~ Chapter Twenty ~
Carter
It took too long to get the hospital. After the fire was put out, the captain insisted that we head back to the fire station. There, we met up with Eric and Sean who’d had the day off but heard through the grapevine what happened.
“Any word on his condition?” I asked as soon as I saw them when I jumped out of the rig.
Eric lowered his head and Sean shook his.
“Nothing’s been confirmed, yet. But they’re saying it doesn’t look good.”
“He’s still alive though, right?” My voice rose two octaves.
“Yes, he’s alive.”
“Get changed. Next shift is starting early. We need to get down to Central,” Eric stated.
Williamsport Central Hospital was the closest hospital that had a trauma center. In fact, Eric had been taken there the previous year when he’d been injured on one of our calls. This was feeling eerily similar to that day.
I didn’t say anything as I charged past Sean and Eric, Don following me. We tore off our fire protectant gear, grabbed our bags and keys, and were ready to leave the station in less than five minutes. Captain Waverly opted to lead us in his Williamsport Fire Department issued vehicle, sirens blazing, making a way for us to pass without having to slow for other cars or red lights. We arrived at the hospital in just under ten minutes, bursting through the doors, looking for whoever we could find to tell us what was happening.
“Captain Waverly.”
We all looked toward the female nurse who approached the captain.
“How is he?” Captain asked.
“He had to be rushed into surgery. All we know right now is that he’s hanging on.” She turned to the nurse’s station when her name was called. “I have to go, but the doctor will be out as soon as he can.”
That didn’t make me feel any better. I tightened my hands into fists, gritting my teeth. I hated this most of all. The feeling of uselessness. I couldn’t do anything for Corey. Don and I had gotten him out of there as quickly as we could but now it was up to the doctors to help him.
The captain squeezed my shoulder and said in my ear, “This isn’t your fault.”
I couldn’t even look at him to acknowledge his statement.
“I mean it, Townsend.” His voice was firmer that time around. “I don’t give a shit what order you gave Corey. This isn’t on you. You’re one of the best damn rescue guys I’ve worked with. These guys trust you with their life. And so do I.”
I clenched my jaw, remaining silent. I wasn’t in the mood for words. I was a man of action. We all were. But there was no action I could take right then. Nothing I could do to help my teammate. I had to wait. And that shit was the worst thing ever.
“Corey’s mother is arriving,” Eric announced.
We all looked up toward the door, and entering behind Sean was a petite, chestnut-colored woman who had to be Corey’s mother. Other than the height, her son had inherited his looks from her. I couldn’t look in her red-rimmed eyes for too long. The worry and fear held there reminded me of the sorrow I’d seen in too many eyes before her.
“Ms. Stephens,” Captain greeted, and then proceeded to fill her in on Corey’s condition. Ms. Stephens remained quiet after the captain finished speaking for a while. She simply nodded her head and clutched her chest, taking in everything that’d been said. After a minute or two she finally spoke.
“I was afraid something like this would happen.” All eyes shifted in her direction. “From the very first day he told me he applied to the department, this has been my fear.” She lowered her head, shaking it before lifting it back up and looking at each of us - Captain Waverly, Sean, Eric, Don, and finally, me. “Whenever I got to worrying myself too much, my son would tell me, ‘Mama, you have nothing to worry about. Those guys in my squad are the best at what they do.’ Is that true?” she questioned, gaze bouncing between all of us again.
We all remained silent until the captain finally spoke.
“Yes, ma’am, it is.”
Ms. Stephens blinked, inhaled deeply, and then sighed. “Then he will be fine.” She nodded, assuredly. Then she lifted her chin and walked toward the waiting room, commanding without words for the rest of us to follow her. It was at that moment, I realized where Corey had gotten his strength from. The toughness that made him so great at his job. Great enough to hang with all the other guys in Rescue Four.
Having nothing else to do and needing to occupy my hands with something, I went down to the hospital’s cafeteria and bought coffee for everyone. It was late and everyone was weary but we weren’t going anywhere. We all needed to be there. I wanted desperately to pull out my phone and call Michelle, especially when Angela, Eric’s wife, showed up, comforting her husband. Eric didn’t say much, he never was a big talker, but I could tell by the expression on his face what having Angela there with him meant to him.
I pulled out my phone to dial Michelle’s number but then I remembered where we stood. The fact that we hadn’t even spoken in days and the last time we did speak, she’d told me we were over. Then I remembered the reason why she ended things and the anger I’d fought so hard to suppress began bubbling up again.
Just when I thought I couldn’t keep the lid on my anger anymore, the doctor, wearing his white lab coat and blue surgical scrubs, trailed by the same nurse from earlier, pushed through the double doors of the waiting room.
“Captain Waverly?” the doctor questioned, looking around.
“I’m the captain, but this is Corey Stephens’ mother.” Captain held out his hand toward Corey’s mother who stood next to him.
“How is my son?”
The doctor’s lips formed into a thin line and I knew it wasn’t the news we’d want to hear. That was never a good sign.
“Ms. Stephens, your son had some relatively minor injuries. A minor concussion, that could’ve been more serious if it weren’t for his helmet. He also has some bruising around his lungs due to a cracked rib. Thankfully, there was no internal bleeding.”
The doctor started with the good news. But the strained lines around his eyes told me he had more.
“Unfortunately,” the doctor’s voice lowered, grimly, “the wooden beam that fell on your son did massive damage to his right leg …” He paused and cleared his throat. “We weren’t able to save it. We had to amputate.”
I reached out for Ms. Stephens, on her right side, while Captain Waverly held her on the left side. Her knees buckled and a cry wrenched from her throat.
“I’m so sorry, Ms. Stephens,” the doctor continued.
The captain and I brought Ms. Stephens to a chair and sat her down. By then she was whimpering, wiping away at the tears as they fell. The doctor gave us a last few parting words, and then said a nurse would be back in to let us know when Corey was ready for visitors.
I sat there, handing Ms. Stephens tissues and listening to her tiny cries. Suddenly, a woman burst through the doors.
“Mama!” she called, and head straight for Corey’s mother.
This was Corey’s twin sister. I’d met her on a couple of occasions when she came down to the station house for one reason or another.
“Mama, what happened?” she asked, kneeling down in front of her mother.
I stood. “Sit here,” I instructed, allowing Jocelyn to take my vacated seat. Her mother told her what the doctor had just told us and then they both held onto one another.
I ran my fingers through my hair, pacing the waiting room, in front of the window. When I turned around again, Eric was standing right there.
“His career is over.”
Eric nodded, a morose look on his face. We all knew it. I’d felt it since I discovered him laying on that floor with a beam pinning Corey down.
“It could’ve been worse,” Eric finally stated.
I blinked my eyes closed. I hated that fucking saying. Yeah, it could’ve been worse. Corey could’ve died in that fucking fire. But this? This wasn’t much better. At least, not at the moment it wasn’t. Because in a way, Corey had died. His hopes of moving up the ranks in the fire department? His dreams of one day having a son that followed in his footsteps in the ranks of the Williamsport Fire Department? His main reason for getting out of bed in the morning … to save lives? That was all over. In the blink of an eye. It was done.
I ran my hand through my hair.
“I’ve got to get out of here.”
Eric’s eyes narrowed, a worried look overcoming him. “Where’re you going?”
I didn’t respond because I didn’t have an answer. All I knew was that I couldn’t be there, right then. I was too pissed. Too angry at the entire situation. Men like Corey didn’t deserve what he’d gotten but there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to change any of it. I needed some air. I needed to breathe. So, without a word I turned and left the waiting room. Pushed through the door in a hurry to seek some type of relief.