Tonight, I Need You To Stay

Chapter 2

"Please! Somebody help me!" Vic yelled out as she pulled Travis's body down gently but quickly so she could start doing CPR. She kept her eyes locked on his lifeless face but she continued to yell because she could not get him back on her own. She needed help.

It felt like the world had stopped as she was performing compressions. Nothing was going on around them - she couldn't hear the chaos that was happening - all she was doing was CPR. She was getting Travis back. He couldn't die.

"Trav, come on," She spoke, shaking her head whilst feeling the burn of the rigorous compressions on her arms and shoulders. "Don't do this. You cannot do this!"

She didn't even notice Andy, Maya and Jack heading over until Andy's hand was placed on her back. She flinched, but she didn't look away. She couldn't.

"Hughes-" Jack called out.

"What happened?" Maya asked, immediately bending down to look through the med bag to find some supplies.

"He- he just- I don't-" Vic could barely form a sentence through her anxiety and how heavily she was doing CPR. "I need- I need help."

"We're here Vic, it's okay." Andy said calmly before looking back to the other firefighters that had come with her. "Gibson, get a LifePak! Bishop, cut his shirt open and dress the head wound." She ordered them whilst kneeling down to Vic's level. "Do you want me to take over?"

Vic shook her head with a lot of force, which Andy completely expected. The group were able to work around her - Jack grabbed a LifePak that wasn't being used and then put the Defib pads onto Travis's chest after Maya cut his shirt open. There were no obvious injuries on his chest, which was a good thing as there wouldn't be any surprises once they got to the hospital, but considering he was still coding after almost two minutes, it meant that his head injury was bad and his body was tired and trying to give up.

"He's in V-FIB!" Jack announced when the LifePak finally detected the rhythm that his heart was (not) beating at. "Charging... Clear!"

All four pulled back and watched the shock be delivered, which in all honesty, scared Vic beyond words. His body flopped up and down like no body should. She hated it.

But his heart didn't restart, so Jack administered another shock. Travis's body flopped up and down again.

No change.

Vic restarted CPR, whilst around her, Maya, Andy and Jack were discussing their next action. Travis clearly wasn't coming back with what they were doing.

"We need to intubate and get some oxygen pumping around his body." Maya told everyone as she was digging through the red bag for an E.T. tube. "Pause CPR-" The tube was pulled out of the bag, lined up and then slid down Travis's throat. "Okay, carry on." She gave Vic the go-ahead to continue compressions as she attached the Ambu bag to the tube and was pumping it once every few seconds.

"How long's it been?" Andy asked Jack who was in charge of the LifePak.

"2, almost 3 minutes." He frowned and turned his face over to the man being resuscitated next to him. "Come on, Travis. Stay with us, buddy, c'mon."

Vic's body was starting to tire after the amount of CPR she was doing - but there was no way in hell she was going to stop until he had a pulse. She could feel her whole body trembling with anxiety, and at that point, she had no idea how she wasn't having a full-blown panic attack. It was probably the adrenaline coursing through her veins that was keeping the panic from bubbling over, but she was so glad. She needed to be directly involved in saving Travis's life - if she was mid-panic attack, that would certainly not have been possible.