The medical team rapidly started stabilizing Katie.
Bill, white faced, was hobbling back to the car with Natalie hovering close beside him. Jake hustled ahead, grabbed the leg of the dead deer, and gently pulled it away from the car, about ten feet off the blacktop.
At the car Natalie pushed her dad’s seat back and reclined it as far back as it would go.
“Easy does it, Bill,” said Jake, as he helped his friend into the car. Bill’s meds were in the console and Jake quickly grabbed the bottle and shook out two pills. Jake knew Bill would need extra medication after stumbling over the animal and helping with the injured young woman.
“Damn,” said Bill, grimacing. Pain was radiating at the lower end of his pelvis and shooting down his right leg, knotting his right calf muscles.
“What do you need, Dad?”
“Maybe some water?”
They could hear the EMT’s, working over the young woman.
“Blood pressure is ninety over sixty. Possible internal bleeding.”
“Starting an IV.”
“Bill, did you tear anything? How is your back?” asked Jake.
“I’m hurting,” responded Bill.
They could hear additional approaching sirens. Natalie handed her dad a bottle of water with the lid off.
The EMT’s were speaking clearly. “Breathing is ragged and shallow. Check for a collapsed lung.”
“Roger that.”
They saw the medical people listen to her chest.
“Let’s intubate and transport.”
“Life Flight?
“Can they get in here?”
The three of them saw the EMT’s look around.
“The trees are tight, and we can get back to Cascade in about four minutes, faster than they can get here. Let’s transport to Cascade and fly from there. Tell them to get the chopper warmed up.”
“Roger that.”
“Lift on three.”
“Do we have a name?”
“Katie Lindskog, from her bracelet. The injured man, Richard, is her father,” offered an officer standing nearby.
“Ready… set…lift.”
The doors to the ambulance slammed. The cops had already moved everyone out of the way and with a couple blasts of its horn, the big rig raced toward Cascade with sirens roaring and lights flashing. A second ambulance slid into the space just vacated and in short order the cops helped lift the girl’s father onto a gurney for transport.
Everyone jumped when the teens father again screamed his daughter’s name. There was a moment of quiet, then he howled and started sobbing.
“He’s hyperventilating,” was overheard, before the doors were shut and the emergency rig started moving.
Two more emergency units arrived, and the occupants swarmed out to help anyone who needed it.
The driver and passenger in the first truck appeared shaken up but unhurt. Their truck was not going anywhere. The police told them tow trucks were in route.
The gray Jeep was also disabled, and the driver possibly in shock, knowing she was part of an injury accident. An officer was asking her questions, the replies were slow, so the cop was suggesting she take an ambulance to the hospital. A medical tech was standing close and gently suggesting the same course of action.
Bill, Jake, and Natalie saw a patrol officer approaching them.
“I understand you folks were just behind their car?”
“Yes, sir,” responded Jake. Bill and Natalie bobbed their heads.
“I was told you guys were giving her CPR. Thank you, it’s probable that you saved her life.”
“I just hope she is okay,” declared Bill.
Natalie was breathing deep; tears were running down her face as she stood next to her dad’s seat. She was scared and trembling. Jake noticed and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Bill looked up from his seat and took one of her hands.
“It’s okay, Natalie. The young lady will be fine now,” said Jake.
Traffic was re-routed, restricted to one lane, and was moving slow due to rubber-necking drivers. The first dead deer had been moved next to the second one, for a later harvest by Fish and Game officers.
Twenty minutes later the police had finished taking statements from Jake, Bill, and the other witnesses. Tow trucks were starting to load the three damaged vehicles.
Bill’s face was troubled. An accident had almost taken, and maybe still would, a young girl close to Natalie’s age. Bill had never touched a dead body before, but he was certain the young teen had been dead when they started CPR. It was a feeling he knew he would never forget.
Bill tightened his grip on his daughter’s hand, not wanting to let go.
Darkness descended upon the area and the moon rose above the trees. The second deer began to shake lightly. Its chest started to rise and fall as it started breathing, and blood began flowing through the animal’s system. Its eyes opened, and it slowly rose and walked into the trees.