Bottom Line – alt outcome 1

“Put the gun down, Vince. Vince, put the gun down.”

The engine crew heard the panic in Johnny’s voice. They heard the soft voice of Roy but couldn’t make out what he was saying. They couldn’t believe what they saw when they rounded the back of the ambulance.

Vince had his gun trained on Johnny. Johnny’s eyes were showing the terror he was feeling. Roy – along with the rest of the men from Station 51 – helplessly stood by.

“I can’t get him to understand. Someone else try.” Roy spoke to his friends but never took his eyes off of Vince and Johnny.

“Hey, Vince. Look at what’s going on here, pal. You’re injured. You’re not thinking right. That’s Johnny you’ve got the gun on, man.” Hank Stanley was desperately searching for the words that would free his paramedic.

“Quiet! You’re all confusing me. This guy is helping that criminal get away. They must be partners in crime.” Vince was growing more agitated.

“No, Vince. I’m Johnny’s partner. Remember? We’re the good guys.” Roy began slowly walking toward Vince. He kept his hands open and in front of him.

“No, stop! Don’t move. I have to get this figured out.”

Roy took one more step. Everyone heard the gun fire. Their mouths hung open in shocked surprise.

The force of the bullet and the impact of the surprise of being shot backed Johnny up against the side of the ambulance. His hand reached for the blood coming out of the wound in his chest. He looked at his friends before falling to the ground.

“Johnny!” Roy moved toward his fallen friend but stopped abruptly at the sound of Vince’s voice.

“Stop or I’ll shoot you, too!” Vince now had his gun pointed at Roy.

The crew stood only feet away from their friend. Johnny lay on the ground, bleeding, and not able to comprehend what had just happened. The look of terror in his eyes had been replaced by a glazed look of pain combined with confusion.

In the commotion, neither Vince nor the rest of the crew noticed Mike moving to the side. Mike had noticed the approaching squad car. The officers had seen Johnny fall. Mike filled them in on the horrible details of what was going on.

“Vince, it’s Chuck and Bill. We’ll take it from here.” Chuck walked up with his gun trained on Johnny. Bill had his trained on Roy. Once Vince relaxed, both men shifted their focus to their fellow cop. A quick struggle ensued but ended with no additional shots being fired.

A grateful bunch of firemen rushed to Johnny’s side.

“Marco, get the bio-phone and drug box out of the ambulance.” Roy quickly took control of the situation.

“Roy. He shot me, Roy. Vince shot me.” Johnny’s voice was raspy and barely able to be heard.

“I know, Junior. But hang on. We’re gonna get you to Rampart soon.” Roy focussed on the wound without looking up.

“Oh, God, Roy.” Cap was almost frantic. “Look at the blood around Johnny’s mouth.”

The respiratory distress was evidence enough to let Roy know that Johnny’s lung had been penetrated by the bullet. The blood around his mouth just confirmed what he already knew.

“C’mon, Johnny. Hold on. Hold on, man.” Chet felt that sick feeling he’d hoped he’d never have to experience again. It was the same feeling he felt as he kneeled by his friend after he’d been hit by the car. He shook his head at the absurdity of the situations Johnny ended up in. **This is crazy, man. This is nuts.**

Johnny looked at each of his friends before losing consciousness.

~*~*~

“Rampart, Squad 51.”

“Go ahead, Squad 51.” Dr. Kelly Brackett was surprised to hear from the squad again. He thought they were rolling with the car accident victim. **Wonder why Roy is calling in? Johnny was going to ride with the victim.** Brackett’s confusion was suddenly replaced with worry.

“Rampart, Squad 51. We have a gun shot victim.” Brackett heard the phone drop and Roy yelling in the background. “Damn, help me clear his airway. He’s choking on the blood. C’mon, Johnny. Don’t leave us, Johnny.”

Dixie had joined Brackett. She gasped at what she was hearing. “What?” The shock in her voice echoed the look in her eyes.

“Damn. Roy called with a gunshot victim. Obviously, it’s Johnny.” He turned his attention to the speakerphone. “Roy? Roy, what’s going on?”

A shaken Chet picked up the phone. “Doc, it’s Chet. Johnny’s been shot. It’s bad, Doc. Roy said his lung has been penetrated. We saw the blood on his mouth. Now it’s so bad, he’s choking on it.”

“Tell Roy to get him in the ambulance, Chet. Tell him to try to stabilize him on the way here. You’ve got to get him here before he bleeds to death. We can’t lose any more time.”

“Roy, Doc Brackett wants Johnny loaded and moved now. Says to stabilize him on the way. Says if we don't move now, he may bleed to death.”

The collective breath of the men surrounding the fallen paramedic was heard by all the bystanders. Roy knew that Brackett was right. He just didn’t want to admit it to himself.

Within minutes, Johnny was in the ambulance with Roy and Chet by his side. Roy started the IV’s as Captain Stanley closed the doors and the ambulance rolled.

“10-4, Engine 51. Logged as standing down until further notice. Let us know when you can return to service.” Captain Stanley turned and looked at his Engineer, Mike Stoker, hanging up the radio.

“Thanks, Mike. And, thanks for earlier too.”

“Earlier?”

“Yeah – quick thinking slipping away to the other cops, pal. Put a quick end to the situation. Got Johnny help that much faster.”

~*~*~

“Damn it, Chet. I can’t get him stabilized. We’re gonna lose him.” Roy barely said it but Chet heard it. “Because of me.”

“What?”

“I said we’re gonna lose him.”

“No, Roy. What did you say after that? I KNOW I didn’t hear what I think I did.”

“Go ahead, Chet. You all must be thinking it. If I hadn’t taken that step…”

“Stop it, Roy. This isn’t your fault. No way, man. And, talk like that isn’t doing anyone any good.”

Johnny stopped breathing as the ambulance pulled up to the hospital. Roy was very thankful to see Dr. Brackett open the ambulance door.

“Doc, he just stopped breathing.”

“We need to relieve the pressure and re-inflate the lung. FAST. Hand me a tube, Roy.”

“Here, Doc?”

“Here, Roy. NOW!”

Roy said a silent prayer of thanks that his partner – his best friend – was unconscious. He’d seen many people scream and pass out at the pain of having a chest tube inserted. With the tube in, the pressure in his chest was somewhat relieved. Dr. Brackett intubated and bagged the paramedic. Although assisted, at least Johnny was now breathing.

“Let’s get him out of here.”

With that, Johnny was wheeled into the ER for a brief examination. Roy and Chet followed the gurney into exam room 2.

“Joe, we need to get him up to surgery quickly. Let’s make this a quick exam.”

Roy and Chet stood to the side. Both were still stunned at what they had witnessed. Dixie entered the room.

“Joe, they just brought Vince in. Room 4.”

“Get Morton, Dix. I’m going with Kel.” Dr. Early turned his focus to Kelly Brackett. “Let’s move.”

Roy and Chet watched the men until the elevator door closed. They joined their friends in the doctors’ lounge.

“What’s the word?” Captain Stanley was pacing back and forth.

“They took him to surgery, Cap. Said they’d let us know as soon as they knew something. Man, when Johnny stopped breathing, I thought I’d heave.” Chet was still shaking his head.

“Stopped breathing?” Cap turned to look at Roy but Roy was lost in his own thoughts. “Roy?”

“Cap, Roy thinks this is his fault.” Chet was trying not to let Roy overhear the conversation. “Says he should have never moved towards Johnny. Says Johnny wouldn’t have gotten shot if he hadn’t been so stupid.”

Captain Stanley thought for a few moments. The eyes of his men were upon him. Finally, he moved to Roy’s side and placed his hand on Roy’s shoulder. “Hey, pal, what’s this about you blaming yourself for this?” Roy didn’t respond. “Roy, look at me. This isn’t your fault. You know that. You are the one who saved Johnny’s life here.”

Roy finally looked up at his Captain. He then looked around the room at his friends staring at him. “I’m sorry, guys. I didn’t mean for this to happen to Johnny.”

“What are you talking about, Roy? This was an accident. Even Vince isn’t truly at fault here. He was out of his head with that injury.” Marco was almost pleading with Roy.

“Yeah, I missed that too.” Roy was even more dejected.

“Roy, stop it now.” Everyone was startled at the tone in Mike’s voice. The usually quiet engineer was making himself heard. “If there hadn’t been an accident, Vince wouldn’t have hit his head. If Vince hadn’t hit his head, he wouldn’t have been confused and did what he did. If, if, if. I’ll tell you the ‘if’ I know for sure. If YOU hadn’t been there at Johnny’s side on the scene and in the ambulance, Johnny would have died.”

Roy seemed to think about what Mike said. The others waited for him to speak. “So, you’re not mad at me?”

“Hell no! Why would we be?” Mike’s response shocked everyone again.

Roy finally relaxed. While he wasn’t so sure he believed everything his friends had said, he also wasn’t being so hard on himself.

~*~*~

“I think that’s the last of the bleeders, Joe. I can’t believe the amount of blood Johnny has lost here. He’s one lucky man.”

“Let’s close him up, Kel. A couple weeks and he’ll be as good as new. Great work, Dr. Brackett.”

“Likewise, Dr. Early.”

The relief in both men’s voices was easily detectable.

~*~*~

The door to the doctors’ lounge swung open and 2 very triumphant doctors walked in.

“He’s going to be fine. Other than the lung injury, there was only minor damage. There were a lot of bleeders. Lord knows Johnny lost a lot of blood but he is going to make a full recovery.” Brackett accepted the cup of coffee that was being offered to him.

“He’ll need some respiratory therapy to strengthen the damaged lung but I’d say Johnny will be back at work – and chasing the nurses around the hospital – very shortly.” It was Joe’s turn to accept a cup of coffee. “That Johnny is one tough cookie.” Joe just shook his head.

“What was that, Chet?”

“Uh. Nothing, Cap.”

“No, I think I heard you say something, Chet. What was it?” Cap wouldn’t let up.

“Nuts. I said ‘nuts’. Dr. Early said Johnny was one tough cookie. I said he’s nuts – and he’s gonna make us nuts.” Chet looked around the room. “Aw, c’mon guys, you know Johnny’s crazy. Look at the nutty situations he gets into!”

Cap got up and walked behind the seated fireman. He put his hands on his shoulders and with a big smile said, “Geez, guys, did you hear Chet? He just volunteered for a month of latrine duty!”

All of the men laughed as they headed out of the lounge and up to Johnny’s room.

~*~*~

The End