How do I get myself into these messes? I know, if I manage to survive this, I’ll never hear the end of it from my mother.
"Jessica Ann Miller,"she’ll say. "None of this would ever have happened if you had stayed in school!"
That’s her answer for everything. Everything’s so cut and dry with mom. Dad’ll at least listen to me before he goes into his lecture about responsibility and taking risks. And its not like I chose to be here.
Okay, it was my decision to come out here and take a job as a paramedic. And it was my decision to take this ‘extra gig.’ But it was that or sit back in my safe little apartment in Baltimore and do nothing while three of my brothers are missing in this god forsaken hole.
Amy and Dad, they said I should let the police handle it, but they haven’t done a thing. For all I know the police are part of the problem. For all I know my brothers are dead, and I’m not too far behind them.
I don’t see Jenny, Mitchell or Mark doing anything. What do they care anyway? They stayed with mom when things fell apart. Alan, Matthew and Andrew, they’re all I’ve really ever had when it came to family. Yeah dad was there, but he was so busy, and now he’s got Amy. Jenny’s got two beautiful kids and I’m happy for her, but they made it clear, they had their lives, and Al, Mat and Andy just don’t fit into their happy little world.
Now I’m staring down the barrel of a gun being pointed at me by a kid no older then twelve and there’s no doubt in my mind he’s going to use it. I smile at him. There’s not much else to say.
"What you smilin’ ‘bout,"he growls at me.
"Nothin’ really,"I answer with a shrug. "Just my luck I guess."
My luck. It seems to run hot or cold, never just one way or the other. Right now it looks like its run dry. This whole job seems to be in the frost-bite column when it comes to luck.
I got the job because of some of my ‘odd talents.’ ‘Demo’ as Nick’d called it. And Decking from the master himself PushCiti. Oh, if they could see the mess I’ve gotten myself into. Again, I’d never hear the end of it, but with them around, at least there’d be a long time of not hearing the end of it.
I need to learn to ask more questions. I need to learn to never trust a grinning fixer. I need to pay attention.
I hear it now, gunfire. We were dumped in the middle of what Nick would call ‘a situation.’ Damn the man, I wish he were here. He’d know what to do. A bullet ricochets by and my ‘big sister mode kicks into overdrive.
"Will you get down,"I plead with the kid. "Bullets don’t care who they hit and standing up there like that, you make too big of a target.”
He stares at me like I’m crazy and maybe I am. He kind of reminds me of Andy when he was twelve. So concerned about proving that he was as tough as his older brothers, tougher than his sister, he was always getting hurt.
My pleading has no effect on the kid. He’s got the advantage and he’s not about to give it up. A bullet takes it from him. One minute I’m about to die, the next I’m working overtime to keep a kid breathing, just another night in the shadows.
Now I’m wishing I have my full kit with me. But again, I wasn’t planning on playing ‘doc’ tonight. That’s my day job. Three days on, three days off. Guess the shooter didn’t check my time card.
His pulse is thready and weak. Kid needs a mast suit and all I’ve got is a handful of trauma patches. I grab one and check the dose. He’s too small for the full hit so I tear it in half. I’m applying pressure with one hand and trying to administer the patch with the other when his friends come back.
They’ve got the rest of my ‘team’ at gun point.
"Move away from him,"their leader orders.
"Not until you get an ambulance here now,"I tell him. I know that if I let up on the bandage the kid’ll bleed to death and I tell him as much.
"You shot Dar?"the man demands as he draws a bead on me.
"I don’t know who the hell shot the kid,"I yell. "He got shot: he needs a doc."
He looks down at us and shakes his head. "Can’t afford no doc,"he tells me. "No ambulance gonna come here for one a’ us.”
"They will tonight,"I tell him. "Get me a phone."
I’m pissed now. I haven’t been able to do a thing for Andy and the others, I’m not going to loose this kid too. He gasps for air, so much like Andy...
He looks at me. I don’t know what he sees, but he lets Fritz, our illustrious leader make the call. He hands me his wrist link and before I know it I’m talking to dispatch. I get them to patch me through to Ray. If anybody can pull this off its Ray. I tell him I’m in the barrens, that we’ve got a kid who’s just this side of pneumothorasic. He says he’ll be there in ten minutes.
The leader is staring at us. "Why are you doing this?"he finally asks.
I point to the stylized caducous on my jacket and then I look back at the kid. "He reminds me of my brother."
He nods. All our problems are put on hold. All that matters is the kid. He’s family and I’m protecting him. As far as they know, they’ve got my family and we can work something out. Fritz gives me a nod. This whole thing wasn’t what any of us expected. Again, we’ll deal with that later.
It all comes down to a heartbeat.