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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.
It's a work in progress at: Visit Grizzly Valley Hopefully the links work and stay up. Use the top menu for best results.
Read my friend Eric's work under Transitions Daily Life and Tux's work in Young Friends called Counting Say hi to us authors. We don't like hearing crickets when we post.
The chief's radio beeped. He stepped into the hallway and turned up the volume. "Chief, we found a man, but it was a Northfield FD probie. He was buried under 6 feet of rubble where we thought we would find Thomas. He didn't make it. We will keep you updated."
The chief was disappointed that they hadn't found Ethan, but very saddened at the Northfield FD's loss. At least there is still hope.
The chief went back into room 10 to continue calming Andrew down. "Son, they found another fire fighter and are still looking for Ethan." He omitted the fact that the fire fighter had passed away. After all, he's not dead until they find him lifeless.
Timmy was hugging his brother. "Can we get on the bed, brother? I'm tired of standing up. I didn't get any sleep." Timmy looked up with his bright blue eyes and gave Andrew a puppy dog look. Andrew hugged the boy and lifted him up on the bed. Andrew climbed up and leaned back. The bed was reclined and Timmy sat between Andrew's legs, leaning back, pulling Andrew's arms around him. For a moment, Andrew felt his responsibility was to his little charge, and not to worry about Ethan. Timmy needed him, and he needed Timmy. Deep down, he knew he would be OK, with or without Ethan.
"I know it's gonna be ok, cause we gots each other. You're my brother and nobody can change that." Timmy said as he looked at Sarah, who had a very uncomfortable look on her face. He was hoping he could convince her, but the reality was, it wasn't her choice to make. If she could pair up people that wanted to be together, she would do it every time, but the rules are the rules.
"Can you reach the iPad Joey gave me?"
"Sure." Andrew handed it to Timmy.
"Listen to this, it's Joey's latest album. I think you'll like it." Timmy played the music and the boys were both enjoying it. The distraction was working for Andrew. For a brief moment, he was in his own world, enjoying Joey's song and holding his little brother.
The Northfield FD joined the Grizzly Valley team in digging out the debris. If their man was there, Ethan had to be close. The firefighters rarely worked alone, and everyone else was accounted for. There was a large burned-out structural beam laying across a corner of the basement. The building's collapse sent several refrigerators and kitchen contents down to that corner. That was their last hope, but certainly, there was no way that Ethan could have survived that. The heavy appliances would have certainly crushed him.
"Get some ropes over here." Barlowe yelled. "We need to lift out these fridge's and haul out some of this debris. Be careful, he could be under here and we don't want to be the cause of death."
"Here." Caddel yelled as he tossed one end of a rope. "I found an anchor point here we can use to hold it so it doesn't drop further."
"Toss me a maul, I think I can get some leverage" Hart said to a firefighter up on the ground. He crawled over what looked like the contents of someone's kitchen and pried back the refrigerator that Barlowe had secured. As he pried, the others pulled the rope to hold it back. He and Barlowe got it to slip off of the timber. The others quickly secured it and were able to hoist it out. The fridge had landed on a table that appeared to be intact. They pulled the table off to find more of debris and a hand sticking out.
Quickly, the men jumped in and moved the debris piece by piece until they uncovered a reflective coat. The name Thomas could be seen on the back. Clearing away some singed boxes of cereal, they saw that his hair was singed. He wasn't moving, but it appeared that he was breathing. Hart pulled his glove off, reached down to Ethan's neck and screamed out "We have a pulse! It's weak, get a move on!" The others jumped down to move the remaining debris away from Ethan.
"Someone get a back board over here."
As they were scrambling, another explosion rocked the refinery. Thankfully it was far enough away it didn't disturb them.
"Thomas! Thomas! Are you with us?" Hart said as he was patting Ethan carefully. They didn't know if there were any other injuries. The rest of the guys had cleared enough room they could slide the backboard under Ethan's belly.
"Guys, his arms, they're above his head. Someone grab something to splint it with. Medic, toss me some tape." They kept Ethan's arms extended over his head and splinted them to some boards they found in the rubble. With the backboard under him, they tried to move him, but his legs were still stuck.
"Clear his legs." Barlowe yelled out as he started clearing the crap from his side of Ethan. "Legs look intact, so let's carefully slide him forward."
They were able to extract him and four men lifted Ethan from what could have been his grave. They pulled him out to a waiting gurney. Once they set him on the gurney, they strapped a backboard to his back and removed the one from his belly. They had checked his arms and legs and found they were fine. Ethan wasn't waking up. They were worried about a brain injury. Moving his arms down to his side and strapping his legs together, they rolled him over so he was facing up. "Shit!" Barlow said. He grabbed some gauze and saline to clean up Ethan's face. It had been cut open pretty badly. There was a cut across his forehead and his nose looked like it was about to fall off. They cleaned up as much as they could to stabilize him as the medivac chopper arrived. Thankfully, the parking area was large enough and there was a clearance for the thing to land. They could roll Ethan across the parking lot and not jar him in case of any internal bleeding. He had definitely lost a lot of blood. It had been hours since the explosion flattened the building and his cuts were deep. They got him on board and sent their brother off to Mercy Hospital in Rockport. In fact, the hospital shared the emergency room with Children's Hospital and the heliport was on top.
The chief's radio beeped. He stepped out again. "What's the news."
"Sorry Chief, we were busy, but you're probably going to hear the incoming chopper. Ethan is on board and alive. He's unconscious, but he's alive. Just then the chief heard the chopper. He ran over to the nurses' station. "Which way to the heliport?"
"I'm sorry, sir, but you have to go through the emergency room. You should just go there to wait if they are bringing someone in."
The chief ran to the elevator and impatiently kept pushing the button. Grandma had followed him out and caught up to him. "A little impatient, aren't we? I take it that there is some good news? Is Ethan on that chopper?"
"Yes, but I don't want to get the boy's hope up, or have him rush the ER in the nude again. Let me go get the rundown and I'll be right back."
Bing. The door opened, the chief got in and quickly left to the ER.
As the chief entered the emergency room and found the entrance from the heliport elevator, he heard the attending physician say that they needed blood. "He's AB Positive," the chief yelled out. He made sure to have memorized each of his guys' blood types just in case of an emergency.
"Thanks chief. Hang whatever you got. He's lost several pints. Let's get the bleeding under control."
They rolled him into an operating room. The chief was blocked from entering. "Sterile room, you can watch from over there." There was an observation room next to the OR since this hospital was a teaching hospital.
The doctors and med students worked diligently to clean Ethan's wounds, validate that it was clean and then sew him up. They did a pretty decent job considering how messy the cuts were since they were from blunt impact and not a sharp object.
"He's coming to." One of the intern's shouted. They had Ethan strapped down for safety.
"What, where am I, Andrew?" he called out.
"Sir, you're at Mercy Hospital. You had an accident while on a fire call."
"Where's Andrew?"
"Sir, please, what's your name."
"Ethan, Ethan Thomas."
"Do you know what day it is?"
"No, I have no idea. Where's Andrew?"
Ethan was pulling against the restraints.
"Nurse, mild sedative please, we need him to calm down." The doctor gave the instructions to the nurse and she injected it into the IV tube. Ethan began to calm down, but didn't loose consciousness.
The chief figured he better go get Andrew before it got worse. He moved as fast as he could to the elevators and quickly got to the 4th floor. "I need a wheelchair." He said to a nurse. She pointed at one and he grabbed it on the way to room 10. "Get on board cowboy!" he said to Andrew.
Andrew had a quizzical look on his face. "You found him?"
"Yes, he's calling for you, we need to calm him down. They need to fix his cuts."
Andrew jumped in the wheelchair and before the chief could get moving Timmy got on Andrew's lap. The entire entourage followed the chief to the elevator and then to the operating room. He pointed at the observation room and told everyone to go in. He opened the restricted door with the help of one of the nurses and rolled Andrew and Timmy in to the room.
Andrew hopped up, his gown flapping open and his ass on display. "Ethan!" he shouted.
"Andrew, I'm so sorry Andrew, I'm here." Ethan couldn't see anything. His face was covered in gauze from the surgery to repair his face and nose.
"You're here and that's what matters. Don't scare me like that again."
"You're never going to believe it when I tell you."
"As long as you never leave me, I don't care."
"Me too, daddy!"
"Timmy? Is that you?"
"Yeah, daddy."
Ethan was wondering if he had forgotten something and was now the boy's father. This was strange, but he wasn't going to fight it.
"I'm glad you boys are here."
The doctor came over and told them they needed to leave so they could finish up on Ethan. They could visit him later when he is in a room. The hospitals were connected so they could easily visit.
They boys wouldn't leave, so the chief took them to the observation room where they watched. Since the majority of the cuts were already fixed, the boys didn't get to see too much gore. They were worried that Ethan's face was covered in gauze, but they were happy he was alive.
They took Ethan to a room and the boys were taken back to Timmy's room.
"When can I go see him?" Andrew asked.
"In the morning after breakfast. He needs his sleep to heal. I'll make sure you get taken over while Timmy here gets his last dialysis treatment." The nurse told them both.
"Really, my last one?" Timmy said.
"Well, your kidneys are doing better according to the tests, so tomorrow they will test a few things and if it looks good, you're all done."
"Tests? You mean more blood, right?"
"Yes, little one, but you're strong. You can do it."
"I know. I gots this tube sticking out of me, I think I can let them get some blood if it means I get to go home." Timmy started to cry as he said that. He didn't know where home was. Andrew couldn't go home because Ethan was in the hospital. "Where do I get to go home to?"
Just as Timmy was saying that, Mr. Thomas walked in. He heard the conversation. "You boys are going to come to my place for a while. Ethan will come there too while he recovers. We will be one big family until we figure everything out."
"Where's your house?" Timmy asked.
"I have a place that is over by the Grizzly Valley Preserve. My house is next to the entrance where you can get to the campground and falls. You boys will like it there."
Andrew was wondering why he hadn't heard about it or visited. It was probably because Ethan and his dad were not that close and Ethan only helped at the foundation to get time with his dad.
"It sounds nice. Ethan never said anything about it." Andrew said.
"I'm sorry Andrew, I pushed Ethan away and you made me realize my mistake. While Ethan recovers, I hope we can all get closer as a family."
"Even me?" Timmy asked.
"Even you, for as long as we can make it work." Mr. Thomas added, hoping that Sarah would be able to work out something.
After breakfast, the boys went to dialysis. After dropping Timmy off, Andrew went to see Ethan.
As he walked into the room, he didn't recognize his hero. Covered in bandages, looking like a broken rag doll. Andrew ran to his man, touching his arm, he started to cry. "Ethan, oh, Ethan, you're going to be OK."
Ethan was awakened by the touch. "Andrew? Is that you? I'm so sorry. I had to save the little girl. I wasn't thinking. I'm so sorry. Please understand, it was either we both died, or I could let her try to escape. I hope she made it."
"She did, my love. She made it thanks to you."
"Thank God."
"Does your chest hurt?"
"No, why?" Ethan was wondering why Andrew would ask.
Andrew made two fists and beat Ethan's chest like a drum, not hard, but to get his point across. Tears ran down his face. "Don't you ever fucking leave me again! I can't live without you. I don't want to live without you. I love you!"
Ethan only had one arm free. His face was covered in bandages, so he couldn't see, but with his free arm, he pulled Andrew into a hug. He pulled Andrew's face into his chest. "Andrew, I can't promise nothing will ever happen to me, but I will always be with you. You are my life. I'm going to talk to the chief about my options."
"Good, I don't want you to get killed. By the way, you're off work for a while again. At least we get to spend time together. We're going to your dad's place. Why didn't you tell me about his place?"
"It's not that exciting. He's got a ton of land and a small house. I've never felt welcome there."
"Well, that's where we are all going for a while. Even Timmy is coming."
"Really? Is that why he called me daddy?"
"I don't know why he did that. He really wants to live with us. He calls me his brother."
"Well, the tyke has been through a lot. Kind of reminds me of someone else." Ethan said as he patted the back of Andrew's head.
"Let me up, I want to see your face."
"The doctor said we can't remove the bandages for a day. They will come to change them, but when they did them earlier, it looked pretty bad. You may not want to be with me after this. I'm sure I'll have tons of scars and be ugly."
"Ethan, you are the most beautiful person I know. Your face was very handsome, and even if it was ripped off, you're still beautiful. I don't care. You haven't changed. Besides, we can always get you a Halloween mask." Andrew laughed.
They talked and joked for a bit until a nurse came in to change the bandages.
"Son, do you want to step out while I change these?"
"No, I want to be here."
The nurse began to remove the old wrapping. The blood stained gauze was smelly and covered in blood and other oozing fluids. Andrew just held Ethan's hand and stared in shock. The nurse uncovered Ethan's eyes and he looked up to see panic in Andrew's bloodshot blue eyes. Ethan started to panic himself. "What? What's so bad?"
"Um, sorry, um, it's not what I expected. It's OK, but, shit, Ethan, your face, it's, well, gross. Sorry."
The nurse piped up. "Son, his face is really swollen from the impact it took. There will be inflammation, discoloration, and bleeding. It will all go down and look much better. The doctors will also do some plastic surgery after a while to make things even better."
"Can we design a new face?" Andrew joked.
Ethan swung his arm and hit Andrew in the belly, "Not funny!"
"You should see yourself."
The nurse held up a mirror. Ethan gasped. "Maybe you're right, maybe we should start from scratch."
"Enough boys, let's get this cleaned and re-wrapped so you can heal and we can get you home."
The nurse re-wrapped Ethan and left his eyes clear. The two chatted and hugged until the nurse made Andrew go back to Timmy.
Timmy was waiting up for his brother and the two cuddled through the night.
How will Ethan's recovery go? What will happen next. Sent me a note, let me know what you think and see if you're right.
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