Emergency: Nurse in Need by Laura Iding

Author:Laura Iding
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-10-29T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

A loud banging on her door woke her up late next morning. Several hours had passed last night before she'd finally dropped off to sleep. Groggy, Serena stumbled from her bed, swearing under her breath when her bare toes smacked the wood frame of her doorway.

"Serena!" Marta's frightened voice chased away the last remnants of sleep. She ignored her stinging toes. "Open up. Rico's hurt."

She flung open the door to find Marta anxiously bent over Rico's small frame lying half-propped against the wall between their apartments. His face was bloody, battered and bruised. Serena dropped to her knees. "Call 911, Marta. Now."

Marta sobbed but did Serena's bidding. Serena's heart squeezed as she examined Rico.

Gently, she lowered him to the floor so he was supine. He was unconscious and Serena was very worried about internal bleeding into his brain. His pulse was thready and his respirations were shallow. She pried one of his eyes open, then the other to examine his pupils' response to light.

They reacted, although she was concerned that the right side constricted slower than the left. She glanced down the apartment hallway towards the stairs. Where in the hell was the paramedic unit?

Marta stepped from Serena's apartment, leaving the door open. "Is he OK?"

"He's fine." Serena kept her voice firm. "Get me a cold washcloth. We'll take care of the worst of the blood."

With a jerky nod, Marta agreed and turned back inside. Serena couldn't have cared less about the blood, but at least the task gave Marta something to do. Quickly, she ran her hands along his limbs, searching for signs of other injuries.

The seven minutes they waited for the paramedics to arrive were the longest Serena could ever remember. When they thundered up the stairs, carrying a stretcher between them, Serena stepped aside gratefully.

"This is a twelve-year-old boy who was beaten primarily around the face and head. There are some bruises on his abdomen but nothing noted on his extremities. No limbs appear to be broken. He's remained unconscious and his last vitals were stable, except I couldn't check his blood pressure."

The two paramedics listened to her as they worked. They quickly hooked him to a heart monitor and re-checked the vital signs for themselves.

"Neuro status stable," one paramedic noted. He glanced at Serena and Marta. "Which one of you is his mother?"

"I'm his sister, his legal guardian." Marta bravely stepped forward. "Will he be all right?"

"Did you do this?" the paramedic asked coldly.

Marta paled as if he'd slapped her. Serena stepped forward and placed a stabilizing arm around Marta's slim shoulders. Marta trembled in her grasp, but her tone was fierce. "No! Of course not. I would never do this."

The paramedic's eyebrows raised questioningly. "Then who did?"

Serena had had enough. "We think he's been hanging with the Hombres. They are probably responsible for this. I've lived across from Marta and Rico for a year. Marta has never lifted a hand to Rico."

The rude man dropped his gaze, then worked with the other paramedic to strap Rico's unconscious form onto the stretcher, preparing to take him away.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.