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"Hey! The car's down here!"

 

Shaking his head in disbelief as he shown the flood light down the steep ravine he muttered to his partner. "I had a feeling this wasn't going to be a quick rescue...."  Pulling himself back to professionalism, Andrew quickly shouted, "Grab the jaws."

 

"We don't know how many victims are in there or if anyone is alive!"

 

"Just grab the shit Steve, alright? It doesn't matter if anyone is dead cause we'd have to open the fucking thing for the police." Andrew snapped over his shoulder as he stumbled down the hill toward the car.

 

Once Andrew made it down the hill, he shone his flashlight through the passenger window, seeing a male victim slumped over the steering wheel. It was hard to determine that if the man was still alive but as far as he could see, this was the only passenger in the car. Trying the passenger door, he was relieved that he was able to open it but with the car, resting at a 45-degree angle it was awkward to enter the car without assistance.

 

"Holy shit," Steve muttered as he got to the car.

 

"Holy shit is right," Andrew agreed.

 

"So is the guy alive?"

 

"I don't know, help me with this goddamn door and I'll let you know."

 

With difficulty, Andrew was able to hop into the car and slid into the passenger seat, carefully pressing a gloved finger onto the side of the victim's neck. "Get the immobilizer and back board. Hopefully those sons of bitches from the fire department show up by the time you get up to the ambulance."

 

"The weather is really bad, I'm sure they'll be here as soon as-----"

 

Andrew cut his partner off, "No shit Sherlock, we drove in this!" He was quick to add as he looked at his patient, "No one should have been out in this shit."

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

The call that Kevin had waited from by Nick never came; instead, he found himself driving out into the winter storm that he had begged the younger man to wait out.

 

The call came from someone that only said that he had been listed as an emergency contact for Nickolas Carter and that he was at Overlook Medical Center in Summit, New Jersey.

 

The woman's voice that called him keep repeating over and over in his brain. 'He's alive, that's all I know...'

 

"Can't you tell me what's happened, how he is?"

 

"You just have to get here as soon as possible."

 

At that point all Kevin did was grab his jacket and hurry out the door. He did not take the time to call anyone; he was hoping that when he got to the hospital, Nick would be okay.

 

Kevin drove as fast as the conditions would allow. The high way was abandoned; clearly most people decided that the weather was not good for safe travel. He wished Nick had listened to his advice and now here he was, driving downstate to an unfamiliar place.

 

Pulling into the emergency parking lot, Kevin let out a heavy sigh. Wasting little time, he ran toward the entrance.

 

"Nick Carter?"

 

The clerk looked up.

 

"Nick Carter?" Kevin repeated.

 

The woman only stared back at Kevin.

 

"Someone called and said that he's in the emergency room."

 

"Oh, I'm sorry."

 

When the woman replied, Kevin's heart immediately sank.

 

"I wasn't sure what you were looking for, as in if he was admitted or what," she smiled. The relief that she thought she was giving wasn't relayed when she saw that his face was drained of color. "I'm sorry about that," she quickly restated. "He's here. I have to check to see if you can go back to him.  Just have a seat over there and someone will be out to talk to you."

 

Kevin barely sat down when a man in scrubs approached him.

 

"You're here for Mr. Carter?"

 

Kevin quickly stood up, eyeing the man warily. "Yes."

 

"He's stable for now; you can follow me back to see him."

 

Once they passed through a set of heavy double doors did the man speak. "He's stable but we're waiting his blood pressure to stabilize a bit before we take him into surgery."

 

"Surgery?"

 

"He has multiple injuries but the surgeon wants to stabilize the most serious ones for now."

 

"Most serious?  I haven't---"

 

"I'm sorry; I'm guessing no one has said anything about Nick to you yet?"

 

"No."

 

"I'll have the trauma surgeon discuss everything with you before anything is started. Nick's in here," the man gestured toward a large doorway.

 

Nothing prepared Kevin for the sight he was going to witness, his knees buckled; fortunately the other man was beside him and was able to stop the Kentuckian before he fell to the floor.

 

"Are you okay?" he asked, concern etched on his face.

 

Kevin swallowed hard as he looked at his young brother hooked up to machines and tubes.

 

"Yeah," he breathed.

 

"I'll pull the chair to the side of the bed, you can sit. Are you sure you're alright?"

 

"Yeah," Kevin repeated quietly.

 

"You can take his hand it's okay I'll be back."

 

Scooping the young man's hand, Kevin was shocked at how cold it felt. Tears immediately pooled in his eyes; blurring his vision. "God Nick why didn't you stay back? Why didn't you listen to me?"