In A Heartbeat

I stepped out of the shower, drying off before pulling my uniform on. I would be so glad when six o'clock rolled around. I would be off and wouldn't have to be back to work for another three days. I was so sick of being around my ex-boyfriend that it wasn't funny. I was almost to the point of quitting the department. There were several other departments that had offered me a job when I graduated the academy anyway. Work would not be hard to find.

I walked out of the bathroom and ran into, speaking of the devil, Matt, my ex. It looked as if he had been sitting on the floor in front of the door waiting for me to come out. I had no desire to speak to him though. Three days ago I had walked in on him and my best friend screwing, in my apartment and in my bed. I broke up with him and ended my friendship with Macy and started moving on with my life. Unfortunately, Matt was a paramedic just like me and worked with me, so I had yet to get away from him.

"Avery, please talk to me." He begged.

"No, Matt. I have no desire to know if Macy was a good fuck or not."

"Dammit Avery! At least let me explain!"

"Explain what Matt? How your dick mysteriously found its way up her ass? I don't want to hear an explanation. Just leave me alone, okay?"

"Back off Matt. She's pissed and you know it." My best friend Joel stepped in.

I walked away from him and went to put my clothes up in my locker. God I was so fucking sick of him. Why couldn't he just accept the fact that nothing he could do or say was going to change my mind? I should have listened from my brother fromt the get go. He told me that he though Matt was going to be trouble. I always have to learn the hard way though.

I walked outside with my cell phone and sat down at one of the few picnic tables in the back yard. Some of the guys from the fire department were trying to finish their game of basketball before it started raining. I usually played with them, but I hadn't been in the mood to play the last couple of days. I wasn't in the mood for anything except killing myself.

My phone vibrated off the table and fell in my lap. I picked it up and answered it seeing that it was my brother that was calling. He was calling me constantly checking on me to make sure I hadn't offed myself yet. He knew how I got.

"Hello?"

"Hey little girl. How are ya today?" He asked in his usual cheery voice.

"I'm here. That's about it though. What about you?"

"I'm watching a sad little girl talk to her brother."

"Fun."

He laughed before the phone went dead. I shrugged and laid my head down on the table. He would call back. He probably lost reception. He was currently touring with his band Sixx:A.M. and Motley Crue. He was probably off in the middle of nowhere.

"You really are out of it."

I sat up and there stood my brother Nikki, his current bandmate Dj, and his old/current bandmate, Tommy Lee. I smiled weakly and stood up to hug him. It'd been almost four months since I'd seen him and god knows I missed him.

"Good to see you, Nik."

"You too." He said as he wrapped his arms around me. "I want you to cheer up though. There are more punks in the world for you, baby girl."

"I know. He just won't leave me alone."

"Can I go kick his ass?" Dj asked

"Be my guest."

"Don't tell him that. We'll be busting him out of jail tonight." Tommy said.

"So what brings you guys here?" I asked

"Cruefest is this weekend. And for this weekend only, we have special guests opening for us." Nikki said.

"Really? Who?"

"Sixx: P.M."

Sixx: P.M? That was the name of my band. We were opening for them at Cruefest?

"What the hell are you talking about? We're opening for you?" I asked

"Yep. And I was told that there would be some agents in the crowd."

"Are you serious? Do the guys know?"

"Yes and they have been practicing their asses off."

"I fucking love you." I said throwing my arms around Nikki.

The bells went off in the firehouse breaking the silence. I just stood there at first thinking that it was just a fire, but then the bells went off on the ambulance side too. I gave the guys an apologetic look and took off inside. I stepped into my overalls and pulled on my jacket before jumping into the back of one of the ambulances. I loved being a paremedic for the fire department. It wasn't like just being a regular paramedic. I was trained to be a firefighter or an EMT. Not everyone was, but I was. If the fire department was short handed, I worked there sometimes. I never got bored with my job.

Joel got in the back with me just as we pulled off. I listened carefully as Jeremy, the ambulance driver, gave us a rundown of the accident we were about to work. Judging from his information, the next few hours were going to be busy. We kept the radio tuned to dispatch for any new information. They were steadily calling out other departments. This must be really bad.

The adrenaline started rushing as we arrived at the scene of the wreck. It was bad. We were on your typical four lane highway and both lanes on both sides were blocked. There were wrecked cars everywhere. Joel grabbed the stretcher and followed me. I ran over to the first car that I saw laying upside down in the ditch.

I knelt down by the car looking to see if anyone was in it. There was a guy in front seat trapped between the dash board and his seat. He was awake and screaming for help, so that was a good sign. I went around to the passenger side so that I could assess the situation.

"Watch your eyes." I told the guy.

I busted the passenger window out with my elbow so I could get to him. As mangled as the car was, I was surprised it wasn't already busted out. Just glancing at the guy he didn't look like he was hurt that bad, but just because he wasn't bleeding everywhere didn't mean anything. For all I knew he could have the been the worst hurt one out here and never would have guessed by looking at him.

"Get me out of here, please." He pleaded.

"I'm going to do my best, sir. What's your name?"

"Frank."

"Hey Frank. I'm Avery. Are you hurt anywhere?"

"Just my leg. I think it may be broken."

"Can you move at all?"

"Yeah. My leg is just hung on something and I can't move it."

"Alright Frank. We're going to get you out of here."

"Avery, I see what he's hung on." Joel called from the other side of the car from where he had crawled through driver side window.

"Do me a favor please, Frank. Put your arms on the roof of the car so that once he frees your leg you won't fall."

He did as I asked as Joel started cutting whatever had Frank's leg tangled up. I wrapped my arms around Frank's stomach just in case his arms gave out or he was hurt somewhere else and didn't know it. He screamed from the sudden movement of his leg once Joel had gotten him untangled. As I had expected, his arms gave out but I had kept him from hitting the roof.

"Alright Frank, this next part isn't going to be too comfortable but I'm going to try and make as painless as I can." I told him

"Just get me out, please."

With the help of Joel, we pulled Frank from the mangled car and got him laid out in the ditch. His leg was definitely broken, but I wasn't sure how bad. Other than that, he had a few cuts that could probably use some stitches, but for the better part he was okay.

"Where's Gerard?" He asked

"Who's Gerard?" I asked.

"He was driving the car. Where is he? Has he already been taken to the hospital?"

"No. We were first on the scene."

"Gerard!" Frank screamed trying to stand up.

"Careful." I said grabbing him.

"I have to find him. Gerard!"

"Hey, sit down so you don't hurt yourself worse. We'll find him. He can't be too far."

Joel took over taking care of Frank as I set out to find Gerard. It had just hit me that these were the guys from that band My Chemical Romance. I couldn't think about that right now though. Frank said that Gerard had been driving the car and there was no one else in the car besides Frank. After about three minutes of looking, I found him close to the side of the interstate. He looked like someone from a horror movie, that's how bad he was.

"Joel!" I yelled as the skies opened up letting the rain pour down.

"Damn. He's got to go." He said after taking just one look at Gerard.

"H-help m-me, p-pl-please." Gerard whispered.

"We're going to help you, buddy. Just hang with me for a second. Joel, get Jeremy to get Frank in the ambulance and come back to help me with him. We'll take both of them in."

"Alright."

Joel disappeared as I turned my attention back to Gerard. He looked pitiful to tell you the truth. He had been ejected from the car and thrown a pretty good distance. It looked as if he had skidded across the concrete because both is shirt and pants had been ripped off and he had road rash bad all over his body. His face was covered with blood, numerous gashes covered his body, not to mention the several visible broken bones. He was in bad shape.

"I-it. . .h-hurts." He mumbled.

"I know, buddy. We're gonna get you some help. Just bare with me. A lot of stuff is going to be happening all at once and it can be a bit overwhelming but it's going to be alright, okay?"

He nodded his head as his eyes slipped shut. I slipped a neck brace on him trying to be as gentle as possible. Once Joel had returned, he helped me get Gerard strapped to the backboard and on the stretcher. I took my thick jacket off and laid over his bare body. He was cold and shivering from the rain. We got him loaded and headed for the hospital.

"What's hurting you, Gerard?" I asked once we had gotten in the ambulance and were on our way to the hospital.

"Every----" His answer was interrupted by a scream of pain.

"Are your legs hurting you?" I asked

"Y-yes. My r-r-right one. And my a-arm and sh-shoulder."

"Which arm and shoulder?"

"L-left."

"Is that it?" I asked as I slipped an oxygen mask over his face to help him breathe.

"My s-side. D-don't look at m-my b-body. I'm f-fat and u-ugly."

"You're beautiful, Gerard. Your body is perfect." Frank told him.

"I agree with Frankie. I wish I had a boyfriend as good looking as you." I flirted. Hey, sometimes it helped take their minds off things.

"I'm g-gonna throw u-up." Gerard mumbled.

I was trying to start an IV and didn't have time to react before he threw blood up everywhere. I pulled the mask off his face so he wouldn't choke and with the help of Joel, we tilted Gerard up on his side so he wouldn't choke. He threw up two more times before he finally let go and lost consciousness. His heart stopped twice before we got to the hospital, but thankfully we were able to get it beating again. Once we got to the hospital, we handed them over to the doctors and stood back to let them do their job. Frank was going to be fine, but it was a race against time with Gerard.