Edge of Ashes (Sons of Ash Motorcycle Club) (15 page)

My eyes fly open and I nearly jump out of
bed. I scan the darkness, looking and listening but the only thing I can hear
is my heart hammering in my chest. My clock on the nightstand tells me it’s
nearly 2:30am. What woke me up? I lay back down, pulling my covers up to my
chin and close my eyes.

“Kari... open up!”

That’s not a dream! I throw my covers off
and scramble out of bed just as the hammering starts on my front door.

“Kari!”

That’s Adam. “Coming!” I shout, running
down the hall. Rounding the corner I step on something soft and my feet go flying.
I hit the wood floor hard and with a whoosh my breath shoots out of my lungs.

“Dammit Kari, it’s me Adam. I’ve got your
sister!”

I scramble to my feet and half run half
stumble to my front door which is shaking with every knock that’s coming from the
other side. I grab the chain and fumble with the lock. My hands are shaking so
badly I can barely work the locks. When I finally do get the door open it
bursts in knocking me to the floor again as Adam rushes in with my sister in
his arms.

He steps on my leg in the dark and both he
and Anne take a spill. I hear her head hit the floor with a sickening thud.

“What happened?” I ask frantically. “Is she
hur-”

My voice fails me as my hands encounter a
large slick patch over her chest.

“Anna!” I holler as I feel her neck,
searching for a pulse I’m pretty sure won’t be there. “Anna wake up!”

I can’t find a pulse. I can’t find a pulse!
Oh my god, my little sister is dead!

“Kari… it’s me. Open the fucking door! I’ve
got your sister.”

I sit up in bed with a start. More
hammering on my front door. I look around. I’m back in my room, lying in my
bed. The clock on my nightstand tells me it’s nearly 3:30am.

“What the hell?”

“Kari, open your damn door!” Adam is
shouting at the top of his lungs.

I throw my covers off and scramble out of
my bed. Obviously I dreamed…my sister was dead…Oh my god! I sprint down the
hall, round the corner and down another hall towards my front door. Reaching
the door I throw back the chain, flip off the dead bolt and turn the door knob.
The door flies open, striking me in the forehead and knocking me to the floor.
I hit hard and with a whoosh all the air in my lungs shoots out. Adam wades in
carrying my little sister in his arms. In the dark he steps on my leg,
stumbles, then recovers and runs into my dining room where he deposits my
sister on the table. I flip on the lights and gasp! She is as pale as a sheet
and her whole left side is covered in blood!

“Anna!” I shout as I feel for her carotid
pulse.

It’s there, faint and rapid. This is not
good. I pull up her white tee shirt and nearly faint. There is a three inch
long gash just below her rib cage and it’s steadily oozing bright red arterial
blood. I grab my trauma kit that fortunately I had the foresight to dig out
before going to bed. My hands are shaking so badly I can’t seem to get the
sterile abdominal dressing out of its packaging. Adam grabs it from my fingers
and rips open the packing simultaneously breaking the sterile field.

“Adam, now it’s not sterile,” I hiss at
him, yanking the dressing from his bloody hands. “Now I’ll have to get
another-”

“Does it really matter at this point?” He
replies, taking the dressing and pressing it over my sister’s wound.

“Guess not.” I reply, miffed at him for
being right.

“Did you already call 911?” He asks.

“Shit! I forgot.” I fish around for my
phone but it’s not in my pockets or anywhere on the counters.

I look up and Adam is already dialing on
his. While he talks to dispatch I begin the methodical search for other wounds.
She has a number of strange blisters about a quarter inch wide and spread
around her upper torso. There’s even one or two on her right breast. Other than
that she doesn’t seem to have any other wounds.

After Adam hangs up I direct his attention
to one of the strange blisters.

“What’s that?” I ask.

Suddenly his face turns dark and a scowl
forms on his mouth. “I know exactly what they are Kari.”

“What?” I have no idea. I wonder if she has
been suffering from some strange illness she hasn’t told me about.

“They’re cigarette burns Kari.”

It takes a second for his words to sink in,
but when it does I see red.

“They…they tor-”

I can’t say it. I know what I’m looking at
now but I can’t say it. It’s like if I don’t acknowledge it, maybe it won’t be true
or something. My fists clench and unclench on their own. My eyes blur as I
stare down at her pale face. It’s like all the blood has been drained from her
body. Hot tears rain down on her face. I can’t believe this is happening. She
is so innocent, so pure, and now she’s scarred for life; both emotionally and
physically. Now every time she looks at herself in the mirror she’s going to
have a constant reminder of what happened these last days. I turn to ask Adam
about the rescue when the siren from a rescue vehicle breaks through the
silence of the night.

“That’s my cue Kari.”

“What?”

“I can’t stay hon. There’d be too many
questions that I cannot afford to have to answer; you know, outlaw biker and
all…” He trails off, looking at me guiltily.

I put my hand on his arm. “It’s okay. You
did your part. There’s nothing anyone can do now.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t save her from…” He
points to the burn marks.

“Go. Be safe.”

“Kari… it didn’t go well tonight. Ripper
was there and my friend from the Demons double crossed me. You can’t go home
after you leave the hospital. Call me.”

“Oh my god…Ripper… oh my god…” I can’t
believe it. What a mess.

Adam gives me a quick hug then runs out the
door. The sirens are very close now. I should have asked him what to say to the
paramedics when they get here. If they’re any good they’re going to recognize
the burns and of course the knife wound is going to raise all kinds of
questions.

Just minutes after Adam roars off on his
bike I hear the rescue truck pulling up. I go to the front door so I can direct
them to my sister. As I walk out two medics are towing a gurney down my
sidewalk.

“This way.” I motion for them to follow me.

“What’s under the dressing?” The first
medic asks me as he opens up his trauma kit.

The other medic is attaching leads to my
sister’s chest and side to get a look at her heart on the monitor.

“Knife wound,” I reply. “It’s about this
wide.” I show with my fingers, “and it’s constantly oozing blood.”

At the mention of a knife, both paramedics
look up alarmed.

“It’s okay. No one else is here. My sister
went missing this morning and just a few minutes ago a black van pulls up and
she rolls out.”

As the second medic starts an IV the other
one discovers the cigarette burns.

“These look fresh.” He comments. “Do you
know what made these?”

“I’m guessing it was a cigarette.”

“Good guess. I’ve seen them before and I’m
sure you’re right.” He turns to the other medic. “Ready for transport?”

The other medic lays an IV bag across my
sister’s knees. “All set.” He replies.

As they load my sister onto their gurney
the first medic turns to me. “You look kinda familiar…”

“I’m a trauma nurse for St. Josephs.”

“I knew I’d seen you before.”

“Is she going to be okay?” I ask as they
prepare to load the gurney into their vehicle.

“She’s got a pulse and she’s breathing on
her own. I’d say the worst is behind us. You coming with?”

For an answer I pile in behind them and
take a seat next to my sister. To me she looks worse than when I first saw her.
As we pull out into the roadway the medic, Kevin, does a more thorough
examination. When he palpates her abdomen his face darkens.

“What?” I ask, alarmed.

“I’m almost certain your sister has lost a
significant amount of blood due to internal bleeding. Her abdomen is hard as a
board.”

He looks at her heart monitor. I look too
and gasp. Her pulse has slowed way down. Her blood pressure has gone from 119
over 69 to 89 over 53. She is tanking!

Kevin the medic looks up and hollers to the
driver. “Step on it Mitchel, we’re losing her!”

“Be there in nine.” The driver yells back.

Suddenly my world comes crashing down
around me. Kevin grabs a sterile package, rips it open and positions himself so
he can intubate my sister but it’ll do little good maintaining an airway if
she’s not even breathing through it. My brain screams in panic as Kevin breaks
out the AED (Automated External Defibrillator) and begins attaching the pads;
just in case. Suddenly the truck makes a sharp left then accelerates up a short
incline and we’re at St. Joseph’s ER.

The second the doors open I’m leaping out.
There’s Mitchel the medic, Dr. Michael Shanahan, and two other nurses I know by
site. So this is the team my sister has to depend on for her very life. I’ve
worked with most of them before; that should be some comfort to me but it’s
not. I have seen these people at their best and I’ve seen them when they’ve
made the wrong call and we all suffer the consequences. Question is, will this
be the day they’re at their best or will it be one of those other days? I have
to help!

I follow the gurney into Trauma Room One.
No one has initiated CPR so that’s good. The AED is still attached but no one
has activated it. I risk a glance at the monitor as they’re transferring Anna
to the table. Her pulse is weak, about forty and her blood pressure is still
hovering around 88 to 90 over 53…54. At least her pressure is strong enough to
be read. I step up to the table ready to fulfill my usual role as ER Nurse when
strong hands grip my elbow, ushering me back away from my sister; it’s Dr. Connors,
chief resident; big wig in charge.

“I need you to sit this one out Kari.”

“But it’s my sister!” I protest.

“Which is precisely why you need to sit it
out.” He replies with authority.

A man like him is hard to argue with. Not
only is he a giant of a man, he is a brilliant physician and his well-
documented reputation makes him the one person you don’t want to say no to;
especially when he is in your face giving you an order.

But this is my sister. “Doctor-”

“You know I’m right nurse. Now are you going
to stand here arguing with me or can I get to the business of saving your
sister’s life?”

He frames it as a question but we both know
it’s an order. Forcing my eyes to the ground I walk out of the room as the
floor is covered with the detritus of a battle zone. I don’t look up until I’m
in the nurse’s lounge. Another nurse, Jaime is her name I think, is in the
process of shedding a blood stained pair of scrubs. She’s young and
inexperienced. When I look into her eyes I can see the full effects of the job
and I know in my heart she will soon be a casualty of it. You can’t take this
kind of work home with you and if you do it’ll mess up the other people you
share your home with. If I remember right, she is newly married. If I’m
guessing right here, she’ll be in that stage where she shares with him every
bloody detail of the job and he, like most people, will just eat it up without
ever realizing the effect it’s going to have on them.

And it hits me as I collapse into a chair
in the corner. There’s a reason I end up in relationships with fucked up men.
No normal man would be able to put up with what I bring him with me each night.
Suddenly I get the urge to speak to the woman. I stand up and walk back to the
locker area. She’s grabbing her purse.

“Jaime… is it?” I ask hesitantly.

She turns around. “You’re Kari right?”

“You can’t take it home with you!” I blurt
out. She probably has no idea what I’m talking about.