Camp

Breaking Point

2311: I jump back on the radio while scanning the road behind Abbey.

"Guys, we've made some distance on the guys behind us. Take the next left and turn your lights and engine off."

2313: And we do. And the Commodore goes past, leaving us alone, in the dark. I jump out of the back with the first aid kit over my shoulder and head over to the Mercedes, tapping on Abbey's window to unlock the doors.

"Now that we're stopped, I might as well get everyone patched up. I'll start with you." I say nodding at Abbey.

The cut on her left leg extends a good 10 centimetres across her thigh. She cries out in pain as I clean it, but the look on her face afterwards tells me it was worth the pain. Liz and Charles are fine so I move on to Angie.

I remove the dressing from her right arm and inspect the wound, cleaning it and re-dressing it. Jaffren isn't as good.

He's becoming sweaty, cold and pale. His pain is only getting worse. It's a well placed bullet to cause extreme injury or death but the luck isn't shining on our side today.

"Dude this isn't good. I don't want to freak you out but we need to get you help."

"Aren't you help?"

"I'm only as good as sometimes being able to tell you whats wrong. This needs surgery and I can't do that and even if I could, I can't do it here. It's still bleeding. We have to get it to stop."

I rip another strip off a spare shirt and tie it around his thigh, desperately trying to slow the bleeding. Another strip I drown in saline and stuff in the wound, topped with a little more saline and then bandaged over the top.

"I know it hurts and I know you're tired but do me a favour and do not stop moving your toes and ankle. If you stop getting feeling in your toes, jump on the radio because we need to get you to a hospital asap."

2329: I leave Jaffren, Angie and Charles in the back. Abbey and Liz follow me to the Land Cruiser. Janet sits still, staring off into an abyss. Emma tries to help Jason in the front and Abbey is giving Belinda a hand with her leg, the same way I helped Abbey. Liz stands next to me as we both stare at Iggy's comatose body.

"What can I do to help?" Liz asks quietly.

"Well I need to know his pulse and respiratory rate. Get a timer out for one minute and count his breaths. I'll work on his pulse."

It's almost like he's a dead body. I'm more nervous than ever to help him. We start the timer and calculate his vitals. I can hear him wheezing. I put my head cautiously on his chest and listen to his lungs struggling to work.

2333: I jump out the back of the Land Cruiser and walk away from the car, my hands behind my head and my body wanting to give up, my heart racing, my breaths shaking and tears threatening to spill over at any moment. I walk in circles, calming myself for a little before returning to the car to help Jason.

2338: Jason isn't in a good state either. He's hunched over, leaning on the steering wheel. His arm, too sore to move and blood still flowing out.

"Alright, jump out let's sort you out."

His fingers wiggle and he can has only a feeling in his arm but he can't move his elbow, no matter how hard he tries. With this much blood loss, it must've hit the artery or vein and lodged itself on the nerve.

I pack it like the best I can like I packed Jaffren's. It hurts and it isn't a permanent solution to stop the bleeding but it'll work for now.

"Claudia. You're bleeding too." Jason calls out.

He walks up to me, rotating my arm to show me a cut. I take off my hoodie and bandage it quickly so as that I can get back to Iggy.

I can't look at him now. I can't help and he is going to die in the back of this Land Cruiser in the middle of nowhere. I can't keep it together for much longer. Now my arm is starting to pulsate in pain and I'm useless at keeping my friends alive.

I walk around in circles again on the gravely road, under the stars and moon on this godforsaken freezing and cloudless night.

2242: And then I can't do it anymore. I let go. I let go of everything; my body, my emotions. Everything.

"Why are you crying? You're doing so well." Liz questions. Abbey, Emma and Jason stand behind her, all looking concerned.

"I.. I can't do it. Not anymore. I can't." I shout,  trying to speak through tears.

"What are you talking about? As soon as that first shot went off, you instantly started looking after us, you knew what to do. You've just treated everyone for all of our different injuries and we're all going to be okay."

"But we're not. Jason's shoulder is bad. The nerve is damaged and judging by the colour of blood the vein has been cut and he probably has a comminuted fracture to his collar bone. And Jaffren's leg won't stop bleeding, it's definitely the femoral artery and so many people die from having that artery damaged and he has the same type of fracture as Jason. And Iggy's gone. I can't do anything. He's in stage 2 of hypovolemic shock and his lung has collapsed and-"

"English, Claudia. English. I understood some of that but you need to explain simply." Pleads Abbey.

"A comminuted fracture is a break in the bone causing bone fragments to float free. Hypovolemic shock happens when there isn't enough blood in the body. There's only 4 stages and Iggy already has all the signs and symptoms of stage 2, soon he will be at stage 3 and very few people live once they hit stage 4. He's tachycardic meaning his heart rate is above 100 beats per minute, his respiratory rate is above 20 breaths per minute, he's pale,  he's cold and he has delayed capillary refill which means his heart doesn't have enough blood to pump to the whole body in time. He's going to die and I can't stop that."

I tried to calm myself again but it's not working. I'm bawling my eyes out. I see no way that we're getting out of this and there's no way we're doing it all alive.

Abbey and Liz help me back to my feet and try their best to comfort me while I hit my breaking point. I wipe my tears away and calm myself down.

2247: "I have to do this for Iggy. I don't want him to die here. I want him to go back to Costa Rica and see his sister and his parents and I want him to die an old man. No here. Not now. Get back in the car and head for the highway. I'm calling the cops."

I take one last deep breath, look over Iggy and jump in the front with Jason as we turn around and head back for the highway.