Little Fires(Evan Buckley)

Karma's a bitch

We respond to a 911 in the countryside w don't really know what happened but hey can't be that bad.

I look around confused. "Wait a minute." "we've been here before." Hen states. "When." "before you joined us, kid."

One year ago
"COME ON CHIM!" I shout as he starts cutting the branch. We had to respond to suicide. We're trying to cut the woman down.

We place her on the board. Cap starts compressions. I look over at the husband. "Why would she do something like this?" I feel a tap on my shoulder. I look at Cap. I sigh. I look at her wrist seeing lacerations. "Whatever it was we could have talked about it. I could've helped her. I loved her." I scowl. "Ya, I'm sure you did," I state. "I imagine she wasn't eager to run into your loving arms. "We had our differences." "No shit," I state.

"Now. My wife liked to use this tree for target practice." I look at the tree. "Look it's still standing. And she's not." he walks away with a smug smile.

Present
We cut open his shirt. We apply pressure to the wound. "The bullet fired at him..." "Did it fly out of the tree when he blew it up?" Hen and Cap question. "You know what they say." he takes his last breath.

"Karma's a bitch."

I sit on a chair getting blood drawn while I listen to music on my headphones. I feel a tap on my arm and look at Buck. He nods to Chimney and u press pause. "So I want to thank everybody for donating today. I don't know if you know this or not but 90% of all blood given to patients in the Los Angeles area comes from volunteers. I know that we all put our asses on the line in the field every day to save people but today you're saving people and all it's taking is a tiny prick of a needle. So simple even Mr. Buckley can't mess that up." I laugh as he salutes.

"You still at it huh? Howd you do?" Cap asks. "Incredible. Everyone donated. Some people even came in on their day off. " "That's great. All right well let's wrap it up. We gotta start our shift," he states. "Uh. Hold up. Looks like I am two pints shy of my goal for the day." he states as he looks at Cap.

"Well, that'll give you something to work towards next time." they unhook me and I sit up. "Whoa whoa whoa whoa. You're the captain of this house and everyone participated and you're the only one who didn't participate." "I don't like needles end of story." I stand up. "You don't like what?" "oh come- Captain come on. You gotta donate." Hen states. He looks resistant. "I don't give blood. All right? I never give blood. When I was a kid they tried to take my blood and I bit the doctor." I snicker. "Did he get rabies after?" they burst out laughing. "It's not funny. And the one time someone tried to take my blood as an adult...didn't go well." we laugh a little as he walks away.

"Bobby? Bobby hold...wait. Hold on. Hold on." Chim catches up to him. "All right listen I get it. I really do okay? But I really need you to do this for me all right?" he asks. "Look...Im alive because that rebar hit my head at just the right angle and because I had the best damn fire and rescue team to get me to the hospital and the best surgeons in the world once I got there. But I got ten pints of blood, donated blood given by the very generous people of this city. Now I told you I just...I wanted to do this blood drive cause I wanted to give a little something back of what I was given. And expressing my gratitude like this it balances me out with the universe. Now you and everybody else here asked how they could help me with my recovery. Well, this is how." he concluded his speech.

I lean on his arm. "Ain't no gettin' outta this one Bobby." "I have all of you." "thank-you thank you."

"You love us." "here you're gonna need this." he hands him a stress ball. "Just squeeze it."

"ALL RIGHT LETS STICK 'IM!"

"Okay, so I came in early to turn in my keys and- and pick up my paycheck. He actually fired me yesterday it's a whole story. Anyway, I um I smelled something burning." we walk into the back and see him in a tanning. "The fuuuu..." "We all kept trying to tell him to get it fixed." I unplug it. "How long has he been in there?" "I don't know. He's the owner. So sometimes he comes in before we're even open...so two hours." she states. "Maybe three."

"What do you think Chim? Is he dead?" "words I think he's alive," he states. "Why the hell didn't he get out? "Might have had a stroke," Chim states. "He's 32." "damn! Was he on sum?" I ask. "I don't know." "32 may have had a stroke drugs could be an underlying cause." Cap states.

"What was he on?" "Everything okay? He was stacking." "steroids." they shock him and he starts shaking.

"He's in V-tach." "starting compressions." she presses her hand against him and pulls it off along with his skin. I gag. "Bathroom?" "nope, I'm fine." I swallow it down. "Oh, my god." "Easy." I place a hand on her back. "It's too freaky. I mean agree what happened with Mindy. I told him. I said Barry what goes around comes around" "Who the fuck is Mindy?" I ask.

They drag him out of the gym. I look at the bag. "Ain't karma a bi-" "Please don't." I smile at him.

We walk back to the truck. "I don't understand why you can't just tell me- okay thanks." Cap hangs up the phone. "What's up, Cap?" "That was Cedars," he states. "Is someone sick?" he asks. "The blood I donated...they sent it to a lab and had it tested so..." "Well it's the first time you donated blood they have to do that before they release it to the blood supply," Chim states. "They found something in it." "What do you mean found something?" Hen asks. "They wouldn't tell me over the phone. They said they'd rather do it in person," he states.

I go to the hospital on break and walk into the hospital rec room. "Hey?" she turns to the door. She smiles at me. I sit next to her and hug her. "Where Aria?" "May and Hank." she nods. "She didn't want to see me." "no J it's not like that she's just dealing with this pretty hard. You know?" she nods. "So wanna play a game?" "What game?" "UNO?"

"I'm gonna beat your ass."

We respond to a zoo animal call. I'm not even gon trip bout this one. "Wheres the tiger now?" "east side of the park. Nowhere near where were going. He's got a visitor pinned. Shoot team's en route now." he states. "Shoot him? The fuck?" "Protocol is to tranquilize first if at all possible," he states. "How did the tiger escape in the first place?" "Apparently he was able to jump to the top of the wall and gain enough leverage to pull himself out." "Motivated. Something pissed him off." I inquire. "Said the same thing." "hey, Dad." I agree. "Hey, baby girl." "Tigers trainer tried to wrangle him after he got loose. This ain't pretty."

We walk up to the trainer. "The- the cat actually peels the skin back with his claws." he groans as they take the tarp off. "Hen saline. Sir, we have to disinfect the wound." "how come it didn't just kill you?" Buck asks. "I've known Kobe since he was a cub. He didn't want to hurt me. He was just...he was just confused." "okay if we're real careful we can preserve your skin." Cap states.

"All units responding to Barnsdale Zoo I have an adult male in distress east side of the park. He identified himself as Sean Coopertino 47 of Riverside. Says he's hiding near the giraffe enclosure." "Show 727-L-30 responding." Dad and Athena head that way.

"Can't be the same guy can it?" "Naw that gotta be a coincidence," I state. "Same guy as what?" "That dentist from Riverside Sean Coopertino," I answer.

"Can I say it?" I ask Chimney. He sighs. "Go ahead." "Karma's a straight-up bitch!"

I close my locker and step out the woman's room and start to head out. "Hey, Tiny! Wait up!" I look back at Buck. "Ya Bucky?" "I just wanted to see how Jenna was doing?" "oh..." I sigh. "She's...fine." "Okay. Now give me the real answer," he says as we get to our cars.

I look up at him. "She's getting worse and I have no idea what to do about it. Aria has been getting into detention so she doesn't have to see her. And I have no idea what to do." I state. "Especially since times running out and-" I inhale sharply. "Know it. It's fine. I can handle it." "Destiny..." "I'm fine," I state. "See you tomorrow Buck." I get in my car. I pull out the lot and start walking away.