Page 114 of Whispers in the Dark
“No.” She reached deep, compartmentalizing her feelings as she lunged for her phone and dialed 911.
“This is Charlotte Everhart,” she told the dispatcher, her voice breaking, “I have a man—he’s not breathing right; he’s burning up. He was drugged. I need an ambulance now.” She followed it with her address.
The dispatcher tried to ask questions. She answered what she could, stumbling over the unknowns.
“What drugs has he taken?”
“I… I don’t know.”
“Was he in an accident?”
“No. Just send the ambulance.”
Bailey barked from the front window as sirens approached in the distance.
“Help is coming,” she whispered, voice shaking. “You just stay with me, Alex. Stay with me please.” She grabbed a pillow and positioned it so his airway was open.
The moment Charlotte saw the red and blue lights washing across her porch, she unlocked the front door. Then she returned to her place beside Alex’s limp body, smoothing sweat-soaked hair from his forehead. This was not the time to fall apart.
“Just hold on,” she whispered. “I’ve got you.”
As the paramedics burst through the front door and began stabilizing him, Charlotte followed them outside, fumbling with her phone, fingers slick with Alex’s sweat. She climbed into the back of the ambulance beside him as they began working on him. The monitor flashed and squealed. She could see the numbers, and her heart sank. They were all terribly abnormal.
Neither experienced paramedic onboard could get an IV started. His one arm was blown up and purple. The other, they couldn’t find a vein. As they prepped his neck they saw the previous IV. But when they tried to use it, it was clotted over. Charlotte jumped as they drilled a catheter into the area below his left knee. She didn’t know what was more disturbing—the sound of the drill or the fact Alex didn’t flinch.
Unable to do more for Alex, she hit Tristan Blackwell’s number.
He picked up on the first ring. “Charlotte?” He was instantly alert.
“I have him,” she said, voice cracking. “He’s alive. Barely. He just—he showed up. Elias brought him. He’s burning up; he’s not conscious.”
Tristan’s voice immediately shifted into the measured calm of a trauma specialist. “Where are you now?”
“Heading to Waverly County,” she said as the ambulance turned onto the main road. “We’re five minutes out.”
“I’m already at the hospital,” he said. “I’m heading to the ER now. Paul Kaldor is on shift. We’ve got him.”
She barely hit “end” before she was dialing again.
“Ethan,” she said when he picked up, breathless. “Alex is alive. Elias brought him to me. He’s in bad shape. We’re heading to Waverly County ER now.”
Ethan blew out a breath. “I’m on my way. Do you need me to call Tristan?””
“No, I called him,” Charlotte cried.
The stretcher hadn’t even come to a full stop before Tristan was at Alex’s side. Paul Kaldor was right across from him, already shouting for lab tests, crash drugs, and frequent vitals.
Nurses began attaching oxygen and placing Alex on the monitors. Charlotte watched them both freeze for a heartbeat when they saw Alex up close.
“Jesus,” Paul muttered under his breath.
A head-to-toe observation showed Alex was pale, eyes swollen and twitching beneath closed lids. Blood was visible in his left ear, and clear fluid leaked from his nose. Heat radiated off him like steam; his breathing was sharp and erratic. All his limbs showed restraint marks. His left hand to the elbow was a deep purple color. His right forearm and abdomen were swollen. When they listened to his lungs, they were not moving air well.
“I need a central line set up,” Tristan snapped.
“Heart rate 151. Core temp 105.3,” the EMT answered. “Oxygen and IO fluids started in the field. Witness says unknown cause—possible medical experimentation.”
Paul glanced at Tristan as they lifted Alex onto the trauma bed. “This is engineered. We’re flying blind.”
