The Road Home by Clifford Beck - HTML preview

Chapter 12

With classes ending for the day, the six friends met in front of the campus center. They routinely met there, so they could carpool home and after waiting for the entrance road to clear, Dave started his car and began the drive home. Pulling up behind him, Maya followed at a modest distance. With six people, it was determined that splitting the group into two cars was far safer than trying to stuff everyone into one. Thirty minutes later, both vehicles were parked in front of the tenement building as the roommates climbed the stairs, where they would take a brief rest before beginning their assignments. Dave, however, was not yet finished with the day's classes. Upon registering for his class in prosthetics, he realized that the class was full and was forced to take a night class. After an early dinner, he started down the stairs and went to his car, but soon noticed that he had been blocked in by a blue Ford. Frustrated, he approached the obstructing vehicle and tried to get the driver's attention. There was no response. With his frustration building, he stepped closer and, looking through the window, raised his voice, asking the driver to pull ahead. Still, the driver showed no response. Now, Dave was struck by a different feeling that maybe the driver had taken ill. With a closer examination, Dave noticed that the driver didn’t seem to be breathing, prompting him to open the door in an effort to help. Not only did the driver appear to be dead, but their skin was covered with raised bumps. He had no experience or training in healthcare but the horrific sight before him rang bells of alarm and, quickly turning away to call 911, he was struck by an oncoming car. Unable to stop in time, its front end shattered both of Dave’s knees. The momentum of the impact sent him careening forward, and in less than a fraction of a second his head plunged through the car’s windshield up to the tops of his ears. The sharpened edges of tempered glass severed both temporal arteries, and Dave bled to death on the car’s dashboard. His education had now been cut short. Had any one variable been different, he would have been on his to class. But some events, once set into motion, cannot be changed and Dave had become a victim not only of the driver’s inability to stop but of the outcome of decisions he was unaware of making.

From within the second-floor apartment, those closest to the front windows were jarred by the sound of Dave’s weight plummeting into the car’s hood. Getting to their feet, Maya, Jackson, and Aurora looked out at the horrifying sight of their friend’s body lying on the hood of a yellow Ford, his head still protruding through the windshield. Maya directed Aurora to call 911 as Nathan and Eli rushed out of their rooms, their attention captured by the sound of what had taken Dave’s life. With Aurora on the phone, the rest of the group ran down to the street, only to be stunned by the image of their friend’s traumatic demise. None had ever witnessed such tragedy and hopefully would never do so again. Aurora, still on her cell phone, ran down to the same sight, expressing her disbelief.

“Jesus Christ,” she screamed. “What happened?” With the exception of Maya, everyone drew a blank as others crowded around like vultures to a week-old carcass.

“Guys,” Maya said. “Everyone move back. Don’t touch him.”

Although she had no training as a first responder, her instincts kicked in and, rushing up to Dave, took his wrist, feeling for a pulse. She felt nothing. Maya didn’t have to be a doctor to recognize the sight of death, but she needed to be sure. Looking through the passenger’s window, she hoped to see at least some small sign of life but, instead, saw a thin ribbon of blood flowing slowly down his head. Now, the future attorney lost control as she beat her fist on the window, screaming for Dave to respond.

“Open your eyes! God-damn it, Dave, open your fucking eyes!”

Her eyes welled up and moments later Maya burst into tears as she continued her attempt to rouse Dave from his eternal slumber. The driver sat catatonic in his seat, knowing that he had just taken a life, but not yet absorbing its reality.

Soon, a siren could be heard in the distance, and quickly closing in approached the grizzly scene. The police arrived shortly after. Having stopped near the vehicle Dave’s body lay upon, paramedics jumped from the ambulance and making an examination of his body radioed to the fire department. Extrication would be needed to remove Dave’s body for treatment, should he still be alive. Walk over to the other car, one paramedic, whose name was Frank, looked at the driver and, with wide eyes, backed away. Although he had been trained to recognize what he saw, the paramedic had never seen that particular condition and was not about to touch the person whom he presumed deceased. Again, holding up the mica of his radio, he informed dispatch that the state CDC may have to be notified. His partner, Nolan, walked up to him and quietly engaged in conversation about the unfortunate fate of the student whose head was still lodged in the windshield.

“I think this guy’s dead.”

Frank, who initially examined Dave’s body, responded with something far more grim. “Yeah, but I think we have something a lot worse going on here. Look at this.”

Looking through the driver’s window, Nolan was both stunned and terrified by something he thought no longer existed. Stepping back, he spoke in a whisper so as not to alarm the surrounding crowd.

“Jesus Christ,” he said. “That can’t be what I think it is.”

Their faces had gone white with fear, both knowing that if they were right, the risk to the public could be catastrophic. Frank decided that trying to diagnose the driver’s condition was both pointless and beyond his job description. There was also an uncertainty about what they were seeing, but they also saw the need for caution. “It might be,” Frank replied. “But we can’t be sure, and it’s not up to us to figure it out.”

The fire department was just arriving on the scene and examining Dave’s body, covered him with a yellow tarp. The driver was so traumatized that he had to be carried out of his vehicle and laid on a stretcher. He would soon be taken to a local hospital. Almost as soon as the tarp was laid over Dave’s body, the remaining roommates burst into tears, begging the paramedics to continue checking for signs of life. Their hysterics were such that the police were forced to urge them back. Frank approached the officer and whispered in his ear, informing him of the danger that sat in the other car. This prompted the officer to urgently request backup, providing a special code used to describe similar situations. Two additional cars quickly appeared with lights and sirens. Together, the officers ordered the crowd to disperse, telling everyone to go to their homes. Although the five friends were also ordered inside, they insisted on staying with Dave—even at a distance. Two more officers stepped up and, with batons in hand, ordered once more to return inside. The seriousness of this unfortunate situation now battered its way into their minds as they hesitantly turned and began walking up the concrete steps leading into the hallway. Occasionally, they would glance back at the carnage that not long before was their close friend and roommate.

Climbing the stairs, they walked into their apartment and sitting in the living room quietly tried to fight the reality of their friend’s demise. But the approaching sirens of additional police cars finally pushed them into reality as questions began to arise.

“What are we going to do?!” Aurora asked. “I don’t know what to do!”

Aurora was beyond hysterical, but it was Maya who stepped in to console her in spite of being caught up in the same emotional state. Sometimes, words alone are not enough to soothe one's soul and in their stead, human nature dictates support through physical contact. Maya was quick to see that the only means of comfort was to simply hold her for as long as needed, for her emotions to exhaust her. Maya began gently rocking her slightly side-to-side as Aurora’s emotional turbulence slowly subsided into drowsiness, and soon drifted off to sleep. In order for her to be left undisturbed, Maya called everyone into the kitchen where they could continue their grief, and eventually talk about what had happened and what the next step should be. Maya was always seen as the strong one and volunteered to inform Dave’s parents of his passing. Struck with the anxiety of this impending conversation, Maya agreed and took some necessary time to prepare for the parent’s explosive denial. This would be the most difficult experience of her life.