The Siege (28 page)

     “Okay, Eva. I have two people here with me. One is a paramedic and the other is a dental surgeon. I want you to tell them as much as you can about Frank’s wounds.”

     He stood aside and handed the microphone to Debbie.

     “I’ll try. He was only shot one time, in the stomach area. The bullet went through him all the way, and came out his back. It bled a lot at first, but it seems to have mostly stopped now. It’s kind of seeping on the bandages, but not a lot.”

     “Eva, my name is Debbie. I have some questions for you, if you can answer them the best you can. You said the stomach area. Was it below his belly button?”

     “Yes. A little below.”

     “And was it on his right side or left side?”

     “On his right side, probably just to the right of his spine.”

     “Very good. Okay, you said the bullet came out his back. Did it leave a great big hole or a little bitty one?”

     “A little one, about the same size as the hole in the front.”

     “Okay, that’s good. Was there anything protracted, or hanging out from the hole in his back?”

     “No, nothing. Just the ugly hole.”

     “And it missed his spine?”

     “Yes, ma’am.”

     “Okay. You’re doing fine. Is he awake?”

     “No. He was a few minutes ago, but then he drifted out again.”

     “Okay. No problem. That’s just his body’s way of helping him fight the wound. Do you have a watch with a second hand?”

     “Yes.”

     “Okay, good. I want you to take his pulse for me. Do you know how to find the artery in his neck?”

     “Yes, I think so.”

     “Okay, I want you to place two fingers on that artery. Not your thumb. Be sure to use your fingers. Once you feel a beat, start timing. Don’t count that beat, but tell me how many more beats you feel in ten seconds, okay?”

     “Okay. Hold on.”

     While she was waiting, Debbie asked the others, “Can we get everybody together for an emergency meeting? To ask if
anybody objects to bringing him here?”

     Joe looked around, and nobody seemed to argue the idea.

     Joe picked up the microphone and prepared to speak, until Mark waved his hand across his throat.

     “Don’t make that announcement. We’re bringing their wounded here if they can make it. I’ll take the heat from anybody who doesn’t like it. Too many people have died already.”

     Eva came back on.

     “It beat four times in ten seconds.”

     Debbie frowned.

     “Okay, Eva, now I need for you to count his respirations. I want you to bend over him and put your ear next to his mouth. Count the number of times he exhales in ten seconds.”

     She was back in half a minute.

     “Three times in ten seconds.”

     “Very well. Do you have a way to get him here? Someone who can drive the two of you?”

     “Yes. One of
Jesse’s sons said he can drive us.”

     “Very well. Did you say Frank is in and out of consciousness?”

     “Yes, ma’am. He’s awake sometimes and he sleeps sometimes.”

     “Very well. When he’s conscious, is he coherent? Is he able to speak without being confused or unsure of things?”

     “Yes, ma’am.”

     “Very well. When he comes to again, I want you to ask him for directions to where we are. Write them down. Tell him to be as specific as he can. Just before you leave, call us back and tell us what type of vehicle you will be in so that we can watch out for you, okay?”

     “Yes ma’am. I’ll do all that.”

     “Now, while you’re waiting to transport him, I want you to do some very specific things. When he is unconscious, keep him on his back with his
feet slightly elevated. Keep a blanket on him so he stays warm. Check his wounds periodically to make sure they’re not bleeding again. If they start, apply a bandage directly to the wound and press down firmly on it. Don’t do that unless it starts bleeding, though.

     “Check his pulse and breathing periodically. They will both speed up when he is awake and that’s okay. If they change significantly
when he is unconscious, call me back and let me know, okay?”

     “Yes, ma’am.”

     “Now, then, when he’s awake, I want him to sip water. Not too much. But enough to keep him hydrated. Small sips. When he’s unconscious, if he starts to gag or throw up, roll him over onto his left side. Not the right one. I know that’s a lot to remember. Can you handle all of that?”

     “Oh, yes. I’ve been writing it all down.”

     “Very good. Now, when you transport, he needs to lie on something fairly soft. Tell the driver to avoid unnecessary bumps. Okay?”

     “Yes, ma’am.”

     “Okay. Now tell me about your other wounded people and the nature of their wounds, one at a time.”

Chapter 5
9

     It was almost a full hour before the victims were stabilized and ready to transport. Frank hadn’t regained consciousness at all.

     But they couldn’t wait another minute.

     “Just tell your driver to head west on Interstate 10,” John told her. We’ll watch out for their vehicles and motion for them to follow us once they get here.”

     Forty two more minutes ticked by before Bryan and Brad, parked in a black Humvee on the shoulder of the highway, saw
an F-150 and a Suburban slowly creeping up the mountain west of Kerrville.

     They waited until the
vehicles passed, then drew up alongside.

    
Bryan leaned out of the passenger side window and held a handmade sign that said “FOLLOW US EVA.”

     Th
e driver of the F-150 nodded her head, and Brad pulled in front of them.

     By the time the co
nvoy made it into the compound, the situation was dreadful. Frank was now in a coma, induced by loss of blood. Another child, a girl of seven, died enroute from a massive head wound. An old woman the group called Widow Spencer was in great pain, her femur shattered by a hollow point bullet. It was obvious her leg couldn’t be saved. Luckily, someone had thought to put a tourniquet on it and almost certainly saved her life.

     The two patients were taken q
uickly into the first floor apartment set aside as the big house’s clinic. It was poorly equipped to handle emergency trauma surgery. But it was the best they could do and it was staffed by four people who’d move heaven and earth to save their patients.

     David, the dental surgeon, took the lead on Frank while Debbie got Widow Spencer stabilized and sedated. She loosened the
tourniquet momentarily to lessen the chance of clotting, and then reapplied it. Once the old woman was resting more or less comfortably, Debbie patted her hand and said a prayer for her.

     “You hang in there, old girl. It’s not your time to go yet.”

     Then she went to help David, who was exploring both of Frank’s wounds to try to determine the extent of the damage.

     Their helpers, Helen and Sarah, knew next to nothing about medicine. But they could follow orders, and weren’t afraid to get their
hands bloody, so they made for passing nurses. At least in an emergency situation.

     “Sarah, did we gather up all the people in the
compound with B Positive blood?”

     “Yes. They’re waiting outside in the hallway.”

     “Debbie, would you draw samples and do cross matches on them? I’m guessing at this point that the blood loss is our biggest concern. How’s patient two doing?”

     “She’s sedated and resting comfortably. I’ll keep an eye on her until you’re ready.”

     Debbie stepped into the hallway and took the first of her volunteer blood donors into the small lab they’d set up in the apartment next door.

     As soon as she walked into the hallway, Eva looked at her in anticipation. She wanted more than anything else in the world to hear news that Frank was going to be okay. But she could tell by the look on De
bbie’s face that it was still way too soon.

     Eva paced up and down the hall with Hannah, recounting the dreadful battle they’d endured in the wee hours of the morning.

     “They came in a great hoard, like a pack of wolves. I don’t know how many there were. It happened so fast, and it was so dark, and there were so many of them.

     “Jesse’s son, Bobby, told me they shot his father first. Shot him through the head. They shot him like a dog, he said. He said Jesse fell back, and Bobby instantly knew he was dead. Bobby fought back, and shot a couple of them. But they just kept coming and coming.

     “And they came from different directions. While they had Bobby and Frank and Michael pinned down at one end of the street they attacked from the other end as well. They went from house to house, just killing for no reason. They shot the children, and then Bobby’s mom, Jesse’s wife. In cold blood.

     “They tried to shoot me too, but the gun didn’t work. I think God spared me so I could ask your help for Frank.

     “I was a coward. I was hiding in my house when the shooting started. They tell me that Frank and Tony tried to make their way to our end of the street to save us. Tony was killed. Frank was shot, and struck his head on the curb when he went down. I thought he was dead too, but after the shooting stopped Bobby found him unconscious in the street.

     “It was dreadful.”

     It was a ferocious battle and took a tremendous toll. The day before, the block was full of life. It was joyful and thankful for all they had, and the population numbered seventeen men, women and children.

     Now the
six survivors were broken and bloodied. All of their joy was gone, and with it much of their hope for the future.

     Eva turned to Hannah and asked poignantly, “Where are the babies? And how are they?”

     The “babies” were the two surviving children of the attack, Bobby’s young nieces. Five and seven, the girls had lost both parents within a few minutes of each other. They watched their mother draw her last breath in front of them.

     They, perhaps more than any of the others, would suffer the most in the years ahead. They’d never get the vision of their mother’s death out of their minds, no matter how hard they tried.

     They’d never understand why they were spared, when so many of their friends and loved ones were taken.

     And most of all, they’d never understand how some men thought it perfectly okay to kill and maim innocent people, just for the
purpose of taking a few animals.

     Hannah held Eva in her arms.

     “Sami and Hannah have them in the lounge,” she said. Rachel and Roxanne are there too. They went through something similar when they were young. They’ll know what the girls are feeling, and will do whatever they can to help them get through it. Would you like to see them?”

     Eva nodded her head, and Hannah led her to the lounge.

     Amy and little Rebecca looked shell shocked, but they recognized Eva and clung to her. Their Uncle Bobby was nowhere in sight, and Eva was the only other face they knew that wasn’t presently on an operating table.

     As for Bobby, he stumbled outside and sat by himself on the front steps of the big house. John and Mark had approached him several times to try to tend to him, but got nowhere.

     Bobby simply offered no response to their offers. He stared off into space, seeing things only he could see, and reliving a dreadful battle that no one should have had to have gone through.

     They were a group who’d been through hell. If he survived, Frank would carry the scars on his body for the rest of his life.

     The widow Spencer had a less serious wound. In better times, at a fully staffed hospital, there would have been no question she’d survive.

     But she was an old woman. She was frail and weak even before she was shot.

     And she was under the care of a dental surgeon who’d never amputated a limb. And he had to do so with out of date antibiotics and anesthesia. The lidocaine and saline bags that dripped fluid into her arm were ancient, and there was no way to tell whether they had been tainted.

     There was only one other person in the compound,
Jason Connor, who shared her O Negative blood type, and he might not be a match. Even if he was, David would refuse to take more than one pint from his body.