Andrew's Misplaced Trust

Chapter 35 - Code Blue

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The website for Grizzly Valley covers the town, the people and places. Bruce's Dojo, Tech Tribe, Liams Automotive, Grizzly Baptist Church, Laundromat, Mac's Diner and more. You'll see Mark, Jamie, Bruce, Liam, Taylor, Sebastian, Andrew, Ethan and the rest of the town.
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The entire floor was awakened by Andrew's final "Nooo" before he slipped into unconsciousness. His body shut down.

Over the loudspeaker, you could hear the announcement. "Code Blue, Code Blue, 4th floor, Room 10, 4th floor, Room 10." It repeated over and over until a doctor and several nurses rushed the room with a crash cart.

Shortly after the doctors arrived, the Grizzly Valley Fire Chief came in wearing his dress whites.

"Everyone, please move aside." The attending physician said. One of the nurses that witnessed Andrew's collapse was telling the doctor what happened. They quickly lifted him into Timmy's bed and hooked him up to the EKG and started taking his vitals. He was obviously alive, but he passed out. They wanted to know why.

"Nurse, can you test his glucose please." The doctor asked. She quickly pulled out her kit and proceeded to get a drop of blood from Andrew, and the results were quickly displayed. "His glucose is 70."

"Let's get him on an IV, he's dehydrated, and hang a bag of 5% dextrose and let's get his levels up. No wonder he passed out."

"Mister Doctor, he threw up earlier and has been having nightmares." Timmy tried to tell them.

"EKG looks normal, BP is down, heart rate is 40, and his pulse ox is 74."

"Put him on 2 liters of oxygen."

Timmy was scared. He couldn't lose his big brother. He was also worried about all the people showing up so quickly. "Mr. Thomas, why are you all here? Did they call you?"

"No, Timmy, I'm afraid we were on our way here because we have some very bad news. We need to talk to Andrew. Could you tell us what he was having nightmares about?" Mr. Thomas said.

Timmy was intrigued by the fire chief and went over to him. The chief lifted him up and held him on his hip. Timmy liked how warm the man was and that he smelled nice too. He had a shiny badge and looked very handsome. His shirt had straps that held black epaulets that had gold stripes, indicating he was the chief. Timmy couldn't stop fidgeting with the chief's badge.

"Well, he kept saying he knew something was wrong. He was telling me he felt tingly and scared, like when his mom used to get mad at him. When he was sleeping, he kept calling out for Ethan, and then as I woke him up, he was screaming for him."

"Sarah started to cry on Grandma's shoulder. Grandma just patted her."

"What's wrong? What's going on?" Timmy was starting to realize something terrible had happened. "Tell me what happened."

"Son, we need to wait until Andrew is awake." Mr. Thomas said.

The chief was holding Timmy and looking at the others. "Maybe we should tell Timmy so he can be prepared to help Andrew when he regains consciousness."

Grandma piped up, "That's probably a good idea."

The chief looked at Timmy. He didn't know the boy, but could feel the boy's love for Andrew and that he would be a rock for Andrew. Who knows, maybe the two of them will be a family now that this has happened. "Well, we really want Andrew to be awake so we can talk to him, but you might be able to comfort him when we tell him what happened."

"What happened? Andrew is my bestest friend now. He's like my brother." Timmy kept playing with the badge.

"Well, you know his dad, Ethan? He's a fireman and works for me."

"I know. Does he have a shiny badge like yours?"

"Yes, son, he does."

"Cool."

"You see, there was a really bad fire in Rockport."

"Oh, yeah, we saw splosions on TV."

"Well, they didn't have enough fire fighters to put out the fire, so they asked us to go help. Ethan was helping them get some families out of an apartment building next to the refinery that was burning."

"He rescued Andrew from a fire." Timmy wasn't quite grasping where this was all going.

"Ethan went into the building to help get a family out, and while he was inside, an explosion at the factory knocked down the building and Ethan didn't get out."

"So, someone went in to get him, right?"

"Well, the rubble was all burning, and a little girl came out wearing Ethan's helmet."

"So he's OK, right?"

"Well, son, we have not been able to find Ethan. The building is still burning and even if he is in there, he has no protection and the amount of fire and water are certain to have killed him."

"He can't die, he's Andrews dad."

"I'm sorry, but we believe Ethan is dead and wanted to be here for Andrew."

Timmy just looked at the man like he was speaking a different language. You could see that the boy was shocked and it wasn't registering that Ethan was dead.

"What do you mean? He's coming back later, right?"

"No, son, Ethan could not have survived."

This time it registered with Timmy. "What's Andrew going to do? Where will he live? What about me?" He started to cry all over the chief's white shirt.

Sarah had to step in now. "Timmy, we're going to work this all out. Until you are better, I will be taking care of you here at the hospital. Andrew will need someone to be with, so he might want to stay with you, and that is fine with us. Of course, Mr. Thomas would be happy to have Andrew live with him too. Don't worry, Timmy, it will all work out."

"Doctor, his breathing and pulse rate are returning to normal. His oxygen saturation is starting to rise." One of the nurses said.

Timmy couldn't get to his brother, so he went and grabbed the iPad. He typed out a message and sent it to Joey. "Andrew's dad is missing. They think he's dead. Now I really don't have a family and neither does Andrew."

He didn't expect a response because of the time. He desperately wanted someone to talk to him too. This was a loss for him as well. His hopes of having a nice brother and dad were now gone.

The doctor was looking at the EKG again and said things looked normal. "He regain consciousness soon, so be ready everyone. I have a mild sedative in case we need it."

Andrew started to stir. Timmy put the iPad down and climbed into bed with his brother. He knew how to wake Andrew up. As he cuddled with Andrew, trying not to move any of the wires or tubes, he kissed Andrew on the lips. Andrew's eyes fluttered.

"Come on, brother, wake up. I need you." Timmy said softly into Andrew's ear.

Andrew stopped stirring. Timmy kissed his cheek, then his lips again. Andrew's eyes opened wide, "Ethan!" he screamed.

Timmy just hugged him tight. He bumped a couple of the wires from the EKG loose and the machine started beeping, which startled Andrew. "Timmy, where's Ethan? What's going on. Where are we? Why am I hooked up to machines?"

Little Timmy surprised everyone with how he responded to Andrew. "Brother, I'm worried about you. Ethan is at work. Everyone is here for you. You passed out and we were all scared."

"What? I remember waking up from a nightmare that Ethan was burning. Then it got fuzzy. I saw the chief and figured Ethan was dead."

"You passed out. It must have really scared you. Everyone is here because they care about you." The doctor said.

Timmy didn't know what to do. He didn't want to believe that Ethan was gone himself.

The adults all gathered around the bed. When Andrew saw the chief again, he started hyperventilating, knowing that he was there in his dress whites for one reason only.

"Be strong, honey. We're all here for you." Grandma said to him, patting his leg.

"It's true, isn't it? Ethan's dead." Andrew started sobbing. He grabbed the chief's arm and held on tight. Grandma held Andrew from the other side of the bed, and Timmy kept cuddling his brother.

"Son, you know Ethan is your hero, right?"

"Yes. He saved my life."

"Well, that's how Ethan is. There was a huge fire in Rockport and they called us for help. An apartment building caught on fire next to the big refinery fire. Ethan went in to help everyone escape. He was helping a five-year-old girl get out of the apartments when the storage tank behind them blew. The blast flattened the apartment building."

"Is he OK? Did they get out?" You could hear the heart monitor going faster and faster.

"The fire fighters that were helping were all knocked to the ground, and when they got up, they found the little girl wandering out from the heap of burning wood and debris. She was wearing Ethan's helmet."

"Where's Ethan?!" Andrew was getting scared and angry. They were obviously avoiding his question. Andrew sat up and shouted. "Where the hell is Ethan!"

As he held Andrews' hand, the chief spoke. "A fire fighter will never remove their helmet on purpose. They need it to be able to help others. There is only one reason that Ethan would have taken it off, and that is if he knew he couldn't make it out alive, and the little girl needed it to survive."

Andrew started shaking and sobbing. "No! It can't be. I knew he was in trouble, but he can't be gone!"

Timmy just held his sobbing brother. Andrew pulled his legs up and curled up into a fetal position and shut down again. His heart rate slowed but he was breathing normally. His pulse ox was normal. The nurse checked his blood sugar again and it was at 95. The doctor stopped the dextrose drip.

The nurses rounded up some uncomfortable chairs for everyone to sit down in. They all sat around the bed watching and holding Andrew.

The doctor gave some orders to the nurses and suggested that the family just let Andrew sleep and when he woke, to let him ask the questions.

Mr. Thomas asked if there was a place to get coffee and the nurse took him to their break room since the cafeteria didn't open for a few more hours. He returned to the room with coffee for all of the adults. They gave him an apple juice box for each of the boys. Timmy didn't want his, he wouldn't let go of Andrew.

Mr. Thomas was holding together pretty strong considering he has now lost his remaining son.

Mr. Thomas asked the chief again how long it would be before they could retrieve Ethan's body. "The rubble from the apartment is so big and it's all on fire. It could be days before we find him. We don't know how many others are in there either. They are working on putting out the fire, but the explosion shot oil over the site and it's not extinguishing as quickly as we would like. It was a 5 story timber framed apartment. There's a basement with laundry and storage as well. Because of the oil they have had to put foam on the fire and that took a while to get. The water has most likely filled the basement which is the only place we could hope Ethan went for survival, but his helmet is a sure sign that he knew he would not have made it. The little girl didn't have any information so we don't know if he was trapped or if he was hurt. I'm so sorry. We are all family at the department and it's horrible to have one of our own hurt or lost."

"At least he died as a hero. I don't know how Andrew is going to get past this." Mr. Thomas said.

The chief chimed in. "We don't know everything this boy has been through, but every one of the men at the department love him as much as Ethan does. Andrew will be well taken care of by Ethan's brothers."

"Sir, he's been through more than you will ever know. I just hope this doesn't break him." Grandma said.

"I was at the warehouse when we rescued the boy. I can only imagine the hell his life was before that." The chief continued on. "I assume you are the social worker, miss?"

"Yes, my name is Sarah. I'm also Ethan's best friend."

"Please, if there is anything the department can do. I'm sure we can find someone to take Andrew in, if not on a permanent basis, on a temporary basis until something can be worked out. And what about this cute tyke?"

"Timmy was hurt by his foster family and through the shelter that Mr. Thomas has, he met Andrew."

"He's my brother. I want to live with him wherever he goes."

Sarah didn't know what to say. "We will try, but I can't make any promises, Timmy."

"Son, the two of you can stay with me and my wife until we figure things out." The chief offered.

Andrew started to stir. Timmy leaned over and kissed him again which woke him up.

Andrew opened his eyes, sat up and just said, matter of factly, "He's not dead! I know it."

"Son, we will keep looking, but it's very unlikely." The chief told him.

Andrew started ripping the electrodes off and thankfully they had removed the IV or who knows what would have happened. He jumped out of bed and was looking for his clothes. He remembered he had barfed on his shirt and just turned the hospital gown around and wore it like a shirt. He slipped his shoes on and grabbed the chief. "Let's go, let's go get Ethan."

"Son, I can't do that. You need to stay here and let the fire fighters do their job. Remember, he's their brother and they won't give up until they find him. Besides, I seem to recall Ethan telling me you like to escape hospitals while naked. Not under my watch son. The team won't give up until we find him."

Grandma was able to reach out from her chair and pull Andrew in to her. "Andrew, let them do their job. If you know in your heart that he's OK, then he will be."

Back at the refinery fire, Ethan's company were all battered and bruised from the explosion, but were hell bent on finding their brother. They managed to get foam spread on the burning timbers covering the building, and they heard some cries from under the entry way, closest to where the little girl came out.

"Help us!" The men could hear. They went over and found the little girl's mother and father. Both were badly burned. They quickly took them over to a waiting ambulance to get treated and taken to the Rockport burn center. Since the town had a refinery and there was always the potential for a fire, they had the regional burn center, which was very fortunate for this mom and dad.

"Did you see the fire fighter?"

"No, I'm sorry, we were shoved out of the building. He was carrying our little girl. Have you seen her?"

"Yes, she's safe and over there." They pointed to the girl talking to a paramedic at another ambulance.

"Mommy, daddy!" The little girl ran over to her parents. The paramedics stopped her from trying to hug them since they were burned and it would cause more pain. They were all put into ambulances and taken to the burn center.

The rest of the company went back to the apartment. "Thomas! Are you there Thomas!" They kept shouting. The back half of the apartment building was in much worse shape, and it kept collapsing under the weight of the debris. The crew knew that there was really no way Ethan could have survived, but they wouldn't give up hope until they had him out of this mess.

Just then, they heard a loud beeping coming from below. They knew that the sound was a DSU device worn by fire fighters. The Grizzly Valley fire department didn't have them, but Northfield did. The guys quickly began to lift off pieces of the building to find the downed Northfield firefighter. Under about six feet of debris, they could see the reflective stripes of the Northfield fire jacket. There was no sign of life, but the men were determined to get one of their brothers out of this mess. They struggled and pulled off the debris to remove their fallen brother.

The Northfield Fire Chief made it in time to be the one to lift out his lifeless firefighter.

Where is Ethan? Is he dead or alive? What happens to Andrew? What about Timmy?

End of Andrew's Misplaced Trust - Chapter 35 - Andrew Thomas