Page 45 of Rules of the Heart

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Valerie

Valerie knew that it was risky, but every cell in her body was screaming that she couldn’t let Ella go in there alone.

The tunnel through the rubble opened up into a small cavern. Ella was already working on the child’s leg. Valerie went to join her, quickly assessing the situation.

“You hold, I’ll work,” she said shortly.

Ella nodded. “Agreed.”

Brains didn’t tend to bleed as much as hearts did, which meant that Valerie had more experience in working with arteries than Ella did and they were both aware of that.

“It’s ok sweetheart. We will have you out of here in no time.” Ella’s voice was chirpy and confident to the frightened child.

Valerie hoped they didn’t lose her.

“What is your name?” Ella smiled at the girl.

“Jessica,” she gasped. She was pale and faint from the pain. Ella pulled a bottle of morphine and a needle from her bag.

“Why don’t you close your eyes for just a second and I’ll give you something to stop the pain.”

Ella took the Jessica’s limp arm and started working to put a line in so she could give some morphine.

She drew up morphine in a syringe and gave it to Jessica while Valerie worked hard on her leg. It was a mess and she worked quickly to repair the main artery to her leg, and do what she could with the broken femur to stop her from bleeding out. She was also worried about Jessica losing the leg, but first things first, she had to keep her alive. She wasn’t an orthopaedic surgeon and either way, Jessica would need to be in an OR to have her leg worked on properly. This was just to keep her alive and get her stable.

They worked well as a team. It was instinctive. Ella passed her the pads and bandages and splint she needed before she even asked for them. They were the best poor little Jessica could hope for in this terrifying situation. Both Jessica and her mom were watching Valerie work in hope. Ella continued to talk normally to them to try and keep them positive.

“Right, that is you stable.” Valerie had splinted and bandaged the thigh. She hoped her work on the femoral artery would hold until the girl reached an OR, but unfortunately arteries weren’t always as predictable as Valerie would like them to be. They carried a lot of blood at high pressure. Sometimes, however good a surgical repair was, the blood flow would burst it.

Valerie let out a long sigh of relief and turned to the terrified mother. “She’s stable for now. She should be fine for an hour or so while the rescue crew digs us out.”

The mother flung herself into Valerie’s arms. “Thank you. Thank you for my baby.”

As Valerie embraced the trembling woman, she couldn’t bring herself to regret breaking the rules. More than ever, she understood Ella’s perspective. If not for breaking the rules, this child would definitely be dead right now.

Her introspection was interrupted by a rumbling noise, followed by the rubble beneath them shaking violently.

Valerie glanced up at the ceiling just in time to see a huge piece of cement plummeting downward—straight for her.

“Valerie, watch out!”

Valerie didn’t have time to react. She was frozen as she saw her death hurtling toward her.

It didn’t happen like she expected.

She felt a muffled thump as something warm landed on her, and then a larger, heavier thump, but there was no pain. Instead, there was a sharp cry and sudden wetness.

Valerie blinked through the dust and felt like her heart stopped as her eyes made sense of what she was seeing.

Ella had thrown her body across Valerie’s, and the rubble had hit her instead. As Valerie watched, it broke and rolled harmlessly to the side. But it left a long metal rod behind, sticking right through Ella’s chest.

Valerie realized that the sudden wetness she felt was blood. Ella was slumped over her, unconscious.

“Ella! Please, no, Ella! HELP! Someone help us!”

She heard the sounds of the rescue crew working on digging them out, but who knew how long that would take now. It could be hours, and Ella didn’t have hours.

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