The Bush Doctor's Challenge

by Carol Marinelli

  She didn’t want to think about it, didn’t want anything to ruin this precious sweet moment, but deep down she knew there was no escaping it, that the inevitable end would hang over them, not just at tender moments like this but every step of their short way, and some sort of answer was needed. ‘Look back with love,’ Abby ventured as Kell’s eyes shuttered closed for a second or two. ‘Enjoy our memories.’ Abby managed a quick wince. ‘That came out like a holiday commercial. Oh, I don’t know, how can I say what it’s going to be like? Let’s not think about it for now, huh? Let’s just enjoy the time we’ve got, Kell.’

  The sky was dark now, a deep indigo, yet she could still see his features, the moon a silver-white ball, the stars multiplying every time she looked, like a million jewels winking and blinking, and Abby felt safe beneath nature’s canopy as Kell held her close. As he pulled her towards him, the lips she had missed so much sweeter than her vivid memory, the swell of him against her thigh, nudging higher, parting her womanly warmth, so welcome, so wanted, her hands coiling through his damp black locks, her brown legs wrapping around his hips, breasts swollen and full against his solid chest as words faded away and instinct took over.

  Their love-making was as unspoilt and natural as the land that cushioned them, primal and vital in the scheme of things yet so much more than a quenching of primitive desires, than the cocktail of hormones that had catapulted them together that first night. And as wondrous as it had been, it paled in comparison to the reverent way he held her now.

  As they made blissful love, as Kell caressed her, not just with his hands but with his eyes, his body, his mind, Abby witnessed there and then the sheer and unequivocal privilege of being a woman.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  KELL took Abby home.

  To his real home.

  A rambling, massive property where Abby met his father, an older version of Kell, with long dark hair greying at the temples, a sun-battered face and a smile that matched his son’s. She even forgot to be nervous when Kell held her hand and introduced her to his two brothers, Kane and Rory, whom he clearly adored. And as they all shared a delectable meal Abby bathed in the rosy glow of just being with Kell, learning about him, watching him interact with the family he loved, and the more she glimpsed the more her thirst for knowledge increased, the more she needed to know.

  ‘Can you show me around?’ Abby asked as three bikes roared off into the night, a father and two sons, politely choosing tonight to pop down to the local.

  No mean feat when it was a half-hour ride!

  They drifted outside, following the sound of whinnying horses, hands loosely entwined, and Abby finally worked out why Shelly had laughed at Kell’s supposed need for cash. The property reeked of wealth and success and, if it was at all possible, Abby admired Kell more for his nursing work, for caring and sharing his amazing knowledge when he so clearly could live off the land. And though the closest she’d come to a horse had been a donkey ride along Manly beach years previously, despite the fact a horsy person was the last thing Abby would ever be, standing here, the dusty scent of sawdust filling the air, dark faces peering over the fences, excitedly greeting their master, nudging their hands for a treat, for a moment or two Abby almost felt as if she belonged.

  ‘It’s beautiful, Kell. Do you use these horses for…?’ She gave a helpless look at Kell as she struggled to find the word she was looking for.

  ‘Droving?’ Kell replied. ‘Not so much these days. A lot of it’s done on the bikes now, but for shorter stock routes we still use them. Some of the bigger properties use helicopters.’

  ‘Bigger?’ Abby blinked.

  ‘This is nothing compared to some.’

  ‘So do you still go droving?’ Abby asked, though really she had no idea what the word even meant.

  ‘Not really. We hire drovers now. The property’s doing really well, which inevitably means more paperwork. Kane’s still really into it, and Rory heads off more often than not, though he tends to go on ahead and set up camp. Every now and then I get the urge, though, and use up the best part of my annual leave, droving cattle by day and sitting by a campfire at night. Nothing really beats it.’

  ‘I still don’t understand what it’s for,’ Abby said, mystified. ‘These stock routes everyone goes on about. What’s the purpose of it?’

  ‘To feed the cattle.’ Kell patiently explained. ‘We move them on to where they can feed. You have to follow the stock routes so they can graze along the way. You should come one time, see it for yourself. Kane often takes tourists out, there’s no better way to see the outback.’

  She doubted that! An air-conditioned mini-bus sounded a far more comfortable option! Nervously Abby patted one of the more persistent horses, her newfound closeness to nature diminishing rapidly as a pink tongue lolled out, brushing her hand and catapulting Abby back in a fit of nervous giggles. ‘I’m not very good at this, am I?’

  ‘You’re doing fine,’ Kell assured her. ‘Though I take it you weren’t signed up for the pony club as a child?’

  ‘Afraid not,’ Abby admitted. ‘I was one of those geeky children who begged her parents to take her to the science museum. Still, it doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate them.’

  ‘OK, maybe my first suggestion was a bit optimistic, but we really should take a couple of horses out maybe one day this weekend.’ He grinned at her startled expression. ‘We’d take it gently. I’d really like to show you around the property properly.’

  ‘Maybe,’ Abby mumbled. Suddenly thoughts of snakes and spiders were starting to filter in and Kell threw an arm around her as she gave a nervous shiver.

  ‘Come on, you,’ he said in that deep, slow voice. ‘How about that video I promised?’

  ‘I have to get back,’ Abby said reluctantly, as the credits rolled, lingering over a glass of Australian red as Kell lay on the couch beside her, running one lazy hand through her hair. ‘I’m on first thing in the morning.’

  ‘Sure.’

  She shared his reluctance to leave, felt the coolness on the couch as he stood up. As he pulled on his boots, she glimpsed the domesticity, the sheer luxury of being with him, and shivered at temptation that beckoned.

  That with one single word all this could be hers.

  A level head was called for, but hard to find, as his bike slid along its dark path, the headlight illuminating fireflies, the night air humming with the wildlife, but this time when they came to Abby’s house there were no awkward goodbyes, no nerves at the door, just the delicious feeling of coming home together, the heady excitement as he kissed her, slowly undressed her with his eyes before his hands had even moved, and the slow unhurried pleasure of their love-making.

  ‘Abby, meet me at the clinic!’

  The phone had only rung once and in her sleep-fuddled mind Abby struggled to register that it was Shelly speaking on the other end.

  ‘There’s been a bus crash. A mini-bus,’ she added, and Abby felt momentary relief as the number of potential victims reduced somewhat. ‘On the main road into town.’

  ‘How long will it take to get there?’ Blinking, she looked at her alarm clock, the numbers flashing three a.m. as Kell jumped up beside her and started to pull on his clothes.

  ‘Half an hour or so. I’m trying to round up Kell—he’ll get there more quickly on his bike. Ross is loading up his Jeep and Clara should be just about at the clinic. Jack, the police officer, is going directly to the scene.’

  Abby toyed with lying, but only for a second. Lives were at stake and anyway they’d already decided to come out in the open. ‘Kell’s here,’ Abby said, screwing her eyes closed in embarrassment as she held the phone with one hand and pulled on the knickers and shorts Kell was handing her.

  ‘Oh.’ The single word said it all, but Abby was saved from saying anything further as Kell grabbed the receiver, enabling Abby to finish getting dressed.

  ‘Ring Ross, tell him to have two emergency back packs waiting. I’ll take Abby on the bike with me.’

>   They roared, literally roared up to the clinic, the adrenaline kicking in, though not enough to completely diminish the cringe factor of Clara’s and Ross’s open mouths as the new couple so blatantly stepped out.

  ‘How many injuries?’

  Ross shook his head, helping Abby on with her massive backpack. ‘A truck driver just called through on the radio—at least eight, possibly twelve. The nearest flying doctors are en route to Adelaide with a preemie baby so apart from Jack we’ll be on our own for a while. I’m going to stay here because the road ambulance is heading out as well so no doubt the victims will start trickling in here soon. Do what you can as first on the scene then get back here. We’re going to need everyone on board.’

  They fled through the night, the roar of the bike a lonely howl in their mercy dash, and Abby shook with fear, mentally preparing herself for the sight that would greet her, going over and over the basics in her mind. But nothing, nothing prepared her for the sight that first greeted them—two massive road trains, their lights blaring and two hulking men flagging them down, their harsh, rough faces choking back tears as they explained that the accident was still a couple of minutes away, their lights a warning to the massive road trains that took this road to slow down, to stop and help…

  Because out here a truck driver might be all the help you could get.

  The bus was on its side, a gaping, mangled hole displaying the wreck of human life inside, and Abby felt the hot, acid taste of bile in the back of her throat.

  Oh, she’d been to numerous accidents, seen more car crashes than she could remember, but she’d arrived later, when the firefighters, paramedics and police had secured the area, when her medical brain had been one of many. But nothing on the bike journey had truly prepared her for arriving at this devastating scene an hour after all hell had broken loose…

  And being the first medical personnel there.

  They bred them tough out here.

  Some dad, grandad even, a truck driver, a salt-of-the-earth bloke who should be singing along to the radio or rambling into his CB, was performing CPR on a teenager who should be gossiping, or laughing, or dozing as the mini-bus tore through the endless outback. And Abby knew there and then that the image that greeted her would never ever leave her, would always stay with her as she took in bodies lying strewn on the roadside, moaning, screaming, some sobbing, presumably having dragged themselves out or been pulled out by the truckies who had stopped.

  ‘If they’re moaning they’re breathing,’ Kell called, unstrapping the hard hats from the backpacks and flicking on the torch lights attached to them as he followed some frantic hand signals from Jack and headed for the bus, leaving Abby to make her way over to another truckie still working on the lifeless form beneath him.

  As Abby knelt down, hands that should have been shaking were surprisingly steady as she examined the young woman. She held one hand up in the air, the other coming to rest on the truckie’s shoulders, feeling the exhaustion, the desperation as he slumped beneath her touch.

  ‘She’s dead.’

  There was no time for introspection, no time to close the young eyes or offer a prayer, just on to the next one.

  On to a life that could maybe be saved.

  Kell wasn’t waiting for orders.

  Kell was in the bus, giving the kiss of life into a young guy a couple of times then securing a collar around his neck.

  ‘Here, mate,’ he called to the truck driver who was helping Abby to climb through a gaping, savage tear in the upturned bus. ‘We need to get this guy out now! Abby,’ he said, his torch flashing through the twisted wreck onto a pale bloodied face, ‘I think that one should be next.’

  She heard the gurgle, the horrible chilling sound of the death rattle, as Kell’s torch flicked away and Abby jerked into response, the ABC ingrained into her coming to the fore. Clambering painfully slowly over the remnants of life and simultaneously trying not to register that fact, she somehow made it to her patient, her outstretched hands lifting the chin that was falling onto its chest. The light on the top of her hard hat shone onto her patient and Abby saw that the face she held in her hands was that of a young woman.

  Sweeping the airway with her fingers, the A dealt with, Abby moved on to B. Placing a resuscitation mask over the slack mouth, she blew into it, relief flooding her as she saw her patient’s chest move, the lifesaving breath flooding life into the woman she held in her arms.

  ‘Stay still,’ Abby ordered firmly, as she started to come to. ‘I need you to stay very still,’ Abby said more loudly, as the young woman started moaning and thrashing. Abby held the woman’s forehead firmly with one hand as she rummaged in her backpack with the other, only able to finally comfort her patient and introduce herself properly when the cervical collar held her patient’s neck safely in line. ‘I’m Abby, I’m a doctor.’

  ‘Jessica.’ The tiny voice was a most welcome sound and she tried not to think how one minute, two at the most, would have rendered this life extinguished.

  Despite the darkness, the unfamiliarity of the surroundings, Abby performed a brief examination, the visible injuries in no way accounting for Jessica’s pallor, but as she palpated her abdomen and felt Jessica guard against her touch as she let out a moan of pain, Abby knew the damage was internal. Working quickly, she inserted IV access, tearing at the wrappers with her teeth when no other option presented itself. Setting up the IV fluids, she opened them full bore.

  ‘We’re going to get you out just as soon as we can, Jessica,’ Abby said comfortingly. ‘More help’s on the way, but I can’t move you by myself.’ She deliberately didn’t mention the weight of metal pinning the young girl to her seat, the jagged precarious journey Jessica would face to escape from these hostile surroundings. As she heard a whimper behind her, however reluctantly, however much she didn’t want to leave this sick, frightened young girl, Abby knew she had to move along to the next unlucky victim.

  ‘If they’re moaning they’re breathing.’ Kell’s words rang in her ears as Abby’s eyes surveyed the mini-bus, her eyes fixing on a young man who stared back at her with agonised, terrified eyes, and though he was moaning Abby knew he needed help and fast! ‘We’ll get you out very soon,’ Abby said assuredly, as she looked over her patient, words of comfort and reassurance spilling from her lips as she assessed her patient, but her heart sank as her eyes moved downwards, knowing with one awful glance that no amount of modern medicine was going to save this young man’s leg. Slipping a tourniquet around his dirty, bloodied wrist and setting up IV access in the back of his hand, she gave a generous dose of pethidine along with the IV fluids which she hung on a gnarled twist of metal above them, only vaguely registering that Kell was back working with her now, which gave Abby some hope that the worse was over.

  ‘What have we got?’ Abby asked.

  It was the first chance to take stock, the first attempt to formalise a plan of attack, yet still there wasn’t the luxury of a calm conversation. It took place as Abby did her best to stabilise the young man’s leg while Kell and a truckie struggled to move the weight of steel which trapped him.

  ‘One serious head injury. He’s in a bad way, Abby, he needs to be intubated. Clara’s just arrived and she’s going to do that.’

  ‘What else?’

  ‘Mainly leg and chest wounds. How’s the young girl?’ He gestured over to Jessica who was ominously quiet now.

  ‘Not good. I want to get back over there.’

  ‘Go.’ Kell nodded. ‘We’re nearly free here.’

  Oh, she didn’t want to leave this patient, she wanted to stay, to help, to comfort, but three pairs of hands on one body was a luxury they simply couldn’t afford here. ‘It won’t be long now,’ Abby said to the young man, before she turned to leave. ‘And I’ll see you outside very soon.’

  Through the twisted wreck Abby crawled, her backpack catching every which way, the extra torch she held in her teeth flashing images too painful to contemplate as she inched her way over, her
only comfort the sound of the young man being lifted out of the wreck of the bus.

  ‘Jessica.’ Abby pulled an eyelid open, blasted the torch into the girl’s eyes. ‘Jessica!’ she said more urgently, feeling for a pulse as mercifully Jessica’s eyes flicked open.

  ‘Get me out of here,’ Jessica begged.

  ‘We will, just as soon as we can. There’s a lot of wreckage pinning you.’

  ‘I’m going to die.’ Jessica was crying quietly now and none of the comforting words Abby attempted worked now as she pushed some refrigerated blood through the IV line, the precious resource desperately needed here.

  ‘This was supposed to be a holiday…’ Jessica moaned, her weak voice still managing to portray her mounting hysteria, depleting what little energy she had. ‘This isn’t what it was supposed to be like…’

  ‘What do you need?’ Kell was beside her now but Abby didn’t even turn to register him.

  ‘I need to get her out,’ she said urgently.

  More help had obviously arrived and a portable oxygen cylinder was passed through to them and Abby gratefully placed a mask over Jessica’s deathly pale lips.

  ‘I don’t want to die here.’ Jessica’s terrified eyes caught Abby’s.

  ‘Jessica.’ Abby’s voice was sharp now, a mental slap to her patient’s pale cheek. ‘Listen to me. You are not going to die because guess what? I’m not going to let you. Got it?’ Her eyes held Jessica’s, who mercifully seemed to be calming, but the whiteness of her tongue had a chill running down Abby’s spine. ‘Get another IV line into her,’ Abby ordered, ‘and push through some more blood.’ But before the words were even out, Abby changed her mind. ‘No, I’ll do that. Kell, go and get some more hands here. I want her out!’

  ‘It’s daytime in England,’ Jessica sighed, drifting in and out of consciousness.

  ‘I thought I heard an English accent.’ Abby smiled. ‘Are you here on holiday?’

  ‘I’m taking a year…’ Her voice trailed off and this time no amount of calling her name seemed to reach her and Abby knew time was running out fast. Shouting for help, her bare hands pulling at the seat pinning her patient, Abby struggled to free her, to get her out of this hell hole, to keep the promise she had made…