| Chapter 4 The three ran to where Howie was standing looking down. A.J. quickly turned away, "Oh Jesus," he said under his breath, trying to hold his own tears back. Nick was laying face down in a pool of his own blood. His clothes had been torn and various bloody wounds could be seen. His skin had an ashen tone to it and his finger tips had turned blue. "Kevin, help me," Diane said, quickly moving to Nick's side. Together they turned him over. "Oh God," Howie cried, seeing his face. A gash above his left eye was spilling blood down his face. Already a black and purple bruise had appeared around the gash and up into Nick's hairline. Blood trickled out his nose and down his cheek. His lips where blue and he wasn't breathing. Diane looked at Kevin, "Do you know CPR?" "Yeah," he said. "OK, you do the compressions, I'll breathe," she said, tilting Nick's head back and trying to wipe some of the blood away from his mouth and nose. Kevin got in position and placed his clasped hands over Nick's heart. Diane started, blowing two long breaths, followed by Kevin doing five compressions. Howie and A.J. stood by, watching helplessly. Several minutes went by as Kevin and Diane continued to try and revive Nick. Kevin had just finished his last compression as Diane leaned down to breathe, she stopped, "Kevin, look!" Kevin looked down to see Nick's chest slowly rising and falling on its own. He quickly felt for a heart beat and almost jumped for joy when he felt one. "Howie, A.J., run back to the plane, back in the galley there are some towels and wash clothes. There's a first aid kit back there too. Grab what you can and bring it back here," Diane instructed. The two took off. "Oh get some water too!" she yelled after them. She watched them disappear into the plane, then looked over at Kevin, "This is bad." Kevin took his attention from Nick and looked at her, "What do you mean?" She looked down at Nick, "We don't know how long he was without air, or how bad his head injury is. He could be bleeding internally and we wouldn't know it." Kevin gently stroked Nick's hair, "He'll be OK. He has to." Diane stared at him. He was obviously in denial about how serious the situation really was. She sighed, knowing she was gonna have to take control of the situation. She already had pretty much, but that was just on instinct, but now, now she was gonna have to get them outta there. How the hell am I gonna do this? she thought. Howie and A.J. came running back, their arms full of supplies. "There's more back there, do you need us to go get it?" A.J. asked. "No, not right now," Diane said, opening a bottle of water and slowly pouring it over Nick's face to wash the blood away. "What can we do?" Howie asked. "Take some water and go sit with Brian. See if you can get him to drink a little, and whatever you do, DO NOT tell him how we found Nick. Brian's got enough to deal with and upsetting him won't help any, OK?" she said. Both men nodded, grabbing some water and heading back to the clearing. Diane opened the small first aid kit and looked through it. "Kevin, do me a favor and tare one of those towels into strips," she said. Kevin grabbed a towel and went about his task as Diane took out the supplies she needed and began cleaning the gash on Nick's forehead. When she finished she took out the needle and treaded it. Kevin finished and looked over, watching in amazement as she expertly stitched the wound. "Where did you learn to do that?" he asked. She smiled at him, "I wasn't always a flight attendant. Hand me that tube of antibacterial cream." Kevin handed it to her. She doctored the stitches, then placed a bandage over it, using some of the strips. "OK, help me get his shirt off," she said. Kevin quickly ripped what was left of Nick's shirt from him, exposing several cuts on his chest. Diane cleaned them all, bandaging as she went. Together she and Kevin looked Nick over, taking care of his wounds. "Kevin, look," she said, holding Nick's right arm up. "God, is that from Brian trying to hang on to him?" he asked. "I think so," she said, spreading her fingers out over the marks. There where five scratch marks that ran from the middle of Nick's forearm down to the palm of his hand. The skin had been peeled away, and a bruise that resembled a hand print wrapped around his wrist. Diane cleaned each mark and bandaged his arm. When she finished she looked around, and sighed. "You OK?" Kevin asked, seeing the fatigue in her face. "Yeah, go get A.J. and Howie and we'll move him to the clearing," she said. Kevin got up, heading in the direction of the clearing. Diane looked down at Nick, fighting to keep her tears from surfacing. It was in this moment that her brain started replaying bits of conversations she had with the pilots before the boys arrived. And then there was that roaring sound. It seemed to be coming from just beyond the clearing. By the time the guys got back, her mind was racing with the things that needed to be done before nightfall. She helped the guys get Nick to the clearing, laying him next to Brian. Brian took one look at him, and tears welled up in his eyes. Diane knelt down next to him, "He'll be alright." "It's my fault, I should've been able to hang on to him," Brian cried. Diane reached up and pushed Brian's head over to where he was looking up at her and not at Nick. "Brian, you did the best you could. This is not your fault, and blaming yourself for it isn't gonna help you get any better. I need you to help me OK?" she said. "Do what?" Brian asked. "I need you to watch Nick for us. We've got a lot to do before night, so if you can watch him it will help, OK?" she asked. Brian nodded, "OK." "Alright, if he moves, makes a noise, wakes up, anything, you yell alright?" she said. "You got it," Brian said, turning his gaze back to Nick. Diane stood up, "OK, Howie and A.J. go back to the plane and pull out anything you think we can use and bring it here." The two nodded and left the clearing. "Kev, come with me for a sec," she said, walking to the other side of the clearing and into the woods. "Where are you going?" he asked. "Please tell me you hear that," she said, stopping and looking at him. Kevin listened, a confused look crossing his face, "What is that?" "That's what I wanna find out," she said, continuing on. It wasn't long before they stepped out of the trees and onto a rocky shoreline. "Oh thank God," Kevin said, looking up at the huge waterfall. Diane walked over to the river and squatted down, washing her hands. "Well, at least we have water," she said, "And if we can get into the cargo hold, we'll have more than that." Kevin walked over next to her and took his shirt off, ripping a piece from it and dipping it in the water. Diane wondered what he was doing, until he took her face in his hands and began cleaning the cut on her temple. "Thanks," she said. He shrugged, "You've been taking care of us all day. What's in the cargo hold?" "Oh, before you guys showed up I was talking with the pilots. Larry was going to meet some friends for a camping trip. He joked about hoping he left enough room for your stuff," she said. "So there's camping equipment in there?" he asked. "Yeah, we just have to get to it, which is gonna be hard to do considering the plane is right side up and the door is underneath," she said. Kevin smiled at her as he finished, "There's another door inside the plane." Diane's eyes lit up, "You're kidding?" "No, that model was the first to do that. It's real handy when you need to get something and can't wait til you land," he said. Diane reached out and pulled Kevin into a tight hug, "If you weren't married I'd kiss you right now." Kevin laughed as she let him go and headed back in the direction of the clearing, "Come on, we've got a camp to set up." Chapter 5 |