Edge of Ashes (Sons of Ash Motorcycle Club)

by O'Connor, Brynn

  “You’re a dead man Ripper and unlike you, I’m not giving you the option to leave and fight another day. Your club may be intact, but you’re dying today; right now!”

  The second Adam says right now he leaps at Ripper, slashing at the man’s eyes with his already drawn blade. His movements are straight and sure and a lesser man would have stumbled away missing his eyes. Ripper is too fast. On a normal day Adam is the better fighter, but caught off guard, slightly disoriented, weary, and in shock it’s doubtful he can take the bigger man.

  When Adam slashes Ripper merely jerks his head back an inch and the blade just whistles past harmlessly. But as he does so he lashes out with his right foot catching Adam in the stomach and flinging him backwards and painfully on his ass. Ripper advances on him as Adam fights to regain his breath.

  Somehow he has to end this fight and fast before the girl dies from her blood loss. Right now Ripper is way over confident and that may just be his undoing. Amazingly he lets Adam get to his feet again and just stands there watching. Suddenly inspiration strikes. He does his trademark move, one that Ripper has seen him do a thousand times. During a fight he would toss his knife from his right hand to his left, then strike upon catching the blade by the handle. This time Adam does something different. He tosses the knife but catches it by the blades tip between his thumb and forefinger. It takes but a split second for him to flick his wrist and launch the razor sharp missile in Ripper’s direction. Ripper’s face registers pure shock before he throws up his hands in an attempt to block the knife as it tumbles end over end right at him. With a sickening thud the blade buries itself to the hilt in the soft flesh and cartilage of Rippers throat. Adam is rewarded by a spray of hot blood across his face and chest just before Ripper pitches forward and falls face first, dead before he hits the ground.

  Adam stands there for a second, stunned that it has actually worked, then falls to his knees at the girl’s side. Then gently, carefully he scoops her up in his arms and staggers to his feet. This time he turns and faces opposite the door he came in and makes his way carefully to the front door of the warehouse. Abandoning his men to their fate is not something he takes lightly, but they all know why they’re here and ultimately expendable. The woman must be saved at all costs and that is what he is doing now. After leaving the warehouse he makes for the tree line where he will go back around to where his truck is parked. He’ll take Anna to her sister who will then take her to the hospital if necessary; and it will be necessary.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Dreams and Nightmares

  My eyes fly open and I nearly jump out of bed. I scan the darkness, looking and listening but the only thing I can hear is my heart hammering in my chest. My clock on the nightstand tells me it’s nearly 2:30am. What woke me up? I lay back down, pulling my covers up to my chin and close my eyes.

  “Kari... open up!”

  That’s not a dream! I throw my covers off and scramble out of bed just as the hammering starts on my front door.

  “Kari!”

  That’s Adam. “Coming!” I shout, running down the hall. Rounding the corner I step on something soft and my feet go flying. I hit the wood floor hard and with a whoosh my breath shoots out of my lungs.

  “Dammit Kari, it’s me Adam. I’ve got your sister!”

  I scramble to my feet and half run half stumble to my front door which is shaking with every knock that’s coming from the other side. I grab the chain and fumble with the lock. My hands are shaking so badly I can barely work the locks. When I finally do get the door open it bursts in knocking me to the floor again as Adam rushes in with my sister in his arms.

  He steps on my leg in the dark and both he and Anne take a spill. I hear her head hit the floor with a sickening thud.

  “What happened?” I ask frantically. “Is she hur-”

  My voice fails me as my hands encounter a large slick patch over her chest.

  “Anna!” I holler as I feel her neck, searching for a pulse I’m pretty sure won’t be there. “Anna wake up!”

  I can’t find a pulse. I can’t find a pulse! Oh my god, my little sister is dead!

  “Kari… it’s me. Open the fucking door! I’ve got your sister.”

  I sit up in bed with a start. More hammering on my front door. I look around. I’m back in my room, lying in my bed. The clock on my nightstand tells me it’s nearly 3:30am.

  “What the hell?”

  “Kari, open your damn door!” Adam is shouting at the top of his lungs.

  I throw my covers off and scramble out of my bed. Obviously I dreamed…my sister was dead…Oh my god! I sprint down the hall, round the corner and down another hall towards my front door. Reaching the door I throw back the chain, flip off the dead bolt and turn the door knob. The door flies open, striking me in the forehead and knocking me to the floor. I hit hard and with a whoosh all the air in my lungs shoots out. Adam wades in carrying my little sister in his arms. In the dark he steps on my leg, stumbles, then recovers and runs into my dining room where he deposits my sister on the table. I flip on the lights and gasp! She is as pale as a sheet and her whole left side is covered in blood!

  “Anna!” I shout as I feel for her carotid pulse.

  It’s there, faint and rapid. This is not good. I pull up her white tee shirt and nearly faint. There is a three inch long gash just below her rib cage and it’s steadily oozing bright red arterial blood. I grab my trauma kit that fortunately I had the foresight to dig out before going to bed. My hands are shaking so badly I can’t seem to get the sterile abdominal dressing out of its packaging. Adam grabs it from my fingers and rips open the packing simultaneously breaking the sterile field.

  “Adam, now it’s not sterile,” I hiss at him, yanking the dressing from his bloody hands. “Now I’ll have to get another-”

  “Does it really matter at this point?” He replies, taking the dressing and pressing it over my sister’s wound.

  “Guess not.” I reply, miffed at him for being right.

  “Did you already call 911?” He asks.

  “Shit! I forgot.” I fish around for my phone but it’s not in my pockets or anywhere on the counters.

  I look up and Adam is already dialing on his. While he talks to dispatch I begin the methodical search for other wounds. She has a number of strange blisters about a quarter inch wide and spread around her upper torso. There’s even one or two on her right breast. Other than that she doesn’t seem to have any other wounds.

  After Adam hangs up I direct his attention to one of the strange blisters.

  “What’s that?” I ask.

  Suddenly his face turns dark and a scowl forms on his mouth. “I know exactly what they are Kari.”

  “What?” I have no idea. I wonder if she has been suffering from some strange illness she hasn’t told me about.

  “They’re cigarette burns Kari.”

  It takes a second for his words to sink in, but when it does I see red.

  “They…they tor-”

  I can’t say it. I know what I’m looking at now but I can’t say it. It’s like if I don’t acknowledge it, maybe it won’t be true or something. My fists clench and unclench on their own. My eyes blur as I stare down at her pale face. It’s like all the blood has been drained from her body. Hot tears rain down on her face. I can’t believe this is happening. She is so innocent, so pure, and now she’s scarred for life; both emotionally and physically. Now every time she looks at herself in the mirror she’s going to have a constant reminder of what happened these last days. I turn to ask Adam about the rescue when the siren from a rescue vehicle breaks through the silence of the night.

  “That’s my cue Kari.”

  “What?”

  “I can’t stay hon. There’d be too many questions that I cannot afford to have to answer; you know, outlaw biker and all…” He trails off, looking at me guiltily.

  I put my hand on his arm. “It’s okay. You did your part. There’s nothing anyone can do now.”

  “
I’m sorry I couldn’t save her from…” He points to the burn marks.

  “Go. Be safe.”

  “Kari… it didn’t go well tonight. Ripper was there and my friend from the Demons double crossed me. You can’t go home after you leave the hospital. Call me.”

  “Oh my god…Ripper… oh my god…” I can’t believe it. What a mess.

  Adam gives me a quick hug then runs out the door. The sirens are very close now. I should have asked him what to say to the paramedics when they get here. If they’re any good they’re going to recognize the burns and of course the knife wound is going to raise all kinds of questions.

  Just minutes after Adam roars off on his bike I hear the rescue truck pulling up. I go to the front door so I can direct them to my sister. As I walk out two medics are towing a gurney down my sidewalk.

  “This way.” I motion for them to follow me.

  “What’s under the dressing?” The first medic asks me as he opens up his trauma kit.

  The other medic is attaching leads to my sister’s chest and side to get a look at her heart on the monitor.

  “Knife wound,” I reply. “It’s about this wide.” I show with my fingers, “and it’s constantly oozing blood.”

  At the mention of a knife, both paramedics look up alarmed.

  “It’s okay. No one else is here. My sister went missing this morning and just a few minutes ago a black van pulls up and she rolls out.”

  As the second medic starts an IV the other one discovers the cigarette burns.

  “These look fresh.” He comments. “Do you know what made these?”

  “I’m guessing it was a cigarette.”

  “Good guess. I’ve seen them before and I’m sure you’re right.” He turns to the other medic. “Ready for transport?”

  The other medic lays an IV bag across my sister’s knees. “All set.” He replies.

  As they load my sister onto their gurney the first medic turns to me. “You look kinda familiar…”

  “I’m a trauma nurse for St. Josephs.”

  “I knew I’d seen you before.”

  “Is she going to be okay?” I ask as they prepare to load the gurney into their vehicle.

  “She’s got a pulse and she’s breathing on her own. I’d say the worst is behind us. You coming with?”

  For an answer I pile in behind them and take a seat next to my sister. To me she looks worse than when I first saw her. As we pull out into the roadway the medic, Kevin, does a more thorough examination. When he palpates her abdomen his face darkens.

  “What?” I ask, alarmed.

  “I’m almost certain your sister has lost a significant amount of blood due to internal bleeding. Her abdomen is hard as a board.”

  He looks at her heart monitor. I look too and gasp. Her pulse has slowed way down. Her blood pressure has gone from 119 over 69 to 89 over 53. She is tanking!

  Kevin the medic looks up and hollers to the driver. “Step on it Mitchel, we’re losing her!”

  “Be there in nine.” The driver yells back.

  Suddenly my world comes crashing down around me. Kevin grabs a sterile package, rips it open and positions himself so he can intubate my sister but it’ll do little good maintaining an airway if she’s not even breathing through it. My brain screams in panic as Kevin breaks out the AED (Automated External Defibrillator) and begins attaching the pads; just in case. Suddenly the truck makes a sharp left then accelerates up a short incline and we’re at St. Joseph’s ER.

  The second the doors open I’m leaping out. There’s Mitchel the medic, Dr. Michael Shanahan, and two other nurses I know by site. So this is the team my sister has to depend on for her very life. I’ve worked with most of them before; that should be some comfort to me but it’s not. I have seen these people at their best and I’ve seen them when they’ve made the wrong call and we all suffer the consequences. Question is, will this be the day they’re at their best or will it be one of those other days? I have to help!

  I follow the gurney into Trauma Room One. No one has initiated CPR so that’s good. The AED is still attached but no one has activated it. I risk a glance at the monitor as they’re transferring Anna to the table. Her pulse is weak, about forty and her blood pressure is still hovering around 88 to 90 over 53…54. At least her pressure is strong enough to be read. I step up to the table ready to fulfill my usual role as ER Nurse when strong hands grip my elbow, ushering me back away from my sister; it’s Dr. Connors, chief resident; big wig in charge.

  “I need you to sit this one out Kari.”

  “But it’s my sister!” I protest.

  “Which is precisely why you need to sit it out.” He replies with authority.

  A man like him is hard to argue with. Not only is he a giant of a man, he is a brilliant physician and his well- documented reputation makes him the one person you don’t want to say no to; especially when he is in your face giving you an order.

  But this is my sister. “Doctor-”

  “You know I’m right nurse. Now are you going to stand here arguing with me or can I get to the business of saving your sister’s life?”

  He frames it as a question but we both know it’s an order. Forcing my eyes to the ground I walk out of the room as the floor is covered with the detritus of a battle zone. I don’t look up until I’m in the nurse’s lounge. Another nurse, Jaime is her name I think, is in the process of shedding a blood stained pair of scrubs. She’s young and inexperienced. When I look into her eyes I can see the full effects of the job and I know in my heart she will soon be a casualty of it. You can’t take this kind of work home with you and if you do it’ll mess up the other people you share your home with. If I remember right, she is newly married. If I’m guessing right here, she’ll be in that stage where she shares with him every bloody detail of the job and he, like most people, will just eat it up without ever realizing the effect it’s going to have on them.

  And it hits me as I collapse into a chair in the corner. There’s a reason I end up in relationships with fucked up men. No normal man would be able to put up with what I bring him with me each night. Suddenly I get the urge to speak to the woman. I stand up and walk back to the locker area. She’s grabbing her purse.

  “Jaime… is it?” I ask hesitantly.

  She turns around. “You’re Kari right?”

  “You can’t take it home with you!” I blurt out. She probably has no idea what I’m talking about.

  Her mouth opens and closes. Whatever she was going to say gets caught in her throat.

  “Yeah I know your hubby loves the stories. You probably tell his all the gory details, right?”

  “He finds them…entertaining.” She replies.

  “You gotta stop doing that.” I tell her. “People need to be protected from the world we see every day. If you don’t protect him from this world here Jaime… he’s going to lose faith in the perfect world he probably lives in now. He may-”

  “He’s a cop!”

  Well fuck! I’m at a loss for words so I just turn around and head back to my chair in my dark corner to reflect on this fucked up world that is just about to swallow up my sister.

  “I-I hope she’s all right; your sister. That’s your sister they brought in right?”

  I look up and she’s standing there a few feet away looking at me. I’m not sure if it’s compassion I see in her eyes or what. I just nod. I don’t know what else to say and apparently she doesn’t either. She turns and leaves me to my own messed up world. I close my eyes. I’m pretty good at catnapping and right now I could use a little nap.

  “Kari!”

  My eyes fly open. Doctor Connors and my best friend Jenny is standing in front of me. Their scrubs are covered in gore. If I didn’t know better I would have thought they’d been battling blood thirsty Vampires and Demons and not trying to save my sister!

  Jenny kneels down in front of me and right away I know what she is going to say. It’s the posture of death she has, bringing herself to my eye level.
She’s there for emotional support and Dr. Connors is there for technical reasons; to explain why it is they couldn’t save my sister’s life.

  I open my mouth to speak but grief seems to have me in its chokehold. Their faces blur as my eyes fill with tears. I can’t believe this is it. My little sister is dead; killed by that animal, Ripper!

  “I’m so sorry Kari,” Jenny begins. “We did everything we could to save your sister’s life.”

  “It was the stab wound that was fatal,” Doctor Connors begins. “The blade nicked her descending aorta and she just bled out. Even had we been able to get her into surgery the moment she was stabbed we still would not have been able to save her. I’m sorry.”

  Having done his duty, having said his piece, Dr. Connors excuses himself and leaves Jenny to do the best friend thing and console the inconsolable. I close my eyes again. I just can’t believe this is happening to me.

  “Kari!”

  I jump in my chair and look up. Doctor Connors is back standing in front of me. He seems to have changed into a clean pair of scrubs for some reason.

  “Let’s go see your sister.” He says with a smile.

  “Y-your s-smiling doctor…I don’t-”

  “We saved her Kari.”

  Suddenly everything comes rushing back to me. I look at my watch; it’s nearly eight in the morning. I must have been asleep for 3 hours.

  “Kari?”

  “Sorry… I guess it was just a dream. I dreamt you and my best friend came in here to tell me she had died and then you show up again…”