Samaritan X (Chapter Two)

(Continued from Chapter One...)

The two running boys, checking out the commotion but not fully aware of what’s happening, continue along the side of the pool till they come across Franks gun belt lying on the deck. The boys stop suddenly and look at each other, and then look to the other side of the pool where Frank is.  They look down at the belt and notice a radio, handcuffs, a spray bottle, and the gun.  One of the boys kneels down on the wet deck and examines the gun handle.

“Should I?” Says the first boy.

The second boy looking across the pool at the commotion.

“Uh, What are you doing?”

“It’s a gun. A real gun.”

The boys look back at Frank again, nervously.

“Umm…Pick it up then, I dare ya.”

Both boys look back down at the gun and nervously stare at it, deciding if they can get away with holding it or not.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the pool…

“Come on Amy, Breath!”

Said Matthew as he holds his daughters hand.

Frank and the lifeguard continue to position Amy parallel to the pool for CPR. Frank removes her life jacket as the lifeguard starts pumping her tiny chest.

“Put your hand under her neck and hold her head back, and make sure there is nothing in her mouth, I mean clean out her airway.” The lifeguard instructs Matt.

“She’s not breathing!” Says Matt excitedly.

Matt starts to shake her a little to try and get her to come back.

“Don’t shake her!” Frank said abruptly. “You can damage her insides by shaking her too much, especially when her body is duress.

Frank leans down and breathes into Amy’s mouth while the lifeguard continues to count out.

“1,2,3,4…breathe…”

So peaceful with her head down and glossy eyes with the continued jerking motion on Amy as Frank continues to breathe life back into her.  Matthew continues to hold his only daughters hand and speaks words of encouragement to her.  Everything seems to move in slow motion as Matt waits very patiently for his little girl to show some sign of life.

“C’monnn.” Matt says under his breath.

The lifeguard still pushing her chest in and out, not missing a beat, shows no sign of giving up.  Frank continues to breathe for Amy as he tries to comfort her.  Matt puts his head down to his knee as if to offer a little prayer for his daughter.

Meanwhile at the pool house door, the unknown man, still clutching his raincoat with the towel over his head, makes his way outside the door.  As his head begins to clear up a little, he is able to focus on the little girl lying on the deck on the other side of the pool.  A growing look of concern grows over his face, and then a sudden urge and need to help her overwhelms him, not understanding at the moment why he feels this way.  He grabs the doorway and continues along the wall to the fence.  He clutches the fence with his fingers and takes a deep breath.  He continues to stumble his way along the fence towards the other side of the pool where Amy lies.

Frank looks around and sees the fear and anticipation in everyone’s eyes, as they cry for her.  Matt still holds his daughters hand while he whispers to her.

“Come on Amy, breath, please. One breath for the old man? One breath.”

Frank stands up and wipes his face on his sleeve, unable to hold it together anymore. 

“I’ll go get my radio and call for an ambulance.”

Frank runs back to the direction of the shower house along the opposite side of the pool as the man, still unaware of his existence.  As Frank approaches his radio, he notices the kids playing around with his gun belt.

“Oh my god. Hey kids! What are you doing with that?!”

“N-Nothing sir!” As the boys freeze with startlement.

As they stand up, one of them, without thinking, picks the gun up with him.  As Frank nears, he instructs the boy to drop the gun.  The boy freezes, not knowing what to do.  Frank, running, reaches to the boy with his hand out.

“Give me the gun, son.”

The boy begins to cry in fear.

“I was just looking at it”

The boy reaches out his hand with gun and gives it to Frank, but the gun slips out of the boy’s wet fingers and falls to the ground.  The gun bounces off the belt and lands on the concrete, discharging a loud, ear-piercing shot that is heard through the whole park.  Everyone, including the lifeguard, jumped to the sound.  The boys freeze and drop to the ground in fright.

“You OK!?” Frank asks.

The boys nod their heads, crying.  Frank, shaken a bit, bends down and picks up the gun and releases the chamber to safe the gun then puts the safety on and slides it back in the holster. He continues to put his belt on, grabbing his radio in the process.

“10 to dispatch.”

Frank grabs the boys by the arm and drags them to a bench and forcefully sits them down.

“You boys stay there, and I mean it!”

<“Go ahead 10.>” As the dispatcher replies to Franks call.

“We have a 901b at the Riverbend pool. A little girl about 5 or 6 years, still resuscitating.”

Frank continues to yell at the boys.

“What the hell are you doing?! You can kill somebody.”

“<Roger, 10. Do you need assistance?>”

“I can handle the situation, but she still isn’t breathing on her own. Lifeguard is still resuscitating, over.”

After a brief pause he continues…

“Just get the ambulance. over”

Frank points his radio to the boys.

“You stay there till I come and get you. Understood?!”

The boys, too scared to cry anymore, just shake their heads.  Frank finishes buckling his belt and heads back towards Amy.

“<Understood 10, Ambulance has been dispatched, code 3.>”

“10-4” Frank acknowledges.

As he runs back towards Amy, he notices the man clutching the fence near Amy’s position from the opposite direction. 

“What the hell?!” Frank says, puzzled.

Surprised and curious, Frank puts his radio away and makes his way in the direction of the man.  Frank looks back to check on the boys.

The man falls from the fence to his knees and begins to crawl towards Amy.  Matt raises his head to the sound of clashing fence.  He sits in startlement at the man’s appearance.

“What the…?”

“Is there something wrong?” asks the lifeguard.

“Look!” Matt said.

Matt points to the man.  The lifeguard and Matt look at each other in puzzlement.  Matt turns around and looks for Frank, and notices Frank is already on his way to intercept the man.   Frank double-times it when he notices the man crawling towards Amy.  Matt lets go of Amy’s hand and pulls the towel from around the lifeguards neck, rolls it up and places it under her head.  As Matt stands up, he slips and falls on his shoulder. Matt rolls over and tries to regain his balance and looks at the man crawling to Amy.

“Who are you?”

The man is only about 5 feet from Amy, when Matt crawls to him and tries to pull him away.

“Who are you, get away from her?”

Matt’s hands slip off the man’s greasy and burnt leg.  Another patron starts to grab the man’s leg when Frank arrives.  By that time, the man falls towards Amy and lays his hand on her chest.  The lifeguard burns her fingers as she tries to grabs the man’s hand, and pulls away quickly.  A white, milky substance begins to excrete from the man’s hand.  The smell of ammonia and burnt hair off the man stops everyone in their tracks, including the lifeguard, to observe this phenomenon.  Everyone is in silence. As the man takes his hand off Amy’s chest, the white goo begins to boil away, her veins turn a shade of white and pulsates for an instance, and then her chest muscle spasms.  As she chokes, she spits out the emerald pool water from her lungs.  The man falls back to the fence, and clutches it, shaking. Amy rolls onto her side and grabs Matt’s hand.

“Daddy!”

“I’m here sunshine. I’m here.” Matt says as he stares back at the man.

The lifeguard stands and puts her hand on Matt’s shoulder.  Matt grabs her hand and thanks her.  By that time the ambulance is heard entering the park, sirens wailing.  Frank kneels and shakes Matt’s hand then turns to look at the man.  Everyone stares in silence at the naked man, never have witnessed anything like this before.  Frank holds out his hand and walks towards the man.

“We’re not going to hurt you.  What’s your name?”

The man closes the raincoat and pulls it tight around him after noticing everyone staring at his naked, burnt body.

“She’s going to be fine, thanks to you. Who are you, a-and what you, um, W-what did you do?

The man rubs his shaking fingers over the name badge while staring at the little girl.

     “J-Joe.” The man says in a raspy voice.

     “Joe. Is that your name, Joe?” Frank says.

Just then, a little boy is screaming from the other side of the pool.

     “Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!”

Everyone’s heart stops as they look to the other side of the pool and see a boy shaking his mother as she lies on a blanket.

     “Oh no, now what!” Franks says with justified concern.

Frank looks at JOE, as if he was going to say something, but then just leaves.  Joe begins to follow.

“Will you be alright with her while I go see what’s happening?” The lifeguard asks Matt.

“Yea, yes. Go ahead.”

As Frank reaches the screaming boy, he notices a woman on a blanket, just lying there.  Frank drops to his knees and grabs the woman’s arm and shakes her a little.  She doesn’t respond. One of the patrons grabs a towel and puts it under her head.

     “What wrong with Mommy?” The little boy says as he hugs her other arm rocking back and forth.

Franks notices something on the boy’s hand.

     “What is that on your hand, son?”

The boy drops his mothers arm and looks at his hands.  Just then the lifeguard arrives and grabs the boy’s hands.  She looked at Frank and knew instantly what it was.  Frank grabbed the woman and rolled her over as the lifeguard kept the boy from looking. There is a gunshot in her chest, through her back, and is bleeding badly.  The towel is soaked, and she is not breathing. The lifeguard gives the boy to the patron and asks him to take the boy away. “He continues to scream for his mother.

<to be continued…>