Death of Innocence
Day 17
Ambulance, En-route to Hospital, 2 weeks earlier
Things'd happened fast inside. Dropped his head down first, then a lot of motion around him, pressure on his arm, a jab at his elbow, sounds: tapping, fast, like a racing heartbeat; alarms going off; that damn siren overhead. Lights in his eyes. Collar, wrapping around his neck – stiff, hard, choking him.
Hard to breathe!
Gotta get outta here! Shoving something over his face. Get away from me!
Reese threw him back, in the moving ambulance. Lost his footing and crashed into the doors. Scared now. Trying to talk him down.
No! Get away! Don't touch me! Get back!
Ripped the collar off his neck, ripped the IV out of his arm.
"Sir, calm down! We're trying to help you here. Just calm down," he said. Young and small, scared.
Reese tried to get up. Something holding him back. Fumbled with the straps. His chest hurt, and his side. Gotta get outta here! Get out!
Their driver called ahead for help. Manpower code in the ambulance bay. And two beefy men, uniformed, met them at the doors. When they sprang the back open, a man, standing, covered in blood, and that wild look in his eyes.
He jumped. Shoved past them, running. They followed for a minute, but stopped and doubled back. Inside, they found the young EMT, down on the gurney, knocked out, but coming to. One of the beefy ones clambered up on the deck and knelt down beside him.
"You okay, man?"
"That guy punched me! Outta his mind, like he didn't know where he was. Ripped out all his stuff."
"He's gone, man. He'll be back. Won't get very far like that, brother." Helped the younger one sit up. Took a minute before he had his wits about him, well enough to stand.
Then the two helped the younger one down out of the back of the ambulance, and into the bay of the ER. One of the uniformed ones was on his radio, then, calling it in to Security.
"Damn, what happened to you?" The triage nurse, watching him stagger down the hall, one of the beefy men on either side, holding him up.
"That transport punched me," he said, and they made a spot for him next to the nurse. She got busy.
That burst of speed got him away, but there'd been a cost. Everything hurt, hard to breathe. Bleeding again.
Reese stopped in a patch of grass near some trees. Leaned on one, breathing hard. Could barely stand now. Starting to go... Blackness like a tunnel closing in, and then he was down on the grass.
Last thing he remembered was the smell of the earth under him, and the cool blades of grass on his hands.
Didn't know how long he was out. Quiet around when he opened his eyes.
Getting flat was better.
Started to look around him then.
On the grass. Didn't remember how. Hurt in his chest, and down on the right somewhere. Looked down. A lot of blood on his shirt. Can't be good, he thought to himself.
Later, he was up. Walking. Trying to walk. But there was a problem. Had a hole in his side, down low on the right. Trouble thinking. Needed to think this through.
Keep walking. Gotta keep walking.
Where?
Reese looked around him. Thought he knew. Down near the station. The Third, wasn't it? Where Carter worked.
Carter.
Something about Carter…
"Wait."