Page 24 of Saving Veronica
When she was stripped down to her bra and panties, Finn sucked in his breath at all the bruising and damage. “Damn,” he whispered. “Looks different in the light.”
“What the heck are these?” A nurse asked as she examined Ronnie’s feet before she began removing bright orange and red four by four inch squares.
“Hand warmers. Local vet gave me all his supplies. Said those worked on animals after being left outside in the cold. He was even able to warm some saline and I started her IV with it.” He pointed to the pole and everyone saw that it was wrapped in a towel.
“What the hell?” another doctor demanded from his position, with his nose less than six inches from her thigh. “What the hell did this?” He looked at Finn and frowned.
“Mountain lion. Same to her left arm, and head.” They looked and could only shake their heads.
“Patch.” Finn looked at his friend, but he wasn’t looking at him.“GUNNY!”he yelled, to get Patch’s attention.
“What?” Patch stood at attention and glared at Finn. “Trying to do my job here, Sargent Major.”
“I know, but…”
Patch didn’t like the look on his friend’s face, and everyone paused when Finn did. “She’s General Pennyworth’s granddaughter. Her name is Veronica Parker. Ronnie.”
“Holy shit,” a nurse said, and looked at Dr. Smith. “She worked here last year. She’s going to vet school, but she had to do a rotation with all of you doctors for her schooling.”
Finn watched as every doctor leaned in and looked at her face, then swore. “We know her. She’s one of us,” Dr. Smith said, and Finn wheeled himself back and watched them work on her. Luckily, Major joined him off to the side. He looked up when a nurse approached and told him she needed to take him to another room.
“I’m not leaving until I know Ronnie’s okay,” Finn said, and watched as Patch barked out orders and Finn ended up on a gurney on the other side of the room. He looked away from Ronnie long enough to jerk his injured foot away from the nurse and barked out.
“You touch my boots with that scalpel and I’ll shoot you.”
Patch laughed. “Never mess with a Marine’s rifle or boots.” He looked at the nurses working on Finn. “Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Sargent Major Finnegan Larson. He was my superior officer in the Marines. Looks like he’s a hero for saving Ms. Parker here.” He grinned at Finn, and asked, “So, what happened to you?”
“After Major found where she went over a ravine, I loaded and headed down. Fifty feet down, I slipped and twisted my ankle. I walked it off. Hours later the medivac came, and as we were carrying her up the ravine, I slipped again and my ankle snapped. Someone did a scoop and run for the copter, and literally tossed me in as we took off.”
“I’ll check him out until we can get to Ronnie,” one of the doctors said, and came over to Finn, who saw that he was an orthopedic doctor. Finn was surprised that he effectively removed his boot and ordered an x-ray.
Finn watched as they worked on Ronnie, and only listened to the doctor long enough to move his foot, or hold still.
“Okay, folks. Let’s get Ms. Parker down to CAT scan and MRI. And I want complete x-rays. However, we can’t take her to surgery just yet, because she is going to need it.”
“Why can’t you take her now?” Finn frowned.
“Her body temp is only at ninety-three. She has to be at normal temp before we can operate. Hopefully, by the time she gets back here from all the scans, she’ll be normal.”
“Damn, when I found her she was at eighty. So those hand warmers worked in heating the saline? And on her body?”
“That and I’m guessing you had Major belly up to her, and you covered them together beneath the fire blankets?”
“Yes.” Finn grinned as they both flashed back to the first time they’d done it in the field. “Figured if it worked with Anderson, it’d work for Ronnie.”
“Mr. Larson.” Finn looked at the doctor and frowned when he spotted a set of x-rays. But he turned his head and watched as Ronnie’s gurney was wheeled out of the bay. He shook his head and looked at the Doctor, but Patch had joined him and he couldn’t see the x-rays.
“What?” Finn frowned harder when Patch turned to him with a grin.
“Looks like you’re going to surgery first, buddy.” He stepped to the side and pointed to the mangled ankle bone on the x-ray.
“Fuck! In the Marines for ten years, dodged IEDs, suicide bombers, snipers, sand storms and the like, with not a scratch. Trip on some afterbirth and break my fucking ankle.”
“Excuse me? Afterbirth? Did Ronnie give birth in that ravine?” the Orthopedic doctor asked in shock.
“No, it was from a horse. She went there looking for her horse about to give birth. Apparently, she found it, but I don’t know the whole story.”
“Was she talking?”
