Prognosis Bad Timing - Amy Andrews Page 0,3

would be sticky as it clotted around her hands.

Don’t die. Don’t die. Don’t die.

The chant helped her keep her mind off the roar of her own blood in her ears, the sweat beading her forehead, the nausea rolling through her intestines. Quickly she grabbed in some air, filling her lungs with it as fast as she could, over and over in time to the silent incantation.

Don’t die. Don’t die. Don’t die.

Charlie could hear his helper’s breathing as he applied an oxygen mask to the man’s face. If she kept it up, she was going to need the oxygen. ‘Hey,’ he said, forcing himself to minister to her needs for a few seconds. ‘You’re doing great, OK? Just slow your breathing down. Can you do that?’

Carrie shook her head, as everything around her spun out of control. Her lips were tingling. Her gloved fingers, covered in blood, were tingling. ‘I can’t...b-breathe,’ she gasped.

Charlie bit back an expletive. Christ, not now. ‘Yes, you can.’

His conscience pricked at his impatience. This woman had dodged a potentially fatal collision tonight and now he was asking more. She could have been the victim here and what she probably needed more than anything else was some TLC but instead he was forcing her to do something clearly outside her comfort zone.

She was obviously one of those squeamish people who didn’t like the sight of blood so it had to be hard for her to help. Frankly, this sort of scene could be difficult for even hardened professionals.

He sighed. “Look at me.”

Carrie couldn’t move. She could only see the blood. Her mind started to play tricks. She was getting flashes of another place and time. Another patient. Another life-and-death situation.

So much blood. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head to expel them.

‘Look at me!’

Charlie was more forceful this time but it had the desired effect. Her head snapped up, panic flaring her nostrils and dilating her pupils. ‘You’re doing really well,’ he said gentling his voice again, lifting his hand to squeeze her shoulder. ‘The ambulance should be here soon.’

The warmth of his hand anchored her in the suddenly spinning world and Carrie’s panicked thoughts eased momentarily.

‘What’s your name?’ he asked.

‘C-Carrie.’

‘Hi. I’m Charlie.’ He smiled. ‘I need you to slow your breathing down, OK? Do you think you can do that?’

Carrie nodded mutely but she still couldn’t get enough air.

‘Come on, Carrie, like this.’ He breathed deeply in and out himself. ‘Breathe with me, like this.’

Carrie forced herself to slow her breathing. It was hard at first, her oxygen-starved lungs protesting but she clung to the calm timbre of Charlie’s voice, mimicked his deep steady breathing — in and out, in and out. His hand on her shoulder was immeasurably comforting and, slowly, the tingling subsided.

‘OK, now. Good. This is good.” He smiled encouragingly. “Much better. Well done.’

Carrie was aware somewhere inside her jumbled thoughts that he was talking to her like she was a frightened child, the way she spoke to Dana during a thunderstorm. And she was also aware that behind his calm façade his eyes kept flicking down to check the inert man on the ground.

Their patient was in bad shape and she had to pull herself together.

‘I need to keep going here. Will you be OK? Just keep breathing, OK? In and out. All right?’

‘I’m sorry. I’m g-good now. I’ll breathe.’

Charlie searched her face. She still looked scared but the panic was gone. ‘That’s great.’ He nodded and turned his attention back to his patient.

What first? He needed a collar to stabilise the patient’s neck before he manipulated it to improve the airway. He didn’t have one. He made a mental note to put a collar in the kit for future use and moved to plan B. He knelt so that the patient’s head was between his legs, his knees and thighs providing support for the head and neck.

Experimenting with some gentle jaw support and chin extension, he was relieved to hear the breathing become much less noisy. He reached for his portable suction unit, pushed the mask aside and placed the sucker inside the man’s mouth. Blood slurped into the tubing.

Carrie startled at the loud mechanical noise. The red fluid tracked down the tubing and she looked away quickly. Nausea roiled through her intestines again and for an awful moment she thought she was going to disgrace herself – more than she had already - and lose her dinner. Her heartbeat spiked and she coughed on a rising surge of