Page 85 of The Road Home
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Jared looked up at the admission board, making sure he was caught up on everything. He had three active patients, but they were all waiting on tests to come back before he could figure out exactly what he would do with them.
It had been a crazy night. Odd for a Wednesday. It was usually one of the slower nights in the E.R.. He was tired and just wanted to get done with his shift, so he could pick Orson up from work and get home to bed.
"What are you smiling about?" Cameron asked as he sat down beside Jared.
Jared laughed. "I didn't know I was smiling, but I was thinking about how good I'm going to sleep tonight."
"Me too. It's been nuts around here tonight." Cameron sighed as he leaned back in the chair. "It's too early for me to be this tired."
Jared glanced at the clock on the wall, seeing it was only eight. "Agreed."
"We have three incoming. A car plowed into a building downtown. One unresponsive, possible head trauma, two others, injuries unknown." One of the nurses looked over at them. "ETA for the first is five minutes."
Jared and Cameron both stood, hurrying to grab gowns and prepare for whatever they were about to have roll through the doors.
As much as he hated having people injured, he loved the rush of adrenaline that hit him with every emergency. It cleared his mind of everything else and forced him to focus. The entire staff hurried around, making sure they were set for the ambulances to arrive.
"You take the first, I'll grab the second, and Greg can grab the third." Cameron glanced at Jared and the other doctor who was behind them.
Jared looked at the charge nurse. "Where are we going with them?"
"Trauma two, five, and six are open," she called back.
He finished putting on a pair of gloves as the lights from the first ambulance flashed outside. Jared stepped forward, ready to meet them at the door as soon as they had the patient out.
"Thirty-year-old male. Was thrown several feet. Unresponsive, but no visible head injury. Broken leg, possibly dislocated shoulder…" The paramedic rattled off as they pushed through the doors.
Jared half listened as he inventoried the visual injuries himself as he followed the procession down the hall and into the trauma room. Once they had the patient on the bed, he traded places with the paramedics and started to do his job.
Time didn't exist when he was working on a case like this. The process was so ingrained into him that he never stopped to think about what he was doing. He ordered blood work and tests, but the nurses were so well-trained they were already ahead of him, having the lab and other departments already there, just waiting for his official orders.
He worked his way through the injuries, working on the worst first. It was over an hour before he was finally sending the patient off for more tests to find out why he was unconscious. All he could do now was see if Cameron or Greg needed help as he waited.
Stepping out of the room, his eyes went wide when he saw Richard standing outside one of the rooms, his clothes covered in blood.
"Richard?" He rushed to his side. "Are you hurt?"
Richard shook his head. "It's not my blood. Tyler's getting some x-rays and a few stitches, but—"
"Let me check on him." Jared started through the door.
Richard grabbed his arm. "You need to go next door. It's Orson."
Jared's heart seemed to quit beating as he sucked in a hard breath. "Orson?" He didn't wait for more information, instead running the short distance to the next room.
He pushed his way through the nurses, coming to stand beside Cameron as he got his first look at Orson covered nearly head to toe in blood.
"Jared, I'm okay." Orson reached out, but cringed as the IV tubing caught on something.
"What happened?" Jared ignored the fact that Cameron was working on him, nearly pushing him aside as he reached out and started to check Orson's head, seeing that was where most of the blood had come from.
"He's fine, Jared. It's a deep laceration. I was about to put a few stitches in when you pushed me out of the way." Cameron sighed.
Jared ignored him. "Are you okay?"
Orson nodded. "One of the machines came at me. I didn't get out of the way fast enough and hit my head. I'm fine other than a headache."
