Living in the now - Chapter 3 - Waking up in Bagram
Living in the now - chapter 2 - Waking up again
God the kid is slow. Jack readjusts his rifle, blinking sweat and dust from his eyes, checking out the perimeter again. He wonders what will be for dinner. It doesn´t matter, by the time they arrive back to base, everything will be gone. He can see Mac working, but for some reason he is taking his time for this one. He already suggested several times to just blow the damn thing so they can return to base in time for dinner. But his bomb nerd is not only slow, he is also stubborn. He said something about needing to disarm this one, probably for his nerdy collection of bomb detonators. He never understood what that is about.
‘Come on Mac, just get this over with. I’m hungry.’ He knows he is whining, but Mac tends to perform better when he is nagged.
‘Quit whining, I’m almost done, I…’
He is hit by the pressure wave, pain clawing at him. Before he can figure out what is causing it, everything goes black.
* * *
Jack starts when someone stabs him in the leg. His eyes fly open and he is ready to defend himself, except his hands are restrained by straps;
‘Stand down Dalton! You’re gonna be OK,’ a voice shouts over the thumping sound of a helicopter rotor. Jack now recognizes the uniform, it is a medic. He is holding a syringe. What happened? He was… Mac, where is Mac? To his left side is nothing, so he lets his head roll to the other side. It is only now that he sees the flurry of activity on that side. A medic assisted by a soldier are working frantically on someone, no… not someone… Mac. He recognizes the blond hair that is now saturated with blood. He wants to call out, reach out, but whatever they injected, is starting to take effect, because the world just slides from under him.
* * *
When he wakes again, it is in a clean bed. They are back to base, he recognizes it. He turns his head but there is no sign of Mac. When he moves to get out of bed, pain shoots through him and he can´t hide the groan escaping him.
A nurse enters and smiles, ‘good to see you awake Dalton. How are you feeling?’
Jack has been in hospital enough to know it is best to cooperate.
‘Tired, sore.’
‘Anything hurt in particular?’
‘Yeah my leg when I moved it, but I guess I am on the good stuff, right?’
She nods knowingly, ‘ you shattered your femur, broke a couple of ribs, dislocated your shoulder, moderate concussion, bruises and scrapes. But really, you are lucky to be alive.’
‘Mac? How is my EOD tech?’
‘He’s being stabilized to be taken to Bagram, but he will probably be transferred to Landstuhl when he is able to.’
‘He’s alive?’ Jack feels a weight being lifted of his chest.
‘How bad?’
‘He was caught in the blast of a secondary device, as were you. But he was closer to the source. He has multiple fractures, head trauma and some second and third degree burns, so they can take better care of him in Bagram.
‘Can I see him before he is air lifted?’
‘Let me check, OK?’
Jack nods, closing his eyes. God he is tired.
* * *
‘Dalton?’
Jack´s eyes snap open, ‘what’s wrong?’
‘Nothing, but we need to hurry. Some higher up decided you stay with the bomb tech.’
Jack smiles, this is the best news he could have hoped for. The nurse and a doc return with a gurney. The doc pulls a vial into a syringe, but Jack stops him.
‘I don´t want it.’
‘I´m sorry son, but this is going to suck, so I will give you something for the pain. Don´t worry, it will not knock you out. You can still be there for the kid. Relax!’
Jack can´t hide his anxiousness.
‘Relax Dalton, that’s an order. We will the stuff some time to work and then you are ready for transport. Jack forces himself to relax. There is commotion outside and he glances at the door. He doesn´t have to wait long for the guys of his team enter with his personal belongings.
‘We heard you are shipping out with the kid; How is he?’
‘Not good, they are talking about taking him to Landstuhl, his injuries are too severe to treat here.’
‘That bad?’
Jack nods, the worry is back, saying it out loud somehow made it worse.
‘We got your and the kid’s stuff, didn´t think you wanted to leave it behind.’
‘Thanks, you guys are the best.’
Two soldiers and the nurse enter, ‘ready to go?’
Jack nods not thrusting his voice.
‘We will carry him to the plane.’
Before he knows it, he is loaded inside the plane. His team salute him and he swallows, ‘take care of each other, understand?’
‘We will, take care of the kid for us.’
‘Will do.’
Mac is already on board. His heart sinks, Mac´s head is shaved and tubes and wires connect him to machines. The kid is not going to like his shaved head. Why is that what springs to mind? The kids looks barely alive. Most disturbing is the ventilator tube.
The onboard nurse checks her notes, ‘Dalton Jack?’
‘Yeah, that´s me.’
‘My name is Katrin, I was told you two need to stay together but I need you to stay in your gurney, OK?’
‘Yes ma’am. How is my boy doing?’
‘He’s holding his own. He is a fighter, and I can tell.’
‘That’s Mac alright.’
‘Now, relax, we’re wheels up in five.’
He takes Mac´s limp hand in his, ‘hand on, Mac, you can do this.’
Once they are taxiing for takeoff, Jack gets dizzy and closes his eyes.
* * *
This time he wakes because his gurney is being jostled. It takes him a moment to realize they are unloading him from the plane. He looks around but there is no sign of Mac.
‘Calm down Dalton, we unloaded the critical patients first. Macgyver is already in the ICU.’
‘Yeah, of course,’ he hates how weak his voice sounds. And he hates even more waking up in a different place everything he closes his eyes. Damn drugs.
As expected he is taken to a ward and not the ICU, he can´t say he isn´t disappointed but he also knows intellectually that there are soldiers who need to be there more than he does and he can´t be in their way.
It doesn´t take long before a nurse comes in with dinner, the other soldiers in the room get their trays, but doesn´t get anything.
‘We will be shipping you out to Landstuhl tomorrow morning, but we want to have a look at that leg of yours first. That is why you can´t eat, if everything is in order, I will bring you some afterwards, OK?’
Jack nods, the pain medication must be wearing off, because he can feel his different pains increasing in intensity. To occupy himself, he talks to the other men, they joke around, not wanting to be reminded of why they are here.
Jack is thinking about calling the nurse since the pain in his leg is overwhelming him, but he beaten to it, when a nurse comes in to take him for further treatment.
Once the doctor has examined him, it goes quick, the leg needs to be re-set and the doctor injects a sedative before he can protest. The pain is suddenly gone and Jack lets himself be carried away by the floaty feeling.
* * *
Jack wakes to the typical hospital morning hustle and bustle. A nurse comes in taking his vitals, explaining him that everything went well and that they re-set his leg, re-casting it. Since he didn´t get any dinner last night, he is starving, but breakfast is served fairly quickly after rounds are made.
‘When you are done, we are going to prepare you guys to be airlifted to Ramstein airbase.’
Jack can´t wait to see Mac again, he asked the nurse about him, but she didn´t know the patient, so she couldn´t tell him anything.
Soon enough, the CCATT team enters and starts triaging patients to bring on board. It is clear they have done this endless times. They are practiced, efficient and fast before returning to the large cargo plane. Soldiers starts carrying everybody on board.
Before Jack can wrap his mind around it, everybody is settled in two rows of double bunks down the center of the C-17. Every patient under a homemade quilt emblazoned with flags and eagles. Along the walls of the fuselage sit the ambulatory casualties.
Jack searches for Mac and locates him in the back of the plane with three other critical patients. A doctor is making notes, two nurses are checking monitors and machines.
When one of the team passes him, he addresses her and tells her he is with one of the critical patients. She checks the paperwork and apologizes that they weren´t put closer to each other. She asks two crew members to switch out his gurney so he is closer to Mac. Once he is settled, he studies Mac and can´t help the tears that form. There is his boy, unconscious, sedated, intubated and encased in what appears to be a vacuum spine board.
‘Mac, I… come on son, you can do this. Fight.’
It is clear to Jack that the three other critical patients are all IED victims like Mac. Two of them are missing limps, and the other is severely burned.
The crew works calmly and serenely and Jack watches them work around their four patients. The plane is cold and Jack shivers under the quilt. It pulls a moan when the pain in his leg spikes. The woman who seemed to be accompanying one of the other patients, gets up, taking a blanket with her and draping it over him.
‘I´m fine.’ Jack says.
‘I know, but I can tell you are in pain. Want me to call a nurse?’
‘It’s OK. Your boy?’
‘No, I´m a journalist, writing a story about the CCATT.’
Jack nods, ‘they’re doing a great job.’
‘You’re with him?’ she points at Mac.
‘I´m with him. I’m his overwatch, he’s an EOD tech.’
‘Thank him, he does great work.’
Jack is grateful that she speaks about him in the presence tense and not like he is already written off.
‘I will.’
She returns to her seat to grab her camera and starts documenting the flight. Jack puts his hand on Mac´s cheek, but it is so cold, there is a moment he wonders whether Mac is still alive. He startles when a hand is put on his shoulder.
‘He´s doing good. We are keeping him this cold to give his brain a break. But he is fighting, he is still with us. She shows Jack the monitor.
‘That´s my boy,’ Jack grimaces.
‘You’re in pain?’
Jack is just too tired to lie and nods, ‘yah, my leg is killing me.’
‘OK, I’m going to give you something but it may make you feel drowsy, and before you protest, you need the rest. Macgyver will need you at Landstuhl.’
Jack resigns in his faith and lies back down, his hand still on Mac while she injects a powerful pain killer. He doesn´t fight it and soon enough he´s out.
* * *
Jack wakes in a clean comfortable bed. He is confused. It’s quiet, they are no longer on the plane. He takes stock of himself, but there is no pain, only some discomfort. He knows it is still there, but it is masked by medication.
He pushes the nurse call button and almost immediately an older nurse enters.
‘Dalton, nice to have you with us. My name is Ayah and I am your day nurse. Welcome to Germany. How are you feeling?’
‘I´m fine. I was accompanying Angus Macgyver. Can you find out how he is?’
‘I can do better than that, I can tell you he is being operated on as we speak.’ when she sees his face drop, she smiles, ‘sweetie, that is good news. It means he survived the trip here and the docs here are going to take good care of your boy.’
CCATT = Critical Care Air Transport Team