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Jared the Paramedic III ~ Redemption
Copyright © 2018-2019 Snowblind. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter 22: Code Orange
THIS STORY IS COPYRIGHT © 2018-2019 BY SNOWBLIND. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. DISTRIBUTION FOR COMMERCIAL GAIN, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, POSTING ON SITES OR NEWSGROUPS, DISTRIBUTION AS PARTS OR IN BOOK FORM (EITHER AS A WHOLE OR PART OF A COMPILATION) WITH OR WITHOUT A FEE, OR DISTRIBUTION ON CD, DVD, OR ANY OTHER ELECTRONIC MEDIA WITH OR WITHOUT A FEE, IS EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED WITHOUT THE AUTHOR'S WRITTEN CONSENT. YOU MAY DOWNLOAD ONE (1) COPY OF THIS STORY FOR PERSONAL USE; ANY AND ALL COMMERCIAL USE EXCEPTING EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS REQUIRES THE AUTHOR'S WRITTEN CONSENT. THE AUTHOR MAY BE CONTACTED AT: snowblind94@yahoo.ca
The warble call came in at 1600 hrs over the radios. It was a warble tone they had tested many times but had never wanted to hear actually being used. The best way to describe the sound was a series of tones which sounded just like the old dispatch tones from the TV show Emergency or Squad 51. As soon as the tones had finished the dispatcher hadn't even waited for the units to call in before saying, "Code orange, repeat Code orange."
Code orange is the code used in the area hospitals and EMS to indicate mass casualty event. This is one of the worse codes to hear on the radio; it means some event has taken place which will potentially cause overload in area hospitals and EMS services.
The dispatcher opened the radio channel to provide more details. Before speaking, Jared could hear at least three other repeater radio channels being linked to open channel. "Attention Bear EMS, LifeFlight, all police detachments on these channels, Caspen EMS, Devon EMS, Caspen Fire Dept, Devon Fire Dept. This is a code orange event. There is a report of a charter bus hit by a train on highway 223 west of Centreville, Parkland grid road crossing. We are told it is a standard 49 seat highway bus, high school students on way to volleyball tournament."
"Dispatch this is Bear EMS," stated Rob. "We have 4 manned units with dual stretchers, 1 helicopter to respond. Contacting staff for bus and second helicopter to roll them as well."
"Dispatch this is Caspen Detachment, we are 10-8, 10-17."
"Dispatch this is Devon Detachment, 10-17."
"Bear EMS, Devon and Caspen Detachment from dispatch. 10-4. Please advise by radio as additional resources come into service."
"Dispatch this is Caspen EMS, one manned unit dual stretcher enroute."
"Dispatch, Devon EMS and Fire. We are rolling rescue and pumper truck along with 2 manned dual stretcher units."
Dispatch, Caspen Fire, we're rolling with rescue, pumper."
"Dispatch, this is Floyd Detachment, we're rolling 3 cars, Forensic Ident unit and mobile headquarters."
"Dispatch acknowledges Floyd, Caspen Fire, Devon EMS and Fire. We are getting more calls which are verifying this is not a drill or exaggeration. Possibility the bus has been torn in half with people scattered over scene." A couple of the responding units acknowledged the information verbally but the rest clicked their mics twice in acknowledgment.
"Dispatch, this is F123 on air and enroute. Chief Superintendent on board."
"10-4 Chief," replied dispatch.
At the base, Rob took charge. "Jared, you will be triage, go with the chopper. Take Melanie and Marci with you. Grab the MCI kit to take as well. Dawn, you, Ryan and Liam get the other chopper filled with supplies and stretcher capable. When the pilots get here..."
"If we split pilot the team on standby and put Troy and Dawn as copilots with them we can get both rolling now. Send the pilots out with the bus and they can trade off or meet us at the hospital," suggested Liam.
"That's a plan," replied Rob. "Good thinking. The staff are still here in reception and accounting. I've got them calling in the night shift early to backfill for town coverage and more to come in to work the bus. Let's get going people."
Jared and Marci ran to the garage to grab the Mulitple Casualty Incident kit (MCI). There were 2 hockey bags full of supplies such as triage tags, barrier tape, lightweight posts, LED lights, body bags and blankets. Each slung the bags over their shoulders like a backpack and began to move towards the helicopter pad. As they approached, Melanie had the back open for them to throw the kits in easily. The turbines were starting up as they closed the door and got in.
The pilot was looking at the maps. Dawn was in the copilot seat and got on the flight radio. "This Life Flight Med Evac Charlie, Charlie, Xray, Tango One at the Bear ambulance base, we are a medical helicopter. Lifting off and heading northeast at 1,500' to mile 23 west of Centreville for emergency flight. All conflicting traffic advise immediately." She called it out two more times. Two airplanes in the area acknowledged and advised of their courses, and altering courses to avoid conflict. The engines were revved, and the helicopter lifted off.
"Nice to have you up here again Captain," the pilot said to Dawn. "Just wish it was under better conditions, ma'am."
Dawn replied, "I hear you, Captain."
Jared switched to the dispatch channel. "Dispatch this is LifeFlight. We are outbound to scene. Any updates?"
"LifeFlight this is dispatch. Acknowledge you are outbound. No responders at scene as of yet but have retired teacher on the line giving us as much information as possible. He advises many injured, thrown clear of the bus. A few people travelling on the highway have stopped to try and give first aid."
"10-4 Dispatch," replied Jared.
Dawn cut in on the channel, "Dispatch, advise him we are 20 minutes out by air."
"Thanks, LifeFlight. He will appreciate that."
Everything was quiet for a few moments until on the internal communication system Marci said, "I see a few marked police cars on the highway ahead."
"Yes, and there are two of our ambulances," added Dawn.
"It's a long way out," said Marci. "That's one of the problems with living in the rural areas. When something like this happens, it takes so long for help to get to the scene."
Jared was in deep thought but added, "It takes so long. I can imagine how long it seems for the victims. I know it seems forever for us."
Troy's voice came over the airways, "This Life Flight Med Evac Charlie, Charlie, Xray, Tango two at the Bear ambulance base, we are a medical helicopter. Lifting off and heading northeast at 1,500' to mile 23 west of Centreville for emergency flight. All conflicting traffic advise immediately." He called it out 2 more times. The engines were revved, and the helicopter lifted off.
"Dispatch this is LifeFlight two, we are in the air and enroute."
"10-4 LifeFlight two, we are designating you as LifeFlight Bravo and the first as LifeFlight Alpha."
Both LifeFlights acknowledged.
"LifeFlight Alpha this is dispatch."
Dawn answered, "Go ahead."
"Two additional Advanced Life Support helicopters are enroute and ETA is 1.5 hours to the scene from the base in the neighbouring province."
"10-4 dispatch. We are approximately 15 minutes out."
"Dispatch this A70, we have the scene in site. About 5 minutes out."
"10-4 A70. Please update us when at scene."
Two clicks on the mic were heard to acknowledge the request.
Jared spoke into the radio, "Dispatch, I will be handling triage at the scene. The helicopters inbound to assist can refuel at our base if necessary. Please give them the location. Depending on what we find at the scene, we may be using them to move critical care patients from the Breck hospital after being stabilized to the advanced care facilities. We'll use our two helicopters at this time to start moving them to the most appropriate hospitals for stabilization."
"Dispatch understands your plan."
"F123 from LifeFlight. John, we need your guys to assist us in locating people and controlling traffic on the highway. Will you work with the fire dept to take care of that. The fire dept once on scene needs to set up safe zone for helicopter landing. We'll take a quick spin around the site to look for best triage area where both road ambulances and helicopters can access."
"Understood Jared," answered John. "All units comply with Jared's requests. All fire departments will report to me at the scene and I will require each chief's advice."
"Chief Superintendent, what do you want done with deceased?" asked Jared.
"Whats protocol in this situation, Jared?"
"Injuries which are obviously incompatible with life are left in place. Everyone else we extricate to the triage area for determination of green, yellow, red, black treatment tag."
"Chief this is the Forensic Unit. We're enroute and will photograph everything as-is as soon as possible and it may help in identification."
The pilot cut in, "This is the pilot, I have high speed camera on board and I will activate it as approaching and completing our circle around the scene for hazard identification. Call our base and talk to Rob about the access security procedures to remote view it from the web."
"Thanks, pilot, Ident clear."
"F123 this is Alpha," Jared called out. "A priority to confirm how many people involved, and we must account for everyone. No one is to leave the scene without going through triage. This is important, John."
"Understood Jared. What about ID of the patients?"
"We'll try to our best to ID who we are triaging, but some of them will just be treated. The priority is to preserve life. Each person triaged will be coded with a number, and if that's all we got it will be up to your guys to ID them."
"I agree that your job is treatment and preservation of life. We'll coordinate with the Coroner, Hospitals and all sources to confirm ID at some point."
Jared continued, "Everyone responding has to understand no statements to press, especially the ID of people. Refer everyone to the Chief Superintendent." The radio channel was filled with overlapping voices all saying 10-4.
"All units," dispatch called out. A moment later they continued, "We just had one of the students call 911 from the scene. He's talking to us as he's trapped in the wreckage," pausing before saying in a broken voice "He's in pain begging for help and someone behind them is screaming for their mom to help them. He's crying now... and telling us he's going to die... and to tell his mother he loves her..."
"A70 is approaching scene dispatch." He paused before continuing, then spoke in a very shaky voice, "God, it looks worse than we've been told."
A new dispatch voice came on the air, "A70 this is dispatch, 10-4."
"A70 this is LifeFlight Alpha. Please, take a couple of deep breaths. We'll be there in a few to help you, and others are nearby. You're not alone," said Jared.
The mic keyed and only the open mic was heard for a few seconds, "Thanks Jared, but I can hear the screaming from here."
"Don't forget to keep breathing deeply. We'll be right there."
Dawn switched to the live flight channel but tied it into the dispatch channel. "This is LifeFlight Med Evac Charlie, Charlie, Xray, Tango Alpha approaching mile 13 on highway 223 west of Centreville, all flight traffic avoid 25 miles of this area we have extensive rescue operations commencing at motor vehicle accident. All conflicting traffic advise," Dawn the co-pilot broadcast. She broadcast it twice more. Several fixed wings confirmed their flight paths and alterations to avoid the area. One pilot came on the air to advise he had been in contact with the airport at Slow River so they were aware. There were no manned airports out in this part of the province which is why the planes and helicopters are constantly calling out on the flight channel to advise others. Most rural airports are grass runways although the bigger towns have all year round paved landing areas but are not staffed. As a plane approaches, when the pilot calls out the landing path the lights come on automatically within a radius of the airport.
"Dispatch, this is A121. We are on scene on the east side."
"10-4 A121."
Dawn activated the internal communications gear, "It's just ahead of the nose in the distance." Everyone on the helicopter strained their eyes to look at the accident.
"F123 this Alpha, traffic is beginning to collect on both sides of the divided highway."
Two mic clicks were heard. Dispatch cut in, "We have Dept of Transport responding with portable directional signs and traffic control people. They have a route bypassing the scene on the grid roads picked out to use."
"F123 acknowledges last. Do we have word of environmental issues at the scene? Spilled fuel?"
"Chief," dispatch replied. "There is an indication of fuel from the bus entering the ditches. We have environment company responding to control and prevent it from spreading until they are cleared to mitigate it. The ditches feed into a creek and marshland."
"Thanks, dispatch," replied John.
Dispatch continued, "Just to be aware, the type of bus registered has two chemical toilets with a capacity of 20 gallons of waste mixed in chemical. Just a heads up."
John replied "10-4."
"This is LifeFlight Med Evac Charlie, Charlie, Xray, Tango Alpha approaching mile 13 on highway 223 west of Centreville, we are descending from 1500' to land at on highway. All conflicting traffic advise." The pilot activated the siren underneath the fuselage to warn people of their approach. He also activated live feed of the camera. The pilot called out on the air, "Ident this is Alpha, the feed is live."
Two mic clicks were heard.
They approached the scene of the accident and were stunned at the destruction they saw.
The train was stopped on the south side of the scene. It was a short train consisting of engines and what is called calves or slave engines. There were 8 in total with no cars attached to them and parked just clear of the highway. The railway did reposition engines and slave units on a regular basis between shunting yards, and this wasn't unusual. The bus was laying on its side, cut into two pieces, and mangled badly. The front of the bus was on the west side of the tracks, and the back was in the meridian on the east side. Suitcases, baggage and people were scattered around both.
"This is LifeFlight Med Evac Charlie, Charlie, Xray, Tango Alpha approaching mile 13 on highway 223 west of Centreville, we are at 500' to land at on highway. All conflicting traffic advise." He said it two more times as they began to circle the scene. People looked up at the sound of the helicopter and the siren, many had looks of obvious relief on their faces.
Fire trucks and additional police were beginning to arrive as they had flown around the scene. The ambulances were in sight and would be arriving in a few moments. Jared saw John's car arriving and parking on the shoulder of the highway on the east side. John had called Rob as well and had logged into the live feed from the helicopter. He was looking at his phone as they made their final circle.
Jared was looking at the wreckage when he closed his eyes to say a prayer. He didn't realize that his mic was open so everyone heard him say, "Creator, bless and protect the rescuers. Ancient One, give comfort to the victims and their families as everyone arrives to help them at this accident scene. Guide all of our hands to do the best work possible so we may ease the suffering of the injured, and the care for those who have already moved on."
The Chief Superintendent cut in on the radio, "Thank you, Jared. From your mouth to all our ears. Let's do our best team." Jared realized he had accidentally keyed the mic and was just about to apologize when the dispatchers and many of the responders all answered, "Amen."
The pilot called on the intercom, "No overhead lines seen Jared, where do want me?"
"West side of the crossing, westbound lanes. That will be landing zone."
"Alpha is on the ground, Bravo what is your ETA?"
"Bravo is 8 minutes out." As Jared and his people jumped out of the helicopter, they didn't hear all the radio talk traffic taking place between all the responding units arriving. They grabbed the bags from the back of the helicopter and he began to set up the triage area. The ambulances began parking nearby, the medics running to Jared. He looked at them. "Do your best. This is triage. Everyone gets looked at for Airway, breathing, circulation, deadly bleeds and Glasgow Coma Scale. Everyone needs to be checked first, call out what you see. Anyone deceased or that will consume too many resources with no chance of survival are last and left in place at this time. Up here there will be red, yellow, green and black plastic on the ground to indicate the zones. Problems, yell for me." Jared paused for a moment and then saw Liam arriving, "Problems, yell for me or Liam. Let's roll." The medics split as Jared finished setting up portable barriers with tape and plastic rows indicating triage zone.
It didn't take long before the first patients began to arrive at the triage area. The first was a 16-year-old girl who was a member of the volleyball team. She was conscious, and although she had been crying the young lady was in control of herself. Two more young ladies were brought up, turned out they were all best friends. The girls appeared to have lacerations, potentially broken extremities, possible concussions but were alert and fully conscious. They were classified as yellow and moved to the yellow area where other paramedics took over their care.
Two young men were brought in at the same time by two teams of firefighters. A paramedic joined each team and began to assess the patients. Both were unconscious and had an Oral pharyngeal airway put in place by the firefighters. The one paramedic began getting ready to intubate in preparation to use a bag valve mask to provide supplemental breathing. Jared moved to the other patient to begin an assessment. This young man had fractured ribs which had punctured a lung. The blood was beginning to build up in the lung impairing the functioning of the heart. Quickly, Jared reacted by healing two lobes of the lung and removing the blood from them. He left the lower lobe injured. The young man would survive. Jared had another paramedic intubate the patient, tagging both of them red. Liam and Amanda took one to the helicopter, Rob and Melanie took the other in the second helicopter.
Three more patients were assessed as yellow and sent out by road ambulance. Once again, Jared had intervened with his gift to stabilize the patients. The walking wounded were being brought in for triage as well, Troy was doing an excellent job at treating them. He had sent three of the green tag walking wounded via one road ambulance to a smaller hospital. This allowed the advanced life support units to focus on the more serious cases while the smaller rural hospitals handled the non-life threatening injuries.
The time at the accident went by quickly. Teams of firefighters and medics worked to extricate the students from the wreckage, where they were moved to the triage area and treated while waiting for transport. It was happening at a steady pace.
The two helicopters had been moving the critical patients to the Breck hospital for stabilization and further assessment. The more serious patients were either transported to the trauma care centre by road ambulance or the other two helicopters depending upon the need. The road ambulances had been transporting some of the less critical patients to a couple of smaller hospitals. The smaller hospitals were perfect for stabilizing and treating patients carded as yellow or green priority. This kept the less serious patients from flooding the trauma centres and overwhelming both the resources and the staff more than what was already happening.
It's just not the doctors and nurses who are part of the team at the hospital in this type of situation. Housekeeping staff need to keep up with cleaning up examination rooms after treatment, stocking linen carts, removing soiled materials, cleaning patient rooms to be ready for the admissions. The aides are running trying to keep supplies stocked in the areas consuming them. This is everything from gauze pads and medical instruments to IV solutions The pharmacy staff are ensuring enough medications are available for use. The x-ray and lab departments are all putting people through as quickly as possible. The administration people are trying to get the patients registered, sort out their valuables, arrange for staff and need equipment, find available rooms for the patient to be moved into and their files following them. Extra kitchen staff are brought in to help feed the staff working longer hours. The doctors and nurses are the front line in the emergency department, but they rely on the rest of the team doing their jobs to be effective. This was just the local hospitals. The trauma centres will also have CAT scans running, additional tests, and surgery teams to call in.
Melanie came to Jared in the triage area. "Jared, we need you in the bus. I'll take over for you here."
"What's up?"
"We've almost got everyone out of both sections but its taken some time to get to these two. One refuses to leave the wreck without the other."
"How can I help?"
"We need you."
Jared nodded and headed towards where Melanie pointed to him. As he arrived there were two medics and three firefighters trying to set up in order to extricate the last two patients. It was evening now and several Ingersoll-Rand light towers had been set up to illuminate the area. It was obvious the stress of the situation, as well as the frustration, was beginning to overflow as Jared was approaching the area. The medics and firefighters were yelling into the wreckage.
"Don't fight us. You're coming out of there now," said one of the firefighters.
Jared walked over and gently placed a hand on the man's shoulder as he asked, "Please, are we going to fight the injured?" Jared quickly placed a suggestion into the man's mind. "Take some deep breathes and relax."
Jared looked at everyone else. "What's the situation?"
One of the medics Jared didn't recognize from a neighbouring service spoke, "The young guy in there won't let go of his friend so we can get him on the board."
Jared looked at the young man in the wreckage and could see he was holding another young man tightly. He figured both of the young men had been sitting beside each other during the trip, and during the accident at some point, they had grabbed each other tightly from fear. Jared couldn't blame them. The young man who was conscious was only partially visible through all the debris, tangled metal and bus seats still in the way. The other young man's lower half of his body was wedged under the first young man. The first young man's face was covered in dry blood, part of his scalp sliced open, and his left eye was almost swelled shut, but he clearly said, "This is my friend Carter and I won't let him go. He's not dead."
Jared got down on one knee, "What's your name?"
"Olly."
"I'm Jared. I've been working as the triage officer here and I was sent to help you."
One of the firefighters was getting upset, "This is getting old; let's get this done."
Jared looked over his shoulder and stared at the man. In a very deep resonating voice, "I am not the one you want to fuck with; you will do what I say when I say it." Jared looked at all the rescuers before finishing with, "Let's finish this right. Give me a couple of minutes to figure this out." There was something in the way Jared spoke which caused all the rescuers to take a step backwards. He turned to Olly.
"I'm going to touch your friend so I can assess him."
"He's not dead. I won't abandon him."
Jared moved closer, put his stethoscope into his ears and listened for any heart sounds or air movement in the young man's lungs. While he was in contact with the young man's chest, Jared said, "Creator, guide my hands to do your work." From over his shoulder, he heard one of the firemen mumble something about a Jesus freak. They didn't see Jared's eyes turn white as he began to assess and treat the young man. Jared realized this young man was as close to being dead as anyone could get. Quickly he began to stabilize and repair the injuries to give Carter a fighting chance. Jared himself was beginning to feel weak along with being light headed while he was trying to save this young man.
Jared looked over his shoulders, and said loudly, "Who the hell did the assessment on this patient? He's not dead." That caught both the medics and firefighters off guard. Jared stood, looked at the wreckage and decided what to do. He pointed at one firefighter, "Go to triage, tell Melanie I have two red tags here and immediate need LifeFlight Alpha or Bravo." The firefighter hesitated, and Jared yelled, "Move your ass!" He ran.
Jared looked at the three remaining. "The seats are pinning these two from easy access, but you guys have done a great job at clearing all the other metal." Jared stood up and looked at the seats. Since the bus was on its side, the rescue staff were standing where passenger side windows would normally be. The team had finished cutting what was left of the roof to get access, but the seats were still attached to the bus floor sticking out and over the two patients. It would take time for the jaws of life to snip the seat supports to remove them. Jared reached out grabbed a seat, closed his eyes, and suddenly twisted it while pulling. It snapped clear of the floor, and he tossed it away. Jared did it two more times before turning to the rescuers and said, "Get Olly boarded." He turned to Olly and said, "I give you my word... Carter will be right behind you. Now, let him go and let these men rescue you."
The way Jared spoke, Olly believed him. Just before he released his grip on Carter he said, "I won't be far buddy. Stay with me Carter, I love you."
Jared looked at the medics, "Get him boarded guys, and then we will get Carter out here next."
It took a few moments, but Olly was secured to the board and they began to carry him up to the triage area. The other firefighter had returned and was out of breath as he said, "She says Alpha is inbound."
Jared smiled, "Thank you." They quickly worked to extricate Carter, and get him on the backboard. A few moments later, he was strapped in and being carried up to triage. They specifically placed Carter next to Olly. Other medical staff were quickly assessing and treating both of the young men. IV's were being hung up, full body assessments conducted, quick strips of cardiac monitoring as well. Jared stood back and let the teams do their work.
Melanie approached Jared and embraced him into a tight hug. "You've done an incredible job cousin," she said.
Jared was very tired, but he said, "Everyone here has done an incredible job. Mel, how many didn't make it?"
Melanie released him but held onto both of his upper arms as she said, "There was 38 people on board, 39 including the driver. At this point, we have eleven body bags, but we believe everyone has been accounted for. Some still aren't identified, but at least we know these two young men are the last two."
Jared had tears escape his eyes and roll down his cheeks, "I've felt all the emotions of the survivors as I triaged them here. I've also felt the emotions and rage of the rescuers."
Melanie had known this was going to happen with Jared at some point today. "You've done a fantastic job, Jared. With these two, and the last three green cards, our role in this mess is done. The rest is up to the next level of care in the hospitals and the police to do their investigation." Just as she finished, two ambulances came into the triage area for the last three patients.
The helicopter began its landing; Jared turned to look at it. It wasn't Alpha but Bravo landing for the patients. He turned back and said the Melanie, "I'm going in with these two. I need to be there."
"Ok, I think Troy and Kat are in there."
"Kat?" asked Jared.
"Yes, Kat. We were running out of medics so she volunteered to work with us on the helicopter. She's been fantastic. Might be a good addition to the staff."
Jared smiled, "I honestly wouldn't expect anything less from her." After a moment, Jared said, "I'm so tired Mel. I don't want to do this anymore."
Melanie had heard the comment but didn't acknowledge or answer Jared. She was hoping it was just him venting.
The back doors for the helicopter opened, and they began to load the two young men into the back. Jared jumped in with them.
Kat started to hook the patients up to equipment, "What have we got, Jared."
Jared smiled, "I'll show you when the doors close."
She looked at him with a puzzled look but knew better than to disbelieve Jared. She had no clue what to expect, but she also was slowly learning Jared was a very special person.
Jared looked at Troy, "How's it been going?"
"Incredible Jared. Considering what happened, it's run smoothly."
The helicopter was taking off. Jared asked Troy, "Brother, do you have any energy?"
"For you, any time."
"Let's show Kat what I do." He turned to Kat and said, "Grab my arm but make sure its skin contact."
She did it. Troy put his hand on Jared's shoulder, moving to grasp the back of his brother's neck where the skin was easily available. Jared placed one hand on Carter's chest, closed his eyes and said, "Creator guide my hands to do your work." When he opened his eyes, they were glowing white.
Kat quietly said, "Oh my God."
Troy said, "That's nothing. You are about to have your mind blown."
She didn't even get a chance to reply before her mind was flooded with Jared's vision of travelling through Carter's body. Kat heard Troy explaining, "Kat, he is actually travelling through the body of the young man, following injuries or searching for them." Jared had quickly travelled up to the brain where he discovered intracranial bleeding. The bleeding was the direct result of a skull fracture which was hidden under the young man's matted hair. Jared moved around and through the blood within the skull until he located the damaged brain tissue. The tissue began to grow and heal, binding together to return to its pre-injury form. Jared focused on the blood, dissolving the majority of it which relieved the pressure within the skull. Jared moved down the spinal column, through the lungs, the chest and abdomen. There were broken bones, lacerations and abrasions but Carter was no longer near death. Jared removed his hand and moved to Olly, placing his hand on the side of the young man's face.
"Olly, Carter will live now. You two have a future together which must happen."
"What are you?" asked Olly.
"A man of medicine, and a messenger from the Creator. Olly, you two will have your challenges, but you will have a long life together." Jared then said "Sleep" which the young man did immediately. Jared travelled through Olly's face, into his brain. Jared didn't see anything of concern, so he began travelling down the spine. At the C-5 level, he realigned and healed a fractured vertebra, followed by a realignment as well as a reduction in swelling of the spinal cord. Jared continued down the cord, and into the chest. He made a few repairs to the spleen and liver where damage had occurred. Again, there were a few broken bones, lacerations and abrasions but Olly would no longer end up paralyzed from the neck injury.
Jared kept his one hand on Olly and reached with the other to touch Carter on his face as well. Kat and Troy were still with him as he entered the minds of both young men where he saw why Olly wouldn't leave Carter behind. The two young men were deeply in love, and that love was felt by Jared as he entered their memories. Both young men had some memories which disturbed Jared; he sensed fear and apprehension of the accident. Both were living with a friend as they had been kicked out of their houses by the parents. They loved where they were staying, especially as the friend's parents treated them as just two more of their kids but they knew they had to move on soon. Jared altered Olly's memory of him watching Jared heal Carter, and then firmly planted in both young men's minds, "You must follow your dreams together. You must follow your dreams." Jared thought for a moment, then placed another idea in their minds, "Contact Jared, Liam, Patrick or Adam if you're in trouble or need help," and how to do it. Then he thought for a moment, "Contact Jared before leaving the hospital." Jared returned to his physical body.
End of Chapter Twenty-Two
Comments Appreciated at Snowblind94@yahoo.ca
Snowblind's stories can be found at nifty.org and storylover.us.