Post by jaglady on Jan 28, 2009 19:30:44 GMT -5
Chapter 7—Picking up the Pieces
Emmie had not yet opened her eyes when she became aware of the sounds of water dripping. Somehow she felt as though she were floating along as though in a strange dream, hearing strange sounds, and just floating all the while.
Am I dead and going to Heaven?
For a split second she thought she could see her husband’s face.
But then the pain set in. Real pain that shot through her body, up from her left leg and down from her head. She whimpered and convulsed.
Oh God! My leg hurts! Oh God! Stop it!
Finally the pain subsided. She opened her eyes and looked around weakly. Like waking up from anesthesia, her senses returned slowly, little by little. It took her several minutes to remember where she was and why she was there. Her head spun and she moaned in pain and exhaustion as she attempted to make sense of her wet, cold, gray surroundings. Her head was throbbing now. She tried to move around, but it felt like her left leg was caught.
What the—
By that time Emmie’s vision and understanding had cleared up enough to remember what had happened. The inside of the Hummer smelled strange. In front of her hung the two deflated airbags that rested over the steering wheel and the dash like wrinkled bedsheets. Broken glass that had once been the driver’s side window now rested on her arms and her lap. Water dripped into the crumpled door. The windshield had crumpled but still protected her from the rain.
The computer tech tried to move, but then a horrible pain shot up her leg. She cried out and squirmed again.
There were no other sounds except for her moaning, shuffling, and the rain that never seemed to stop. It rained more lightly now, but the drip, drip, drip on the driver’s side door was a reminder that there was just no escaping this rain.
Weakly Emmie turned her head to the right. Next to her was a black figure that slumped back in the seat, his sleeping face looking at her. His red hair was even redder with blood that had run onto his face.
“Oh, God. Sir? Horatio?” She said weakly, reaching out to touch his shoulder. He didn’t respond.
“No. Please be alive. Please?” she whispered, terrified.
Emmie was still stunned. She merely looked at him just lying there. Except for the blood on his face, he looked like he was sleeping peacefully. His left sleeve was torn at the shoulder.
She reached up painfully again and felt his neck with her fingers. Please, God, please.
Horatio had a faint pulse. She breathed a sigh of relief. She leaned over him and pulled one, and then the other of his eyelids open. Good, no dilation. That meant no brain injuries.
Emmie now tried to reach over to check him more thoroughly, but she immediately buckled in pain again. She shrieked this time and writhed, holding her arms, just wanting that pain to go away. Stretching out, she kneaded Horatio’s arms and legs as thoroughly as her injury would allow. Thank God; no fractures that she could feel. He was just knocked out. Knocked out, but alive. Except for the blood on his head and face, he just looked to be sleeping peacefully.
Emmie sighed with relief. Horatio was alive. For now, at least.
The injured computer tech slipped off her seat belt and looked painfully at her leg for a few minutes. The skin was swollen and purple just below her knee and around her shin. Blood from somewhere had smeared her blue Capris pants. She flexed her fingers and moved her neck. Everything else seemed to be all right.
The computer tech turned in the seat and surveyed the damage more thoroughly now. At least the Hummer was upright, she thought. Papers and other debris lay scattered on the floorboards in front of her, mingled with the broken glass that lay in her lap. The rear hatch had flown open, and computer cables and clothes lay scattered in a wet, muddy trail as far back as she could see. The cargo strap she used to secure the computer equipment had broken loose and was now hanging from the ceiling. She could see the crime lab’s laptops and cables scattered behind the Hummer, but she was too weak to be upset about it just now. Her purse still lay by her feet at the floorboards. Carefully she reached down, determined to get past the pain and the weakness, and picked it up, shaking the glass off.
Emmie opened her cell phone and pressed the speed dial. “Dammit. Out of range” she said to herself. She clicked it off to save the battery.
She tried the driver’s side door. Nothing happened. Weakly she pushed on it with both arms, grunting in pain. Finally the door creaked and groaned and then eased open. Carefully she turned, picking up her bruised, swollen left leg. On the chance that it might not be broken, she gently set her sneaker in the mud and tried to stand up. The most horrible pain she had ever felt in her life shot through her like a lightning bolt. She wailed in pain again and settled back into the glass-littered driver’s seat. For several minutes she shivered in the pain and the cold wetness.
Emmie peered into the rear view mirror. The Hummer had come to rest well off the road. All she could see was the swamp shrubbery, some of which had been flattened in a trail behind them.
This is a Hummer, for God’s sake.
She turned the key in the ignition. The engine roared to life briefly and then sputtered out. She tried again. This time the engine strained. She let go of the key. Convinced that the Hummer wasn’t going anywhere, she shook her head and leaned back. Horatio’s cell phone was nowhere in sight, and she was not quite comfortable searching him for it just yet. All those switches and dials on the dashboard made no sense to her. Not being a police officer, she had no idea what to do with them.
Gotta do something about my leg.
Carefully Emmie squirmed between the bucket seats and eased herself, painfully dragging her bruised, swollen leg behind her, pushing herself along the cold, dirty, glass-littered interior with her hands, her rearend, and her right foot. Gently, painfully, she writhed up to the cargo strap that hung from the ceiling.
Two computer cables and two boards. Those would do.
Emmie positioned her swollen leg and snaked the computer cables and the two boards, winding them around her tender, purplish skin, tying the cables off into a makeshift splint.
The rain was coming down heavily again. The pain and shock of the crash had worn her out. Reality was setting in that she was in the middle of nowhere. No food or water. No communication. No help of any kind. No way to find out just how bad Horatio’s injuries really were. No way to call an ambulance. No way to even tell where the road was.
She leaned over and looked up at the gray sky. She wasn’t even sure which way was east or west.
Emmie leaned back against the wall of the Hummer now. She wasn’t scared or angry. Just numb. Just looking out at that rain and the trail of debris behind them. Now wondering what to do about Horatio. Wondering whether anyone might find them. For what seemed an eternity, she simply sat still and watched the rain dance on the mud.
Now the thoughts raced through her mind. Horatio could die, and she would be powerless to do anything about it. She had wrecked Miami-Dade County police property. She had gone awfully fast down those back roads through that heavy rain, and it didn’t take much for a certain IAB agent to start yet another investigation.
It would be pitch dark soon, and she knew that out here, dark meant DARK, as in complete, enveloping darkness she could feel. She leaned her head back against the scratched metal and started to cry.
“God, what am I gonna do?”
No. Take some deep breaths.
Emmie resolved that she didn’t come all this way to be a helpless little girl. She was a Marine, a leader, an honorable lady.
Start looking around.
In the lake of broken glass and scattered garbage, a small black canvas bag caught her attention. She squirmed over to it.
“Wow. How lucky can you get?” she said aloud. She looked up at the ceiling. “Thank you.”
The Hummer carried its own 72-hour survival kit. After brushing the broken glass out of the way, she zipped open the bag and emptied the contents out onto the floor.
Flashlight and cyalume sticks. Two wool fire blankets. A granola bar. Water packs. Aspirin and bandages.
Emmie leaned her head back and sighed with relief. “Thank you!”
Unrolling one fire blanket, she squirmed forward and carefully tucked it around Horatio. She then unrolled the other one and wrapped it around her shoulders. For some reason it just seemed colder than usual, and she was starting to shiver. She popped two aspirin pills into her mouth and downed them with some water. That might help the pain in her leg.
All this time the rain just kept coming down. She would have shivered except for the fire blanket. Horatio still never moved. It didn’t escape her attention that the rain kept coming down faster and faster. The mud seemed to get thicker and thicker. Computer cables and clothes that hung in the shrubbery now swayed in the cold, rainy wind. A black case that she recognized as her laptop was now halfway immersed in muddy swamp water. In fact, all around her there was mud that seemed to be rising. Where would she go? She couldn’t even walk.
Emmie turned to Horatio again. It didn’t seem right that he should have blood on his face. Gently and tenderly she poured some water into her hand and wiped the blood off his sleeping face. She then just looked at him for what seemed a long time.
“I have no idea how we’re gonna get out of here” she said to him. “I wish I knew where ‘here’ is.”
Emmie had not yet opened her eyes when she became aware of the sounds of water dripping. Somehow she felt as though she were floating along as though in a strange dream, hearing strange sounds, and just floating all the while.
Am I dead and going to Heaven?
For a split second she thought she could see her husband’s face.
But then the pain set in. Real pain that shot through her body, up from her left leg and down from her head. She whimpered and convulsed.
Oh God! My leg hurts! Oh God! Stop it!
Finally the pain subsided. She opened her eyes and looked around weakly. Like waking up from anesthesia, her senses returned slowly, little by little. It took her several minutes to remember where she was and why she was there. Her head spun and she moaned in pain and exhaustion as she attempted to make sense of her wet, cold, gray surroundings. Her head was throbbing now. She tried to move around, but it felt like her left leg was caught.
What the—
By that time Emmie’s vision and understanding had cleared up enough to remember what had happened. The inside of the Hummer smelled strange. In front of her hung the two deflated airbags that rested over the steering wheel and the dash like wrinkled bedsheets. Broken glass that had once been the driver’s side window now rested on her arms and her lap. Water dripped into the crumpled door. The windshield had crumpled but still protected her from the rain.
The computer tech tried to move, but then a horrible pain shot up her leg. She cried out and squirmed again.
There were no other sounds except for her moaning, shuffling, and the rain that never seemed to stop. It rained more lightly now, but the drip, drip, drip on the driver’s side door was a reminder that there was just no escaping this rain.
Weakly Emmie turned her head to the right. Next to her was a black figure that slumped back in the seat, his sleeping face looking at her. His red hair was even redder with blood that had run onto his face.
“Oh, God. Sir? Horatio?” She said weakly, reaching out to touch his shoulder. He didn’t respond.
“No. Please be alive. Please?” she whispered, terrified.
Emmie was still stunned. She merely looked at him just lying there. Except for the blood on his face, he looked like he was sleeping peacefully. His left sleeve was torn at the shoulder.
She reached up painfully again and felt his neck with her fingers. Please, God, please.
Horatio had a faint pulse. She breathed a sigh of relief. She leaned over him and pulled one, and then the other of his eyelids open. Good, no dilation. That meant no brain injuries.
Emmie now tried to reach over to check him more thoroughly, but she immediately buckled in pain again. She shrieked this time and writhed, holding her arms, just wanting that pain to go away. Stretching out, she kneaded Horatio’s arms and legs as thoroughly as her injury would allow. Thank God; no fractures that she could feel. He was just knocked out. Knocked out, but alive. Except for the blood on his head and face, he just looked to be sleeping peacefully.
Emmie sighed with relief. Horatio was alive. For now, at least.
The injured computer tech slipped off her seat belt and looked painfully at her leg for a few minutes. The skin was swollen and purple just below her knee and around her shin. Blood from somewhere had smeared her blue Capris pants. She flexed her fingers and moved her neck. Everything else seemed to be all right.
The computer tech turned in the seat and surveyed the damage more thoroughly now. At least the Hummer was upright, she thought. Papers and other debris lay scattered on the floorboards in front of her, mingled with the broken glass that lay in her lap. The rear hatch had flown open, and computer cables and clothes lay scattered in a wet, muddy trail as far back as she could see. The cargo strap she used to secure the computer equipment had broken loose and was now hanging from the ceiling. She could see the crime lab’s laptops and cables scattered behind the Hummer, but she was too weak to be upset about it just now. Her purse still lay by her feet at the floorboards. Carefully she reached down, determined to get past the pain and the weakness, and picked it up, shaking the glass off.
Emmie opened her cell phone and pressed the speed dial. “Dammit. Out of range” she said to herself. She clicked it off to save the battery.
She tried the driver’s side door. Nothing happened. Weakly she pushed on it with both arms, grunting in pain. Finally the door creaked and groaned and then eased open. Carefully she turned, picking up her bruised, swollen left leg. On the chance that it might not be broken, she gently set her sneaker in the mud and tried to stand up. The most horrible pain she had ever felt in her life shot through her like a lightning bolt. She wailed in pain again and settled back into the glass-littered driver’s seat. For several minutes she shivered in the pain and the cold wetness.
Emmie peered into the rear view mirror. The Hummer had come to rest well off the road. All she could see was the swamp shrubbery, some of which had been flattened in a trail behind them.
This is a Hummer, for God’s sake.
She turned the key in the ignition. The engine roared to life briefly and then sputtered out. She tried again. This time the engine strained. She let go of the key. Convinced that the Hummer wasn’t going anywhere, she shook her head and leaned back. Horatio’s cell phone was nowhere in sight, and she was not quite comfortable searching him for it just yet. All those switches and dials on the dashboard made no sense to her. Not being a police officer, she had no idea what to do with them.
Gotta do something about my leg.
Carefully Emmie squirmed between the bucket seats and eased herself, painfully dragging her bruised, swollen leg behind her, pushing herself along the cold, dirty, glass-littered interior with her hands, her rearend, and her right foot. Gently, painfully, she writhed up to the cargo strap that hung from the ceiling.
Two computer cables and two boards. Those would do.
Emmie positioned her swollen leg and snaked the computer cables and the two boards, winding them around her tender, purplish skin, tying the cables off into a makeshift splint.
The rain was coming down heavily again. The pain and shock of the crash had worn her out. Reality was setting in that she was in the middle of nowhere. No food or water. No communication. No help of any kind. No way to find out just how bad Horatio’s injuries really were. No way to call an ambulance. No way to even tell where the road was.
She leaned over and looked up at the gray sky. She wasn’t even sure which way was east or west.
Emmie leaned back against the wall of the Hummer now. She wasn’t scared or angry. Just numb. Just looking out at that rain and the trail of debris behind them. Now wondering what to do about Horatio. Wondering whether anyone might find them. For what seemed an eternity, she simply sat still and watched the rain dance on the mud.
Now the thoughts raced through her mind. Horatio could die, and she would be powerless to do anything about it. She had wrecked Miami-Dade County police property. She had gone awfully fast down those back roads through that heavy rain, and it didn’t take much for a certain IAB agent to start yet another investigation.
It would be pitch dark soon, and she knew that out here, dark meant DARK, as in complete, enveloping darkness she could feel. She leaned her head back against the scratched metal and started to cry.
“God, what am I gonna do?”
No. Take some deep breaths.
Emmie resolved that she didn’t come all this way to be a helpless little girl. She was a Marine, a leader, an honorable lady.
Start looking around.
In the lake of broken glass and scattered garbage, a small black canvas bag caught her attention. She squirmed over to it.
“Wow. How lucky can you get?” she said aloud. She looked up at the ceiling. “Thank you.”
The Hummer carried its own 72-hour survival kit. After brushing the broken glass out of the way, she zipped open the bag and emptied the contents out onto the floor.
Flashlight and cyalume sticks. Two wool fire blankets. A granola bar. Water packs. Aspirin and bandages.
Emmie leaned her head back and sighed with relief. “Thank you!”
Unrolling one fire blanket, she squirmed forward and carefully tucked it around Horatio. She then unrolled the other one and wrapped it around her shoulders. For some reason it just seemed colder than usual, and she was starting to shiver. She popped two aspirin pills into her mouth and downed them with some water. That might help the pain in her leg.
All this time the rain just kept coming down. She would have shivered except for the fire blanket. Horatio still never moved. It didn’t escape her attention that the rain kept coming down faster and faster. The mud seemed to get thicker and thicker. Computer cables and clothes that hung in the shrubbery now swayed in the cold, rainy wind. A black case that she recognized as her laptop was now halfway immersed in muddy swamp water. In fact, all around her there was mud that seemed to be rising. Where would she go? She couldn’t even walk.
Emmie turned to Horatio again. It didn’t seem right that he should have blood on his face. Gently and tenderly she poured some water into her hand and wiped the blood off his sleeping face. She then just looked at him for what seemed a long time.
“I have no idea how we’re gonna get out of here” she said to him. “I wish I knew where ‘here’ is.”