- Text Size +
Chapter Eighteen

Julia was afraid of heights. Had always been her entire life. When Jack told her that she had to take over and be the one to go down the sewer, she knew there was no way she could run away from it. She was the only female paramedic on site. No one knew of her phobia, and she intended to keep it that way.

When she received the emergency call that early afternoon, she had expected it to be one of those normal calls to attend to a minor accident. The city had always been safe, no major road accidents reported so far since she donned her uniform two months ago.

When they said that the victims were the Backstreet Boys, her heart almost stopped. She had heard the news about the crashed bus. Had been there on the site to check for casualties. But they had told her that everyone perished. Her heart sank that day. Her heroes were gone. The whole world was mourning over the loss of one of the world's best groups. To Julia, Backstreet Boys were up there at No.1.

And now she was hanging on for dear life, going down the sewer a step at a time, reaching down to the victim. Her hero.

To Julie, Nick Carter was as human as a Celebrity could be. She practically grew up with him and the Backstreet Boys by her side. Their music inspired her. Julia was a year older than Nick and she went through teenage life the same time Nick was growing his. Julia kept watch as she saw her hero battle through nasty zits she could visibly see in his posters, his slight weight gain and the much publicized break-up with his girlfriend.

She had been there too and knew how difficult it was to maintain one's dignity when people started judging. Nick made it more bearable. If a guy, whose life was shoved into the limelight and every uncelebrity-like moves he made was made known and criticized to the whole world could survive it all and remain positive, she could do it too. Nick, in her eyes, was an ordinary boy living in an extraordinary world. He was not perfect. And that made him real.

She was only about a meter down when she saw the two figures approaching Nick's unconscious body. Even from that distance she could see that Nick had little time left. The man pointed something shiny towards him and her quick thinking mind registered that it was a gun. She nearly jumped when she heard the click go off. She thought she had failed. She thought that Nick Carter was done for. But the gunshot never came. She could hear his evil laughter instead.

Determined more than ever, she mustered her courage to take a plunge. She heard the man pulling back the gun, ready for another shot. All she needed now was perfect timing and aiming. She counted to three and pranced down on the man.

Her aiming was perfect, she hit her target. As she came down on top of him, the man standing next to him dropped too. She got up to her feet quickly and realizing that he was about to get up, she swung her medical bag across his head. He dropped face down on the ground again and never woke up.

She saw four police officers running towards her and realized that the gunshot had came from one of them. It had hit the accomplice. Knowing that the bad guys had been taken care of, she diverted her attention to Nick.

He had woken up, obviously from the deafening sound of the gunshot. He was in shock, Julie noticed that immediately. She couldn't help herself but felt that deep down inside, some where, a tiny voice was saying 'God, he still looks good after all this.'

Nick couldn't remember where he was. He heard the gunshot and started to panic. He wanted to call out for AJ but realized that he couldn't. He was having trouble breathing as it is. He didn't know where the girl came from but knew that she was help. He saw the two robbers laying unconscious a few steps from him. Everything just happened so fast, his mind was disorientated.

"You're okay now Nick. Everything's fine. I'm going to get you out of here, where your friends will be waiting. Just try your best not to sleep again all right?" Her voice was soft yet clear. He found comfort in it and nodded his head.

He felt her cold hands as she shone the torch light directly into his eyes, first his right and then the left eye. He blinked it away but the blinding light lingered on even after she had finished.

"Is there any feeling to your legs?" She gave his feet a little rub and he felt it. He nodded. "Good."

She started rubbing his hands and asked the same question. He shook his head. He wanted to cry but held it in. "It's okay Nick, you'll get the feeling back, I promise."

She started to reach down to his waist and Nick closed his eyes, knowing that it would only hurt. He wished he could tell her that but he couldn't find his voice. All of his energy was used up just to breathe alone.

"I know that you have some broken ribs and most probably internal bleeding. I'm just going to have a little touch to determine the injury, please give me a signal if it hurts okay?" Nick nodded his head.

At the touch of his skin, Julie knew that he was suffering from the second stage of Hypothermia. She pressed lightly on his waist and felt the broken ribs. She saw him wince and stopped.

"Is he all right?" One of the officers asked.

"He needs medical attention fast. Could you radio them for blankets to be thrown down? I have to keep him awake." Julie asked the officer. He immediately radioed in for sheets of blankets to be transported down.

Just throw it down, we will catch it from below.

"Nick, does your chest hurt?" Julie asked. Nick nodded. "Okay, I'm going to put the oxygen mask on. Don't panic; just try your best to breath in okay?"

She heard the gurgling sound when he breathed and she couldn't believe it. "Were you suffering from a case of the flu Nick?" Nick nodded.

He had not only suffered broken ribs, internal bleeding and Hypothermia, now she was suspecting that he had pneumonia too. They needed to take him up now.

"Here are the blankets." The officer handed her the blankets and she quickly wrapped them around him. "Officers, I need the two of you to sit close to him. He has hypothermia; we need to transfer your body heat to him." The officers didn't question her orders and did as told.

Julie got up and started radioing her medics. "Jack? We need to bring him up now. Are the firefighters here?"

Yes. We're preparing the stretcher now. What's the victim's status, over?

"21 year old male, suffering from probably three broken ribs, internal bleeding, second stage of hypothermia and first stage of pneumonia." Julie studied Nick's condition one more time and her heart sank. "And Jack, possibly a collapsed lung."

Stretcher is coming down as we speak. Julia, remember, no large movements. Ask the officer to help you move him. Secure victim with the planks, he's coming up vertically, we can't afford to drop him.

"Roger that, out!"

Julia knelt down next to Nick again; he was looking at her with fear in his eyes.

"I'm sorry I can't give you anything to make the pain go away, but I promise you we will be getting out of here in no time. Kevin and the rest are okay. They're waiting for you up there, please don't close your eyes okay?"

Nick nodded his head but his face was blank. He was beginning to space out.

"The stretcher's here, need our help?" Another police officer offered. Julia noticed that the two bad guys were handcuffed and placed at a far distance from them.

"Make sure he doesn't bleed to death, I want him in court for what he did to these people." Julia said, referring to the injured man who was shot. She saw the stretcher already laid out next to Nick.

"Okay Nick, let's get you out of this mess."

ררררר

When they told us that the paramedics were clear to take off, I insisted that we wait for Nick. AJ had come around minutes later and although still semi-conscious, managed to beg the paramedics to let us wait for him.

"You don't understand, we would be at rest if we see him." Kevin explained to Daniel.

"Besides, it's not going to take long, they're bringing him up as we speak, please wait for a while." Howie added.

I saw the look of resignation on the paramedic's face. "All right, but you have to promise me that you're not going to get down from this van."

We nodded our heads. We'll see, I can't promise anything.

"Brian, is your head okay? I think you can lie down now, since we're making a move in a few minutes." Daniel asked me. Is he kidding? Now that Nick was coming out, no way was I going to lie down. Talk about stupid timing.

"No, I'm fine."

"Well, if you say so. I was thinking that this van was too crowded and maybe if you lie down in the next ambulance, you will share it with Nick." Daniel said. My eyes became wide all of a sudden. Now he tells me!

"Er, on second thought, maybe I should give the lie down a try."

"I thought so too." Daniel said. "Okay, follow me down; I'll get you to another medic."

We were about to get down when I saw them wheeling Nick to the ambulance next to us. I couldn't really see him but I knew that he was in good hands.

"He's here!" I cried. AJ got up immediately. Daniel didn't even argue and helped him instead. The stretcher reached us and stopped. Nick was awake.

"I promised him that he'd get to see you guys before we took him off." Julia explained.

He couldn't speak because of the oxygen mask they had him on, but we knew that he was glad to see us. AJ leaned nearer and we ended up in a group hug. For the first time that day, the Backstreet Boys were reunited although for a short while.

"We will be all right boys, it's all over." Kevin whispered to us. I hoped he was right.

Seconds later, I was brought to the next ambulance with Nick. Separated once again from the other three. As I lay next to him in the ambulance, the dizzy spells returned. I managed to hold his hand before I felt an oxygen mask covering half of my face and I drifted into emptiness once again.

Emptiness and loneliness is a very scary place to be. I just wish if I ever woke up again, that my brothers would still be there with me.