Chapter 02_Rescued Rescuers
It was dark. So dark that he almost believed he was still sleeping and it was night. Then he took a deep breath and dust filled his nose, making him sneeze. The dizziness was suddenly wiped out by a single thought: the rockslide!
Jack halted from mindlessly bolting in a sitting position, fearing for the presence of debris above or around him, so he tentatively moved a hand -free!- then the other -just the same!- and lifted them from the ground to examine the air above him. The hunter had figured pretty soon he was laying on the ground on his back, but now also that there was a weight from his belly down to his feet.
First things first: no rocks above him in half meter radius and that was good. Slowly, in order not to fall into a dizzy spell, he sat up and probed blindly what had fallen on his lower half. On his belly rested something hair-y... Long typed hair-y. Was that...? A head!
− Jazz! − he yelped, trying to rise up his daughter, but no answer was given. Slightly panicking, he checked her pulse on her neck and, after finding it, he put down his backpack which had been still on his shoulders. Fumbling with its contents, finally he found the flashlight and he turned it on.
He was almost stunned by the scene he saw: the younger redhead had pushed him -what kind of force had she used?!- to safety at the cost of falling unconscious and a trapped foot under a medium debris; his wife was in Jack's same condition, however the damage Danny had suffered was more severe. He had been half buried by rocks!
Using a gentleness that everybody would have thought Jack incapable of, the hunter slid from under Jazz and crawled towards his wife, to wake her up. Two adults worked better than one.
− Maddie! − he called, shacking her. She stirred at his booming voice and at the light pointed to her face. She scrunched her eyes and weakly covered them with a forearm. − Oh, sorry − apologizing, he pointed the flashlight to her lap, where Danny's head rested. While he gave his wife time to come to her senses, Jack gently checked his son's pulse. It was slow, weak, almost less than 30 beats per minute, while his breath was short and ragged, probably because of the dust he had inhaled during the rockslide.
− J-Jack? − his wife called, hearing his loud intake of breath − What happened?
− Jazz ha a foot trapped under a rock, but Danny is half-buried under them! − not sugarcoating the truth, the hunter helped the older redhead sitting. She gasped as her eyes zeroed on her son and his state.
− They saved us! − Maddie realized, reaching to examine Danny. However that movement seemed to jostle both her belt, re-activating it, and the boy, who, even if unconscious, let out a strangled cry, shuddering violently.
Startled, Maddie scudded back, thinking it as the reaction to her jostle.
Once on the ground, the teen seemed to relax, but stayed unconscious. Given the situation he was in, maybe it was for the best. The parents looked at each other, silently deciding the strategy.
Ecto-guns and similar devices were out of question, they both had realized a fraction of second before the blackout that the cause of the rockslide had been the Arecibo and its ecto-waves.
− Perhaps we should turn off the Specter Deflectors... If they're still working, that is − mumbled Jack, still a bit in shock − Just not to cause interferences while we dig out our children. − the overprotective father in him was making the hunter unusually overzealous: after the blast the minerals could be overcharged with ectoplasm and that could trigger another violent reaction.
Maddie nodded and the duo discarded their belts, leaving them near their backpacks. − I free Jazz and you Danny? − she asked, eyeing the amount of debris. He agreed, so silently and carefully the parents moved the rocks off the teens. Of course, Jazz was the first free and her worst case scenario was a broken ankle, however her brother was another case. After moving the younger redhead a good distance away from the instable wall, Maddie joined her husband in the effort of freeing their other child.
There were large stone blocks on his legs, though none of the adults had enough courage to voice their fear for shattered bones. It took the two of them to lift the boulders, although Jack did most of the work. The man lighted his son's legs as Maddie delicately touched them to assess the damage. As her eyes wetted, the hunter knew the answer.
− D-do you think h-he would still... − the man's question was halted by his sorrow.
The mother shook her head. − I d-don't know. N-not without an RX and here... − she gestured around helplessly.
− What were they even doing here? − he asked after a pause, incredulously. − I mean, I know they saved us, but why did they come? They knew they had to call in case of emergency!
− I-I think it was because there's no signal here... They thought the worst and so... − her lips trembled − It's our fault, Jack! We decided to come here and we built the Arecibo!
− I know that Maddie, just... − he sighed, looking down at the laying form of his son. − But now the least we can do is patch them up and find an exit.
− R-right... − the woman sighed deeply too and slowly shifted the boy into a prone pose, then carefully she picked him up like she used to do when he was a child in order to move him near where she had left Jazz. Even if he was barely seventeen and slightly taller than when he was fourteen, the boy was still so light and almost skinny...
During the whole ordeal Danny didn't stir or whimper and that made the Fenton matriarch even more worried, anxious and confused: if he had had a violent reaction just at her brush few minutes before, why not now that the jostling was more severe?
Maddie sat on the ground, placing her child on her lap and cradling his head on her shoulder. Jack numbly imitated her, but he preferred to pull his daughter damaged foot on his lap, flashlight between his teeth, to assess the real damage and in case sling the ankle or just wrap it up with bandages.
Maddie knew something similar should have been done to her son's legs too, however she couldn't bring herself to manhandle directly the fractured limbs. Carrying him was one thing, but settling bones so shattered like this ones... Gently the mother ran her gloved hand on his hair, in a futile attempt to soothe his pain, even if he was blissfully unconscious and hopefully unaware.
− Mads − the more than usually gentle call of her husband shook her from her thoughts − I'll look at the legs later, but can you check for other injuries now? − he asked her, as if reading her mind. Though she wasn't surprised: after all the years spent together, they could read each others like books and in moments of need they were even more receptive.
Numbly the huntress nodded and carefully she moved around at first Danny's arms, which, apart from old bruises painted here and there, were relatively unscathed. However as she lifted his t-shirt, she couldn't suppress a gasp. Almost his entire upper body was wrapped in bandages and fresh ones judging from their appearance. What had happened to reduce her boy in that state?!
Fearful of the answer, Maddie slowly shifted him down from her lap and went and searched from the emergency blanket and her own flashlight in her backpack. She laid the former on the ground, then moved Danny on it, just to have a minimum of sanitary measures. This time she carefully removed the dirt-stained white t-shirt and used it as a makeshift pillow to put under her son's head once she had finished unwrapping the bandages. Keeping him sitting was difficult at first, but when Jack had finished Jazz's cast he lent her a hand wordlessly, observing confusedly the bandages like her. Whatever they had expected under was nothing compared to what they saw.
A large bruise adorned Danny's (surprisingly well-fit) abdomen, it couldn't be older than a week judging by its yellow-blue shade, the same could be seen on his right shoulder, and that was just talking about ecchymosis and the front side! Scrapes and burns of various degree and length lingered on his torso, all of them treated and almost healed... sans the stitched one on his left side.
− Is that...? − Jack half-asked disbelieving pointing at the bluish thread. Maddie, sharing the sentiment, nodded. The duo numbly shifted their charge forward, to follow the course of the wound, and cringed at the worse scene they found. His back was almost one giant old bruise and there were even more half-healed cuts and among them there was one well stitched (still with the Ecto-line), but impossible to reach for the wounded, so somebody else had to have helped Danny with all of this. Gently Maddie prodded each rib in correspondence of the darker patches, finding them more loose than the others. Terrifying enough was that in all this ordeal he didn't either stir or react... again.
− There're at least three cracked ribs... Jack, what had happened to our baby? − Maddie asked helplessly, cradling said boy's head with her arms. − Was it bullies? − she gasped − Ghosts?
− To payback us? − he speculated, horrified. − If it's the case... Why didn't he tell us? We're ghost hunters after all!
Before the woman could replicate, the teen leant against her began shivering, perhaps for being exposed too long with naked skin to the grotto frigid air. − We'll think about this later, it's too cold for Danny now, help me wrap him up. − her husband nodded and with proficiency the duo covered again the pain-display with fresh bandages. Then the huntress put down his son and covered him with his t-shirt, however it was just a temporary measure to keep the teen body warm while Jack checked his legs.
In order to avoid seeing the length of the damage the two of them had caused, Maddie went and retrieved the second blanket to roll her daughter in. The cast on her ankle had been made with bandages and two long flat shrapnels of stone come from the rockslide. Just in case the huntress checked for further injuries her too, but there were only several defense-training-like bruises on her arms.
− Somehow we're lucky! − there was mild excitement in Jack's voice, even if almost covered by bitterness − Both femurs, tibias and fibulas are broken, but they seem compound fractures, no shatters whatsoever. At least not at touch. − he added as an afterthought. The mother let out a relieved breath as she prepared her Taco-Jazz.
− Dear, maybe you should use the rods of the Fenton Ghost Fisher we took together with the Ecto-line to stabilize the legs. I don't think there are shrapnel that long around here... − the huntress suggested and her husband agreed, proceeding with the plan and used the bluish thread to fixate the cast. Then, carefully, he wrapped his son with the blanket and sat down awkwardly next to him, unsure about what to do.
Sensing her husband discomfort, Maddie peeked at him and sighed, then handed him his princess. − I think that at least till they wake up we should wait. − the woman murmured, gently picking up Danny and sitting beside Jack. − We don't know if they warned somebody about this... Maybe they would send a Search and Rescue party if they don't receive an answer... − she guessed, making her husband hum.
− Perhaps. The other options on the other hand are either digging our way out or see if at the end of the cave there is really a portal to the Ghost Zone and from there go home from our gate. − he listed, sending worried glances to his son's state.
− But Danny's too injured to risk and move him further. − countered his wife.
− And the rocks could be instable and fall on us. Yup, that sums it up. − he concluded resigned.
Another violent shiver run across Danny, so silently Maddie tightened her grip around him, to share body warmth. She just hoped the concussion hadn't been too severe along with all the injuries he had.
A/N. I know it's a bit short and "filler" compared to the previous chapter, but next time things are gonna start moving... more or less. However decisions will be certainly taken.
Thank you all for the reviews, follows and favourites, you made my day! (Though the last two days I couldn't read the new reviews of Haunted Drabbles... FFnet, Y U DO DIS? At least I receive the mails, but it isn't the same!)
(Not at all coincidentally this chapter was posted on "Prisoners of Love" anniversary airdate, though I assure you that I won't wait 25th June for next chapter, so don't worry! xD)
Thanks for reading and type ya soon!