Earl Emerson - Primal Threat

CONTENTS

For Sandy, who keeps me sane.

For practical purposes, we have agreed that sanity consists in sharing the hallucinations of our neighbors.

EVELYN UNDERHILL

Adapt, migrate, or die.

LIEUTENANT JAMES MULDAUR, SFD

February

I n later years Zak Polanski found it odd that he could divide his life into chapters separated by fatal or near-fatal automobile accidents. The first occurred when he was eleven, and it reflected in the dynamics of his family even today. Wreck number two was the accident that catapulted him into an unexpected summer romance with Nadine Newcastle.

The call had come just after twenty-three hundred hours on a cold night in February. There were only three firefighters riding Engine 6, so after they arrived Zak quickly laid a hose line in the street while the driver put the transmission into pump; the lieutenant scouted the wreck to see how many patients they had, and whether or not any of them would require extrication. Then came the part Zak dreaded, the part where he flopped onto his belly and squirmed into the vehicle to tend the patient.

Everyone on the crew thought Zak exhibited an uncanny bedside manner at wrecks, displaying a sense of calm to patients that helped pull them through the ordeal in a way nobody else in the department could. It was a tribute to his ability to sequester his feelings and get the job done, because around a car accident Zak was actually the most insecure person in the fire department.

Zak wouldnt get the tremors here in the bowels of the wreck, but he would later at the station when he slipped back into his bunk. It was his practice afterward not to think about any of the auto extrications hed been involved in, for every one of them terrified him. His auto-crash anxieties were something he would never confess to a buddy, nor to a priest, and probably not to a wife. For all of his adult life and the bulk of his childhood Zak had entertained an abnormal fear of dying in the tight confines of a car wreck, trapped, defenseless, perhaps even bawling. For as long as he could remember, his mental picture of hell was the scrambled interior of a wrecked vehicle, and here he was inside his worst nightmare once again.

It was a Lexus SUV, upside down, a carpole accident. After Zak had crawled in and turned on his flashlight, he saw his patients leg trapped in the crushed door and realized that the weight of her body, as she slowly slid out of the seat, would soon be wrenching her pinned leg. If the pain wasnt excruciating now, it would be within minutes. He removed his helmet and flung it outside the vehicle, then scooted under her and gave support to her shoulders, easing some of the pressure off her leg while doing his best to keep her spinal column aligned. It wasnt an elegant position for either of them, but as soon as he had his hands on her, she ceased whimpering.

She was young, and he had the feeling his touch was both a surprise and a novelty. He explained what he was doing and why, and then told her how many more firefighters and machines would be arriving, warning her there was no place noisier than the interior of a vehicle with a crew of firefighters working to cut her free. You okay with all that? he asked.

I guess Ill have to be.

Good. Whats your name?

Nadine Newcastle.

Hello, Nadine. My name is Zak. Now, I dont want you to worry. Ive been to dozens of wrecks, and most were a lot worse than this one, so well get you out. Actually, this will be fairly easy.

Zak could see her breath in the dark interior of the car. Even though it was early February, she was clad in shorts and a short-sleeved blouse and was shivering, partly from the influx of cold night air and partly from shock. Her femur looked intact; her knee was aligned and normal looking, but below that her tibia and fibula were not visible in the twisted metal.

She started crying again, a desperate series of hiccuping sounds that almost resembled giggling, tears glissading off her upside-down face. I want out. I want out of here.

Dont worry. Itll just be a few minutes. Then well both be out of here, but were going to have to be patient. He smelled gasoline, and even though the motor was off he had an ominous feeling that the car was going to flame up with them inside, a feeling he always entertained while working inside a wreck. Without letting go of her, he reached up with one hand and tried to remove the keys from the ignition, but they wouldnt come loose. Even with the car off, he would feel better with the keys in his pocket.

Can you wiggle your toes?

I think so.

On both feet?

Yes. Im so scared. Please get me out, Lord. I know You know whats best, but I dont want to die like this.

Listen to me, Zak said. Nobodys going to die. Were getting you out, and Im going to stay right here with you until it happens.

Honest?

Of course. Thats my job.

Pardon my saying so, but I think you have a lousy job.

Well, Im glad I have it tonight, because it offers me the chance to help you through this. As he spoke, her cheek brushed his, her long hair falling into his face. Her teardrops cooled his neck as if they were tiny splashes of alcohol.

Do you ever get scared? she asked. For a moment he thought maybe shed felt something in his touch that conveyed his own terror. Of course you dont. Youre a trained professional. It was stupid to even ask.

No it wasnt. But listen. Youre going to be fine. Lets just try to keep weight off that leg. Thats our goal right now.

As they waited for help and as Zak inhaled the aroma of shampoo from the girls hair, his hands felt a steely strength in her shoulders, and he wondered if she was a swimmer. He explained that a truck company would arrive with a Holmatro tool, which they would use to strip the door off its hinges, that the car would shake and there would be noise, and that once they had her leg free she would be lowered onto a backboard and removed from the vehicle. All standard operating procedure.

Jesus, just please let me get out of this. Please, Jesus.

Well get you out. Jesus and me, Zak said, with a pinch of sarcasm she either didnt notice or noticed and refused to be offended by.

A minute and a half later a lieutenant he didnt recognize poked his head inside and eyeballed Zak and the patient. Whadya got?

Her legs pinned under the door. Everything else is free. Tibfib, Im thinking. No loss of consciousness.

Okay.

The officer stood up and shouted something to his crew.

Im not feeling so well, the girl said.

These guys will have us out of here in a couple of minutes, Nadine.

I like how you say us.

Thats right. Im not leaving until you do. You and me all the way.

As soon as the power unit for the Holmatro started up, the noise level increased tenfold. It was always somewhere around this point, always with a lot of people looking on, that Zak began to get overwhelmed with a desire to scramble out of the vehicle and run away. He had never been to an accident scene without the sense of wanting to flee, but so far he never had, at least not in the fire department; still, that didnt mean it wouldnt happen tonight. His vision of sprinting down the street was so clear and stark, it might as well have been a recent memory instead of a fantasy.

Peering around the interior of the cabin, Zak spied a Bible, some schoolbooks, a handful of CDs, and a tennis racket in a monogrammed leather case.