lives were changed forever.