15:36hrs, Saturday, 1st April
The sirens were blaring as Jenny and Geoff held onto the gurney, their eyes darting to check the condition of their patient as the ambulance raced through the city streets. Jenny's thick, muscular body was doing most of the work keeping the creaking stretcher in place, but she had her hand pressed to the girl's forehead, fingers smeared with the toner that dusted the poor victim's body.
Geoff was holding the girl's hand, making sure the sensor for the heartbeat readout remained in place, clipped onto her finger. He swore as the ambulance swung around a corner, but bit down his curses as the vehicle levelled and barrelled on towards the hospital.
"Jesus!" he groused, "what are the odds of a photocopier truck being hit by an electrical discharge? This town is going to the damn dogs!"
/////
19:05hrs, Monday, 3rd April
Jenny stepped into the room with the girl they had taken back to the hospital, a cup of coffee in her hand and her cap shoved into her back pocket.
The girl was still lying in bed, looking a bit battered and bruised, but surprisingly healthy considering how badly she had been hurt. At least they had got all the toner of her skin, which was a relief; it had made her wounds look far ghastlier than they had obviously turned out to be.
Two men were arguing by the side of the bed, both of them wearing the coveralls of the site management company and looking angrily at the EEG monitor.
"I'm telling you, it's this unit that's draining the power from the entire ward; it's throwing all the power circuits out and tripping us back over to the emergency generator!"
"Look," the other guy replied, "I've tested this thing five times; there's nothing wrong with it. No shorts, no crossed wires, nothing. If you don't believe me, test it your fucking self!"
Jenny frowned and cleared her throat, shooting the two a meaningful look and glancing pointedly at the girl in the bed.
"Sorry, Jen," the second guy muttered, a tad guiltily as the first tech just looked at her.
Jen kept her expression firm, but revelled in the awestruck gaze the guy was sending her way, feeling a definite tickle of warmth buildng.
/////
14:32hrs, Wednesday, 5th April
"Jenny, is it?" the doctor asked rhetorically as she read Jenny's nameplate, "can you confirm that there was no way excess bleeding, or perhaps surface dirt could have made you overestimate the extent of the injuries to the patient?"
Geoff looked particularly sour about this question, but Jenny cut him off.
"We don't tend to exaggerate these injuries in our report, doctor. It was as we described."
The doctor sat back and took off her glasses, puffing out her lips and shaking her head.
"Well, shit. Those injuries should have easily been enough to kill her. I don't know what happened, but someone, somewhere, fucked up."
Jenny glanced up at one of the video screens showing the incident record and watched a few seconds disconsolately. She knew what was going to happen next, one way or the other. A set of statements, some records checking and then an administrative shit-storm.
I get all the breaks someti-
She frowned, her thought suddenly cut off by a wave of curiosity.
Pointing at the screen she asked, "Who cleaned her up? She was covered in toner powder when she was in the ambulance... she looks clean there."
"What?"
/////
18:00hrs, Wednesday, 5th April
It was a little bit gloomy in the room as Jenny sat and wondered at the girl lying asleep in the bed. This girl, Laura, had apparently woken up briefly earlier, but had done little more than answer some basic questions, eat some food and go back to sleep.
No next of kin. Nothing at her apartment to worry about other than a distinctly miffed cat. Boss quite happy for his star employee to benefit from the company health package until she was right again. No significant other.
Well, it was going to be a lonely time for Laura until she was discharged.
She heard a babble of voices race past outside as the doctor she had been speaking to raised merry hell with the ward staff, trying to get to the bottom of the whole weird deal.
Curious, she looked over at the EEG machine and stood to check the sensor, unclipping it for a second and looking in. It was one of the new ones; bare metal on skin -- none of the problems the one in the ambulances had with plastic coatings or getting proper contact.
She clipped the sensor back onto Laura's finger and patted the girl on the hand briefly before leaving. She frowned absently as the lights began to dim, wavering for a second before coming back on. It was going to ruin someone's day, but she resolved to call the maintenance guys again about this.
/////
19:16hrs, Friday, 7th April
"Thanks so much guys," Laura said, her voice a caramel song to Jenny's ears, "but you didn't need to bring me home! I feel so full of energy, I feel like I could have run back!"
Jenny smiled as she turned the wheel of her sedan and pointed them up the road to Laura's building. She was enjoying the way that Laura was sneaking glances at her, it was making her warm again.
She had to remind herself that this woman should be on a slab right now, not chatting to them as she was driven home.
"Don't worry," Geoff said happily, giving Laura's hand a reassuring squeeze, "I live in the next neighbourhood over and Jenny's only half a block away... it's Friday, hon. We get a bit of leeway on Fridays."
Jenny wouldn't have minded getting a bit of leeway from Geoff either, he was one hell of a stud, but unfortunately for her, as gay as they come. She saw in the rear-view that Laura wasn't immune either as she reddened at his touch, before giving Jenny a strangely intense look.
They pulled over and Jenny opened the door, stepping over to help Laura out as well as Geoff, emerged from the other side.