by Alice Brown
Charles was able to divert some power down to them, bringing the emergency lighting system on. It flickered in places, stayed completely off in heavily damaged areas, but the team was not going to complain. At this point, they would take what light they could get and be happy for it. He was also able to get the equipment running that was needed for the earpieces, and informed the group below that they had help coming from three different areas.
The next hour proved to be productive as they dug out multiple elderly vamps, including Mrs. Jenkins, Mr. Blackstone, Mrs. Callaway, and Ms. Rita. Kevin, Erica, and Marshall continued to search frantically for Stephanie. Julietta and Kate stayed to help them. The remainder of the search party was split up into two groups: one group worked on the area they thought the school for the half-vamp children was located; the other group went to where the hospital once stood. A small portion of what was once the hospital was all that remained standing.
As they came across the injured, other problems quickly arose. What to do with them? And then how did they go about treating them? Kevin suggested taking all injured up to the VCTF office and turning it into a makeshift hospital for the time being.
“As long as no one goes in or out of the building, the public will assume it is empty. We will just have to use the underground facilities to move around town,” he stated.
“That should work, Kevin,” Dr. Carlson stated. “But I really wish I had some medical equipment available. I guess we will just go back to doing things old school.”
“Hey, Charles,” Marshall called over the earpiece. “If you talk with anyone from the other societies before they leave, we could use some basic medical equipment, first-aid supplies, and cots.”
“I am working on it as we speak, my dear man,” Charles replied. “Has Stephanie been found yet?” he inquired.
“Still searching,” Marshall replied, his heart breaking a little more every time her name was mentioned. He refused to believe she was dead. He refused! Although his logical brain reminded him that she was half-human, and that alone lowered her chances of surviving a disaster like this. If she were truly gone, Marshall wanted to go find a corner to curl up in and end his own life once and for all, but he knew he couldn’t, he wouldn’t. His community needed him, so no matter how heartbroken he was, he would stand strong for the time being. There would always be time later for him to surrender to grief.
Dr. Carlson left the group to go upstairs with the first load of injured vamps. They sent as many of the elderly as they could. Most needed basic first aid at least for minor cuts or bruises; some had broken bones that would need attention. They were thankful they hadn’t come across anyone who hadn’t survived, but knew they still had plenty of vamps and half-vamps unaccounted for.
The search party at the school began pulling out half-vamp children, all of them that they had found still alive. A group of five had managed to find shelter between two large chunks of concrete, which kept the remainder of the weight off the children. Those five came out with barely a scratch. Others weren’t so lucky; many had broken bones, crushed limbs, gashes, cuts, and bruises. Marshall watched these children being pulled out, his heart renewing its hope. If the half-vamp children had made it through, maybe Stephanie had also. He found himself praying, although he couldn’t even remember the last time he had done it. “Oh, please, God, she means everything to me.” The prayer stayed on his lips as he continued to remove layer after layer of concrete chunks, his urgency never fading.
More than three hours after the initial search had begun, Erica let out a wail that had Kevin and Marshall both rushing to her side. Looking down, they saw a hand. Marshall recognized the hand immediately; it wore the diamond engagement ring he had given Stephanie just a few short weeks ago.
After Erica let out her initial wail, it was as if she were frozen in time, unable to move. Shock had finally hit her. The hand was completely still, with no movement, but Marshall wasn’t going to accept that as the final answer. He and Kevin started digging past the concrete in order to retrieve her.
It took another twenty minutes to dig her out, but they had been able to reach around the barrier and check for a pulse on her wrist. She was alive. Marshall, sending a quick thank you upward, worked frantically to free her. When he was finally able to reach down and pick her up, she was out cold. He put her down on the ground so they could assess her injuries. He heard Kevin behind him speaking to Erica in soothing tones.
“She’s alive, let’s hold onto hope. I’ll get her to Dr. Carlson just as soon as I can, but I need to check to see how bad her injuries are first. Come on now, pull it together, she is going to need you,” he spoke quietly, shoring up Erica’s strength, and when he knelt down to check on Stephanie, Erica was by his side.
“Right arm is definitely broken, and it feels like she has a couple of broken ribs,” Marshall informed him after a quick medical evaluation. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she has a few bones crushed in that right leg, also.”
“Let me feel those ribs, I want to make sure they are not blocking her airway,” Kevin ordered.
Marshall leaned down, putting his ear to Stephanie’s nose and mouth. “Airway sounds clear, Kevin,” he reported.
Kevin nodded, bellowing for the closest VCTF member that they were going to need the elevator to transport Stephanie up to Dr. Carlson. Tom and Victor had taken it upon themselves to be the manual elevator lift, hoisting it up by hand each time they had injured.
“Kevin, I need to go up with her. I am sure Dr. Carlson is in over his head anyway, please let me go up and try to be of assistance,” Erica begged.
Kevin leaned over and kissed his wife on the forehead. “Go, love. Just please keep us in the loop,” he asked in return.
Erica smiled slightly and nodded her head. She then picked Stephanie up and headed to the elevator. Kevin and Marshall resumed the search, keeping to the area where Stephanie had been discovered. Chances were good she would not have been alone. Just to the side of where Stephanie had been, they found skeleton bones and mourned their first casualty in this disaster.
“Well, someone didn’t make it,” Kevin stated quietly. “Maybe Stephanie can shed some light on who was with her.”
They moved the bones over to a cleared area to take care of them later. There was more work to be done now, more bodies to be found.
Hearing a commotion in the school area, Kevin and Marshall ran over to see what was going on. They met up with another group of local vamps coming down to lend a hand after hearing the news, along with a few of the CW crew. At this point, all help was needed and welcomed; they couldn’t afford to turn down any help offered. Kevin took a quick moment to break the newcomers into two more groups, and pointed them in the direction of the shopping center and the judicial building.
Then he turned his attention back to the school site. A huge piece of concrete, maybe an entire wall, had come down in one piece. Even with the four vampires giving it everything they had, they still couldn’t budge it. Kevin and Marshall immediately found spots and the six vampires attempted to lift the huge wall. They were barely able to get it off the ground, but couldn’t move it farther, and ended up dropping it back down, discouraged.
“Is there a safe way of cutting the concrete in half, without hurting anyone who might be under it?” one of the volunteers inquired.
“Well, we can cut it, but I don’t see how it could be done safely. If someone is directly under where we cut, chances are they wouldn’t survive, and we are talking half-human kids here,” Kevin stated as he tried to think of a way of getting under that wall. There was no telling what or who might be buried under it.
“I’ve got an idea. Pull everyone off what they are doing for just a few minutes and let’s tackle this as a group effort. If we have enough manpower, we should at least be able to lift it high enough to see what is under it,” Marshall reasoned. They had to have had at least thirty vampires down there with the search and rescue. It stood to reason that if everyone pulled tog
ether, it should accomplish the goal.
“Good idea. Gather everyone together and let’s give it a try,” Kevin replied.
Within ten minutes everyone had gathered, and one huge group effort later, the wall was moved completely out of the way. Unfortunately, moving the wall uncovered no survivors, but instead exposed the remains of the teacher and two students who had perished. Kevin gathered the teacher’s bones and put them with the other bones they had come across, and placed the two children’s bodies gently in the same corner.
With the wall moved, the team working on the school had reached the bottom, and they thought that all students seemed to be accounted for. That team moved to the shopping center, but still, too many areas remained untouched. The movie plaza, park, and housing development all had yet to be searched, and they were going into the fifth hour of the search and rescue mission.
The two men walked back over to what had been the retirement center to continue searching for survivors. Kate was already there, determinedly moving one concrete piece at a time, trying to locate any of their elderly. A moment later, Charles walked through, carrying a large tote. “I never thought I’d see the day I’d be thankful that Rosetta kept such a large variety of medical supplies at the house,” he stated when he reached them. “She is donating her entire supply to Dr. Carlson.”
“You know there are some supplies up in the office, in the medical room,” Kevin reminded his father.
“I know. They were used up within the first hour,” Charles replied as he picked up the tote and continued walking toward the elevator.
Charles stopped on his way back through about thirty minutes later. “The teams from Atlanta and Texas are already in the air and on the way. Both have separate teams driving trucks with supplies, but they will be a bit longer in getting to us. The Philadelphia team is still gathering supplies and volunteers, but we should have a large team from their group also.”
“How’s everything going upstairs?” Kevin asked, stopping for a much-needed break.
“Dr. Carlson is in over his head, too many patients and only one doctor. The lack of medical equipment and supplies is not helping. On top of that, we won’t have room for all the injured at the rate we are going. Rosetta and I can open our house, but in order to do that, we will have to use your elevator, which, by the way, the generator is running, and then get the patients from your house, over to mine,” Charles replied to his son.
“Use whatever you can of mine. It’s not like we are going to be at the house anytime soon,” Kevin replied. “As a matter of fact, we might want to start figuring out where we are going to house everyone. There were a good number of vamps living down here. They are going to need a place to live until we can get this mess cleaned up and rebuilt.” He stopped for just a second before continuing to Charles. “If you can work on that, I’ll continue working down here.”
Charles placed his hand on Kevin’s shoulder. “I am doing everything I can, son. Just so you know, I am disconnecting phone lines unless I need to place an outside call. I know full well the governor and half the other politicians in this state are probably trying to get in touch with us right now for help, but we need to take care of our own first. It isn’t like we can ask anyone else for help.”
“I totally agree with you. After we get things down here somewhat settled, then I’ll be glad to offer what assistance I can to the humans. But right now, our community comes first,” Kevin replied before bending down to realize he had just come across another survivor. Charles and Marshall quickly joined him in removing the debris. They were able to pull Mrs. Yates out moments later. She didn’t look to be in good shape upon initial assessment. Her breathing was shallow, and she wasn’t moving at all.
Charles quickly picked her up and called back, “I’ll get her up to Dr. Carlson. You two keep working!”
“Charles, grab the emergency stash of blood while you are up in the office,” Kevin requested.
“Sorry, son, Dr. Carlson had to use that also on some of the elderly. I’ll run home shortly and get some down here,” Charles stated on his way to the elevator with Mrs. Yates.
An unexpected but welcome voice came through on the earpieces. “Guys, this is Rosetta. Jennifer and Joshua just arrived, and I am sending them down to help out. They’re also bringing all available blood from the two houses. I’ll see if I can get in touch with Davidrick and check on getting an emergency delivery.”
Although no one had given a thought as to who was running the VCTF office, no one would have ever guessed it to be Kevin’s mother.
Marshall grinned over to Kevin. “Thanks, Rosetta, you are one in a million.”
Jennifer and Joshua showed up a short time later. Both immediately walked over and embraced Kate. Marshall stopped for just a moment, looking over to Jennifer. “Has anyone heard from Elizabeth?” She was the only member of the O’Rourke family unaccounted for.
Alec came across the earpiece before anyone else could answer. “She is fine. I spoke with her a few minutes ago. She is helping some of our injured vamps that live above ground. She is waiting until dark to transfer them all over to her parents’ house.”
“Okay, thanks,” Marshall replied, relieved. At least all of Kevin’s family was now accounted for.
“Erica, any word on Stephanie yet?” he anxiously inquired. His girl was alive, and that kept him going for the moment, but he desperately needed to know she was okay.
“We are still in limbo, Marshall. I am not trying to hold out on you, I just really don’t know too much yet. Dr. Carlson said the cracked ribs and arm should heal themselves. He is worried about internal bleeding, but doesn’t have the equipment to check on that. She hasn’t come to yet, so we are in a holding pattern for now. He hasn’t said what he plans to do about her leg yet.” Her voice conveyed her depression and frustration over not being able to do more.
The search and rescue mission continued, with the volunteers all giving everything they had to dig for survivors. By evening, some of the out-of-town help began to arrive. The Texas crew included Betty Sutton, and Walter and Sissy Andrews.
Kevin shook hands with Walter and lightly slapped him on the back. “You have no idea how good it is to see you!”
“I’ve got a doctor with me, and I have an entire team driving a truck that is loaded down with supplies. That team has several electricians, plumbers, and construction workers coming. I’ve got six with me now, where do you want us?” he inquired as he glanced around at the utter devastation. He had just been down to the underground development a few short weeks ago. So much damage had happened in so little time.
“We need the doctor upstairs to help Dr. Carlson out. He is the only doctor we have, and we are very limited on medical supplies and equipment at the moment. In fact, if there’s anyone with any medical knowledge at all, that is where they are needed most,” Kevin stated.
A young man stepped forward and shook Kevin’s hand. “I’m Dr. Robert Weathers,” he introduced himself. “I will be glad to be of service.”
A young woman also stepped up. “I’ve been a nurse for many years. May I go up and assist?” she inquired.
Kevin smiled gratefully at her and replied, “Please, they need all the help they can get.”
“So, where are you standing at this point?” Walter asked Kevin.
“All the children that were in the school have been found and accounted for. We lost two and the teacher. We have another four still unaccounted for from the elderly village, which is where we are now. I have a team working at the hospital site, a team working on the shopping center site, and another working on our judicial building site. But I haven’t had the time to go around and check to see how progress is coming along. We also have the residential section. That area hasn’t even been touched yet, neither have our laboratories.
“Okay, how about if I take my team and start working on the residential section?” Walter asked.
“That would be great, most of the vamps that live down here work d
uring the day, so I am hoping we don’t find too many. But I do know we have a few who work night shifts, and we have a couple of stay-at-home moms who are still unaccounted for,” Kevin replied as he showed Walter and his crew where to start looking.
Everyone was working diligently but silently; the only time noise was heard was when someone had been located. It was Kate who exclaimed a few minutes later, “I found something!” Kevin and Marshall moved to her side immediately, helping her to uncover yet another survivor.
They pulled out Mrs. Goodberry, and although she didn’t seem too injured upon initial assessment, she wasn’t acting herself at all. They wondered if something had hit her in the head. She didn’t seem to know who she was, where she was, or much of anything else. When Kate tried to take her hand to lead her to medical, she yelled at Kate not to touch her. At this point, Kevin tried reasoning with her.
“Mrs. Goodberry, Kate just wants to get you to Dr. Carlson so he can check your injuries,” Kevin reassured her in a soothing tone. Unfortunately, she wasn’t buying it.
“I am not going with either of you two,” she screeched. “I have never seen the likes of you two in my life. Now here you are trying to manhandle me. Believe me, you two hooligans; I’m reporting you to the authorities just as soon as I can get in touch with them. Our kind has rules you know, and we have our own police department. They won’t put up with the likes of you two very long, that is for sure!”
Kevin remained crouched in front of her, trying to keep a straight face. He had just been called a hooligan. By a woman who had known the O’Rourke family for at least a century. Kevin had known her ever since he had been adopted into the family. But it was painfully obvious that she couldn’t even comprehend that Kevin was on the police force, even though he had his uniform on, right in front of her.
