As I passed the big window on the second floor landing, I looked out. The evening sun was fading, but I could see the bushes, some still with bright blooms, hedging the paths of a spacious garden. Here and there among the wide stone paths was a small tree or little bench or a table and chairs. It was a place out of a fairy tale even now, with all the green fading. On another day, it would look like the perfect place to spend a day. Voices from the lower floor drew my eyes from the window. I walked closer to the rail but stopped out of sight.
“... can find them. What if they can’t get back? They might need help.” Nate sounded worried.
“No, Nate. If they've gotten into trouble, we don’t need to lose anyone else. They’ve been gone longer than expected, but that doesn’t mean anything is wrong.” I thought that was Colin, but without looking, I couldn't know for sure. “We will just have to wait and hope.”
“Then why haven’t they called…”
There was another voice now, but too low for me to hear. I walked to the stairs and was about halfway down when Nate walked out of the library and looked up at me. “Hey. Come on down.” Some of the worry I'd heard from him just a few moments before showed in his face as he ushered me to a nearby chair.
Colin was standing by the bookcase, looking more tired than he had the night before, but he brightened when he saw me come in. “I was hoping you would come down soon. We had little chance to talk last night. Did you sleep well? Did you find everything alright this morning? I’m sorry for coming in without waking you, but you needed the rest.” I was getting sick of everyone treating me like a stray that might bolt.
“I did. Thank you. For all of it. I’m not sure I can repay you.”
He waved a hand. “Don’t mention it. Really. I’m just glad I could help.” He seemed to mean it.
There were other people in the room. Nate was pacing around the chairs and tables, but Ben was still sitting in the same shadowed corner chair from the night before. When I met his eye, he inclined his head slightly. There was a girl sitting in the chair next to him. She was small and pretty, with pale skin and long dark hair. Her delicate features made it hard to guess her age. Maybe twenty or twenty-five? The look she gave me made it clear she wasn't up for conversation. At least not with me. Great, making friends already. Standing close to Colin was a tall, stout man. He was a bit older and his short blond hair, deep tan and rumpled shorts and tee-shirt made him look like an over the hill surfer.
“Let me introduce you to everyone.” Colin must have noticed my awkward assessment of the room. He pointed to the girl with Ben. “That’s Mel.” The girl gave a wave of one finger in my general direction. “You already met Ben, and this is David,” he motioned toward the surfer, who smiled and raised a glass of amber liquid in my direction. “Dinner will be ready soon. You can meet the others there.”
“I don’t think anyone is going to be in the mood to eat, Colin.” Ben didn’t seem disturbed by his announcement, more like he was just stating a boring fact.
Nate had not stopped his pacing. “For once, I agree with Ben. We need to do something, Colin.”
Collin sighed. “Alright. We’ll talk about putting together a party after dinner…”
“We need to do more than talk…”
Nate was interrupted by a crash from the front hall that made everyone jump but Ben, “I think our missing members have returned,” was all he said.
Nate rushed out of the room, closely followed by Colin and David. I stood, but hesitated to follow them. I still felt like an outsider and didn’t want to intrude if there was a problem. But I didn't have to wait long before David came rushing back into the room, followed closely by Colin and a man I didn’t recognize. Nate and another stranger were carrying an unconscious man between them.
Colin ran to one of the long tables in the middle of the room and removed the lamps. “Here, put him down here. Easy now, easy!” The two laid the man gently on the table and stepped back. Both the new men were panting and showed signs of having recently been in a fight. The older of the two had a cut above his right eye that was bleeding freely.
Colin was staring down at the man on the table. Nate turned toward the newcomers. “What the hell happened?”
The younger of the pair looked too shocked to speak, but the man with the cut answered. “They knew we were coming. They left him there as bait, I think. When we got there, they were waiting, and they jumped us. Stephen was able to hide us all for a bit, but they must have seen him or something.” He gestured toward the man on the table. “They hit him with something when he tried to run. I don’t know what, but he went down fast. It was all up from there. We had to fight our way out. Had to stay low on our way back. I think they were following us.”
“I can’t find his pulse. I need your help!” Colin was staring at me.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“Me?” What the hell did he want me for?
“Yes. You’re a nurse.”
“I work in administration!” Collin just stared at me desperately. I had training for this kind of thing, but I hadn’t used it... well, ever. I moved closer to the table. Colin held the man's hand, but his eyes were fixed on me. I tried to remember everything I had learned about trauma. I felt for the man's pulse. Colin was right. I couldn’t find anything and he didn’t appear to be breathing. But he was warm and his color was good, so maybe there was hope. “I need to do CPR. I’ll need someone to breathe for me. Does anyone know how?” I looked around the room but got nothing but blank stares. Seriously? I turned to Colin. “Ok, tilt his chin like this and hold his nose. When I tell you, blow three deep breaths into his mouth. Not too hard, but make sure you see his chest rise.” I climbed on the table and straddled the man. I really should have paid more attention to those classes. I started the compressions. It was harder than I remember it being on the old dummy in the hospital basement. The man was thin and I could feel his ribs give under the pressure and I prayed I wouldn’t break them. My arms ached after just a few pumps. I counted to thirty, “Breath,” and thirty again, “Breath”, and again, but this time, after the breath, I stopped and checked for a pulse. Nothing. I repeated the compressions again and checked. Still nothing. I repeated the compressions twice more, but still couldn’t find a pulse. I was panting and my arms felt numb. “This isn’t working. Do you have an AED?” Colin looked confused. I motioned to my chest “...a defibrillator. A shocker for his heart?”
Colin shook his head. “No.”
David stepped up to the table. “Let me try.”
“What?”
“Just get off the table.”
I didn’t understand, but jumped off the table anyway. David stepped up and placed his hand a few inches above the man’s chest. As I watched, I felt something, like a movement in the room even though everyone was still. A blue light, like a tiny flash of lightning, flew from his hand and into the unconscious man.
“Jesus.” I stared at David for a moment and then ran back to the man. There was still nothing, no sign of a heartbeat. I had no idea if what David had done was helping or if he'd just toasted this poor guy's insides, but he couldn't really get much worse off than he was. “Can you do that again, maybe a little stronger?”
He nodded and replaced his hand over the still man's chest. The flash looked the same to me, but I placed my fingers over at the man’s neck again. The whole room was silent. Please, I thought, please, please, please. I felt a soft beat against my fingers. I held my breath for a few seconds to be sure, but the pulse didn’t stop. It was weak, but steady. I leaned over his mouth and felt a soft breath against my cheek, and I let out a long breath of my own. “It worked, he’s back.” I heard sighs around the room. David smiled and reached over and patted me on the shoulder.
“Good work, kid.” He said gruffly.
“You’re the one who saved him, not me.”
“Ah,” He smiled widely. “We’ll call it a team effort then.”
Colin moved to stand beside me again.
“He needs medical attention. We need to get him to a hospital,” I said.
He shook his head. “No”.
“But we don’t know what’s wrong with him. He could have internal bleeding or brain damage. Just because he is breathing again doesn’t mean he’s ok.”
He looked sad, but just shook his head again. “I know, but they will watch the hospitals and probably monitor the emergency channels. We can’t risk him getting taken after bringing him this far.”
“I don’t think he’ll care much for your rescue if he dies because of it.”
Colin stared down at the unconscious man in silence. I checked his pulse again. It was a little stronger now, or maybe that was wishful thinking. Still, I relayed the information to Colin.
He still looked grim. “Is there anything else you can do for him?”
“Keep him warm and hope he wakes up?” I tried to keep the bitterness from my voice. “He’ll need to be watched until he does, to make sure his heart doesn’t give out again.” I ran my hand over my eyes. “I’m sorry. I don’t know how else to help him. He needs an actual doctor.”
Colin looked around the room. “We’ll set up shifts. David, I would like you to stay with him as long as possible, just in case.”
David moved closer to the table and clapped Colin on the shoulder, “Of course.”
Collin continued, motioning to people around the room. “Mel, would you go tell Celia to prepare a room in the west wing, please? Nate, if you would gather the others. Kennedy, Stephen, I know you’re tired, but I need to know what happened. All of it.” He turned back to me. “Jemma, will you see what you can do about their injuries? There’s a first aid kit in the kitchen. Ben, will you please get it? Ask Fletch, he’ll know where it is.” He sighed and looked down at the table. “Kennedy, did you find out his name?”
“Sean, he said his name was Sean.”
Everyone began moving to their separate tasks now that the excitement was over. Colin's calm seemed to be infectious. I remained at the table with him while I waited for Ben to bring the first aid kit. The two new men, Stephen and Kennedy, were whispering together. Colin was still staring down at the motionless figure on the table. His eyes were puffy, and it looked like the only thing holding him up was the table and sheer willpower. I moved closer and lowered my voice. “No offense, but you look like you haven’t slept in days. I may not know what to do for him,” I pointed to the man on the table, “But I can tell you what to do about that. You need some rest.”
He closed his eyes for a moment. When he turned to me, he looked sad. “You’re probably right. I feel like I could sleep for a week, to be honest. But there is too much to do for that right now. There is always something else to do....” His deep voice trailed off.
“Not much will get done if you pass out from exhaustion.”
He laughed loudly, making me jump. His smile looked genuine now. “I’m glad you’re here Jemma.”
I wasn’t so sure I agreed.