“Nightmare"

NIGHTMARE

"Uncle Johnny! Uncle Johnny!" Jennifer shrieked with excitement as she jumped down the front steps. Johnny knelt down and grabbed his partner’s daughter before she tackled him. "Daddy just threw the hamburgers on the grill." She took his hand and pulled him to the backyard. The delicious scent of meat cooking over fire leading them on.

"Hey, Junior." Roy smiled. "You’re right on time."

"Johnny!" Joanne slipped up behind him with a hug and a cold beer. "We’re glad you made it, it’s just not a party without you here."

"Uncle Johnny, look!" Christopher ran from the yard. "Look at my new ball glove, isn’t it great! Dad will you play catch with me?"

"Sure, son." Roy smiled and picked up his own glove. "Hey, John, watch the burgers for me."

Johnny took the spatula from Roy and settled in next to the grill. He sighed contentedly watching the perfect day unfold. Joanne and Jennifer sat on a blanket playing with her dolls, Roy and Chris breaking in his new glove. He couldn’t imagine a more beautiful day. Johnny put down the spatula and reached for his beer. The table shaking was the last thing he noticed before the ground beneath him turned to jello.

"Johnny!" Roy called from the yard. "Help! Johnny!"

Roy’s entire yard had become a series of sinking holes. Johnny could see his partner’s family being sucked slowly into the ground. Johnny ran across the shaking ground and grabbed onto Roy’s hand.

"Don’t worry about me!" Roy struggled. "Get Joanne and the kids."

Johnny ran to get Christopher. Just as he snatched Christopher’s up raised hand, Johnny lost his grip and the ground swallowed him leaving nothing behind but the new baseball glove. Realizing there was nothing more he could do to help Chris, he sprinted across the yard to Jennifer. Again, just as he reached her, she slipped beneath the collapsing ground. Joanne was right next to Jennifer so he grabbed Joanne’s hand.

"Johnny, the children?!" Joanne cried as she to slipped away from him and into the sinking ground.

"Johnny!" Roy called. "You let them die. How could you let them go? You were supposed to help. Why didn’t you save the children?"

Johnny bolted upright. He was drenched in sweat but his blood felt like ice. His stomach heaved as he rushed to the bathroom. He pressed his head against the cold porcelain as he vomited. When his stomach was emptied he lay down on the bathroom floor and stared out the window. Tears ran down his cheeks as he waited for the sun to chase away the inky blanket of night.

Roy was up much earlier than normal for his day off. He moved mechanically to the coffee pot and flipped the switch. The smell of the brewing coffee seeped into his senses shaking away sleep. He took his coffee cup to the living room and settled down with the television remote.

"Good morning. It’s 5:20 with a current temperature of 75 degrees." The television newscaster seemed overly cheerful for the time of day. "First in the news is a follow up of yesterday’s tragic trench collapse that killed two children. Eight year old Allan Ferguson and his six year old sister Sara were playing…"

Roy turned the volume down. He didn’t need the news to recap yesterday’s business. Most of all he didn’t need to see the pictures. They were burned solidly into his mind. The only thing different on the news was the picture of the children before the accident. The crew of Station 51 had spent six hours on the scene trying to rescue the children. Even so, Roy would always see Sara’s beautiful blond hair covered in cold, filthy soil. Roy shook his head and turned off the television.

"Damn media!" Roy thought to himself. "Why can’t they just leave it alone?" Roy climbed back up the stairs; maybe he could fall back asleep. Instead of going to the room he shared with Joanne, he went down the hall to Jennifer’s room. He stood quietly in the door, watching her breathe, before sitting on the floor next to her bed. Gently he stroked HIS six-year-old daughter’s long blond hair.

"Daddy? Daddy?" Roy picked his head up from the side of the bed at Jennifer’s gentle cry. "Daddy, why didn’t you help me? You were supposed to take care of me."

Slowly, Roy’s eyes focused in the early morning light. Jennifer’s long blond hair was hanging from the side of the bed was covered in mud. As Roy looked up and down the bed he realized that everything was covered in dirt. Jennifer turned her head to face her father. When their eyes met, Roy suddenly realized that even though her eyes were open, they saw nothing. He mouth and nose were packed full of the mud that seemed to cover the room.

"Jennifer!" Roy screamed.

Roy’s eyes flew open at the sound of his own voice. The sun was filtering through the window.

"Daddy?" Jennifer yawned. "Are you okay?"

Roy looked closely at his daughter’s blond hair the mud was gone. The piles of dirt on her bed and around the room had disappeared.

"I’m fine, angel." Roy wiped the sweat from his forehead. "You go back to sleep."

Roy rolled over and hit the snooze button on the alarm for the third time. He was going to be late for work, but he really didn’t care. He pulled the pillow over his head when he heard the bedroom door open.

"Honey, if you don’t get moving you’ll never make it to the station on time." Joanne’s voice was gentle and cheerful.

"Fine, dammit! I’m up." Roy barked as he hurled the pillow across the room and stomped to the bathroom door.

Joanne, taken aback by Roy’s sudden outburst, only stared. She wasn’t sure exactly what could be going on in his head. Usually his days off were a wonderful time filled with family and fun. He’d get up early and help the kids get off to school, chatting with them over his coffee at breakfast. Roy would spend so much time chatting with the kids during breakfast, Joanne had to get them up a half hour early or they would miss the bus. Everything seemed to change two days ago. Joanne knew that he had had a rough call, but he’d had those before. Now it seemed that she was living with a man who looked like Roy, but had been replaced by a stranger. He wouldn’t even get up with the kids for school and when he finally did get up he growled and barked.

"Roy, would you like some coffee." Joanne asked through the bathroom door.

"NO, I DON’T WANT ANY COFFEE." Roy snapped. "I’M LATE, I’LL HAVE COFFEE AT THE STATION."

Joanne felt whipped. She went down to the kitchen without a sound. Her usual warm and loving husband had turned into an angry shadow of the man she loved. What bothered her most is she didn’t know why.

"DeSoto, you’re late." Captain Stanley called as Roy slipped into roll call beside his partner.

"Yeah, I know." Roy’s voice sounded less than concerned.

"Don’t let it happen again."

Roy desperately needed a cup of coffee, having missed it at home because of his tardiness. When he reached the stove he discovered that there was less than a swallow scorching in the bottom of the pot.

"Whose turn was it to make the coffee?" Roy looked at his fellow firefighters sitting around the table.

"I made the coffee." Johnny answered. "And you could have had a cup if you’d been on time."

"What business is it of yours if I was late." Roy’s voice making a challenge. "You think you’re my keeper now, Junior."

"No, but it would be nice if you were here to do your job." Johnny returned fire on Roy’s challenge. "I can’t exactly run on a call without you."

"Oh, excuse me. I didn’t realize you’ve been spending quality time with Brice." Roy drawled sarcastically.

"What the hell ya mean by that little remark?!" Johnny stood up and moved toward Roy.

"You sound just like him." Roy scowled.

Johnny moved toward him his fists clenched in a ball and ready to swing. "Ya know, pal? I’ve had just about enough of your "God’s gift to the Paramedic’s" attitude."

"Oh, really." Roy put his face in front of Johnny and shoved his finger into his chest. "Why don’t you do something about it then."

Johnny drew back his fist, ready to swing. Just before he uncorked, Mike stepped up from the table and caught his fist.

"Hey, what’s your problem?" Stoker asked the men. He’d seen the partner’s have their tiffs, but never to the point of violence.

"Back off, Stoker." Roy sneered. "He thinks he can kick my ass, let the boy try."

"Oh, I can take you, old man. That’s not the problem." Johnny shot back. "The problem is I’d have to take you to Rampart afterwards. I got better things to do and better people to take care of than you. Hell, you’d be nothing but a Gomer call."

"Then come on, Gage." Roy challenged. "Kick my ass."

"Knock it off!" Stoker pushed the younger man away and stepped between him and Roy.

Thankfully, and not a moment too soon, Captain Stanley came into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee. The tension in the air was so thick he could have cut it with the ‘Jaws.’

"Is there a problem here?" Captain Stanley asked casually as he moved to fill his cup with coffee.

"No problem, Cap." Johnny growled as he started a fresh pot to brew.

"Yeah, no problem." Roy turned away from his partner.

The rest of the afternoon, though quiet, was filled with tension. The engine remained in quarters, while the squad made a couple of minor calls. The men had a quiet lunch, almost too quiet. Johnny and Roy sat quietly and only answered direct questions. The two men who seemed closer than brothers were now deadly quiet. It wasn’t that they acted like strangers, because strangers are at least civil. They acted more like enemies who had sworn a pact to live with each other, despite their obvious distain. There was almost a sense of relief when the claxon sounded the men to duty.

"Station 51, child down. 1257 Summit Road, 1-2-5-7 Summit Road, cross street Wickam. Time out 1602."

"Station 51, 10-4. KMG365." Captain Stanley acknowledged the message and glanced nervously at his paramedics before climbing into the cab of the engine.

Johnny and Roy rode in silence. The only sound was the occasional static from the radio and Johnny giving Roy the all clear during intersections.

Roy’s mind was somewhere else, and it worried him. He shook his head mildly, trying to clear the images. ‘Child down.’ All he could remember was muddy, long blond hair.

A very hysterical young girl, motioning to them wildly, greeted the arriving squad. "Please, you’ve gotta help my brother, I think he’s really bad hurt."

Johnny looked at her. She couldn’t be more than six or seven years old. "Okay, we will, where is he?" Johnny said gently as he grabbed the trauma box and took her hand.

"Back here." She was pulling him and gesturing to the fenced back yard.

"Can you tell us what happened?" Roy questioned while looking around for a parent.

"I don’t know, he was up in his tree house and I hears him screaming. Now he just lays there and don’t talk. I saw you guys on the news, about the kids in the big hole, and knew you could help. So I called you."

They hurried into the back yard and saw the figure of the little boy lying motionless below a large tree. His one leg was twisted at a horrible angle and his breathing was obviously labored.

Roy began assessing the boy, and Johnny knelt down on one knee to talk to the distraught little girl.

"Honey, where are your mommy and daddy?"

"I ain’t got a daddy. Mommy said he don’t love us no more, so he went away with his cheap girlfriend. Mommy, she works."

"Do you have a grown up staying with you?" Johnny knew the little boy was hurt bad and they needed permission from an adult to treat him.

"Mommy leaves out sandwiches and says not to get into trouble. She comes home when night comes." The little girl began to cry. "Is my brother going to die?"

Johnny didn’t know the answer. He looked questioningly at Roy who shook his head to let Johnny know that it was bad.

"We are going to do everything we can." Johnny said to the little girl. He tried to give her a reassuring smile, but it just wasn’t in him. "What’s your name, honey?"

"Ginny." She smiled then looked worriedly at her brother. "My brother’s name is Mickey."

Just then the engine crew arrived in the backyard. Johnny turned the little girl over to the Captain and turned his attention to helping Roy. Chet and Captain Stanley took her into the house, hoping to find a phone number to get a hold of the boy’s mother at work.

Roy called in on the biophone to Rampart. "Rampart, this is Squad 51."

"Go ahead, 51." Dr. Brackett’s voice came over the biophone.

"Rampart, we have a male, approximately age 9. He fell out of a tree house, a distance of about 12 feet. He is bleeding heavily from his head. His right leg has a compound fracture to the tib/fib. We are standing by for parental consent to begin treatment at this time." Roy looked over at his partner anxiously waiting for Dr. Brackett to respond. They weren’t even able to touch the kid until they got consent.

Normally, Johnny would be setting up an IV or taking vital signs, but he just sat beside the boy feeling helpless, because there was no one to give consent.

"Squad 51, you’ll have to stand by until you receive consent. We’ll be standing by here." Brackett leaned against the counter uneasily; no one could do anything until consent was obtained.

"Johnny," Captain Stanley had returned from the house. "Bad news, no phone number and no phone. The little girl doesn’t even know where her mother works. Says that her big brother has the number."

"He’s not going to be able to give it to us now." Johnny said. All they could do was wait for the ambulance or for someone to find the mother for consent.

"I’ll leave Chet with the girl, Marco, Stoker and I will check the neighbors, see if they know anything."

"Thanks, Cap." Said Roy. "Can you also check with County about the status of a police car. If we can’t find the mother we’re gonna need to put the boy in protective custody. We really need to treat this kid, now."

"I’ll make sure the police are in route." Capt. Stanley stepped away from the scene to contact dispatch while Marco and Stoker split up each going to a neighboring house. "Roy, dispatch says that the police are about 5 minutes out."

"Five minutes, this kid won’t last five more minutes unless we work on him now!" Johnny growled and reached for the bio phone. "Rampart, this is Squad 51."

"Go ahead, 51." Dr. Brackett had been standing by waiting for them to find someone to give consent.

"Rampart, requesting permission to start an IV of Ringers Lactate." Roy looked at Johnny as though he had gone mad.

"Johnny, we don’t have consent, what are you doing?"

"Squad 51. Do you have parental consent?"

"Negative, Rampart." Johnny replied. "We aren’t gonna be able to find consent in time."

"Squad 51, negative. Do not begin treatment without consent. Do you have police on the scene?" Brackett looked worriedly at Dix, it was very unlike Johnny to have such disregard for the rules.

"Rampart, police are 5 minutes out. This kid has no time." Johnny was preparing the IV even as he spoke into the biophone.

"Squad 51. Stand by until the police can determine if protective custody is warranted." Brackett didn’t like it that he couldn’t give his paramedics permission to treat, but they had to follow the rules. They had fought to long and too hard to let a violation of the laws and protocols put an end to the program.

Johnny began cleaning a suitable site for the IV; he was just about to insert the needle when Roy grabbed his arm.

"What in the hell are you doing?" Roy questioned. "Brackett ordered us to stand by."

"When Vince gets here, we’ll get consent anyway. I’m just hurrying to process along. Now get your hands off of me. Or do you not care if this kid dies?" Johnny glared at his partner.

"I’m not going to let you do this. It’s against the law. The last thing this department needs is one of its medics playing doctor." Roy held tight to his arm.

"I’m not playing doctor! I’m trying to save this kid! I refuse to sit here and let the kid die over some stupid rule book." Johnny pulled away. "Now get the hell out of my way."

Capt Stanley arrived from the Engine just in time to stop him from starting the IV. "Gage, what do you think you are doing?" Capt. Stanley looked at the scene around him, concerned. Roy had Johnny’s hand in a death grip and Johnny looked like he could kill.

"He’s trying to start an IV without consent. Brackett ordered him to stand by."

"Johnny, you’re not about to treat a patient without consent, are you?" Capt. Stanley looked at the young man with suspicion. He couldn’t believe what was happening and didn’t want to believe it.

"It’s either that or the kid dies!" Johnny used his free arm to push at Roy.

"Gage, go stand by the Squad!" Johnny looked at him in disbelief.

"You gotta be kidding, Cap. I’m trying to save this kids life!"

"Now, Gage! That’s an order."

Johnny threw down the needle and stalked to the curb. It seemed like the whole world had gone crazy, and nobody cared if kids died anymore. He passed Stoker and Marco on the way back. The look on his face made the two firefighters stay clear.

"Cap." Marco ran up next to the older man slightly out of breath. "I can’t find anyone who knows the family that well. It seems they have only lived here a couple of weeks and no one knows where the woman works."

At the same time Vince’s police car arrived and he hurried over to the scene. "What have you got?"

"We can’t find the kids mother and he’s in real bad shape. We need protective custody to treat him." Capt. Stanley said.

"Okay, you’ve got it." Vince said without further explanation. He knew the paramedics and certainly wouldn’t argue with their judgment.

"Rampart, this is Squad 51." Roy grabbed the biophone and a fresh needle.

"Go ahead 51." Brackett had been waiting worriedly during the long silence.

"We have police on scene and the child is in protective custody." Roy began checking for an IV site. Johnny was still by the Squad so Stoker began taking vital signs. "Vital signs are: B/P 50 over 30, Pulse 110, Respirations are 6 and labored with no lung sounds on the left side." Roy’s voice cracked as he thought to himself that maybe Johnny was right. "We waited too long."

"10-4, 51. Start two IV’s of Ringer’s Lactate and transport immediately." Brackett ordered. "Splint that leg and do the rest of your exam in the back of the ambulance."

Roy acknowledged and called to Johnny. Roy and the ambulance crew loaded the boy while Johnny ignored his partner’s call for assistance.

"I’ll get him." Capt Stanley strode purposely toward the Squad. Meanwhile, Roy and the ambulance attendants started across the lawn with their victim strapped to the cot.

"You gonna work this call, or just hang out?" Capt. Stanley questioned, he didn’t have time for this kind of shit.

"Para-God Roy doesn’t need any help. In fact, him and Brice should be partners. I’ll take the squad in." With that Johnny jumped in the Squad.

"Gage, get your ass over there." Capt Stanley growled.

"Cap, never mind." Roy called. "We’re outta here!" With that the ambulance door shut behind him and the ambulance sped off, lights and sirens screaming.

"He gonna make it, Doc?" Roy asked Dr. Brackett as they waited for the X-Rays. In the back of the ambulance Roy discovered that the boy had a soft spot at the back of his skull, additionally his pupils were unequal and not reactive to light.

"We’ll know more in a little bit. He’s pretty bad off." Brackett looked grimly at his your patient. "Why don’t you go get a cup of coffee?"

"Sure, Doc." Roy left the room, he felt so whipped.

"How’s he doing?" Johnny asked when Roy arrived at the nurses’ station.

"Not sure, he’s pretty bad off."

"So, how do you feel?" Roy looked at Johnny suspiciously. Even though the question seemed like it was asked with concern, something wasn’t right in the tone of his voice.

"Terrible. And you?"

"Hey, it’s not on my head. If I’d done it my way, we’d have been to the hospital fifteen minutes earlier."

"What are you sayin’, Junior." Roy drawled with contempt.

"Nothing." Johnny set down his cup of coffee and moved towards the room where the young boy lay.

A few minutes later Dr. Brackett appeared. He looked up at Johnny with weary eyes. Seeing his appearance at the door, Roy stepped quickly down the hall.

"Doc?" Johnny questioned. He knew it wasn’t good. He knew it was over.

"We lost him. The damage was too bad. His lung completely collapsed, we re-inflated it and the other one collapsed. There was too much blood in the chest cavity." Brackett looked with concern at the two men. This had been a hard week, three children died needlessly in three days.

"Dammit, Roy." Johnny turned to face his partner, who already had tears in his eyes. He took a step closer to his partner.

"Oh God, Johnny." Roy lifted his face to his partner. Things had been bad this week, but they needed each other, maybe more than ever.

"Roy, how does it feel to know that you just killed a kid?" Johnny glared with hatred at his partner and best friend.

Roy looked at Johnny with hurt and surprise. He was so shocked by Johnny’s response that he didn’t even see the fist that landed squarely on his jaw, knocking him to the ground.

Author’s Note: Stay tuned for part two coming very soon. Special thanks to my wonderful fiancé, Chris, for all of his help. As always, my inspiration.

"Nightmare" ©2000 Barbara Black. "Emergency!" and its characters © Mark VII Productions, Inc. All rights reserved. No infringement of any copyrights or trademarks is intended or should be inferred. This is a work of fiction, and any similarity to actual persons or events is purely coincidental.

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