International Rescue: The Next Phase


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Re: The Call Goes Out [message #295 is a reply to message #294] Mon, 23 July 2012 19:40 Go to previous messageGo to previous message
Tikatu is currently offline  Tikatu
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The dull throbbing pain that had seemed so distant was now annoying her to the point of waking her up.

Why am I hurting like this? And where are my covers? It's so cold in here.

Elise's eyes slowly opened to a fading light. Unsure of her surroundings, she became confused. Trying to focus was one thing, but trying to do it while your face was throbbing was another. She started to reach for covers that weren't there, and caused pain to shoot through her side. Cursing under her breath she was now able to establish that her room was in fact the interior of a helicopter. She looked around, not seeing much as the fading light was beginning to cloud everything in darkness. Slowly moving her hands, she realised how cold she was; her fingers felt numb and now that she was awake, she had started to shiver. She had slumped against the side of the fuselage upon impact, still wearing her seat belt. She tried to pull herself up, wincing as more pain radiated through her right side.

The earlier events of that day started to trickle back into her brain. Suddenly, she remembered she had a passenger on board.

"Mr. Tracy? Are you there? Mr. Tracy?"

Struggling to pull up, she managed to undo her seat belt and lean forward enough to get her legs under her. The rear of the cabin was silent. She slowly started to make her way back towards where Jeff was supposed to have been sitting. Every breath she took was becoming increasingly difficult. The descending, cold night air was burning in her lungs and intensified the pain she felt. Realising she might have broken ribs, or worse, Elise stopped to rest for a few seconds. She needed to get to Jeff, make sure he was all right and then needed to call for help. It was then she thought about the emergency kit. Stowed in a cupboard between the pilot's seat and the first of the passenger seats, the kit had medical supplies, thermal blankets, and a flashlight.

Elise crawled slowly over the wrecked interior of the chopper until she located the cupboard. Feeling around in the dark was no fun but she managed to pull the kit free, along with the blankets. Pulling it open, she found the flashlight and said an immediate prayer of thanks because it illuminated the entire cabin. Looking around she saw an entire seat section and part of an outside door wedged into the far side of the fuselage. Underneath that was the body of Jeff Tracy.

Oh God... he can't be... no... He can't... Mumbling to herself between painful breaths, Elise scrambled as best she could over to where her boss lay unmoving.

Fumbling with numb fingers, she reached under the seat to grab his hand, feeling for a pulse. Her hand hit his watch as she moved her fingers around and finally she located one, weak but steady. She knew she wouldn't be able to move the door, and her survival training told her she needed to leave the patient be and stabilize him as best as possible.

Sounds great in theory. she thought to herself, but I've never actually had to practice it until now.

Gently calling his name and getting no response, she leaned over and saw how grave he looked.

"Oh damn, he's really in a bad way."

Holding the flashlight upon his face, Elise saw how cold and stone grey in color he was. Dried blood had formed on the right side of his temple and down his face. His breathing, or what she could make of it, was shallow. His lips were blue. Frantically grabbing for the thermal blankets she hastily shoved them under the door and working without looking, she wrapped him with them, making them as snug as possible. They were designed to immediately start giving off heat when the material came into contact with a live body. It wasn't much, but hopefully it would help him. Elise then found the jacket that he'd taken off and folded it around his head. She didn't want to move anything in case of a spinal injury, but thought it might help him.

"Mr. Tracy? Can you hear me? Wake up!" It's so damn cold in here! Her shivering continued and her hands were now feeling the effects of the cold. Radio...I've got to call for help!

All she could now think about was heading back over the wreckage towards the control panel. Her lungs burning, her side aching, she all but passed out before she made it back to her seat. Struggling for each breath, she lifted the radio microphone and spoke,

"Mayday! Mayday! This is Tracy Chopper One, we're down, need help, over?"

Static was her reply. "Mayday! Tracy Chopper One down, need immediate help, over?"

More static. Closing her eyes, Elise prayed that someone out there knew they had gone down. Trying again, she spoke into the radio,

"Mayday! Mayday! We are critical! Need help!"

It was no use, no strength of signal could be transmitted and deep down, Elise knew it. It didn't stop her from one more try though.

"Mayday! Please someone help us!"

The last was more of a plea than a standard call for rescue. Dropping the radio she looked over at Jeff. He hadn't moved.
"Please don't die, Mr. Tracy, please don't die." Elise leaned back and breathed painfully slow breaths and closed her eyes. She just needed a few minutes rest.

xxxx

Alan Tracy was bored. His feet planted on the table and the rest of him leaning back in a chair, he was killing time by flipping through one of the numerous car-racing magazines he'd brought up to Thunderbird 5 with him. He could hear the monitors in the background humming along and picking up transmissions. Nothing of importance had come across in quite a while. He had just reached the pages of luscious models draping their forms all over various sports cars, when he heard the automatic locator go off. Jumping up, magazine momentarily forgotten, Alan noticed that it was an emergency locator signal.

"That's odd, a distress call from...Dad? What's up with that?" He continued to monitor it for a few moments, noticing that the signal was stable and not moving in any direction. No other signals were transmitting.

"I'd better call Scott."

Scott and Dianne were in the lounge once more, trying not to look anxious about Jeff missing his call home, but each knowing the other was worried. Alan's portrait started flashing, causing Dianne, who'd been standing by the window, to whirl round. Scott's eyes immediately flew to the portrait.

"Thunderbird 5 calling Base."

"Go ahead Alan! What have you got?"

"I'm not sure, Scott. The automatic locator picked up an emergency distress signal." Scott and Dianne exchanged worried glances.

"Go on, Alan," encouraged Scott.

"Well, I'm not sure, but it seems it's Dad's signal. Isn't he on his way home yet?"

"No, not yet."

Alan knew something was wrong by the look on his brother's face. "Scott, have you heard from Dad? Did he call yet?"

Alan was starting to worry now, and it was Dianne who answered his question.

"No, Alan, we haven't heard from your father."

All three of them then looked at each other in horrified silence as the inevitable thoughts crossed their minds.

Post by FrankieCTB2 on 01/07/2004

Jeff heartbeat Dianne plain My IR:TNP OTP!

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