Page 3 of Love and Memories

Matt was the other paramedic on shift with Travis, and he couldn’t have asked for a better partner. Matt had a good twenty years on Travis, and he was the epitome of prepared and focused.

Matt gripped the wheel as they headed toward the town limits. “Better start praying.”

“I’m way ahead of you,” Travis said as he cataloged the dispatcher’s notes. Travis had faith in the Lord like a stonemountain, and he knew when to ask for help. He’d seen plenty of people fail to save lives, and there were times when all the schooling and experience in the world couldn’t save someone the Lord decided to call home.

Focusing on what he knew about the incident, Travis formed a plan. It was all tentative, but mentally walking through the steps kept him from dwelling on the sobering fact that a woman was walking the line between life and death.

She could be someone’s mother. She was definitely someone’s daughter. Would she see her family again?

He couldn’t let those thoughts see the light of day. He had to look at her as a patient and not a person whose life could be finished or changed forever.

Sometimes, it was easier to picture the victim in his own position. No parents who cared. No spouse or kids. Sure, Travis had friends, but no one in this world was tied to him. Anyone with a blood connection had cut those ties a long time ago, and the only ones left were the ones who chose to stick around.

The emergency vehicle lights flashed in multiple colors as Matt parked alongside two Blackwater Police Department vehicles.

Various law enforcement officials moved around the scene, and Officer Jennifer Freeman approached Travis and Matt. Travis had known Jennifer for years, and the petite blonde was extremely good at her job. It was always a good show whenever someone underestimated her.

“Single female. Seems to be the victim of a hit-and-run. She had a head injury and is losing blood. She’s been unconscious since we arrived, but she has a steady pulse. We stabilized her neck and tried to stop the bleeding.”

Those stats didn’t do the woman any favors. They had to get her to regain consciousness as soon as possible.

Travis jerked to a stop as Jennifer stepped aside to reveal the injured woman. A C-collar stabilized her neck, and she lay in a pool of dark blood.

Too much blood. Her light hair darkened where it was soaked by the puddle of red.

Officer Dawson Keller knelt by her head as he applied pressure to the wound with gloved hands. He looked up with wide, haunted eyes. “Man, I’m sure glad to see you.”

Travis’s gut twisted before he turned his attention toward the medical bag Matt rested on the pavement. “Do we have an ID?”

“No ID,” Jennifer said.

They’d be going in blind then. Hopefully, she wasn’t allergic to any medications. They’d need to find out her blood type. A transfusion was probably in her future.

Travis worked quietly beside Matt. It was a race against the clock, and the unnamed woman was losing. They were all losing.

Travis risked a glance at the woman’s face. One side was red and raw where it had scraped against the dirt, and the other side was swollen and purple around her eye.

Hmm. How did she get a black eye from being hit by a car?

There wasn’t much time to think about it. He’d seen plenty of crazy and unexplainable injuries. A black eye was nothing compared to the head injury, broken bones, and internal bleeding this woman might be dealing with right now.

“You okay?” Matt asked as he opened a sterile gauze pack.

Travis swallowed hard. He had to get a handle on his focus. The woman’s life depended on him. “Yeah. You?”

“Yeah.”

The word was as hollow as Travis’s gut.

The woman was young–probably close to Travis’s age, and watching her fight for her life hit a little too close to home.

It could have been him, and he’d probably trade places with the stranger if given the chance. The resolve to save her solidified in his stomach. “Let’s get her loaded.”

Matt jumped into action, preparing the stretcher, while Travis assessed the woman for a spinal injury. His hand brushed against the skin of her neck, and the cold sucked the warmth right out of him.

Something dark and hot kindled inside his chest. He couldn’t lose her, but life was flowing out of her by the second.

When they’d locked the stretcher in the ambulance, Travis climbed in beside the woman. There was so much blood, they’d spent precious seconds locating the wounds. He focused on the things he was supposed to be doing and stayed busy.

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