by Annie Berdel
The hardest part was getting Tom carried out of the briars beneath the young trees. The rest of the way was easier footing as they would simply travel up the driveway. Once they reached the house, Emma had her assistants help carry him into the downstairs bedroom. She had Lauren, her daughter set up the massage table in the room so that she could use it as an examination table. She was glad she had set this space up as a temporary infirmary if needed. It was close to her office and the supplies she would need to try and help him. It had a small private bathroom and several large windows that could be opened for fresh air if needed. The windows were large enough that in an emergency they could be used as a door to the outside if the room had to be quarantined.
Help him! Her soul screamed. Help him….why did she have the nagging feeling that she had caused this? Burying the thought, she set out to make her husband as comfortable as possible. Looking up, she noticed her helpers staring back at her, the room silent. Smiling, Emma looked from face to face. The oldest, Kevin was still so young and naive. Needing a father to guide him still even though he himself had his own family. Jonathon, their middle son. His facial piercings a sign of his spirited nature, he needed a father figure who had a soft heart instead of harsh words. And Connor, their youngest son, the strongest of the three in spirit. He needed a father through the most formable years coming up. A man to teach him how to tame the forces that were at war within his soul.
These three men were silent as they watched the woman tend to the damaged body, barely recognizable as their father. Each deep in thought on how life was changing rapidly as hour by hour the clock dusted the past from its hands. What happened if they lost him? If he wasn’t strong enough to survive? Who would take his place? Was their mother wondering the same? Their eyes darting back and forth between the two figures who had spent their life protecting them. Now who would protect these two?
“Mom?” Kevin asked “You need us right now?”
“No hun.” She said looking around at her children “Why don’t you all go get a drink and relax. I will need help when I start cleaning his backside but right now I just want to do an assessment on what I can see. I’ll come and get you when its time. Oh hey, can you take Dixon with you and get him something to eat.” she said as she knelt down and gave the big dog a deep hug.
Giving their mom a silent nod of agreement, the three boys walked from the room coaxing the hesitant canine with them as they gently shut the door.
Emma, finally alone with her husband, couldn’t keep the tears pent up any longer. Streaming down her face, she didn’t bother wiping them away. Bending over, she kissed him gently on his forehead. “Mon Amour” she whispered.
Emma gently unbuttoned what was left of the shirt he wore, revealing bruising she noticed no signs of an entry or exit wound from a bullet. Lightly prodding his rib cage, she noticed that he had an indentation. His right chest area was not its normal shape. Guessing a flail chest, she wondered how many ribs could be broken under there. Noting to roll him away from this direction later, she needed to stabilize it after she bathed him.
Taking a pair of scissors, she tenderly cut the rest of his clothes off to expose his naked body. Years ago she had wandered each curve and dip that he offered her with fascination. The years had brought a comforting carnal knowledge, a secret wonderment that only the two of them shared. This information would serve her well now as she examined his body looking for anything out of the ordinary.
Walking into the bathroom, she turned the faucet on. Waiting for the water to reach a tepid point, she gathered a basin, wash clothes and soap. Walking back into the room, she left everything on a side table she had pulled over beside Tommy. Walking back into the bathroom, she reached under the sink and grabbed a pitcher. Placing it under the flow of water, she caught a glance of her face in the mirror. Gasping, her fingers touched the scratches across her face, like war paint readying her for battle. She could feel the tiny sticklers still in her skin as the tips of her fingers touched the torn flesh. “Damn brambles” she thought “serves me right”
27
I’ll drive, Mike said as Chloe sat in the driver’s seat.
Giving a high pitched huff, Chloe moved without arguing and slid over to ride shotgun.
Inserting the key into the ignition, Mike started the RV. Finally turning over, black smoke puffed from the exhaust until the engine finally idled down.
“Remind me to have a look at her later”, Mike said giving the RV a tap on the dashboard.
“You’re one of those guys who names your vehicle after women, don’t you?” Chloe asked.
“What if I were?”
“Figures.” Chloe said raising her chin and looking out the side window away from Mike.
“You one of those self-righteous bitches who thinks they are better than everyone else?” Mike asked.
The bluntness of Mikes question caught Chloe by surprise.
“I… I”, Chloe began to stammer.
“No! Please tell me you aren’t one of those types?” Mike begged.
Chloe was quiet. So quiet in fact that Mike began to wonder who the hell this woman really was. She didn’t seem to think she was better than everyone else so why the offense to his question?
Chloe was still looking out the window, her past knocking at the window in front of her face. She thought she had left it behind, but here it was begging to rent space in her head.
“What’s the plan?” she quickly asked
Distracted by the mission at hand, Mike bit hard on the interruption.
“Emma wants the Sherriff and any kind of doctor we can find. She said the hospital was hit by a plane so we may need to do some digging. I’m hoping this cop knows where to find one and fast.”
“Listen, I’ve not been into town but it sounds like they got hit hard. I’m not sure if anyone has seen any kind of moving vehicle since this all went down so I want you to stay in the RV. Don’t let anyone in unless I tell you otherwise.”
“You want me to protect this…this… thing?” She exclaimed motioning her hand around like Vanna White.
“Well ya.” he said shaking his head in agreement. “You see anyone else in here with us? There still a lot of supplies in here and we can’t afford to not have a moving motor vehicle, no matter what it is.”
“Point taken, but how do I protect this thing if I need to? If some big dude has a gun, I don’t stand a chance.”
Mike reached his hand around to his back under his shirt and pulled out a Colt Python. Chloe, her eyes huge, reached out to touch the firearm.
“That’s beautiful!” she exclaimed
I”t is. The guy who this brand of gun is named after, Sam Colt, referred to them as the great equalizer. Consider yourself equivalent to any “dude”, he said with inflection mimicking Chloe
“This wheel gun”, he continued, “is a .357 Magnum. My sister has a dog named after a favorite character she liked on a television show. She got me hooked and I wanted the revolver one of the other guys had. He was the Sherriff before a Zombie Apocalypse happened. Kind of ironic now considering”.
Taking the firearm in her hands, Chloe turned it over examining every inch of it.
“You know how to shoot that?” Mike asked
Flipping the firearm over in her hand, Chloe pushed forward on the thumb piece.
While pressing the thumb piece forward, she used her opposing hand to cradle the revolver and pressed the cylinder out from the right side of the firearm toward the left side. When she did this, the cylinder rotated out of the frame and come to a stop. Looking at Mike, she grinned.
Alright, what are the four rules of firearm safety?
“Number One, all firearms are considered loaded. No matter what you may think” she said flipping over the revolver and dumping the cartridges out of the cylinder. “Number two, never point it at anything you wouldn’t want to destroy. Number three” she continued on “Number three is keep your finger off the trigger until your sites are on the target and “she said taking a deep
breath “Make sure you know what’s behind your target.”
“I’m impressed!” Mike exclaimed. “There’s a story here”
“Emma.” Chloe said nonchalantly
“Emma?” Mike asked
“Some other time. Right now, we need to come up with an unspoken plan in case things don’t go down as planned” Chloe said
“Emma.” Mike satisfied his need to have answers with the simplicity of his sister’s name. Emma definitely had some influence over this girl riding beside him. “This might be easier than I thought” Mike mumbled to himself
The silence in the new world left little options to sneaking into town in an old RV. Their arriving preceded them by about three miles. Some people came out of their homes to witness the noise maker, others watched from afar. No matter where they were at, everyone heard Mike and Chloe coming even if they didn’t see them. Including Sherriff Olan.
Chloe fidgeted a bit at all the stares they were getting, but Mike was seemingly oblivious to the attention. Calmly he pulled the large beast of a vehicle effortlessly down the empty street until he was almost in front of the police station. Pulling off to the side, he put the vehicle in park and motioned to Chloe to move to the driver’s seat. Stepping up and out of the driver’s pit, Mike opened the door and stepped out of the vehicle.
Not having to wait long, Mike squinted his eyes at the man walking towards him. About the same height, this guy had about 30 pounds on Mike. No real muscle tone, Mike assessed that the most this guy worked out was walking across the street to the local pub. Glancing at the man’s waist, Mike wasn’t surprised to see the Glock 17 nestled in the holster. Typical. He thought.
“Hey, aren’t you…” Ben drifted off
“Ya, we had dinner the other night. Emma’s brother.”
“Ya, I thought you looked familiar. Sorry, take no offense but there was a little more estrogen then I could handle in that room. You could have been Brad Pitt and I wouldn’t have cared.”
“No offense taken” Mike replied to the odd statement “Brad Pitt? Really? He thought “Listen, there’s been an accident out at Emma’s farm. She requested I come see if you can get out there. Oh, and where’s the nearest doctor?”
“Doctor?” Ben was obviously shaken by the question Mike noticed
“Ya, doctor. You have one around here?” Mike asked watching Ben’s face
“Ugh. Yea. What happened out there?” Ben asked finally getting his wits about him
“Not quite sure but Emma thinks you need to come on out. She wants to talk to you”
“Ok. Well. Why don’t you head on back and I’ll grab the doctor and be right behind you” Ben said
Knowing his sister, Mike wasn’t about to show up back out at the farm without a doctor with him, nor the Sherriff. “How about I just wait here and we can all drive out together.” Mike replied. “Where’s the doctor?”
Ben pointed at the bar down the road “Most days you can find him in there”
“Lovely” Mike grimaced “Just fricken lovely”
“I’ll be right back” Ben said as he walked away calling over his back. He disappeared into the square block building
Mike turning, walked back and into the RV figuring he could wait for the two men from inside. No sense standing outside. Besides, he wanted to see if Chloe was behaving inside. She seemed to know her way around the revolver, he was curious what else she was experienced with.
“I’m not sure I like that guy” Chloe said before Mike could even say anything
“Oh really. How so?” Mike asked taking his seat back behind the steering wheel
“Guts telling me not to trust him” she said moving in front of him, her scent filling his nostrils. Mike felt the familiar stirring from earlier this morning. “Not now” he willed to himself
“Your gut ever been wrong before? He asked trying to distract his loins from their overzealousness for the blonde now beside him in her seat.
“Nope” Chloe replied.
28
“Are you sure you want to go forward with this? I really need you to be sure.” Ridley said looking from Jeremiah and then back to Shelby “There is no turning back once I get started”
Jeremiah looked at his wife. She was a strong women but this had taken its toll on her. It wasn’t the pain she was in but the feeling of helplessness. She was designed to help people and her being confined in the bed was worse than any physical torture.
“I’ve nothing better to do hun” Shelby replied “Let’s get this done” she said as she smoothed out the sheet covering her legs.
“Ok” Ridley replied quietly, her gut secretly excited to allow her hands to do what she felt they were born to do, heal. Her heart though, that was another story. Something was off and she just couldn’t put her finger on it. Did it always feel like this before a surgery? Would she be able to eventually work herself out of the feeling in her stomach? One way to find out she mumbled as she crossed over to the doorway.
“I’ll be back in just a little bit” Ridley said to no one in particular as she walked out the door to the room, her mind already a million miles away.
Jeremiah walked over and sat down next to his wife. Grabbing her hand, he lifted it, flipping it over and placed a single lingering kiss in her palm. Shelby flinched and the reaction startled Jeremiah. Looking up from under his lashes, his gaze made her shutter.
“Jeremiah” she whispered
“Hey, everything is going to be just fine” he reassured her
“You can’t promise me that”
“Can’t I?”
“No.”
“You really think I would let that little girl even touch you if I thought she would harm you in any way? She has skills. She also has heart. She cares. She has been non-stop examining every possible outcome of this.
“I may never walk again if she messes this up”
“Not to be mean, but you won’t walk again without this. Your leg is a mess. There really aren’t any options at this point or trust me, I would have made it happen. Ridley is right when she says if we don’t do something soon, you could lose your entire leg. Her worst fear is not about being able to repair anything but about the huge chance that infection will set in. Then it’s no longer just about your leg. I don’t want to lose you.”
Those last six words really hit Shelby. “I don’t want to lose you” played themselves out over and over in her head.
Ridley coughed to break the spell between the two on the bed as she walked back into the room. “I need your help Eminem” she stammered
“Of course. What do you need me to do” Jeremiah asked
“That big long side table in the dining room needs cleared off and brought in here. And I need to go back to the barn.” She said looking at Shelby
The look exchanged between them was shallow. Shelby had already checked out and was a million miles away while Ridley had stepped into the role of surgeon. It was now all business.
“I’ll get some help with the table and be back in a bit” Jeremiah said leaving the room
Ridley walked over to the bed and uncovered Shelby’s leg. Checking the area above the bandage for redness or swelling, Ridley was pleased with what she saw. She would unwrap it once they got Shelby up on the makeshift table she wanted to use for the operation. Grabbing a thermometer, Ridley went about checking Shelby’s temp and then continued on with her examination. If anything at all gave her pause for concern, she would stop this procedure immediately. She knew her limits and not being in a sterile environment was distressing enough. Her first fuss was about the comfort of her patient, not only before, but during and after a surgical procedure.
“Blood pressure is a little high” Ridley garbled
“What?” Shelby asked not understanding
“Oh, sorry. Just making a mental note. Your blood pressure is a little high but quite honestly is to be expected. You’ve been through a shit storm the last few days.” Ridley reassured her
“Yessum. Has
n’t been the most of fun” Shelby replied
Laying her hand on Shelby’s arm, Ridley could feel the tension “Listen, it’s going to be ok. And it’s ok to be concerned about this. Stop trying to be all tough and stuff, it just makes it worse. You have to release your emotions or they get stored all up within your body and that’s not good!”
The look that Shelby gave Ridley was enough. It got her attention distracted for the moment that Ridley needed. “Listen, once this is over” Ridley swayed her hand over Shelby’s leg for emphasis “I want to work with you on something. I need you to be open to it, but I think it will help with not only the emotional trauma part of your accident but also any past issues.”
“Is this new age stuff? I really…” Shelby started
“No.” Ridley stopped her before she could get another thought converted to words “Okay, It actually is biblically based and I think you will find it quite intriguing. I know I did anyways.” Ridley said smiling. It’s called Energy Healing.”
“Energy healing?” Shelby asked looking puzzled
“Ya, think of it like the ‘laying on of hands’ to pray over someone” Ridley explained
“Oh!” Shelby exclaimed “I’ve done that myself and seen the power of it! You actually use that in your medicine?”
“Yes. Yes, I do” Ridley smiled
“Fascinating! Yes, I want to learn more” Shelby said, the first look of anything less than stress on the woman’s face.
The door opened and Jeremiah walked in “Your table ma’am?”
“Awesome, let’s put it right over here.” Ridley said walking to the side of the bed that Shelby was on.
Jeremiah caught the look on his wife’s face as he settled the table near her bed. Puzzled, he knew something had transpired since he was gone but knew enough to wait to ask. If anything, he was happy to see the slight improvement in her spirit.
“When do you want to go to the barn” he asked Ridley
“Let’s go now. We can finish anything up in here once we get all the supplies in the room and organized”
