Sabine was in her storage room with two of the student medics discussing what they needed to support their groups when the intercom speaker over the door broke into their conversation.
“Corpsman to the Arms Room, Corpsman to the Arms room. Make it fast, Doc, Man Down!”
Sabine tore out of there, grabbing her jump kit by the door as she went by. The two other medics followed her. She had no idea what could be going on. As she ran, she started thinking some sort of industrial accident, maybe caught in machinery, maybe solvent exposure, face full of etching acid? All these things were popping into her mind as she crossed the breezeway to the other building. The Arms Room door was wide open when she got there. Several people were in the room, but they made way when she showed. On the ground in front of her was Paige. She was curled in the fetal position and not moving. Several individuals seemed to be restraining another off in one corner of the Arms Room.
Sabine dropped to her knees and felt for a pulse. It was there, but slow. She kept assessing as she spoke.
“OK, somebody want to tell me what the **** happened?”
One of the guys she didn’t recognize in the corner spoke up.
“We were going over the rifles we brought with the Sergeant there, when the Captain” he pointed at the struggling individual, “walked in and haymaker punched her in the side of the head. When she dropped, he started kicking the shit out of her. She never even made a sound all the way to the floor. He was putting the boot to her when we grabbed him.”
Sabine looked at one of the medics who followed her over from her area.
“Backboard. C-Collar. Head blocks. Monitor. NOW!” she turned to the open door and one of the NCOs she recognized. “Get a Medevac bird here now then get the UTV, we will meet the bird at the pad. Get the Sargent Major as well as the Commander.”
Throughout all of this, her hands never stopped moving over Paige’s body. The backboard was there in a matter of moments. With a casualty blanket spread out on it, they maneuvered it beside Paige’s limp form. Sabine looked up at the crowd in the room.
“You two stay.” She points to the two medics with her. “Everybody else get out." She amended that. “Except for you three.” She pointed at the Captain being restrained by the two NCOs. “But turn his ass around. He doesn’t get a free peepshow to go with his handiwork!” Sabine turns back to Paige and the two medics assisting her. “Alright guys, C Spine, assess, collar, strip, asses roll, IV, Monitor, package. Good plan?”
The medics just nodded. These were experienced special operations medics. This division of labor was natural for the three of them and it was Sabine’s turf so she was in charge. The medical shorthand went back and forth. An average person would have a hard time keeping up with it, much less understanding what it all meant.
“I have bruising and maybe some crepitus right above the right ear.”
“Hyphema right eye”
“Possible orbital fracture, right eye.”
Sabine got her shears and cut off Paige’s T-shirt. She could already see impact marks, boot sized, on Paige’s chest and ribs all down her left side. She was palpating this area while the third medic was getting vitals and hooking up the cardiac monitor.
“I have rigidity and distention left upper quadrant.”
“BP 160 over 80, pulse 54, respirations irregular, SPO2 93, End Tidal 28.” At this all three medics looked at one another. Their efforts took on a greater sense of urgency.
Sabine finished stripping off Paige’s gear. The only thing not cut off were her boots, her belts and her dog tags. Everything else fell to the shears. The boots were unlaced and the belts unbuckled. Sabine made note of something else.
“I got urine here as well.” She turned to the doorway. “Where’s the UTV and what’s the ETA on that bird?”
“I got sinus Brady at 50.”
“IV in.”
“Hang hypertonic saline. Let’s get her on the board, wrapped with the Readi-Heat and to the pad.”
Sabine thought she heard something from the corner where the attacker was being held. She looked up and over at the ‘thing’.
“What did you say?” Sabine’s voice had a weird, musical quality to it as she posed the question.
“I said, that **** didn’t belong here!”
Sabine reached over to the pistol belt she had removed from Paige. On it was her sidearm. She drew the pistol and stood. The pistol was held lightly in one hand by her side. Looking directly into his eyes, Sabine spoke again.
“Turn him loose. Let’s see if he has any balls or does he only sucker punch women half his size and training?”
The two guys holding him did let go of him, but mainly because there was some concern she would just start shooting him, and they didn’t want to be near the target.
The Captain started to take a step forward. Sabine raised the pistol. The .45 caliber hole in the end of the M45A1 pistol looked as big as a sewer pipe pointed at him. He stopped and thought. She wouldn’t shoot him. She didn’t have the guts. He was about to move again when he heard the safety snap off in the silent room. He also noted the end of the barrel didn’t waiver, wiggle or twitch at all. It was rock solid and pointed at the middle of his chest. This was the scene when the Sargent Major walked in.
“Someone want to tell me what…..” His words trailed off as he took in the scene. After a good ten seconds of silence, he spoke.
“Doc, we are going to take him away now. The bird is inbound, seven minutes. We will take care of this so you can take care of your patient.”
“Sargent Major, better get him out of here or I will put him in a bag.” Sabine never broke eye contact with the Captain, never blinked or wiggled.
Several NCOs moved in. All were careful not to get between the muzzle and the Captain. They escorted him out of the room. Sabine went back to packaging Paige.
The two medics lifted Paige up on the backboard and carried her out to the medical UTV. It had a spot to put a litter patient. They drove out of the compound and straight over to the helipad. Sabine could hear the civilian helicopter inbound.
As soon as the helicopter landed, the flight paramedic came over to get the report on his patient.
“What do we have?”
“Female assault victim. Unconscious, unresponsive, at least one head impact, Hyphema, fractured cheek on the right side, multiple fractured ribs, probable ruptured spleen, rising intracranial pressure, incontinence for urine, BP is up, pulse is down and her respiration's are erratic. Flowing hyper-tonic saline, 16 gauge right AC. We are 17 minutes from time of injury. That’s all I have anything else?”
The flight medic was making quick notes. He knew with the rapid onset of the signs and symptoms, they had to hurry. They placed Paige on the helicopter. The door was barely shut when it roared off the pad and to the north.
Sabine looked at her two helpers.
“Thanks guys, I am glad I had you guys to help me with this.”
One of them looked over at her.
“What the **** is going on?”
“Sadly, you know as much as I do. Let’s get back inside. I still need to decipher this, report to the commander and then go tell her boyfriend she just got air-evaced.”
Back inside, the Arms Room was locked up tight and no one was around there. Sabine sent the other two back to her area and went in search of the Sergeant Major.
