Richard Stephenson - Collapse

“Officer, I got everything I need, thank you.” The doctor did not divert her eyes from her patient but could hear Max rooting around in the cabinet.

“Thank you, doctor, please don’t let me distract you. I’m just taking inventory of our supplies.” The doctor didn’t say anything and continued stitching up Elizabeth’s wounds. Max fumbled with his keys, attempting to open the padlock on one of the drawers. He found what he needed – a ninety count bottle of Tramadol. The drug wasn’t nearly as effective as Vicodin, but it would do in a pinch. Max popped the top and filled up his pill bottle. He closed up the cabinet and turned around. The looky-loo who had been lusting over Elizabeth was watching him. Max couldn’t tell if the guy had seen him swipe the pills. “You need something, son? What’s your name?”

“Name’s Stew. No sir, just wondering if you know what’s going on.”

“Well, the worst of it isn’t due for a few hours. I can only guess that a few tornadoes were kicked up in our direction.”

“You mean this isn’t the worst of it?” Stew asked in a trembled voice.

“Not by a long shot. Count yourself lucky you’re safe in here with us.” Max turned and walked to the other side of the room. He needed to do a head count of his officers. He scanned the room, then exited and walked into the girl’s locker room. He saw two of his deputies trying to dry off. Max walked over to Deputy Shackleford.

“Gene, what happened to your people?”

“No idea, they took off and headed home. I tried to tell them to wait it out here, but they didn’t listen.”

“Well, son, I’m glad you were smart enough to stay here.” Max keyed up his radio. “This is unit 1-0; I need a status and location from everyone. Units 1-1, 1-6, and 1-8 are at the command post with me.” Max paused and heard nothing. “Kathy, you still at the station?”

One of his deputies was standing in the doorway. “Chief, Kathy is walking in with a group of people.”

Max walked to the doorway and saw Kathy. She looked like she had jumped in a swimming pool with her uniform on. She had a family in tow — a young couple with a toddler and an infant. An older, gray-haired couple walked in as well. Kathy led them to the locker room and told them to go inside and dry off.

“Kathy, you okay? Tell me what happened.” Max handed her a towel and put his hand on her shoulder.

“Thank God we made it here. That was the scariest thing I’ve ever done in my life. Thought for sure we wouldn’t make it. Got some bad news for you. You want the bad news first or the really, really bad news?”

Max frowned. “Surprise me.”

“Well, first the power went out, pretty sure all over town. I think a tornado passed behind the station. It’s a wreck, probably demolished by now. Blew half the roof off and destroyed your office. Windows blew out and wrecked everything. We waited it out in the armory and headed straight here. Charlie make it here? Where is he?”

“Charlie’s not here, what happened to him?”

Kathy started to cry, “Oh no! No, no, no! He left before I did! I stayed behind when these people came to the station for help. He has to be here!”

Max hugged Kathy. “Hey, take it easy, you’re safe. I’m sure Charlie’s just fine. I bet he’ll be walking in the door in no time at all. You get in there and get out of those wet clothes. There’s a tub full of clean gym clothes in each locker room.”

Kathy smiled through her tears. “Oh fun. We get to look like high school kids.”

“Kathy, hold on a second. Was that the bad news, or the really, really bad news?”

“Oh yeah, I already told you the worst part. The bad news is I completely smashed up my patrol car getting over here.”

Max smiled at her. “Oh, that’s fine. I’ll just take it out of your next check, if we ever start getting them again.”

Kathy wiped the tears from her cheek and with a smile, gave her boss a playful slap on the arm. She disappeared into the girl’s locker room. Max knew he had probably just told Kathy a lie. If Charlie left before she did and she didn’t pass him getting here, his car probably blew off the road. At best, he got lost in the storm and couldn’t find his way to the gym. Max hoped Charlie pulled over and was riding out the storm somewhere safe. They would have no way of knowing until the storm cleared. Going to search for Charlie in the raging storm would be a bad call. As much as Max hated to admit it, Charlie was on his own.

Max walked back into the locker room to check on Elizabeth. She was resting on the cot as the doctor cleaned up at the sink. “Well, Doc, what can you tell me?”

“She’s going to be fine. I stitched up the holes and bandaged her up. She has two bruised ribs. I’m monitoring her blood pressure. I don’t think she lost enough blood to require a transfusion.”

“Thank God for you, ma’am. I mean that. Thank you.” Max caught the woman off guard when he wrapped his arms around her and gave her a big hug. “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been there. You saved her life.” Max released her and wiped tears from his eyes. “I’m so sorry that I yelled at you; please forgive me.”

“You are very welcome, sir. And please don’t apologize, it’s not necessary. I can tell that woman is more than just a co-worker to you, am I right?”

Max wiped his eyes. “Is it that obvious? Ma’am, I just realized that I don’t even know your name. I’m Chief Harris.”

“Chief Harris, it’s very obvious that you care for her a great deal. My name is Diana Stone.”

“Dr. Stone, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Max extended his hand and smiled, “a real pleasure.”

Dr. Stone returned the gesture and asked, “Are we safe in here?”

“Yes, ma’am, it’s the safest place in town. The far side of the east wing was built into the side of a hill with one side of the hallway underground, including the locker rooms. The only thing we have to worry about is the gym, which I’m certain is going to come down. Here in the boy’s locker room the bathroom exits out into the hallway. We can get out that way if we need to.”

“May I call you Max?”

“Please do.”

“Max, tell me about your injury. I’d like to know if we’re going to be spending time together.”

Just then, Elizabeth opened her eyes and gazed at Max with a look of love and compassion. He saw the trust in her eyes and figured it was time to finally talk about it. He smiled at her and said, “Hey, you.”

“Hey yourself.” She smiled and laid her head back down on the cot.

“Feeling better?” Max’s eyes lit up when he saw the smile on her face.

“A lot better. You give me some of the pills you hide in your pocket? I feel fantastic.”

A look of worry dawned on his face. “What? How long have you known?”

“That you’re an addict? Pretty much figured it out the day I met you.”

“Hold on now. I’m not an addict; you have no idea the kind of pain I’m in.”

“You’re right. I have no idea because you never talk about it. It’s okay, sweetheart, answer the doctor’s question.”

The doctor smiled and sat down next to Elizabeth. “Elizabeth, my name is Dr. Stone. It’s a pleasure to meet you; I’m glad you’re feeling better. I gave you some pills from the medicine cabinet that will help you deal with the pain. I stitched and bandaged you up. Two of your ribs are bruised. In order to breath comfortably, you’ll need to take two of these every six hours.” Dr. Stone handed her the bottle of Tramadol. “It will be a few days before you can breathe without pain. Max was kind enough to leave you with most of the bottle.”

Max hung his head in shame. “I’m sorry. Didn’t think you’d noticed.”