Page 4 of Chasing Justice
She wiggled her fingers. Toes. She could move. Her legs worked—barely.
Shaking, she grabbed the giant log, an old pine tree that had come down and probably saved her life. She pulled herself up, feeling the rough, rotted bark. Some of the wood gave way and crumbled to the ground. Maya stumbled to her feet.
“Doug. Doug.” Maya scrambled over the log, shredding her uniform. She didn’t care as she pushed forward. The ringing in her ears seemed to intensify. She tripped and fell to the ground, but then pushed herself to her feet. Debris scattered in the breeze and Maya thought she saw a medicine wrapper flutter by like a bird, but she couldn’t trust herself. Not at this moment. The aftereffects of an explosion included confusion.
Where were Doug and Juniper? They had to be okay. Maya scanned the area for the suspect but saw no one.
She forced her legs to work and sprinted to the cabin.
Doug.
Juniper.
Where are they?
She stopped and thought through their last location. Her mind flipped through what seemed like pictures on a high-speed slideshow. The blast would have thrown them away from the cabin, but Doug had released Juniper to apprehend the suspect, so Maya didn’t know where she had ended up. For all she knew Juniper could have found the person and still be holding onto a bite. Maya doubted it, though. Not after an explosion like this.
In answer to her thought, Juniper came limping out of the woods.
“Juniper. Come, girl,” Maya said softly, trying to hold her voice steady and calm the dog. Maya ran her hands over Juniper’s sides and down her legs. Despite the limp, Juniper seemed okay. The K-9 Kevlar vest had probably helped along with being farther away from the blast. “Where’s Doug, girl? Where is he?”
Juniper put her nose up in the air and then trotted over to some bushes, still lame on one of her hind legs, until Maya could see Doug’s boots. She cleared the area looking for any signs of the suspect, but the person seemed to have left.
Maya rushed over to where Doug lay and started taking his vitals and assessing him. Juniper whined again and licked one of Doug’s hands.
“It’s okay, girl. I’ll help him.”
Maya knew Doug could have internal injuries, but the explosion had ripped into one of his legs. His calf was slanted at an odd angle and blood was pouring down from his thigh. She took out a tourniquet from her trauma kit and tied it above the injury pulling down as hard as she could. She wished she had the medical kit in the car. And that they were parked closer.
Doug was still breathing. Barely. He had a faint pulse.
Maya had always relied on Doug’s strength, and it was hard to see him lying here bleeding and injured. She loved him like a brother. Everything from his humor to his ability to understand her made him someone she wanted to hang out with. The thought of losing Doug made her stomach churn and her chest hurt.Why didn’t I tell Doug about how hard things have been and that I haven’t been able to escape the nightmares of war? I should have let him know how much he’s helped me.
Maya fought back her feelings and focused on saving him. She needed to get ahold of dispatch and request a helicopter to airlift Doug. Juniper too. And put out a BOLO for the suspect.
Maya carefully examined Juniper, going through the same first aid checklist you would use with a human. Her breathing was fine, and respiration seemed normal. There was no obvious hemorrhaging.
The dog snarled for a moment as Maya hit a sore spot around her ribs. Broken? Maybe. Or perhaps some internal bleeding or lodged debris. Maya wasn’t certain. She carefully pulled up the dog’s lips and looked at her gums. They were still pink but starting to lose color. Juniper’s respiration and pulse were strong. Pieces of shrapnel from the bomb had peppered her leg, but somehow the dog seemed to have escaped the worst of the explosion. Maya took some bandages out and did her best to wrap and protect the wound until a veterinarian could examine her and remove the debris.
She didn’t want to move Doug or make Juniper walk, but to bring a medevac chopper in would require a location that was safe for landing. Maya remembered a meadow she’d seen not too far away. If she could get Doug moved, she could radio dispatch, but she needed to be farther away from the cabin. Her radio could spark any undetonated explosives.
Juniper had protectively put her head on Doug’s chest.
“Okay, Juniper. We have to move you two. Come on, girl, help me out.” Maya kept talking to the dog as she moved behind Doug and gently lifted up his upper body. She crossed his arms and pulled him from behind.
At the edge of the tree stand around the cabin, the wind picked up and whistled through the mountain hillsides. Maya peered up and saw that to get to the meadow she would have to take Doug through a stand of evergreen trees that all had widowmakers. The wind shook the treetops and as they swayed, the broken branches that had fallen at odd angles creaked and shifted. At any time one of them could crash down.
Maya could drag Doug the longer way and avoid the widowmakers, but he didn’t have much time. Or she could go the short route and risk one of the branches falling on them.
The wind died down almost as fast as it had whipped up.
Maya chose the short route.
Chapter Three
Blood spread onto Maya’s hands as she pulled Doug along.
Behind her, Juniper limped along with them, whining at times but keeping up.
