42 - Ben's Worst Hike

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"Jeff?"

"Jeff are you okay?"

"Why isn't he speaking?"

"Ben, is he awake?"

"I don't know, he isn't moving."

Ben stops walking for the first time in three hours and walks past the wheelchair to look at Jeff. "He is very hot, looks like he is sweating. Do we still have water?"

Eva hands him the bottle they got from the very confused parents they met earlier this morning. "There isn't much left."

"He needs a hospital, the sooner the better," Ben says. He tries to make Jeff drink the water but it just pours down his front. Ben takes a bit of the precious liquid in his hand and puts it on Jeff's forehead. "We need to cool him down, I think he has a fever."

Then Jeff starts coughing.

"Jeff? Are you okay?" Eva walks closer to pat him on his back.

"Wait, let him breath," Ben says.

Jeff coughs a few more times before his mouth opens and Ben, on an instinct, tilts Jeff's body forward just before he starts puking. The little water he did manage to drink before, now poured out of his stomach on to the ground in front of him. Ben holds him as he breaths heavily.

"He needs a hospital," says Emily.

"The road shouldn't be too far ahead," Ben says. "We need to get there, find a way to call an ambulance."

"We can go look for help while you stay here with Jeff," Roger offers. "I think it's better if we don't move him more than we have to."

"I agree," Eva says. "And Angie should stay too."

Angie hasn't spoken too much since the landing. So much has happened recently and honestly it is impressive that she was dealing with things as well as she did so far. Now, after hours of walking and with the grief for her father still weighing her down, she is downright exhausted.

"Here," Ben hands her the last sip of water left in their bottle. "Drink this."

Angie doesn't object, she is too thirsty and tired to care.

"Will you be okay on your own here, Ben?" Eva asks.

"Wait, why am I staying?" Ben hates being left behind, he is an action person. "I can talk to people, get help."

"You're the only one who knows first aid," Eva explains.

"She has a point," Roger says.

Ben takes one look at Jeff and agrees. "Fine, just don't take too long."

"We won't," Emily promises.

The only problem is that it was not up to them. At this time of the day they'd be lucky if a bird passed by this road. They have been waiting for at least four hours, in which they went back and fourth to check up on Ben every so often. They are sitting in a parking area that during weekends must be packed with families coming to the beach but is now completely abandoned, except for one car that probably belongs to the family they met at the beach, and who's kid they nearly crushed with the spaceship.

When the coolness of the morning is already well behind them, a truck finally shows up at the distance. The driver, who until that day considered himself to be a calm person, nearly had a heart attack when he saw Eva jumping onto the road and waving her hands around. He immediately hit the brakes, causing the boxes in the back to all fly to the front and brake a possible rare Chinese vase (the documentation isn't confirmed yet).

By the time the driver managed to start breathing again and get out of the truck to see what the fuss is about, Emily already jumped at Eva and pulled her off the road.

"You could have died!"

"I had to stop him," Eva tries to remain calm even though she still feels the adrenaline rush.

"What is going on here?" The driver intervenes. He suspiciously looks at the uniforms they are wearing, "aren't you too young to be in the navy?"

Emily stops scolding Eva to talk to the driver, she conveniently avoids the second question. "Please help us, our friend is hurt and we need to call an ambulance."

"Of course," he takes out his cellphone from his pocket. "Here you go," he gives it to Emily.

"Our friend is a YouTuber," Eva tries to explain their strange situation while Emily dials. It's a good thing you can blame practically anything on YouTubers. "He thought it would be a good idea to make a military style video." The driver, who personally never had too much time for YouTube, simply nods at the excuse.

"Hello?" Emily says. "I need an ambulance, my friend is injured," she walks away from the group, and mostly the truck driver, as she speaks so they can't hear her. "His leg is, it is just very bad and I think maybe his wound is infected." She stops when the person on the other end of the line talks. "We are at..." She looks for the sign she saw earlier, "short sand beach creek." Another pause. "Yes, please hurry I think he has a fever. He is very pale and he was vomiting earlier." Emily nods as if the person can see her. "Um-hm. Yes. Thank you, please hurry as much as you can."

She walks back to the group, "they should be here in fifteen minutes." She gives the driver his phone back, "thank you."

"No problem," he says. "Do you kids need help? How are you going to get back home?"

"We were going to... Umm..." Emily is at a loss for words.

"I think I know where they are going to take your friend," the driver continues. "I can take you as far as the emergency center."

"That will be great!" Eva says, one less problem to worry about, only about 347 left. "I'll go tell Ben we are leaving," she says to Emily and Roger.

If the driver is surprised to see the state of their "hurt friend" he hides it well. Ben pushes Jeff, who is now completely blacked out, up to the parking lot.

"How is he?" Emily asks.

"Not good," Ben accurately describes the situation.

Angie stands beside Jeff's wheelchair and holds his hand. His forehead is covered with sweat and his face is so pale that he almost looks... No, he is still breathing. It is unbelievable how quickly his situation escalated.

When the ambulance pulls up at the parking lot Ben lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding. The paramedics immediately jump out of the vehicle and take out a stretcher. They run to Jeff before exchanging even a single word with the group. When Jeff is in the ambulance, one of the paramedics says, "only one person can come with him."

"You should go, Ben," Eva tells him and he nods.

They tell the truck driver the name of the place and he opens the back sit for them. On the way there Emily has to hold Angie so she stops shaking. There are water in the truck and they all thankfully take them.

When the driver drops them off, the girls run ahead after Jeff who is carried into the hospital and Roger thanks the driver for the help before joining them. As they go into the local emergency center, they see Ben pacing in the entrance. He looks up at the group as they barge in.

"He is going straight to surgery," Ben says. "They say his situation is critical."

Eva takes Ben's arm to stop him from pacing. "Sit down, Ben."

He does not oppose as she is pulling him to the waiting area. He can already tell he is going to get very familiar with this particular seat.

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