Beep...beep...beep...beep...beep...
As I began to awake the only thing I was cognizant of, at first, was a constant beeping noise. It sounded far off at first but then began to get louder, or closer. The next thing I felt was something in my throat and that made me panic. I felt like I was choking. I tried to move my arms to get to get to my mouth but they wouldn't move, and pain, more pain then I have ever felt, shot through my body like fire. I tried to scream, but my throat was clogged. My heart began to race and the beeping got louder, and faster. I tried to open my eyes. I got my right eye open, the other wouldn't move. Bright light assaulted me, forcing my one eye into a squint. I could see no color, only white, only vague shapes. Then I saw movement, a shape, a form, a human form.
"Mr. Buck, can you hear me?" A voice said. "Blink your eye if you can hear me."
Blink
"Good. My name is Janet and I'm a nurse at Sacred Heart. You've been in a very bad accident Mr. Buck. You can't talk because you are on a breathing machine. Do you understand?"
Blink.
"You are doing much better than expected. I'm going to give you something to put you back to sleep now and we'll take that tube out of your throat. As long as you begin breathing on your own it'll stay out, so hopefully when you wake up we'll be able to talk. Do you understand?"
Blink.
"Good. See you soon."
I tried to follow her with my eye as she fiddled around next to the bed. All I could tell about her was that she was dark skinned. My eye wouldn't quite focus although it did seem that my vision was clearing up. Unfortunately, before I could get my vision to clear I slipped back into unconsciousness.
**********
When I woke up again my throat was sore but I was breathing normally. There was still a constant beeping but now I knew that it was a heart rate monitor hooked up to me somewhere. I opened my eye (the left eye still wouldn't open) and looked around. Things came into focus much clearer now. I could see the standard intensive care hospital room, well at least the upper half of it. I didn't want to move my head for fear of another round of searing pain so I just took in what surroundings I could. There wasn't much to see, not even a TV. I lay there about five minutes before I heard footsteps entering the room. A man in a white coat with blonde hair and a goatee stepped into my field of vision and looked down at me.
"Good afternoon Mr. Buck." He said. "I'm Dr. Seldon. It's good to see you awake."
"What happened?" I croaked out at a bare whisper. My throat felt like it had been rubbed raw with a rasp.
"Hold on, don't speak. Let me get you something to sip on." Dr. Seldon disappeared for a minute but was soon back with a cup and straw. He put it to my lips for me. "Slowly, don't gulp. Your throat is sore from the breathing tube." I took several small sips of cool water and my throat felt better immediately.
"What happened?" I asked again, my voice stronger. My throat still hurt like hell but I could manage to speak at least.
"There was an explosion." He said. "A terrorist bomb. Do you remember anything about it?"
"I...no, well maybe." I said. "I seem to remember Sal and I being called to check out a suspicious package at the mall. I'm not sure about anything else."
"That's to be expected." Dr. Seldon told me. "Things may become clearer as time goes on, but sometimes they don't. Your boss, Lieutenant Thomas, will be in to see you later to talk about what happened. He's been here every day to see you."
"Tell me about me, Doc." I asked. "How bad am I?"
"Not bad considering. Apparently the blast hit you on your left side. You had severe trauma to the left side of your head as well as six broken ribs, one of which punctured your lung. Your left arm was broken in three places, your left leg in two and your right arm just below the wrist. You had internal damage, most notably to your spleen." He said. "You were a mess Mr. Buck"
"Sounds like it." I tried to joke.
"Yes, well you were on the operating table for sixteen hours, and that was just to repair the internal damage and the head trauma. In fact, it was the head trauma that was the worst of it. You had severe swelling of the brain and we thought we were going to lose you many times." He said. "Once the swelling went down, we were able to do some necessary reconstructive surgery on your head and set all your arm and leg fractures. The orthopedic surgeon on your case says that it looks like you will regain full use of your arms and legs, but you're looking as some serious rehab time."
"What about my eye?" I asked.
"It's fine." He assured me. "It was easier to wrap the wounds on your head across your eye while you were asleep. We'll have that off you in a little bit."
"Do you have to Doc?" Another male voice said from the doorway. "He looks so much better when you can't see his ugly face."
"Fuck you Terry!" I said at a loud whisper. My field of vision was suddenly obscured by one of the biggest black men I had ever met.
"I see that having your head nearly blown off hasn't improved your vocabulary any." Terry said as a big, white smile broke out across his face. "It's good to see you awake Roy."
"It's good to be awake I guess." I said with a grin. "I hear you've been to see me every day. You'd better be careful or people are going to think you're gay for me."
Terry smiled and turned to the doctor. "There appears to be nothing wrong with his brain, he's still an idiot." Dr. Seldon chuckled. "Can I have a few minutes alone with him Doc?" Terry asked.
"No problem Lieutenant. I'll be back in a few." Doctor Seldon walked out, closing the door after him. Terry turned around and leaned over so that I could see him.
"Roy, you gave us a scare brother. Do you know that?"
"I haven't really been awake long and the Doc was just getting around to filling me in." I said. "Um, Terry, about Sal..."
Terry looked away for a minute before looking me in the eye. "He was killed instantly when the bomb went off. The bomb techs tell me that the only reason you lived was that his body shielded you from the direct blast. Do you remember anything about what happened?"
I shook my head slightly but then stopped. "A little. I remember that we were the closest unit to the mall when the call came out about a suspicious package near the food court." I closed my eye and thought back. "There was a camo backpack leaning up against one of those big ceramic planters, you know the ones with the fichus trees planted in them. Mall security had already cleared the food court." I hesitated, trying to remember, trying to piece it together. "We approached the backpack and Sal took the point because he had EOD training in the military. I remember hearing someone shout and I turned toward the sound. That's it, I don't remember anything else."
Terry nodded. "That meshes with the eye witness accounts. I have one thing to ask though, did Sal touch the backpack?"
I thought for a minute then shook my head. "No, he was at least five or six feet away from the backpack when it went off. He didn't touch it, I'm sure of that."
"Damn it!" Terry said.
"What?" I asked.