So�This Is Montana� Ch. 14
�Do you see him?� Chris asked Lance, his voice beginning to border on panic. His eyes darted about anxiously in his search for Joey as he stood in the bed of the truck with Lance. Just minutes earlier, Stan had swerved his truck off the road to avoid hitting a large buck standing in the middle of the road. The abrupt attempt to avoid the wild animal caused the three individuals sitting in the back of the truck, JC, Justin and Joey, to tumble about, helplessly. When Chris and Lance had finally managed to climb into the back of the truck, after it had careened to a stand still off the shoulder of the road, they had only found JC and Justin sprawled out in the truck bed in various states of consciousness.
�No�no�wait a minute�there over there,� Lance frantically pointed toward the tall grass behind the truck.
�Lance, stay with JC and Justin,� Chris said as he leaped from the back of the truck and raced to a dark lump lying in the tall grass some 20 feet behind the trailer all the while calling his name, �Joey! Joey!�
Chris skid to a stop and fell to his knees beside the still figure.
�Joey? Joey? Are you okay?� Chris whispered all the while not daring to touch his friend.
Joey was lying face down in the dirt with his left arm extended to the side, while his right arm was folded beneath his body. His legs were slightly bent and Chris could see that there were dark stains slowly spreading their way across the surface of Joey�s blue jeans�blood�blood. There were scrapes and road rash covering his arms, but his head, from what Chris could see, did not have a mark on it. Joey must have somehow managed to shield his head with his arms during his tumble from the truck to the pavement.
Chris yelled over his shoulder �Call for an ambulance�and bring something to cover him up with!� Out of the corner of his eye, Chris could see that Stan was already standing near the tailgate of the truck, a cell phone in one hand and while handing a towel to Lance with the other.
Chris returned his attention to the figure lying on the ground before him and, with shaky hands, he placed two fingers over Joey�s carotid artery and felt a slow, steady pulse. Then carefully, he placed his other hand on his friend�s back and felt a steady rise and fall. Chris looked up at the sky whispering a prayer of thanks as he rapidly blinked his eyes in an effort to prevent his tears from falling.
Chris brought his head down as he heard uneven footsteps approaching from behind. He turned to look over his shoulder and saw part of the group slowly approaching; the expressions on their faces were ones of horror and pain.
�Is he�� Justin asked, unable to finish his question.
�He has a pulse and he�s breathing�did Stan call an ambulance,� Chris asked as his eyes traveled up and down Joey�s crumpled form as Lance helped Justin to sit down beside him before gingerly spreading a blanket over Joey�s prone body.
�He did�he�s back there with JC,� Lance answered.
�JC?� Chris asked as he looked over Lance�s shoulder to see Stan seated on the truck�s tailgate, his face grim, with his left arm around JC�s shoulders, while holding a towel against JC�s head with the other hand. JC had his eyes closed and there was a painful grimace on his face, as he seemed to be leaning heavily against the ranch hand.
�He has a pretty good gash on the side of his head where he hit the toolbox on his way down,� Justin quietly explained.
�How are you?� Chris asked as he dropped his gaze back to Joey, who had not yet stirred.
�I think I just bruised some ribs and my shoulder,� Justin said with a slight grimace.
�I�m going to go wait with Jace,� Lance said as he stood up. �Will you be okay?�
�Yeah�go ahead�someone needs to stay with him,� Chris replied.
Stan sat with the trembling young man leaning heavily against him. He looked down at the pale face to see that JC�s eyes were half open in his state of semi-consciousness.
�Hey�stay awake�� Stan said quietly as he gave JC�s shoulder a slight shake.
�Okay�what happened?� was JC�s quiet reply.
�You hit your head when we swerved off the road,� Stan explained.
JC pulled against the arms firmly holding him at the sudden memory of what had happened and at the abrupt realization that he didn�t know where everyone else was.
�Justin�Joey�� he weakly called out, his voice a mix of pain and fear. Hearing JC�s faint call and seeing the look of alarm on his face quickened Lance�s pace to the two figures sitting on the tailgate.
In his state of confusion, when JC saw Lance�s approach, he immediately reached out toward his friend, as a frightened young child would toward a parent.
Lance stood between JC�s legs and wrapping his arms around him as he pulled him against his chest. All the while, Stan kept steady pressure against the bleeding gash on JC�s head.
�Justin, Joey?� JC asked, his voice muffled against Lance�s shoulder.
�Sh�Jace�they�re okay,� Lance said in a low, reassuring voice. �How are you doing?�
�Okay�guess�hurts,� JC mumbled, his sentences becoming as disjointed as his thoughts. Lance was not prepared for JC�s jumbled answer and felt panic begin to tighten its grip on him, but when he felt his friend�s body suddenly become limp in his arms, he felt himself cross over the thin line drawn between calm and panic.
�Jace�JC�Josh,� Lance said in a voice full of fear, as he gave the body leaning against his a gentle shake. When he received no response, he looked at Stan, who had not said a word, but had placed his hand on JC�s back.
�What happened?� Lance asked, his voice expressing the panic that he felt growing in his body.
�He�s okay, Mr. Bass�just fainted,� the older man replied calmly. �I�m going to pull him off you and lay him back down in the bed of the truck and you�re going to sit down.�
�Huh?� Lance asked as he struggled to process Stan�s words, his thoughts consumed by his friends� injuries.
�Let go of him, Mr. Bass�let me lay him down in the back of the truck so that you can sit down before you join him,� Stan quietly repeated. Lance nodded numbly, the situation becoming almost too surreal to him as he allowed JC�s body to be pulled out of his arms. He remained standing, watching the ranch hand gently settle JC in the bed of the truck then he let Stan guide him to sit on the tailgate of the truck.
Stan looked about him and began to feel immense fear. He had only wanted to scare the young men seated in the back of the truck�not injure them. At least, Lance had seen the buck and would be able to confirm the story that he planned on telling. No one, especially John Williams and Steven Cartwright, would need to know what his true intentions had been before swerving to miss the deer. Stan knew that John and Steven would not be pleased with this development. Stan hoped that what had happened would not interfere with the plans that were in store for the young men at the hands of the ranch employees. Stan�s thoughts were interrupted as the sound of approaching sirens could be heard in the background.
Dr. Parrish pulled off his glasses and placed them into his coat pocket as he walked out of the county clinic�s treatment room toward the waiting area to speak with Chris and Lance. It had been nearly two hours since the members of Nsync had been transported to his clinic. Stan Baker had left with several of the ranch hands nearly an hour ago to pick up the fencing materials scattered about on the side of the road then repair the damage done to the fence more than 2 months earlier. A vehicle would be sent out to the clinic to transport any of the five young men he planned to release back to Hickory Hill Ranch within the next few hours. The doctor rounded the corner and saw Dr. Granger raise a finger to his lips while pointing at the back corner of the small room.
On the two small couches lay Chris and Lance, asleep. Dr. Granger pointed toward the doorway behind Dr. Parrish and the two men quietly exited the room.
�I was just going to explain the conditions of Justin, Joey, and JC to them�what gives?� Dr. Parrish asked when they were a short distance away from the opened door.
�I came in to check in on them right as Stan was leaving,� the doctor explained. �Stan said that they had fallen asleep about 10 minutes before he was ready to leave. Apparently, they were pretty tired to begin with�long flight and a lot keeping them busy right up to the time before they left Orlando yesterday.�
�Oh�I suppose we can let them rest while I take care of paper work,� Dr. Parrish reasoned. �I�ll wake them once I�ve finished with that and have another chance to check the others.�
�Okay. I�ll stay in the treatment room then,� Dr. Granger said as he lightly clapped Dr. Parrish on the shoulder before heading in the opposite direction down the hallway toward the treatment room.
Dr. Parrish turned to continue back down the hall toward his office. He paused in the hallway at a water fountain and took several sips of the cool water. He straightened up and stretched his arms over his head before entering his office to fill out paper work. As he shuffled through the papers on his desk, he recalled the events of the last few hours leading up to now.
Dr. Parrish could honestly admit to having been surprised, to say the least when he and Dr. Granger watched one of the two dispatched ambulance�s doors swing open to reveal a body with a familiar face, which was not yet quite clearly visible due to the amount of blood covering it.
�What do you have Grady?� Dr. Parrish asked as he watched the paramedic pull the stretcher from the vehicle with his partner, Jerry Price.
�Your aren�t going to believe this, doc, but you remember those five boys from Orlando�� Grady Simpson began. He was quickly interrupted when the doctor stopped the forward movement of the gurney only to look down and upon closer examination, he recognized who was lying before him on the gurney.
�Joshua�JC Chasez,� the doctor said as he pulled out his penlight and quickly checked his pupil�s reaction to light. He was relieved to find that JC protested the sudden invasion of bright light by moaning and slightly moving his head as far as the
c-collar around his neck would allow him. That was a good sign.
�Another car wreck?� the doctor asked anxiously as he continued with his quick exam as they continued to roll the stretcher toward the building. �Where are the others?�
�Bobby and Robert are bringing in the other two injuries and the sheriff is transporting the other two here,� Jerry explained
�And how did this happen?� the doctor asked once again as the gurney was pushed through the doors of the county clinic and into the treatment room. The doctor pointed at an area across the room and they headed in that direction as the paramedic began his explanation as to what had happened, as he understood it.
�This one and two others were sitting in the back of Stan Baker�s truck.�
At the mention of Stan Baker�s name, the doctor groaned and rolled his eyes. Stan Baker had a reputation as being the most accident-prone in all of Carter County.
�Sorry I interrupted, but the mention of Stan�s name explains it all�go ahead,� the doctor said as he began his exam of JC�s injuries.
�Stan had to swerve to avoid a deer in the road and one of the boys was thrown from the back of the truck, while the other two were bounced around in the bed of the truck.� At the mention of one of the group of young men having been thrown from the vehicle, Dr. Parrish felt his stomach plunge.
�Who was ejected and why isn�t he here first?� he asked, knowing that there were certain protocols to follow in transporting injuries�most serious was to be taken first, if at all possible. The doctor�s thoughts then immediately went to the distinct possibility that perhaps the victim might be�no�not possible�the paramedic would have said whether or not there had been a DOA.
Grady Simpson and Jerry Price watched the doctor�s expression go from bad, to worse before suddenly realizing what he must have been thinking.
�Doc�there was no DOA. We followed protocol,� Grady explained. �We brought this one in due to blood loss. The ejection more or less just had��
He was unable to finish his sentence, because the clinic�s doors suddenly opened to reveal two more gurneys being pushed in with the help of Sheriff Owens and two very distraught young men.
On the first gurney lay Justin in a semi-reclined position. He was conscious, alert and in pain from the beating that his ribs and left shoulder had taken when he was bounced about the truck bed. Paramedic Robert Parks began rattling off Justin�s vitals as Dr. Granger carefully probed Justin�s right side with his hands.
Dr. Parrish met the second gurney and saw a conscious and semi-alert Joey looking up at him with a rather groggy grin on his face.
�I guess we meet again, doc,� the young man said quietly, his voice slightly slurred with the pain medications that the paramedics had administered enroute to the clinic through an IV port in his left hand. Joey faintly winced when the doctor pulled the damp sterile sheets from his arms to reveal a light case, in the doctor�s mind, of road rash. Joey reached up to touch the c-collar encircling his neck, listening to the activity going on about him.
�There is more on his legs, doc,� Paramedic, Bobby Whitman said as he lifted the sheet covering Joey to show the doctor the contusions on his shins and right knee.
The doctor slightly shook as he placed the sheet back over Joey and began his exam. Although he had seen much worse cases of road rash, the doctor knew how painful the injury could be for the unfortunate person who had sustained it.
�Do you remember what happened?� he asked as he gently pulled Joey�s hands away from the c-collar before flashing his penlight in Joey�s eyes. As he waited for Joey�s reply, he carefully probed the young man�s head for bumps and bruises.
�We were moving along just fine�um�Chris told us to get off the toolbox in the back of Mr. Baker�s truck because we�d be leaving the road soon to go onto�um�Mr. Jenson�s property�um�uh�� Joey�s voice trailed off as confusion over what happened next set in.
The doctor noted Joey�s uncertainty about the events and was about to further question him when a smile crossed Joey�s face and there was a slight twinkle in his eyes.
�Next thing I know, Stan swerves and I become Superman and fly through the air��
�Until you kissed the dirt,� the paramedic finished for him.
Joey lightly chuckled with the remark, but the laughter died when he grimaced in pain and clutched at his chest.
�Well�looks like Superman might need some x-rays,� the doctor said as he continued his exam.
�Was he unconscious when you arrived, Bobby?� the doctor asked as he gently ran his hands over Joey�s arms and legs, where he could to check for swelling.
�Yes, but he came to when we turned him over.� The doctor looked down at Joey and saw that his eyes were beginning to droop while the young man tried valiantly to remain awake. �Let the meds work, Joey�go to sleep and I�ll see you in a little bit,� the doctor said as he leaned in close to Joey so that he might hear him.
Joey licked his dry lips and allowed his eyes to slowly drift shut as he mouthed the words...okay, doc before giving into the darkness surrounding him.
�I want you to stay with him, Bobby while I start my exam with JC,� Dr. Parrish said pointing at the nearby gurney holding the young man.
�Sure thing, doc,� the paramedic said as he looked down at Joey�s sleeping form.
In the meantime, the sheriff had ushered Chris and Lance into the waiting room in an effort to allow the doctors enough room to do their work and to give the young men a chance to regroup themselves. They had been through a harrowing experience and the sheriff could tell that both young men were nearing their limits of control.
�Let�s just wait in here, boys,� the older man said as he pointed toward some chairs resting against a wall before returning to the treatment room to gather more information for his reports.
Chris watched Sheriff Owens� retreating form before wearily dropping onto one of the cushioned chairs. He half expected Lance to follow suit, but looked up to see Lance nervously pacing back and forth within an arm�s length of him.
After watching the pacing for a few moments, Chris broke the silence.
�Man�stop it�you�re making me dizzy,� he said before grabbing his friend�s arm and gently pulling him to sit down in the seat next to his.
With a deep sigh, Lance dropped his head into his hands as Chris gently began to absent-mindedly rub his friend�s back in an effort to provide Lance some comfort.
�I can�t believe this is happening all over again,� Lance mumbled into his hands.
�What?� Chris said bringing his head closer to Lances when he was unable to clearly understand the words that Lance had spoken.
Chris narrowly avoided bumping heads with Lance when he abruptly sat back in his seat and leaned his head against the wall behind him.
�I said,� Lance began as he ran a hand over his head. �I said�I can�t believe that this is happening all over again. It�s like a bad case of major d�j� vu�.� Lance�s eyes slowly began to tear up and he blinked rapidly in an effort to prevent their falling.
�Yeah,� Chris replied. He wasn�t exactly sure of what he should say at that moment. He was just as bewildered as Lance at the turn of events.
�I mean�do you think God is trying to tell me something here?� Lance asked as he lost control of his tears, which begun to run silently down his face. �Maybe I was too selfish in wanting to own the ranch,� he said in a voice full of anguish. �Maybe I made a bad investment�maybe��
�Lance�stop it,� Chris said as he quickly pulled the distraught young man into his embrace. �God is not punishing you in any way or any of the rest of us, for that matter. And, from what little I�ve had a chance to see, the ranch was a good, sound investment. This was an accident�pure and simple.�
Chris kept one arm wrapped about Lance�s shoulders as he ran his other hand over Lance�s head.
�Everything will be alright�just wait and see�� Chris said in a reassuring voice.
A few moments later, he heard a small moan from Lance as he pulled slightly out of Chris�s embrace so that he could see his friend�s face
�What?� Chris asked as he looked at Lance�s pale face.
�You don�t think the doctor�s are going to call Dr. Shannon�do you?� he asked, his voice showing a hint of concern at the prospect.
Chris�s eyes grew wide at the possibility of their doctor being contacted. �Oh�I hope not,� he whispered, as he remembered the threat that the doctor had stated during the last visit that he had made to the doctor�s office not a week ago for his routine physical.
�He told me that he would hang me up from the ceiling by my toenails if he got a phone call from one of them,� Chris said. �Is that physically possible?� Chris questioned, his mouth slightly upturned in a half grin.
�You�re pretty small and he�s taller than Justin�I�d say that it�s pretty much a good possibility that he�d be able to get the job done,� Lance answered with his own small smile. Both of the young men chuckled briefly before sitting back in their seats as they waited for word on JC, Justin, and Joeys� conditions.
Justin winced at the Dr. Granger�s firm touch, moaning as he attempted to avoid the doctor�s hands by slightly moving about on the gurney, but a stern look from the doctor stilled his movements.
�I know it hurts Justin, but it�s necessary. I need to know if anything may be broken in here�stay still,� Dr. Granger admonished.
Justin nodded his head, closed his eyes and bit his bottom lip as pain radiated through his side as the examination was continued. The doctor noted Justin�s pained expression and tried to make his assessment of Justin�s injuries as brief, but thorough as possible. Finally, after what seemed an eternity to Justin, Dr. Granger ended his exam.
�Well�how am I?� Justin hissed through clinched teeth as the intensity of the pain in his side gradually began to decrease.
�I�m pretty sure that there are no broken bones, but to be on the safe side, I want to get some pictures of those ribs,� he explained.
�Okay�how�s Joey and JC?� Justin asked as he attempted to raise his head off his pillow in order to find his friends, only to groan in pain at the painful pulling sensation that he felt with the effort.
�Don�t do that, Justin�you could possibly turn a bad situation into something worse�so stay still,� Dr. Granger said, putting his hand on the young man�s shoulder.
�Yes sir. Joey�JC�how are they?� Justin asked, once again, his voice slightly strained with frustration and pain.
�I�m not sure�I�ll check in just a few minutes after I get some x-rays of your ribs�okay?� Dr. Granger replied, giving Justin�s shoulder a gentle squeeze before pushing the gurney from the treatment room into an adjacent room to perform the x-rays.
�How long has he been out?� Dr. Parrish asked Paramedic Grady Simpson as he pulled an extra blanket from a cabinet to place over JC after having remembered how cold natured the young man had seemed to be during his first visit to the clinic.
�Stan said that he had asked JC if he had lost consciousness during their wild ride. JC said that he didn�t think that he had, but that it was all a blur...happened too fast. Stan did mention, though that it was about 10 minutes after the accident when JC fainted.�
Dr. Parrish lifted the pressure dressing surrounding JC�s head and gently probed the gash that marked the young man�s forehead.
�Looks like about 7 to 10 stitches are going to be needed here,� he noted, before looking back up at the paramedic.
�Any other injuries that he complained about before he fainted?�
�No, sir. We checked him over and we didn�t find anything else,� Grady answered.
�Well, we�ll take some pictures to make sure,� he replied. �Then, we need to go ahead and get that cut taken care of before he awakens,� the doctor added.
�Why�s that, doc,� the paramedic asked as he began to help the doctor push JC�s gurney out of the treatment room toward the x-ray room.
�Hates needles according to his primary physician and speaking of that, I guess I have a phone call to make to one Dr. Kenneth Shannon in Orlando,� Dr. Parrish explained as the gurney was brought to a standstill before a table on which JC would be laid in order to check for fractures. The table was situated under a large x-ray machine.
�Well�let�s get busy�shall we?� Dr. Parrish asked as he and Grady prepared JC for his x-rays.
The ringing of his phone brought the doctor out of this thoughts and back to the present. Once finished with his conversation, he hung up the phone and returned his attention to the pile of paperwork sitting on his desk. The sooner that he could work on it, the sooner he would be ready to awaken Chris and Lance to tell them of the conditions of their friends.