Eleven Days: An Unexpected Love (52 page)

She
moaned in agony.

Oh God! Help me help
her
, he thought. He worked feverishly to get all the jackets off
her
, blood
gushed
out every opening of the coat and
that
made the task slippery. He knew if he didn't stop the bleeding,
she
would
bleed out, so h
e worked frantically. When he couldn't get them off fast enough he just starts ripping everything off
as quick as he could
. "Damn it Joe, help me get t
his
shit off
her
."

Joe ripping at
her
coat, then he tried to lift
her
sweater.

She
was
unknowingly squirming because of the pain and t
his
made the blood flow more volatility, and more slippery. Mike and Joe tried to keep
her
still while they worked.

"Lighthouse,"
she
said turning
her
head from side to side, w
his
pering lighthouse a second time.

Mike didn't know why, he took a quick gl
ance toward the lighthouse.
She
kept
coughing and sputtering blood. Mike went into a panic because he knew t
his
didn't look good for
her
. Blood
came
out of
her
mouth, in waves of coughing.

Through the blood and tears
she
looked at Mike and
she
saw fear, he
looked
pale. He never looked like t
his
. What
was
wrong
with
her
baby? Cohesiveness
left
her
body, and
she
's oblivious to everyone and everything.

He knew
she
wouldn't make it,
she
couldn't breathe
with
out
difficulty. As the clothes came off, Mike saw the gaping hole. Blood spurt out like a water fountain. Tears
ran down
his
cheek, and
her
blood
spurt out covering him from head to toe
. Joe helped and
he
did
everything Mike told him
to do
.
His
face turned
as white as a sheet. Mike knew
she
would
die from loss of blood so he did the only thing he knew to do.

He stuck
his
finger in the hole where the bullet went in
, right through the kidney
. He knew it
would
help stop the blood loss.

The pain
was
more than
she
could bear--
she
lapsed into unconsciousness
!

"Thank God
she
passed out, I can't stand
her
to be in such pain," Mike said while still trying to stop the flow of blood. "Joe put pressure on
her
back. Stop
her
from bleeding out
, hurry
."

Joe gagged and he put pressure on it the best he could and he yelled for an ambulance t
his
time, screaming at the top of
his
lungs. "Someone get a fucking ambulance over here." Blood
caused
her
to gag
and sputter
.
Joe helped tilt
her
up so
she
would
n't drown. They couldn't figure out where the blood in the mouth
was
coming from because t
he hole looked like a clean shot. It
was
too low for the lung to be hit.

Raymond ran up and saw the horrifying scene and he knew
she
probably
would
n't make it.
Her
face showed
that
. At first glance, there
was
blood and kidney splattered all over the wall and windows. He could hear
her
gurgling and said. "Mike the bullet probably shattered and a piece went into
her
lung. Let's apply pressure and let's lift
her
up so the blood will go down instead of going into
her
airway." Raymond slowly and gently lifted
her
up and got under
her
to elevate
her
and
that
seemed to help.

"Thank you Raymond, I just can't lose
her
, how could t
his
happen?" Mike
was
frantic.

For the first time in fifteen years Raymond saw Mike lose
his
composure. Mike completely lost it. Raymond didn't have time to deal
with
Mike or Joe,
his
main focus right now
was
to save
her
life.

In the distance he could hear the ambulance and police coming. Mike knew if they didn't hurry
she
would
die. Oh God, he didn't want to think about
that
.

Her
breathing
was
shallow and
her
skin color turned ashen. Mike knew death's look and
her
look had him worried. He looked at Raymond and asked. "What else can we do?"

"Nothing, just keep doing what we are doing now."

The agents showed the medic's to the porch and they followed them to the back of the house. The agents grabbed everything they
would
need to save
her
life especially the gurney. Time
would
be
was
ted by the medics going back and forth.

The medic took over
for Mike
. "Let go sir, we have everything under control," said one of the medics. Mike glanced at him and he
was
an older man, and maybe being older meant he had more experience. Mike had to trust him.

The second Mike pulled
his
finger out of the gunshot wound blood spurt everywhere. "Help
her
! Can't you see
she
's bleeding to death," yelled Mike to the medics.

Raymond pulled him to the side and said. "Let them do their job Mike. They're trained for t
his
."

One of the medic's asked. "Does anyone happen to know
her
blood type?"

Mike and Raymond answered simultaneously. "A+"

Since Mike
was
not in the right mental state, Raymond stepped into high gear and took over
the investigation
. The police were dispatched to the lighthouse immediately and Raymond had to follow up
in hopes of catching someone.
He walked over to Mike. "Why don't you and Joe go
with
Lana
to the hospital and I'll take over here."

"I will," Mike said standing as close to the
Lana
as he could. He wanted to make sure they
didn't neglect
her
. When he noticed they were rough
with
her
to
stop the bleeding,
his
heart sa
nk. He
was
always so gentle
with
her
.
His
heart
rose to
his
throat. If t
his
happened
under different circumstances, he
would
deck anyone who
was
rough
with
her
.

Joe
left for the
beach heaving
his
guts up when Raymond walked up and put
his
hand on
his
back. "Hey bud, why don't you go
with
Mike to the hospital to help, we need two to go and I figured you want
ed
to go."

"Raymond,
she
saved my life. How do I live
with
that
? I'm supposed to protect
her
and instead
she
saved my life. I have never seen anything so awful. My God,
her
kidney
was
hanging out
by a piece of skin
!" He heaved again.

Raymond tried to console him, but he didn't have time for t
his
. "
She
just reacted when
she
saw the shooter.
That
's just the way
she
is and you know
that
. But right now
she
needs you to be strong. Mike needs you to be strong. Get ready to go because they are
will load
her
on the gurney in a few seconds.
"

Joe shook
his
head yes, and he walked over to gurney where Mike
stood
with
a few agents
, waiting
. They picked
her
and carried
her
to the ambulance because of the rough terrain. They ran.
With
in a few seconds, the lights and sirens were blaring and they were on their way to the hospital. Mike sat in the back of the ambulance near the door. The medic worked frantically to save
her
life.

The doctors wanted to know
her
status. The medic answered. "
Her
blood pressure is 70/50 and dropping and
she
has lost several pints of blood. We are unable to stop the bleeding and we are prepping
her
for surgery."

The doctor on the other end of the radio asked. "Give me information on the entrance and exit of the bullet."

"The entrance is about one-half inch in diameter and the exit took most of
her
left kidney. The exit hole is about four inches in diameter." The tech took a deep breath and added. "T
his
is the biggest gunshot hole I've ever seen and the caliber has to be at least a fifty.
She
's lucky."

A fifty caliber, my God how did
she
even survive
that
? Mike knew
that
size
of a
caliber could blow up a watermelon and how
her
small body survived
was
a miracle. The distance slow the bullet and
that
might have saved
her
life. Mike
got
sick just thinking about
Lana
going through
so much pain
. It
was
so difficult to sit there and have no control over the situation.

"We are calling in the surgeon and preparing an operating room. Try to keep
her
stable," said the doctor on the other end of the radio.

"Our ETA is a one minute." The medics didn't think
she
would
make it.

Mike could tell
that
's how they felt. The expression on their faces told him. He hated them for giving up on
her
.

The loss of the kidney and blood
was
so much, and from past experience they thought it
was
only a ten percent chance of survival maybe less.

Mike sat in the
back watching them work on
her
. Mike couldn't watch when they plugged the hole. They wrapped something around
her
waist, and it looked like an ace bandage
with
tubes sticking out
of
her
side
. When they finished plugging
that
hole, they stuck a needle in
her
lungs to pull
out
blood.
That
helped
her
breath a little better. It didn't look good, and he felt helpless.