Ginny thought for a moment. Then she remembered. “Meg, there’s a truck stop there. We’ll meet you there,” she said as she gathered her coat and headed for the door.
“Okay,” said Meg and turned off the phone to concentrate on the road. She looked over at Luc. He was still conscious. Just barely. He nodded at her. She turned back to the road and drove like hell for the truck stop.
***
Meg took the last curve at 75mph. It was only rated for 50, but she didn’t give a damn. Luc had passed out fifteen minutes ago, and she was way past panic and into that state of calm which would closer her down hard and leave her exhausted once she stopped. It was a straight shot to the truck stop and there next to the first entrance was an ambulance. As she got closer, the lights began to come on. Meg pointed the car towards the ambulance and pulled in next to the driver’s side.
Two medics moved towards the passenger door and started to help Luc out of the seat. They picked him up and put him on a gurney. One checked his vitals as Meg crawled out from behind the steering wheel. Ginny was right there.
“I’ll take care of the car and your stuff. Go with Luc in the ambulance,” she said giving Meg a quick hug and a kiss.
Meg moved in a fog and walked towards the back of the ambulance as the two medics loaded Luc. One held his hand out to her and hoisted her into the back while the other slammed the doors shut. She perched on a jump seat while the first medic started an IV and the other hit the lights and headed off out of the truckstop.
“How big was the bear ma’am?” the medic asked.
“Big enough,” she said.
“Brown or black?” he asked.
“Brown with blonde highlights. I know that sounds weird, but that’s what it looked like,” she answered, her voice getting softer as she began to relax.
“Probably a grizzly then,” he said and started to slowly check around the wound. He didn’t want to move too much of the cloth. If he did, Luc would start bleeding again. He braced against the gurney as they went round a corner. Meg looked out the window and didn’t recognize where they were going. She looked back to Luc, who was breathing shallowly.
“He’ll be okay,” he said trying to reassure her. “It always looks worse than it is. It’s the ones that don’t look so bad that usually kill us,” he finished.
“Great. Just what I need, an optimistic paramedic,” she thought. The adrenaline was wearing off, and she was loosing her ability to keep her sarcasm in check. “Where the hell are we going?” she wondered. Looking out, she recognized the area of town they were in, but didn’t have a clue to where they were headed. Next thing she knew, the ambulance turned off it’s lights and pulled into an underground drive. Harsh sodium lights greeted her as the doors opened. She was helped out and then Luc on the gurney was taken out and into the building through huge glass doors. She followed and headed down the hall with the medics and Luc when a nurse stopped her.
“Just wait here ma’am,” the nurse said.
“No, I want to stay with Luc,” Meg countered.
“Ma’am, the doctor is going to have to deal with his wounds and it will be easier on you if you stay here,” the nurse said with more force.
“No, I’m going with him,” Meg said trying to push forth.
The nurse didn’t say anything, she simply grabbed Meg by the arms and walked her backwards into a waiting room. Meg tried to get around her, but it wasn’t working. Next thing she knew, she heard Ginny’s voice.
“Meg! Stop fighting the nurse!” she hollered with sub-vocals ringing under the words. Meg flinched and stopped.
“But… I want to be with Luc,” she said. Despair was coloring her tone of voice as Ginny lead her to the couch and they sat down together.
“You need to let the doctor do his thing. As soon as he can, he’ll let us into see Luc. Plus, if Luc starts to fight the doctor, anyone in there might get hurt. Sometimes when we are in pain, we don’t react well and strike out at people,” Ginny tried to explain.
Meg blinked, trying to understand Ginny as exhaustion and adrenaline let down hit her hard. She swallowed and nodded her head. Ginny wrapped her arms around Meg and held her close. Meg put her head on Ginny’s shoulder. The tears began to flood her eyes and she began to cry softly.
“It will be okay,” Ginny said softly. “Luc’s tough, and we heal fast. Just relax.”
Meg cried for a few more minutes and then ever so slowly fell asleep. Ginny adjusted Meg so that she was asleep across her lap. Meg’s hair fell to one side and Ginny could see the necklace that Luc had picked out for her. Ginny smiled, and hoped that Luc would be alright.
“Don’t you dare die on me Luc,” she thought as they waited for the doctor to finish up with Luc.
*
Ginny had fallen asleep too while waiting for the doctor to report on Luc. She woke as the door opened and the nurse entered.
“Is she still asleep?” the nurse asked quietly.
Ginny nodded.
“He’s out of surgery, and the doctor thinks he’ll be down to talk to you in a little bit,” she said and left as quietly as she’d entered.
Ginny tried to wake up without disturbing Meg. It almost worked. Meg sat up and blinked groggily. She looked at Ginny with a look of confusion. She sat up and tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes.
“Has the doctor been here yet?” Meg asked.
“He’s suppose to be here any minute,” said Ginny.
They sat there trying to wake up as they waited for the doctor. Ginny stood up and stretched while Meg sat.