Smoke and Ash

Two

The sirens grow closer and closer but I don’t take my eyes off Nash. His face looks pale and his breath hiccups every so often.

“They’re almost here, just stay with me.”

“Keep him awake Ash.”

“You know I’m no good at small talk.”

“Ashton!”

“Okay okay, geez. Hey Nash tell me something.”

His eyes flutter open and he looks up at me, “Like what?”

“Where are you from?”

“Boston, born and raised. Moved to here five years ago and haven’t looked back.”

“We’re here from Chicago. Needed a fresh start.”

“Well hows this for fresh.”

I chuckle and press a little harder when I feel my hands slip slightly, “Well definitely wouldn’t be at the top of my list, but it’s not too bad. Not every day I get to save a life.”

Nash’s eyes flutter so I press harder causing his eyes to open quickly.

“There will be no lives lost today Nash, remember that. I hear the sirens.”

“They’re ours. We’re the only station for miles. Twenty minutes on a good day.”

“No wonder they’re taking forever. I’m so used to the city where there’s a fire house on every corner.”

“Definitly not here.”

Red streaks by my field of vision and comes to a halt. The tires screech on the road and men and women jump out from two vehicles.

“Nash! Alvarez!”

A tall lanky man runs up, Captain spelled out on his helmet.

“One in diabetic shock and the other with a wound to the abdominal area.” Sealy says, calm and collected while my brain and mouth can’t seems to form the same sentence.

“We were driving down the road when we saw the smoke. I’m transferring to the general hospital in town. Ash has a pretty good clamp on the would Nash has there. Alvarez wont be awake for much longer if you don’t get him to the nearest hospital.”

The rest of them join the first man and they whisper amongst themselves. Two paramedics run up with a gurney.

Sealy must notice the problem because she shoots to her feet. “Help me get him loaded into my car, I’ll follow behind with one of you in the backseat. If Ash moves her hands Nash there could bleed out before you could manage to stop the bleeding. You’ll need to take her with you.”

“What?”

Of course when my mouth finally decides to work it makes me sound like the biggest b***h in the world.

The captain stops and looks from Sealy to I before finally making a decision.

“Cooper and Wren, get Alvarez in the backseat. Wren you ride along and make sure you stay course. Casey and London get Nash on a backboard. As carefully as you can. When you get him on the gurney make sure to get Ash here situated as well.”

“Well this is really happening.” I don’t say the words to anyone in particular but jump slightly when Nash chuckles.

“Saving lives today remember.” He says softly watching me.

I nod, “Saving lives right. Nothings going to happen if I can help it.

I look up and watch as the two paramedics get closer. They lower a backboard next to Nash.

“Make sure you keep the pressure you got going there Ash, even if you have to push harder. Keep as much pressure as you can.”

In my head I can tell that it sounds like they are trying to prepare me and seconds later I realize why.They cross Nash’s arms and each grab a hold of his jacket. They count to three and yank as hard as they can. Without much thought I push harder on two and follow Nash. I can hear his jaw crack.

“Alright we’re going to thrift on three Ash.”

I nod, “On three got it.”

They each take a spot at his head and feet and again count to three very loudly. Nash lets out a shout when he lands with a thud.

“Up you go,” one of the paramedics says offering a hand.

“Up?”

“You have to get up there Ash, your going to lose the pressure when we walk or even in the back.”

“Up?” I repeat again.

“You’re gonna have to straddle me sweetheart.” Nash grumbles out. “And I can tell you right now if I die that is a hell of a way to go.”

“You’re not going to die.”

“I will unless you get up here.”

“Is he always like this? I ask putting a knee on the gurney next to his hip. The one the captain called London helps keep me steady I swing my other leg over his hips.

“He’s actually worse,” she says lifting the rails.

They rush us over to the back of the ambulance and with every bump and wiggle I silently swear in the head. Keeping the pressure isn’t so easy when there are other things to think about.

The back doors slam and within seconds they have us turned around, heading back the way Sealy and I had driven only thirty minutes early.

“Still hanging in there?” I ask looking down to see Nash looking up watching me.

“Never been better.”

“You know I would be flattered if I wasn’t covered in your blood.”

“Ash, it looks like you might be bleeding too.”

I nod, “I fell after getting Alvarez his tablets. Just a few scrapped knees. Nothing a bandage can’t handle.”

“We’ll take a closer look once we get Nash here into surgery.”

“I’ll be okay,” I say closing my eyes and taking a steadying breath.

“Everything okay.” Nash asks trying to lift a hand to touch my arms.

“Don’t move,” London says scooting closer to get a better look at me.

“I think my sugar is too high,” I say closing my eyes once again to focus on my breathing.

“I see you have a dexcom,” London says lifting the sleeve of my shirt.

I nod, “But the app is on my phone. In the car.”

“I got it.”

I hear rustling and a phone ringing on speaker phone. A deep accented voice speaks on the other end.

“You gave to find our friend Ash’s phone. We need access to her dexcom.”

“Ash are you okay?” I can hear Sealy yell.

“Just watch the road Seal, they’ll take care of it.”

“I told you to eat something almost four hours ago.”

“I wasn’t hungry!”

“Okay fighting wont help us.” London says, though I bet if I looked she was smiling.

“Stupid diabetes.” I grumble.

I go to wipe a stray hair out of my face and remember where I’m at and what I’m doing.

“Got it!” The accented voice yells through the phone. “It’s unlocked.”

“Okay I’m going to get a reading and you punch it in. It should automatically give her what she needs.”

“If they’re close enough,” I mumble.

“Hey Ash, look at me.” Nash says softly, coaxingly.

I open my eyes and meet his hazel ones, “Yeah?”

“No ones dying today right?”

I smile and shake my head, “No one.”

London removes my shoes since she can’t get a proper reading off my fingers. My sock follows and then she’s counting to three and I hear the release of the needle.

“Alright she’s at 198, put that in and see what happen.”

“How could you let it get so high! I swear its like you want to die. Like you just don’t care about anything anymore. It should never get this bad!”

“Shut up Sealy!” I yell in the phones direction. “Stop trying to act like my mother!”

Everything falls silent.

“We’re getting an error message over here.”

“They aren’t close enough.”

“Cooper can you get any closer.”

“Ill ride your ass if I have to,” Sealy says.

A minute goes by before someone speaks again, “Okay no more error message.”

Then there’s a sound of a spring and my arm stings like a b***h.

“Fuck.” I hiss. “Never doing the arm again.”