Page 21 of Saving Veronica
An hour later, Finn had used almost every towel and hand warmer and Ronnie was wrapped up like a bright silver Christmas present. The only spot that air was getting in was the small hole in the metallic blanket for both Major and Ronnie to breathe. He quickly took his shirt from her face and took her temp again and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it had raised two degrees.
“LARSON!”someone screamed from above.
“HERE!”he called back. He grabbed his most powerful flashlight and whipped it up to shine on the people standing where he’d left the road flare.“SHE’S ALIVE!”he yelled back, and saw several men grab who he assumed was the General.“MEDIVAC ON THE WAY!”
“I’M COMING DOWN!”General Pennyworth yelled back, and Finn saw him and several others start down.
“STOP!”he yelled back, and when they froze he swept his light back and forth in front of them. Since it was pitch black now, with no moon or stars, and there were heavy black clouds, so close it felt like you could reach up and touch them. It made it hard to see.“WHAT THE HELL ARE THOSE?”He trained his light on the thing he’d slipped in and then over to the other side to a big black lump. Using their own flashlights, he watched as they assessed the stuff. Half of the men stayed there, while four continued down to where he was.
“What’s the situation?” Gerald asked. His eyes never left the metallic blanket.
“She’s alive, but banged up pretty bad. When I found her, her lower legs were submerged in the water. She has several injuries. But first, almost two hours ago, her body temp was eighty. I started the warm saline IV, and covered most of her body in the hand warmers. Major’s under the blanket with her.” He pointed his flashlight at the black nose sticking out from under the blanket. “Seconds before you called my name, I took her temp and it’s up two degrees. I called Amos and he called for a medivac. Don’t know how long before it arrives.”
Gerald turned to Johnson and Patterson and said, “Call up to your men and have them set up flares for the helicopter in the meadow.” They watched as they pulled their sat phones and dialed.
“What took you guys so long?” Finn asked. “It’s been almost four hours since I found her.”
“We couldn’t get through our trails. Mine’s got several logs across it and it took us a while to figure out we weren’t getting through. Johnsons’ is washed out. Same with Pattersons’. He ended up going around and hooked up with Hector. Johnson and his men met up with me, and we had to circle around and came up Ronnie’s trail.”
“Wow. Before I get into her injuries, what was that stuff I pointed out to you?”
“The black lump on the right was Ronnie’s slicker and a shirt. The mess on the left was afterbirth.” He chuckled at the look of disgust on Finn’s face.
“Eww,” Finn said, and actually shuddered as he gagged. “Come with me.” He turned and walked away. With his high powered light, he shone it on the big cat lying there dead.
“What the fuck?” Johnson said, as he leaned down and studied the animal. “Christ, is that a knife in its eye?”
“Yes. Ronnie has defensive lacerations on her left forearm, and lacerations on her right thigh. They match. I’m assuming she was attacked and was able to defend herself.”
“So what are her injuries?” Gerald asked, as he stood up from looking at the cat. Before Finn could say anything, the whole area around them was lit like it was the middle of the day and they heard the rotors from the medivac.
Five minutes later, two men dressed in flight suits came running down the hill and Finn was able to tell everyone at once Ronnie’s injuries and what he’d done. The EMTs looked at him in shock and asked. “Are you a doctor?”
“No, but I worked side by side with a medic in Afghanistan for the last three years.”
“There’s nothing we can do that you didn’t already do. Is she on a backboard?”
“A small one.” He pulled the instruction package from his pocket and showed them. They read it and nodded.
“We’ll never be able to get her out of here on that. Let’s slip ours beneath her and haul her up.” They did that and six of them were able to get her up toward the top of the ravine. Finn was carrying his pack and Major ran ahead of them and kept looking back at them. Finn was sure it was to make sure they were following him.
They were almost to the top when he slipped, the ankle he twisted on the way down, twisted again, and he screamed when he felt it snap.
“Son of a fucking bitch!” he screamed and dropped down on his ass. Suddenly he was lifted and carried to the chopper. It surprised him on the way from the top of ravine to the chopper, he got wet, like soaking wet from the rain coming down hard. Being so far down, the rain hadn’t reached him, so it was a shock to be instantly soaked to the skin.
“Where are you taking them?” Gerald yelled, over the sound of the rotors.
“With her injuries, we’re taking them to Helena Mercy!” the EMT yelled, and quickly shut the door and told the pilot to take off.
Gerald ran back away from them and watched as it took off, he turned to the others before swearing.
“What’s wrong?” Johnson asked Gerald.
“I never saw Ronnie! How do I know she’s okay?”
“Do you trust Larson?”
“I don’t know him enough to trust him, dammit!”
