Stiff Competition

by Annelise Ryan

  I realize I’m standing over some kind of underground pit or bunker, and those freshly broken boards fill me with both hope and dread. Carefully I work my way toward the hole, testing each footstep, shifting my weight in increments. About a foot from the hole’s edge I feel the ground sag beneath me so I step back and get down on my knees. Hoover has stopped barking, but he’s staring into that hole and wagging his tail. He looks at me for a second, then back into the hole. I crawl up to the edge on all fours and shine my flashlight down into the abyss.

  It’s a bunker hollowed out of the ground with planked walls and a dirt floor. And lying on that floor in the beam of my light is a body.

  Chapter 28

  “Emily!” I cry out. And my prayers are answered when I see the body move. “Thank God, you’re alive. Can you hear me?”

  She is lying on her left side and she nods weakly. “I think . . . my leg . . . is . . . is broken,” she says, her voice cracking. “I’m so cold. Mattie, please help me.”

  “Help is on the way, honey,” I tell her. “You hang in there.” I look back the way I came and yell as loud as I can, “I found her! She’s over here!” I wave my flashlight at the trees and yell again. “Richmond! Can you hear me?”

  “We hear you, Mattie. Keep your light pointed this way.”

  I do as instructed and moments later I see several bouncing balls of light through the trees coming my way. I turn back toward Emily, and I’m shocked to see that Hoover is inching himself into the hole. I’m afraid he’ll fall and hurt himself, and I’m about to yell to him, but after bellying partway down the wall, he leaps the rest of the way, landing just fine. Then he goes over to Emily, nudges her with his nose, and starts licking her face.

  “Hoover,” she says in that weak voice. I see the faintest hint of a smile on her face as she lifts her arm and wraps it around his neck.

  Hoover lies down beside her, his head alongside her face, his body warming hers.

  I look back and see Richmond and KY enter the clearing. “She’s down in some kind of underground bunker,” I tell them. “She’s alive, but she’s hurt. We’re going to need an ambulance, and maybe the fire department, too, to get her out of there.”

  Richmond nods and gets on his phone. He and KY are still walking toward me and I hold up a hand to stop them. “Be careful. These boards covering the hole are old and rotted. I don’t want you guys falling through, too.”

  “What the hell is this?” KY asks, edging up to the place where Hoover had been moments ago.

  “These woods are part of the Haas farm, and back in the day it was rumored that they had a still out here where they produced illegal moonshine. I’m guessing this is where it was.”

  Emily moans, making my heart ache. “Em, talk to me. Stay with me. Tell me where you hurt.”

  The only response I get is another moan. I look over at KY and say, “I’m going down there. I can’t wait for the ambulance.”

  Behind me, Richmond says, “Don’t be stupid, Mattie. Wait for the fire crew to get here.”

  “I can’t, Richmond. She’s going into shock, and if I don’t do something now we could lose her. Every second matters at this point. I’m not going to stand by and let her die.”

  I crawl on my hands and knees over to where KY is squatting. The opening there doesn’t have sharp-edged planks sticking out, and some of the wall planks are accessible. I figure I can back down over the edge on my belly and when I drop, the fall will only be a few feet. When I reach the edge by KY, I lie on my stomach and stick my feet over the side. I inch my way back, feeling for toeholds in the plank wall. When I get to waist level, I look at KY. “Can you help me?”

  He looks hesitant, but nods. I set my flashlight down as KY gets on his knees. He grabs me under my arms and holds tight as I continue inching my way into the hole. I manage to get my boobs to the edge, and realize they are so full they feel like they’re ready to burst. “Okay, let me go,” I tell KY.

  He does so and I half slide, half fall down into the bunker. I land on my feet but immediately lose my balance and fall backward, landing on my butt.

  “Are you okay?” KY asks, grimacing.

  “I’m fine. Toss me my flashlight.” He does so, and then I flip over onto my hands and knees and crawl to Emily. I grab her hand, which is frightfully cold, and I flash on all the similarly cold, rubbery hands I’ve had to fingerprint. The image strikes fear in my heart and I shake it off and start rubbing that hand, determined to get some warmth into it. My efforts are rewarded moments later when I feel Emily’s fingers curl around my hand.

  “Atta girl, Em,” I tell her. I take off my coat and lay it over her. Then I give Hoover a pat on the head. “Good boy.” I try to let go of Emily’s hand but she grabs mine in a death grip.

  “Don’t leave me,” she whimpers.

  “I won’t leave you, Em. Not now, not ever. But I do need to take a look at that leg. Hang on to Hoover for a few minutes, okay?”

  She nods, looking up at me with pleading eyes. I feel an instant, powerful wave of guilt for every bad thought I had about this kid over the past few months. And I vow to myself that somehow, some way, I’m going to make it up to her.

  I crawl down to her legs and the smell of stale urine wafts up to me. The poor kid was forced to lie here so long she had to pee in her pants. And wet pants in this cold weather could be deadly. In fact, the only reason she isn’t already dead from hypothermia is because the weather warmed up over the past couple of days, and there wasn’t any rain or snow. Plus the bunker provided some protection from the wind. Emily is lying on her side, the broken leg—and based on the angle it has, it is definitely broken—on top of the good leg. I shine my flashlight along her pant leg and see blood—fortunately all of it dried—on the lower part of it. I gently palpate this area through the pants, soliciting a moan from Emily. Midcalf I feel a hard, angled deformity that tells me she has a compound, open fracture. I need to get her pants off her, both to warm her up and to get a better look at her leg.

  “KY, got a knife of any sort?”

  “A pocket knife. You want it?”

  “I do. Toss it down to me. And see if we can get a blanket or two down here.” He tosses me the knife and then disappears. I open up the knife blade and start cutting the seam in Emily’s pants, starting at the ankle and working my way up. It’s slow going because even the slightest movement makes her moan in pain. Every time she moans, Hoover licks her cheek. When I finally have the break exposed, I wince. It’s a bad one, the shattered end of her tibia protruding through her skin and the broken end of her fibula visible just inside the open wound. The skin around the wound is hot and red, a sign of pending infection. I check for pulses in her foot, relieved to feel them, but frightened by how weak and thready they are.

  KY returns with a blanket and tosses it down to me. I cut the remainder of the pants away and pull the wet material from Emily’s body. Then I cover her up with the blanket. In one of the pants pockets I find Emily’s cell phone. The screen is shattered and when I try to turn it on, nothing happens. Either the battery died completely or it’s broken, which explains why Hurley had no luck tracking it. Off in the distance I hear the sound of sirens approaching and I move back up to Emily’s head. “Help is on the way,” I say softly. “Hear those sirens?”

  She grunts a response.

  I lift the edge of the blanket and lay down beneath it, extending the front of my body along the backside of hers, taking care not to touch the injured leg. I drape an arm over her torso and snug myself up against her backside. And then I tighten my hold slightly, hugging her close. It’s an effort to both warm her and reassure her.

  “Emily, I need you to do something for me, okay?” I say just above a whisper. “I need you to stay awake, and focused. I need you to listen to me. Do you hear me?”

  She mutters a halfhearted assent.

  “Johnny never knew about you coming out here,” I tell her. “Some very stupid, very despicable girls played a nasty trick on
you because they’re immature, insecure, and mean-spirited. They were hoping to drive you and Johnny apart, but it didn’t work. Johnny is crazy with worry about you. So is your dad. He’d be here right now if he could but he went to Chicago to search for you. He’s on his way back and he’ll be here as soon as he can.”

  “Chicago?” Emily whispers.

  “Yep, Chicago. He’s been searching for you since you went missing. He even abandoned a case we’re working on so he could focus on finding you.”

  I feel Emily’s shoulders start to tremble and hear her suck in a sob. “I’m sorry,” she stutters.

  “You don’t have anything to be sorry about,” I tell her. “We’re just glad you’re okay.”

  “Johnny isn’t mad at me?”

  “Nope, he’s just worried about you. We’ve all been worried about you.”

  “I didn’t think anyone would look for me,” she sobbed. “All those times I ran off . . .”

  “Of course we looked for you, silly,” I say, tightening my grip on her. “Look, I know you have to feel kind of lost and adrift with all the changes you’ve had in your life. Your dad kind of feels that way, too. Both of you have had to make some really big adjustments in your lives. We all have. We’re trying to figure out our personal definition of family, and right now it’s our little group of four: you, your dad, me, and Matthew.”

  “Where is Matthew?”

  “He’s with Dom and Izzy.” I hear the sound of urgent voices drawing near and know that help is close at hand. “Listen, Emily, the rescue people are going to get you out of here and to the hospital. But it isn’t going to be easy for you. They’re going to have to move you and that’s going to hurt. They can give you pain medicine, but it won’t make the pain go away. It’s only going to dull it. So you’re going to have to be very brave. I know you’re strong, and I know you’re tough. You have to be to get through everything that’s happened to you in the past year. So dig down deep and find all the strength you have left, okay?”

  She nods, but she also starts to weep. Above us is a lot of commotion and I look up to see several men with ropes and a litter.

  “You’re going to need an IV and some pain meds,” I tell them. “And a splint. She has an open tib-fib fracture of the right leg.”

  Moments later there are three men in the bunker with us. I release my hold on Emily and get up to assist them. I call Hoover to me so the EMTs can get to Emily. He gets up, but then he walks over and lies down near Emily’s head. He’s out of the way enough for now, so I let him be because Emily seems to be taking comfort in his presence. She stretches a hand out and pets him.

  “If you give me the supplies, I’ll start an IV on her,” I tell the EMTs. “You guys can splint that leg.”

  They don’t argue; they know me from when I worked in the ER and know I can handle the task. The supplies are handed to me and I scoot around to the front side of Emily and explain to her what I’m about to do. “I need to start an IV on you. Do you know what that is?”

  She nods.

  “It means a needle stick but it will be quick and it will be worth it. Because once we have the IV in, they can give you some pain medicine. And by giving it through the IV it will work much faster.”

  She nods again.

  I make quick work of the IV while the paramedic beside me holds a flashlight so I can see, and then I start some fluids running. “What have you got for pain?” I ask him.

  “Morphine,” he says, taking her blood pressure. “She’s 98 over 60.”

  “We’re ready with the splint,” the two guys at Emily’s feet say. “Let us know when we can go.”

  The EMT beside me rummages in a kit, pulls out a syringe of morphine, and hands it to me.

  “Emily, are you allergic to anything?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Okay, then I’m going to give you some pain medicine through this IV. It will make you feel better but like I said before, it won’t make the pain go away completely, okay?”

  She nods.

  I look over at the paramedic and speak in a low voice. “I’m thinking we should start with four milligrams. She’s a little shocky and I don’t want to drop her pressure too much more.” He nods his agreement and I push the medication into the IV line. “Keep an eye on her pressure,” I tell him. After giving the medication a minute to circulate, I look over at the paramedic and he gives me a thumbs-up as he finishes taking another blood pressure. I take Emily’s hands in mine and lean down by her ear. “This is it,” I say. “Be strong. Squeeze my hands if you need to.” She looks up at me with fear in her eyes, but there is also determination. She nods, and I look over at the two guys who are ready with the splint and say, “Go.”

  The next few minutes are marked by rapid reassurances and muffled moans as Emily bravely bites back the screams trying to box their way out of her lungs. I know the pain has to be horrible even with the morphine on board, and she squeezes my hands so tight as they splint her leg that my fingers all go numb. In the end, I’m duly impressed by the girl’s fortitude. By the time they have her splinted and wrapped in the litter, ready to hoist out of the bunker, she is calmer. The IV fluids have perked her up. Her eyes are brighter, and there’s some color in her cheeks.

  KY and a fireman drop a ladder and with some help we get Hoover out of the bunker by tying a special vest around him and lifting him out. Once I climb out, I help the crew hoist Emily’s litter out of the bunker and then wait with her as they climb out of the hole. Once we’re all ready to hike out, I grab one of the handles on the litter and help carry her through the woods to the waiting ambulance.

  It’s a bumpy trip for Emily and she winces in pain several times, but when I ask her if she needs more pain medicine, she insists she’ll be fine. “I don’t want to fall asleep,” she says. “That’s the only way I kept going when I was lying down there. When I got really cold I kept telling myself that I couldn’t fall asleep. I was afraid that if I fell asleep, I’d die.”

  “That was smart of you. And very brave,” I add with a smile.

  “Except I did fall asleep a couple of times,” she said. “I’d get mad at myself every time I woke up because I was afraid that if I did it again it would be the last time and I’d never wake up again.”

  “That takes a strong will and some incredible inner strength,” I tell her. “You have no idea how proud I am of you.”

  She manages a weak smile at this. “Will you ride with me to the hospital?” she asks.

  “Is it okay if I follow right behind you? I have Hoover and they won’t let him ride in the ambulance. Plus I have my car here and not many people are comfortable driving it.”

  She smiles again, bigger this time, and my heart leaps. “That’s right. I forgot you have that cool hearse.”

  “Yes, I do. And just imagine what people are going to think when they see a hearse screaming down the road following an ambulance that’s running with full lights and sirens.” This time she chuckles and the paramedics manage a snort, too. “I need to call your dad and let him know you’re okay,” I tell her, taking my phone out with my free hand. “Want to talk to him?”

  She nods and I dial Hurley’s number on my cell. I don’t waste a second of time on greetings, identification, or guessing games when he answers. “We found her, Hurley. She fell into an old abandoned bunker and broke her leg, but she’s okay. We’re on our way to the hospital now.”

  “Thank God,” Hurley says. “I’m still about half an hour away.”

  “You should know that she didn’t run away,” I tell him mostly for Emily’s benefit. “She was duped and lured out into some woods by some girls at her school. I’ll fill you in on the details later. Hold on and I’ll let you talk to her.”

  I hand my phone off to Emily and as soon as she hears her father’s voice on the other end, she bursts into tears.

  “I’m so sorry if I scared you. I didn’t mean to,” she sobs. She listens for a minute and squeezes her eyes closed. Then she
says, “Okay, bye,” and hands me my phone back.

  “Hurley?”

  “I’m here.”

  “She’s going to need surgery on that leg.”

  “Okay, I’ll be there as soon as I can. If they need to take her before I get there, have them phone me. Can you stay with her?”

  “Of course I can. She even asked me to.”

  “She did? Maybe there’s hope after all.”

  “Drive carefully. I’ll see you soon.”

  We reach the ambulance and I stand by and watch as they load Emily in. “I’ll be right behind you,” I tell her just before they close the doors. And then I create a bit of a spectacle as I pursue a lights-and-siren, full-out ambulance down the highway and through town with my midnight blue, slightly used hearse.

  Chapter 29

  The ER staff has changed a lot since I worked here, but there are a few die-hard nurses and techs I recognize. Because of the hour, my closest coworker, Syph, isn’t on duty, but other nurses I know well are, and I know the doc on duty, too. This helps expedite things since legally I’m not allowed to authorize care for Emily, but many of the folks who work here know my current life situation with Hurley.

  By the time Emily is settled in and medicated with enough of the good stuff to send her to la-la land, Hurley arrives. He rushes into the room like a stiff breeze, and stops at the foot of Emily’s stretcher. After looking at her, he looks at me and rears back. “What the hell?” he says.

  “What?” I say, totally confused.

  “What did you do to your hair? I almost didn’t recognize you.”

  “Oh yeah, that,” I say glumly. “It was an experiment that didn’t work out the way I hoped. I’m going to change it back as soon as I can.”

  He nods and looks back at Emily. “How is she?” he asks in a low voice.