“Luc, are you okay?” Meg asked over the whine of the gears and engine.
“Nho!” he growled.
“Pull over and let me drive,” she said.
“NHO!” he growled loudly with sub-vocals thundering inside the car.
Meg took a deep breath and grabbed the rear view mirror to try and see the side of Luc that the bear had swiped. She could see blood and that was about it. They bounced down the road for almost a mile when she tried to get his attention again.
“Luc, pull over now!” she hollered.
“Nho! Beahr! Mus geht whay!” he gasped.
She knew he was in pain and wouldn’t listen. The bear was far enough behind them that they weren’t in danger any more. As soon as she could see that the road was cutting across a fairly level meadow, she reached over and turned off the car.
“Nho! Mehg!” he said and turned towards her.
Meg could see the damage to his shoulder and about threw up. Swallowing hard, she grabbed her shirt from the back and stuffed it against his neck.
“And if you bleed to death being a hero, I will be so pissed at you!” she yelled. “The bear is gone. Back in the meadow. We can stop for five minutes to stop the bleeding and change drivers,” she shouted.
Luc blinked and her words cut through the fog of adrenaline and pain. He tried to swallow and move his neck. A whimper broke from his lips. “Hokay,” he said and stopped fighting Meg’s attentions. Meg scrambled out of the car and ran around to the driver’s side. She helped Luc out and got him into her seat. Wrapping her shirt around his wound as best she could, she added another shirt from the back and then belted him into the seat. She swept the glass off the seat, got in and headed down the mountain. She knew that there was no cell service for the next twenty miles. However, she had her phone tucked in her shirt ready to use it as soon as it beeped that there was service.
“Mehg, sorry,…” he started.
“Just shut up and don’t die on me,” she barked back at him.
“Call Ghinny,” he said.
“Why? Why not go to a hospital?” she asked as they bounced down the road.
“Neehd shihfter doc,” he gasped.
Then it dawned on her that there was no way he could go to a hospital. Dammit! She drove as fast as she could down the dirt road. Meg blew through the lower campground at 75mph. She was grateful that all the campers had left. Crossing the cattle guard, they caught air, and when the car landed, Luc winced in pain.
Meg drove as fast as she could. She drifted around curves and left dust plumes that were probably visible for miles. She hit pavement at the same time her phone beeped. She had signal. Reaching for her phone, she slowed a bit and hit the speed dial button for Ginny.
“Ginny! We need a doctor! A bear slashed Luc!” she hollered into the phone.
“What?” Ginny asked, not sure what she just heard.
“A BEAR HURT LUC! We need a doctor!” she shouted again.
“Fuck!” Ginny exclaimed into the phone. “Where are you?”
“On highway 69, about 27 miles from the nearest junction,” Meg answered.
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.