Page 61 of The Battery
I was on my feet and pulling my mask off in the time it took for the ball to reach Cody. Freddie snatched up the ball to throw to first. I didn’t fault him for completing the play—hell, we were trained to do so. Lawson made it to first on time.
I sprinted toward the mound when I realized Cody wasn’t moving. In the periphery of my vision, I saw the athletic trainer running as well. I kicked up dirt as I sprinted faster than I have ever run before.
The crowd went deadly silent as I came to a skidding halt on my knees before Cody.
He wasn’t breathing. His eyes open. Lifeless.
I never apologized, was my first thought.
Regret. Regret was my first thought.
The athletic trainer threw himself down beside Cody. He checked for breathing, then a pulse. Those five seconds felt like an eternity. Then he shook his head.
“No pulse,” the trainer said. “Leo, call for an AED.” He lined his knees up alongside Cody’s chest and braced his palms over Cody’s sternum.
Holy shit.
I popped to my feet and turned my head away as the trainer began shoving down onto Cody’s chest. I waved at the bevy of trainers beside the bullpen who were already jumping to action. I cupped my hands around my mouth. “AED! AED!”
I dropped beside the trainer, who was huffing with each pump. “What can I do?” I asked. I tried to stay levelheaded and calm, but it warbled out. I looked up to see Rome coming in from the outfield at a dead sprint, pushing the human limitation of speed.
“What can I—”
“Quiet,” the trainer barked. “C’mon, c’mon…”
A golf cart skidded to a halt just short of the mound and six people dumped out of it. One ran over holding a red box that he laid down beside the trainer who was still pumping to the rhythm.
“Get the shears,” the trainer said at the same time someone already procured them. The metal reflected the stadium lights. They went up the fabric of Cody’s jersey as the trainer pulled away. Another person forced me back, but my bulk refused to budge. A second person joined in and pushed me away. I think it was Rome. I wasn’t sure. I fought him, too.
Rome’s words of calm were lost to me as I heard the AED speak in a bell tone clear voice. Pads were applied to Cody’s chest in two separate spots.
“Clear! Everyone, get back!” the trainer shouted as Rome’s iron grip hauled me back a step.
Then the machine automatically administered the shock and Cody’s chest heaved upward like a rag doll bouncing off the ground. It almost looked inhuman to my eyes, as if Cody were an animation.
Someone I recognized as one of our nurses was kneeling beside Cody with two fingers to his neck.
“Pulse,” she said, then removed the AED pads. “Faint, but it’s there.”
Cody stirred. His eyes had shut at some point, mouth parting a fraction. Still unresponsive, but blessedly, he had a heartbeat and I saw his chest moving.
The chaos around me remained in a controlled state, frenzied but organized. Someone from the group stepped away and gave a serious but enthusiastic thumbs-up toward the dugout. The crowd erupted, which shook me from my focus on the mound. I turned.
The entirety of the stadium was on their feet, all of them whooping and clapping. The jumbotron had zoomed ontothe scene, showing every last detail. No doubt the television cameras, too.
The trainers and nurses made quick work of loading Cody onto a stretcher, which they then slid onto the back of a golf cart with an elongated bed.
“Go,” Rome said as he urged me toward the cart when they began securing Cody. “There’s probably an ambulance waiting. Now’s your chance.Go.”
I didn’t need to be told a third time. I jogged over and hopped into the passenger side of the golf cart, much to the driver’s surprise. Two trainers jumped into the back and then the cart sped away from the mound toward the exit.
The electric cart made a resonant humming sound as we sped down the concrete tunnels. Cool air blasted the back of my head, I had been turned around, neck craned to see Cody with his pinched eyes. We were at the loading dock a moment later, an ambulance backed up and waiting for us. EMTs rushed toward the cart as the medical professionals exchanged information.
“All right,” the trainer said as they finished loading Cody into the ambulance. “Get in, Leo.”
I stood for a moment, confused. Had… everyone figured it out?
Did it even matter if they had?
