by Barb Shuler
“I-I need.. a minute…” Lana panted. I stopped with Trace right with me. She was looking a little grey. Derek dropped his pack and pulled her inhaler from his back pocket. She’d already had to use it once. Shit, this was not good.
“Butterfly, look at me. Take a deep breath and hold it, okay?” Derek spoke to her softly as Lana squeezed down on her inhaler. He was doing his best to keep her calm, which would help her in the long run. If she started to panic, she would do herself more harm.
“You ready to carry on Peanut?” Stella asked as she wrapped her arm around Lana. Her nod was small but as soon as we saw it we moved back out. The heat of the day was worsening as we climbed the slight incline of the forest floor.
“Stop,” Derek called out and I saw him dropping his pack again. He pulled out a canteen and helped Lana take a drink. After a few drinks she seemed to be okay. A little wobbly, I noticed, we were all in that state.
“Guys, I hate to say this, but we are moving too slow. We need to purge. If it’s not a life or death item, drop it. We need to lighten our loads.”
“What's that mean?” Tim asked. I gave him a look.
“Water, food, guns, med, first aid kits, we keep. Everything else, drop it and we will worry about replacing it later,” I said. He nodded and everyone started taking packs off. Trace whistled for his dogs and he, along with Stella, gave them some water. I saw Kris doing the same thing with Thor. I dropped our bag, pulled off Kristol’s backpack that had been attached and shoved the water bottles, jerky and two small bags of dog food into it.
As I stood I saw Kris had a small pack on her back now with the first aid kit and Lana’s med pack in it. I nodded as Derek slipped on Lana’s backpack. I assumed his pack matched mine. Carter was the last to pull on a backpack. Stella sorted hers and the guns around her back and we headed back up the trail. I could already tell the difference in my own pace without all of that heavy gear on my back.
An hour later we were almost to the other side of the park. The camping area was just ahead when Lana started to gasp for air. I heard Derek curse and Kris moved to his side. I sat Trace down on a log and moved to her aid.
“Lana, look at me, honey. You gotta calm down, take a deep breath and hold it when I squeeze your inhaler. Can you do that for me?” she nodded slightly and I pushed my finger down on the top of the inhaler. She tried to hold her air in. She was shaking as she gasped again. Her heart was racing and as I watched her lips starting to turn blue. I heard Derek curse and I shifted her head back slightly. “Lana, honey you gotta breathe for me, okay. You can fight this.”
“Butterfly,” he looked at me as she seemed to go still in his arms. “Alana Christine, open your eyes.”
“C-can’t…” she rasped. She was wheezing bad enough that we could hear it. She needed to get to an ER or we were going to be in serious shit.
“Lana, take this one more time, honey, it’ll help,” I said as I pushed the inhaler to her lips. With Derek’s help she was able to suck in a little more meds. She wasn’t as grey as she was, but we weren’t out of the woods yet. No pun intended.
“We gotta get her the hell outta here. We all need to move, now,” Stella snapped.
“Here, let me carry her. Someone take this pack,” I said as I shoved it off.
“I got it,” I heard Trace grunt from behind me. I gave him a look. “I’m good man, take care of Lana.”
“Lana, I’m gonna lift you up now, okay. On three,” I said then counted. On three I hoisted her up and she flopped her head on my shoulder.
I nodded for Kris and the others to move on. We kept a good pace going up the last bit of the incline before cresting the tree line. There were two Jeeps setting out just as plain as day. As we came closer Raul and the other men that had been with him ran from the tree line about a hundred yards from where we had and moved to a Jeep off to the side of the road.
“Come on, folks, we gotta roll,” Raul said as his Jeep pulled up by us. He eyed us all and nodded at the men waiting by the doors of their jeeps. “You, ride with us, let them have these two. I’m sure Officer Landry and party can handle them with no problem.”
“We gotta get her to the hospital, stat. Derek, call it in. Tell them to be ready for her. Stella, get Trace, the boys and your dogs in that Jeep. I want you on my ass like a dog on a fox. Got it?” I was shooting out orders as I shifted Lana in my arms.
“Oooh, kinky...” she laughed as she shoved Carter towards the other Jeep.
“I mean it, Stell.”
“Yeah, I got ya. On your ass. No worries. This ain’t my first rodeo, ya know,” she sassed as she walked off, yelling her own orders.
“Raul, we’ll follow your lead,” I said as I sat Lana in a seat. Derek helped Kris and Thor in. I hopped into the driver’s seat. Derek had my SAT phone in his hand and his mouth was going a mile a minute. I sighed and started the Jeep. If the smoke was this thick on this side, we were about to catch hell coming around this mess.
“Lord, be with us,” I heard Kris mumble from beside me, and I seconded the thought.
12
Chaos Is Upon Us
Derek
We’d been driving for about thirty minutes and hadn’t gone very far. As we made our way around the forest the smoke grew thicker, slowing our progress. Finally, we were able to get ahead of the smoke and hauled ass towards the hospital. Lana was calmer, but she was still breathing heavy and wheezing. I leaned closer to her as her body jerked. Her eyes popped open as she suddenly sat up and tried to cough. Nothing came out. No air, no noise, nothing. She was shaking, her body fighting the loss of the oxygen she needed. As I watched, her lips started to turn blue.
“Lana! Come on, baby, let me have this,” I took her inhaler and leaned her back slightly. “Deep breath baby, you can do it.”
“D? What’s going on back there?” Jacks asked as he took another curve.
“She’s turning blue!” I had to bite back panic as I tried to get her to take in a deep breath. She was able to get some air in and she panicked more as she tried to hold it. She made it to the count of two before she was gasping again. Her nails bit into my arm and she started to seize. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as the Jeep jerked to a stop.
“Kris, go get help. Jacks leaned over the seat as I sat us up. He held her as I stood and jumped out. I took her from him and ran to the ER door. A nurse and orderly met me with a wheelchair.
“Let’s get her into bay two. Can you tell me what happened?” I followed behind them as we moved to the back of the ER.
“Forest fire. The smoke got to her. She’s asthmatic,” I panted as panic started to sink in.
“You family?” Another voice asked as she brushed by me. “If not, you have to get out. Now!”
“Boyfriend, and I’m not leaving,” I snapped.
“She okay?” Stella asked, as everyone else ran into the hall by the bay we were in.
“She’s blue, she’s been better,” I drawled sardonically.
“I’ll go call Anna,” Stella said, giving me a snarky look.
“Everyone has to get out,” the nurses said in turn.
“I’m not leaving her,” I growled.
“Then stand back and get out of the way,” the older gray haired nurse said, glaring at me before she went back to hooking up monitors. I glared at her but stepped back against the the wall. I watched as they got oxygen on Lana and started an IV.
“What do we have here, Carla?” I sighed seeing Shelby walk in with hurried steps, another woman on her heels.
“Thank God,” I whispered. At least now I knew Lana was in good hands.
“Asthmatic. She was apparently caught in a fire, the smoke has caused issues with her breathing. Her blood oxygen reads at seventy-two. Her BP is one forty over one eighty. Heart rate is one twenty-two.”
“Lana?” Shelby blinked, then moved a little faster. “Crap!” Shelby’s eyes widened as she looked over the monitor before her and went into full doctor mode. “Get me a blood gas. C
all pulmonology and get Dr. Arant down here, stat,” Shelby called out to another nurse. The woman moved from the room quickly. Everyone was moving quickly around the table where Lana lay. “Derek, tell me what happened?”
“We were camping out in the park. There was a fire in the woods. We got stuck in the walls of smoke as we tried to get free of it. She… her asthma kicked in… she just couldn’t fight it anymore,” I said. I scrubbed a hand over my face as I fought back my own set of tears.
Twenty minutes later Lana was alert and breathing on her own. There was an oxygen mask still on her face pushing more pure oxygen into her lungs. We were waiting for the pulmonary nurse to set up her breathing treatment. I was riveted to watch as they set up the machine. Anna had gotten here in time to speak to Shelby and Doctor Arant as I sat by Lana’s bed and held her hand. We were waiting for Kelly and Robert to get here. Anna had told us they were almost back to town when she reached them.
“Here ya go, honey. Slow, deep breaths. Normal breaths, yes, that’s it. Leave the oxygen tube in your nose. I know it feels funny, but you need it,” I nodded at the nurse. I’d make sure she kept it on. Lana was going to be fine and my heart melted as she gave me a small smile even with the smoking wand of medicine in her mouth. She was going to have a treatment or two then they would check her blood oxygen again. If it was at a good, and stable level we could take her home. If not, she may have to spend the night.
There were loud voices coming from the lobby and I winced at Kelly’s voice ringing through the ER. I sighed. “Here we go,” I muttered.
“Mama…” Lana whispered as she pulled the wand from her lips. I pushed her hand back to her mouth and gave her a tight smile when she scowled at me.
“I’ll go get her before she shows her ass,” Anna said softly as she patted Lana’s arm. She left us and I leaned my head down against her arm and closed my eyes.
My adrenaline rush from earlier had me on the shirttail of exhaustion, which sucked. And now I had to deal with Kelly and her hysterics. Yay me. Her hysterics were understandable, but - I wondered if this was why some people drank. Lord knows I was on edge, but too tired to do more than blink right now. When the voices around us rose again I lifted my head. My hand went to the back of my neck, trying to rub out the tightness in my muscles.
“What happened? You were supposed to keep her safe!” Kelly snapped as she stormed over to me. I stood, my hand going up to stop her where she was. I kept my voice low, but the fear of Lana not making it here in time was still flooding me. I was fighting back the shakes. I glared at her.
“This is not my fault. I have no control over a fu-frigging wildfire. I did not start it, ergo, it’s not my fault. Keep your voice down before you scare her more,” I snatched the chair back to me and sat down, taking her hand back into mine. Ignoring them all.
“Mama, stop it,” Lana whispered as she took the wand from her mouth again. I put it back into place and shook my head at her.
“You need that, don’t take it out until it’s done, butterfly.” My eyes met hers for a moment. I pulled her hand up and kissed her knuckles.
“I’m… okay,” she mumbled as her eyes locked on mine.
“Kel, you need to relax. Our girl is going to be just fine. Right, Peanut?” Robert moved around the bed and kissed her temple. She nodded her head and looked back at her Mama. Her free hand raised and Kelly moved to take it.
“You scared us. I’m sorry, Derek. I know- I know it wasn’t your fault.” I gave Kelly a nod as the curtains opened and Shelby looked around at the crowd of bodies in the room.
“Out, all of you. Lana needs to rest,” Shelby said, one hand on her hip while the other held onto a blue folder in her fingers. No one moved at first until her eyes narrowed. “Out, or I call security. She needs calm and quiet, not all y’all crazy ass people in here. Move it.” Shelby moved to check a monitor and turned slowly when Robert spoke.
“Derek, excuse us. We’d like to be with our daughter.”
“I’m not leaving her,” I said, my eyes going up to meet his.
“Daddy… it’s okay…” Lana started to cough and I helped her to sit up as Shelby called for the pulmonary nurse to get in here.
“Shelby, is she okay?” Kelly asked in a screech.
“Everyone, stay calm. She’s okay. She needs to cough up the phlegm that is in there. It’s what the meds do sometimes.”
“Doctor Grant, Doctor Arant called for one more treatment.”
“Okay, Marg, she’s already coughing. They seem to be working. She is sounding clearer already. Her breathing is steadier than it was when she came in.” Shelby smiled as she shifted Lana to sit up more so she could listen to her lungs again. “Here ya go, lean back. You’re sounding better, kiddo. You have color again.” The other nurse was pressing on Lana’s finger nails, checking to see if the color was changing. I’d seen them do that to her before. This wasn’t our first time here, but it was the scariest. I pressed my head down on her free hand as everyone around us watched Lana.
“Shelby, why are you in the ER again? Not that I’m not glad you’re here, but I thought you were in OB-GYN?” Kelly asked, her head tilted slightly. She was trying to stay calm and not freak out. I could hear that in her voice.
“Working on the last of my ER residency terms. I’m on overtime today to fill in for another Doctor. Plus, I like the hustle in here. OB calls when they need me. Being in here keeps me on my toes,” She shrugged, a big grin on her face.
“Lana! Where is my sister?” I looked up with everyone else at his voice. Charlie came in and moved to her side. Her smile grew as he leaned down to kiss her temple. “You okay, Peanut?” She nodded and he whispered, “Thank God,” and moved to kiss Shelby’s lips. “Kid, you okay?” He asked as he turned to grip my shoulder.
“Yerp, everyone is all right. Lana was the only one affected by the smoke. She scared the shit out of me.”
“I’m glad. I think we all had kittens when that siren went off and the calls started,” Charlie winked down at Lana when she shook her head, still grinning at her bubba.
“Ugh, well, I’m not a fan of it. If the Rangers hadn’t been there things would have not been so good. Just saying. The wind was moving the smoke faster than we could walk with Trace as bad as he was.” I jerked my head up at that. “Oh shit, Shelby, how is Trace?” Damn, I can’t believe I had forgotten about his injuries.
“He’s two rooms down and being an ass,” she said laughing. “Stella threatened him with a lot of… erm... things I won’t repeat so he decided to behave a little.”
“He has three broken ribs. Needless to say, he’s out of comission for a few weeks. He’s madder than a hornet whose nest was set on fire,” Stella said as she pushed her head into the room. “You okay, Peanut? The big baby wanted to check on you, but the nurses won’t let him up yet.” She said, laughing. Her laugh didn’t fool anyone though, we could see the worry across her face.
“I’m okay. Sleepy,” Lana said, as Shelby took the breathing tube from her, passed it to the nurse so she could set up the next treatment, and then handed Lana a cool rag to rub across her face and neck.
“We love ya, kiddo,” Stella grinned.
“Love you too,” Lana said through a yawn.
“I’ll check on ya in a bit. I need to go supervise the big baby so he doesn’t run off on us,” Stella waved and sauntered off, still laughing.
“Mr. and Mrs. McKenna, I’m Doctor Arant. We will need to keep Lana overnight. Her levels are better, but with what she has been through, I’d feel much better if we were able to evaluate her overnight.”
“Thank you, Doctor Arant. We appreciate what y’all are doing for our girl,” Robert said. Kelly had taken up a stool by Lana’s other side.
“Marg, give her this last treatment and make arrangements for her to have another in two hours, unless her blood gas drops,” Doctor Arant said as he made a note on the computer screen before him. He gave everyone a nod and with a final word to Shelby, he moved out
of the room.
“I don’t want to stay here,” Lana whined.
“Your Dad and I will stay with you tonight,” Kelly said, glancing at me. I sat up and stared at her and Robert.
“If for one minute you think I’m leaving here, you’re sadly mistaken,” I said. My gaze not wavering from theirs.
“Derick can stay… that’s all I need,” Lana said, again a yawn covering her words as she settled into the blanket the nurse moved to lay over her.
“She just needs rest. I will keep you updated. I’m on shift until eleven tonight,” Shelby said. “She’s in good hands, don’t worry.”
Now all we had to do was wait for a room and then I planned on taking a nap with her. I was so damn tired. My exhaustion was only tempered by the relief I was swamped with. She would be fine. We’d gotten her here in time.
13
School Never Ends…
Lana
School sucks. Let’s just get that out of the way, shall we? I’m so glad this is my last year stuck in the brick walls of this hateful place. The science building is still under construction in the back, but the front classrooms are up and running, so here I sit. My eyes are glued to the hands on the clock above the door. The end of this class starts my lunch period, then I have study hall, math and then gym. I’m ready for lunch and study hall, but not math or gym. Both of those classes suck monkey balls.
My gym coach this year was Mr. Evans, a creepy teacher who I had seen around starting last year. They’d changed gym up starting this year to make the classes co-ed. The only good thing about it was that Cart had the same classes as I did this year, minus science. He was in Chemistry, which was right down the hall. Small favors, I guess. The minute the bell rang I closed my notebook and was up out of my seat. Cart and I had already arranged a place to meet after class. When he saw me he grinned and we made our way to the cafeteria with a lot of other students. Most of the seniors could leave campus to get food but, really, there was no need to when they had a mini cafeteria here that sold real food. Pizza, fries and barbecue . The real kind, too.
