The scene was chaotic, with workers running towards a collapsed rack that had held a large car off the ground. The car had fallen on its left side pinning a worker to the floor. Another worker was prying with a pipe while several pulled on the man. Fingers opened the window and yelled for them to wait until she got there. They dropped everything including the poor man. His top half hit the floor and he screamed. She ran out the door with Lewis right on her heels.
”Damn it, that’s Gamoc!” she fairly shrieked over her shoulder. “What the hell happened? We can’t afford a setback right now!”
Lewis tried to sound reassuring. “Don’t worry, we’ll do everything we can, what does he do for you?”
“He’s my research foreman, working on vehicles,” she said, flying down the stairs.
He pushed the button on his ear piece. “Gomez, where are you?”
A second later, she answered. “In the lab, sir.”
“Meet me on the floor of the warehouse, now!” he said, running to keep up.
“Yes Sir.”
As they reached the scene, Lewis looked for details. Several vehicles were on racks with legs of varying lengths. It looked at first glance as if the support pins on this rack’s legs had failed, allowing the car to fall sideways onto the floor. The massive steel bumper had landed on the man’s left thigh; he was now lying behind the car at an angle with his foot protruding from the bottom side behind the tire. A lot of blood was running out of his pant leg and making a pool around his boot. A crowd had gathered and Gomez showed up with Telini a moment after he got there. Fingers looked like she was about to fly off into a rage, shouting and demanding answers. All of her crew members were frozen in place, unable to even speak.
“Give me your shirt!” Gomez said to Telini, who complied in an instant.
She made a tourniquet and applied it just below the man’s groin. Telini and Lewis took a half a dozen pipes from a nearby rack and put three of them on each side of where the man was trapped under the vehicle. One beam on each side made good fulcrums.
Gomez got in Fingers’ face, “Let’s ask questions later.” She said quietly.
Fingers looked like she might hit Gomez, but turned away and barked at her crew. “Don’t just stand there, help Lieutenant Lewis!”
They jumped into action, Lewis and Telini guided them to the poles. They held them back until Fingers and Gomez each had a firm grip on Gamoc’s shoulders. Fingers nodded and the car rose about a foot in one move. They dragged the worker slowly out from under the car, leaving a long smear of blood on the floor. Telini unstrapped his boot and removed it. He was not wearing socks and Lewis noticed that his two small toes were missing. Gomez produced small scissors and cut the pant leg off from the cuff to the tourniquet. The damage was shocking, chunks of meat with bone shards were sticking out all over the place.
“Geesh, “Lewis said quietly. “Are your doctors good enough for that?”
Fingers shook her head. “I can’t think of anybody in the city who could handle it. But I do know a doctor north of here who could do it.”
“You’re not talking about Doctor Kilshin, are you? That guy is creepy,” Fink had just walked up within ear shot. He looked at the leg when he was close enough. “Oh, man! Maybe you’re right, that’s pretty nasty.”
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Fingers called for a stretcher and said to Lewis. “Get your crew together, you provide protection as we move him. Thomas and Fink will carry the stretcher. We will use the North Gate,” then she raised her voice. “The rest of you can take off early; Canni is in charge for now. Somebody clean this mess.”
Lewis told Telini and Gomez to come with him, and on the way to their room he called Roquette and Rollins. “Get your people together and meet me at the North Gate as soon as you’re able, call me when you arrive if I’m not there already.”
When they rounded the corner of the warehouse he saw Rollins and Blair jogging up from the south. They automatically fell into their customary rear guard positions.
The North Gate was less heavily guarded than the one on the west. One guard stood at the top of the left tower with a scoped rifle, while on the right the other scanned the farm lands beyond with binoculars. Two guards chatted with a knot of farmers at the open gates. When they saw the small procession approaching they sent the farmers on their way in order to deal with the procession coming their way now.
Roquette and Derrik loitered, leaning up against the inside wall on the right. Roquette wore an ankle length dress and a flak vest, while Derrik wore armor that consisted of steel shoulder pads held in place by four inch wide crossed straps that attached to a belt six inches in width and supporting a skirt of over lapping strips of metal and leather. The image was made complete by sandals that laced all the way to the knee, fingerless gloves and bracers on both forearms. They stood motionless until the procession had passed, then pushed off the wall and fell in as the new rear guard. The guards nodded as they walked through the gate.
Fingers stepped aside and everyone else kept moving. Lewis could hear Fingers explaining to the guard about Gamoc’s leg. Soon Fingers came running to catch up,
“He said he thought I was crazy to take him to Doctor Kilshin. It’s none of his business, but I do appreciate everyone’s concern.”
Outside the walls the houses looked a lot rougher, with open lots and piles of rubble marking where buildings had once stood. Lewis could hear Roquette talking to Derrik in their rear guard position. A group of children stood in the middle of an open lot and stared at the procession as they passed by. After walking about a quarter of a mile Fingers turned the group to the left and they went another five blocks.
The house they stopped at had a picket fence and a wraparound porch. At their approach a big man, who had been sitting on a bench on the porch, stood up and shambled down the walk. He stopped at the gate and squinted at Fingers with a smile full of broken teeth.
“Come in.” Opening the gate, he let them in and led the way up the porch to a solid looking door. Inside a man sat at a table, drinking from a coffee mug. A shock of white hair stood up four or five inches from the top of his head, and the eyes were fixed on them in an unblinking stare. He sat at a computer control panel.
“Hello, Doctor Kilshin,” Fingers said. “May I introduce you to some people?”
The old man stood up, scooping up a yellow band of cloth and securing his long white hair with it. Lewis was struck by the appearance of the eyes; one was a solid dark yellow orb with a tiny orange pupil. The other was a washed out blue, almost lavender, with a black bar which ran horizontally. It did not seem like he was focusing on anything. He pushed passed Fingers and made his way to the stretcher, pulling back the cover to where the leg was damaged.
“Alee!” He shrieked and a door flew open, revealing a teenage girl in a lab coat. “Emergency! Prep the operating room, get the team. Now! ”
She said nothing, but shut the door and flew across the room and opened another door. She disappeared down a ramp, leaving the door open behind her.
“How long?” he asked Fingers.
“Maybe… fifty minutes. He was…” Fingers said, but Kilshin cut her off.
“Why not go to the hospital? It’s quicker.”
Fingers looked uncomfortable. “I figured they would just amputate.”
Kilshin paced across the room, crossing it a few times before wheeling on her. “What do you expect me to do?”
“I was hoping you could save the leg,” Fingers said meekly.
“That femur is gone and the man is in shock. What makes you think I even want to work on a patient who’ll probably die anyway? Why do you have so much interest in this guy?” Kilshin retorted.
“He’s my lead foreman, but I’d be just as concerned if it was a laborer.” Fingers said voice thick with emotion. “Gamoc has a lot of potential, not to mention three children. He provides them with a good life, and they don’t even own their house yet. Father said you were the best, please help.”
Kilshin’s countenance softened. “Run along. I’ll do whatever I can, but it’ll cost you.”
Fingers nodded and ushered everyone out.