Chapter 1
I had never taken college seriously. We went to the same classes for four months. With the same brainless students. To see the same idiot professors.
If this was really what life was supposed to be like after high school, count me out. This wasn’t going to be the rest of my life.
I could get used to the endless meetings and having to follow guidelines. But dealing with countless idiots every day wouldn’t be how I chose to spend my life.
Maybe it was my major? Pre-Med was supposed to be where the smart kids were. Not the soul sucking spawns of the devil. But here we are 8 years later… there had been idiots in every class.
“Marley, are you still game for our trip this weekend?” An arm slipped around my waist as he spoke.
“Of course Carter. Why wouldn’t I be? 60 whole hours of watching my architect fiance build the tree house of his dreams? Sign me up.” I laughed as he kissed my jaw.
“Hey, it’ll be our perfect get away next year. With you as an intern and me starting at the firm, we will need all the breaks we can get.” Pulling his arm back, he stepped away. “Besides, what better way to show off what we’ve learned. I’m bound to hurt myself.”
“If you do it on purpose, I’ll refuse to touch you. I’ll say it’s out of my scope and just call it a day.” My phone vibrated a second before the alarm sounded. It’s noon. Time to make my way across campus.
We officially graduate today. There were no more classes. No more idiot students.
Just real patients. Real lives on the line.
Starting on Monday, everything was different.
The auditorium was filled with students and families. Excitement buzzing through the room. We were done. Finally done.
“Marley!” I scanned the room but knew who I would find.
Andrea Slater was waving so frantically it looked like her arm might fall off. Beside her, her twin brother Andrew, looked like he would die of embarrassment. The twins took the top two spots in our class but couldn’t be more different.
“Hey Double A! Are we ready for this?”
“Not you too.” Andrew drug a hand down his face. “That makes us sound like some damn batteries. You all need to get more creative.”
“We’re med students. If we get more creative you’ll be referred to as some kind of rare disease process.”
“Better than a battery.” Andrew groaned.
“Oh it’s not that bad.” Andrea had always liked it. Then again, she was always a cheery person.
“Right, just because you’re older doesn’t mean you get to decide this.”
“It absolutely does. Just ask mom.”
“Should I break out the ouija board or do you have a more direct way to contact her?”
“Andrew I swear.” Andrea threw her hands in the air and stalked down the hall.
“She seems to be in a perfect mood for today.”
“Tomorrow is the anniversary of the wreck. Meaning Monday is the anniversary of the funeral.” Andrew threw his arm around my shoulders. “She’s also off of her meds again.”
“So you all aren’t coming to the tree house ceremony thing this weekend?”
“Oh we wouldn’t miss it. Daniel and Soph will be with us. Should keep Andrea occupied enough.”
“How’s it going with Soph? Thought they were over.”
“Back and forth. She’s coming to attempt to fix things. Daniel is coming along to make sure they don’t kill each other. Apparently as the brothers of the world’s most unstable couple we should try to keep them alive.”
“I’ve never been happier to only have brothers in my life.”
We sat through a two hour speech from our valedictorian. Immediately followed by names being read off a sheet in the single most monotone voice I had ever heard in my life.
Instead of heading back to my seat, I exited the auditorium and made a straight line back to my apartment.
Carter had missed the official graduation, so there was little to stick around for. I wouldn’t give my parents the opportunity to make today about them. They could celebrate my graduation without me. Like they did every other accomplishment in my life.
After a hot shower, I dressed in shorts and a tank top. Choosing to feel clean sheets on freshly shaved legs instead of sweats. I had ten hours before it was a weekend of tents and candle light with a group of architects that I can’t stand.
The front door opened and closed as I pulled the blanket over my shoulders. Carter was home. I would either fake sleep now or listen to hours of him rambling about the construction plans.
It had been months of planning to get to this phase. You would think he was over talking about it. But no. Last week things had gotten worse instead of better.
“Mars, you awake?” He spoke softly as he entered the room. I rolled on to my side. Eyes closed and hoping it would be enough. “Asleep already.” He lightly kissed my forehead. “Sleep well my love. You have three days of crazy coming.”
Hearing him confirm the insanity only made me less interested in it. I always looked forward to our trips out of town. But we were planning for 30 people. In tents. In the woods.
That wasn’t something I wanted to do. Especially when they are all broke college students and recent graduates. They always have so many questions.
It felt like minutes but must have been hours. I rolled over to find Carter asleep beside me. His alarm blaring beside him. Why he set them if they never worked was a mystery that seemed to be never ending.
“Carter.” I shoved his shoulder. When he didn’t move I shoved him again. He still didn’t respond. “Great. How late were you up?”
I rolled out of bed to turn his alarm off. He still hadn’t moved. Staying in this room would end in a fight when it inevitably went off again and did nothing to wake him up.
Two cups of coffee and a two egg omelet later, he was still in bed. Sleeping the morning away that he was so set on spending getting loaded and on the road.
I had just turned the news on when he strolled in.
“Morning.” He said through a yawn.
“Look at you! Finally up and in the world of the living.”
“Very funny.” He poured a cup of coffee and leaned against the counter. The first sip seemed to answer whatever call his soul put out to the universe, because a moment later his eyes were open and he seemed ready to go. “Right. It’s late. We have to get moving.”
“All my stuff is by the door.” I placed my plate in the sink beside the skillet. “You’re the one who decided to sleep in.”
“If you hadn’t pushed me out of bed twice last night…”
“Just go pack the car. No need for excuses.”
I turned back to the news to avoid the eye roll.
“A wave of illness is sweeping across the west coast this week. We are urging you to seek medical attention at the first signs of illness.” The news reporter said. She looked pale. Almost like she needed attention herself. “The illness appears to resemble food poisoning that progresses to influenza, but authorities are wanting to contain it as quickly as possible.”
Last time it was a salmonella outbreak. What would it be this time?
I switched off the T.V. as Carter took the last bag out the door. He had gotten the car packed really quickly for being half asleep still.
“Right, I just need to use the bathroom and I’m ready to go.” He kissed me quickly before taking off down the hallway.
Checking my bag one more time, I slid sunglasses onto my face and walked out the door.
“Dammit.” No wonder it hadn’t taken very long. “Morning.”
“Oh, hey.” Sage barely looked in my direction. The princess of their firm. She was a year ahead of Carter and seemed to get everything she wanted.
“Marley, hey there gorgeous.” The next face was Damon. How he was single was a mystery. Handsome, friendly and had a dog? Clearly none of the girls he had been interested in were intelligent.
“Good morning Damon. Where’s Scout? Or did he not make the cut this time?” I looked around trying to find the pitt bull boxer mix that always came with us.
We had been scouting for locations for weeks. Each time, Scout had been with us. Keeping me company and providing much needed warmth through the nights.
“He’s not with us this weekend. Figure since we are actually building the foundation he should be boarded. Makes it easier on everyone.” Damon simply shrugged and opened the door to the RV.
“An RV? Is there a reason for such luxury?”
“We got a great deal and Carter wanted to make sure you actually enjoyed this weekend. We all know this isn’t your thing. But you come because of us. We wanted to show you that we appreciate it.”
“Right. I’ll be keeping an eye on you.” I threw myself on the bed at the end of the RV and waited for the rest of the crew.
Andrew was the first to join me. Laying beside me, lacing our fingers and squeezing for just a second. We were counting down the minutes until this actually started. Until the RV moved and we were stuck with 28 other people who had no idea what boundaries were or why they were important.
We would spend almost three days fighting against that. For a moment of peace.
“An RV? Did he finally learn that maybe you don’t want to sleep on the ground?” Andrea took the spot on the other side of me. Resting her head on my shoulder.
“No idea. But I’m thankful for it.”
“You two. Out.” Carter stood at the door. “I get time with my girl before we don’t get to be alone for days.”
“Oh gross.” A shiver rolled down Andrea’s spine as she got up out of bed. I reached out for Carter.
The smile across my face was the last thing Andrew saw before he pulled the door closed behind him.
We spent hours in the bedroom before finally opening the door. We had made some progress on the trip. Damon had taken over driving. There was a girl sitting beside him I didn’t know the name of. She worked with them, but had only been there a couple of weeks.
“How long?” I asked as soon as I was in ear shot. Sneaking up on conversations with this group was not on my list of things to do ever again.
“Still up and walking around huh?” Andrew laughed from somewhere behind me.
Asshole.
“Three hours according to GPS.” Damon turned his head slightly in my direction.
“Oh perfect. Just enough time to nap by myself.”
“Right. Nap. OK.” I didn’t have to see his face to see the smile. The same one he always gave. Magnetic but half hearted.
“The fun part is over already. It’ll actually be a nap.” I turned and made my way back to the bedroom. Carter was already asleep, shirt off and covers resting on his hips.
Would he have more scars after this weekend? Would he manage to make it out unharmed? At least we have three doctors and a well stocked medical bag.
Well… two doctors and a surgeon. I may have picked the best specialty to be constantly involved in weekends like this.
The rest of the drive passed quickly even though I couldn’t sleep. The stress of Monday was already weighing on me. We were facing some kind of weird infection and of course I would be starting at a level one trauma center. We got everything. From critical care to whiners in the ER.
I pulled the med bag toward me and started organizing again. Someone had added more to it. There was little chance we needed all of this.
The door slid open and Andrea poked her head in. “Oh a goodie bag.” She squatted down beside me to look through it with me. “At least for you all. I matched ID. I don’t need sutures to tell someone they have a rare infection.”
“I thought you were excited?”
“I actually am. I’m just nervous. We got our DEA numbers. We are officially on the line. For every call we make.”
“We are. But we are also students. We are interns. No one is going to hand us a life threatening case and expect us to know what to do.” Shaking my head I finally looked up. “Besides, if they expect us to treat someone that’s dying the worst we can do is speed it up.”
She shoved at me before sitting beside me. “That’s true. And most of our patients are a lost cause anyway. You matched surgery right?”
“Sure did. Not sure how exactly to feel about it right now though. Because why would you want a traumatized surgeon treating traumatized patients.”
“It’s perfect actually. You understand the feelings. Maybe not the situation. But the feelings. You know what it feels like to be dying. For the doctor treating you to be the deciding factor.” She snaked an arm around me, pulling me against her. “You have Double A in your corner though. No matter what.”
“Stop volunteering me for things.” Andrew yelled from somewhere on the other side of the door.
We both laughed. He knew he would go along with whatever we wanted. We had been AMA since freshman year of undergrad. The team that could make anything happen with the acronym doctors hated most.
“Can we talk though? Like relationship stuff when we get to the site and the non medical crew fucks off?”
“Of course.”
“Buckle up. Headed off the road now.” Damon’s voice came over the speakers. Apparently they had gone all out for this RV.
“Here we go.” Standing up, I pulled Andrea through the door and onto the couch with me. Sophia and Daniel sat with Andrew. All three looked miserable.
This was the start of a beautiful adventure.
It took four hours for the first injury. That’s it. Four whole hours of men in their 20s to be victims of their own impatience. That might have been a record. Generally Carter and Damon are bleeding in less than two.
“I don’t see bone. It’s a fairly clean cut. Back to the RV. I’ll clean it and stitch it up. You’ll want it covered for the rest of the weekend.” Andrew held up Carter’s calf a little higher. “Actually you’ll want to not put weight on it for at least a few hours. Marley, what do we have for numbing him up?”
“Honeslty? Probably nothing. Welcome to emergency medicine. Your rotation starts before your badge even works.” I turned my focus back to Damon who was bleeding in front of me. “You’ll need the hand covered. We need to throw a stitch or two in your finger, but you got lucky.”
“Lucky? You had to pull a nail out of my hand Marley.”
“And Carter got hit with falling metal. He won’t walk right for at least a week. Luck.” He laughed as we made our way back to the RV.
I wish those were the only two injuries. But they weren’t. Carter had gotten back up and tried to help again. He got a concussion and three stitches to the back of his head for his trouble. Two of the other guys had to be taken to a hospital. One probably lost a couple fingers.
They really didn’t need to drink and play with tools. But I guess only 5 of them needing to be stitched up was a good thing. However this really was only the first day.
“Andrea back yet?”
“No,s he took those two idiots back into town.” She had volunteered. Apparently they wanted to be escorted by a doctor and she doesn’t handle all the blood very well.
“Right. Well she should be back soon then yea?”
“Any time now as long as there wasn’t traffic or something.”
“Marley, you really know how to comfort a sibling. You know that right?”
“You think you would have noticed that already. You’ve known me for what, eight years? How often has anyone from my family come around?”
He laughed as he finished reorganizing the medical bag.
“Mar, my head is killing me.” Carter’s voice barely carried from the bedroom.
“It should be. That was like half a trunk that hit you.” As he came into view, his color was terrible. He needed to drink something and probably eat. “Look at me.” I looked between his eyes. Looking for any sign it was worse than we thought.
“Blame Blake.” He groaned.
“Or I blame you and this wild idea. At least you all have managed the foundation floor today though. Regardless of the amount of blood it costs.”
“Meaning we can move up there tomorrow. Sleep on the air mattresses in the trees. We can get the rails and roof up and it’ll be perfect.” He grabbed my wrist and pulled me on to the bed beside him.
“I need you to stay awake for a little bit longer my love. You can’t sleep just yet.”
“Buzz kill.”
“I would rather be a buzz kill than your murderer because I overlooked a more serious injury.”
“You would never hurt me. Well… in ways I don’t like.”
“Kill me now.” Andrew sighed.
This weekend would absolutely be something to remember.
