Chapter Text
Prologue
Blood dribbled down the prep surface as the patient the 126 was forced to treat was sitting up. A gun poised in their faces, the 126 dare not move. The other two bad guys, guns also on the EMS crew.
“We need to get out of here.” The large injured man growled out.
“What about them?” The woman next to him asks.
Tommy glanced around the room. This room used to be a room of comfort and familiarity now the comfort was replaced by fear, the familiarity replaced by a feeling of being in a prison. Her gaze falls to her team. T.K looked dazed from the hit on the head. Fear was swimming in Nancy’s eyes. Tommy’s own heart was pounding in her ears. The only thing her mind was thinking about were her daughters. She had to get back to them. She had to do whatever it took.
“Shoot them.” The leader instructed.
Tommy knew she needed to come up something quick if she wanted to deter their plan.
“You still need medical attention.” Tommy states.
The man studied the tube in his chest.
“Fine.” He points the gun at Nancy. “Let’s go.”
“That’s not how that works.” Tommy interrupts him. “Look, we all know what you look like, what van you drive. Your DNA is all over us. Even if you kill two of us, you’re still all over us. There’s no way that you can clean that up in time. So, you have to take all of us.”
The man pondered on what Tommy had just told him. He was quiet for a moment.
“Fine.” He says again, he uses the gun to gesture at them. “Each of you grab one.”
He points the gun at Tommy.
“Knock your friends out.” He instructs her.
Tommy wordlessly knelt down by her med bag. She could feel the cold barrel of the gun up against her head. She opens the bag and takes out two syringes and a vile of medicine. She starts with TK. He had a dazed and far away look in his eyes. She fills the syringe with a dose of sedative that would knock him out. She tilts his chin up so he was looking into her eyes. Out of his line of sight, she carefully inserted the syringe into his arm. The medicine began to work almost instantly as T.K’s eyes dropped. It was Nancy’s turn next.
She grabs the clean syringe and fills it with medicine. She kneels in front of the trembling paramedic. Nancy always spoke with her eyes, now her dark brown expressing the fear that coursing through all of them. Putting her hand on top of Nancy’s, she inserts the syringe into her arm. A twinge of pain flashes in Nancy’s eyes.
“Now you.” The man behind said.
“If we’re all unconscious, no one can help you if that tube slips or you crash again.” Tommy tells him not turning to look at him.
She felt the gun nudge the back of his head.
“Then get up.” He growls are her.
She slowly stood up and turned to face him. His eyes were almost black, she could see the evil in them. He stood only a foot away from her, Tommy could smell the chemicals wafting off him. He smiles at her.
“This one’s pretty.” He says.
Tommy felt her stomach twist and turn as he smiled at her. She didn’t like what that meant for her.
“Let’s go!” He commands his crew.
Tommy watched as the other guy pulled up T.K. T.K’s body limply came up off the ground. The guy grips under his arm pits and slides T.K from the room. The girl did the same for Nancy. Tommy watches as her team are dragged from the room.
“Now.” The man said. “It’s just you and me.”
He places his lips on hers briefly. Tommy felt his lips against hers and wanted nothing more than to fight him but she couldn’t. Not when there were two innocent lives on the line.
“Lets go.” He commands her.
She picks up the med bag and walks quietly out of the room, leaving the bloody restaurant behind.
—911LS—
Three years later.
The sun beat down on T.K’s head as he wandered down the street. Sweat dripped down his back as he tried to figure out where he was. None of the street signs he passed were familiar to him. His body shook with every step he took. The buildings around him swirled together. His lungs were burning. He wasn’t sure how long he had been walking. He wasn’t sure of much of anything.
The passage of time had changed for him. He had no idea how long it had been since he had felt safe. Since he had any sense of normalcy. The memories he had of those times were distant and far away. Most of them lost to him. There were some memories he always hung onto and used them as life preserver to keep him from drowning. Those were memories of his father and of Carlos. T.K had hung onto the memories. He used them to keep warm when the world was cold.
Turning onto a road, he sees the familiar logo of a fire station. That became his new goal. He approaches the building. He can see the numbers 118 on that building. Those numbers were vaguely familiar. He approaches the building. There was a blond man shingling the caps on the later truck. T.K approached him.
“Excuse me.” T.K says quietly.
The man turns around to face T.K. There was something oddly familiar about this man.
“I think I need help.”
That was the last thing T.K remembered saying before his legs gave out from under him. He felt his body crashing into the blond man who had caught him as he fell. He hears muffled voices calling for help. Blurry figures behind filling his vision.
“Help.” T.K whispered as his vision was swallowed by blackness.
—911LS—
“I need help out here!” Buck yells into station 118.
Buck had just been shining the hubcaps of the fire truck when a very skinny man had approached him. The man had pale skin and bloodshot eyes. His whole body shook. Before Buck could say anything, the man had collapsed. Buck had dove and caught him.
Hen and Bobby rush out when hearing Buck’s call for help. They see the man slumped into Buck’s arms. Hen goes into paramedic mode and starts accessing the situation.
“Where do I know this guy from?” Buck asks.
Hen cuts his shirt off. Buck was utterly shocked at what he saw. This man was skin and bones. His rib cage jutted out from his chest. His stomach was non-existent, just sinking into his chest. On his shoulder Buck notices a faded firefighter tattoo with the numbers 126 in the center.
“It’s him.” Buck says. “It’s T.K Strand. He was one of the missing medical team from the station out in Texas.”
“Buck, That was three years ago.” Bobby tells him. “And in Texas. The likelihood of this being him.”
“I know it’s not likely, but it’s him Bobby.” Buck insists.
“Whoever he is, he needs a hospital.” Hen said. “He’s hanging on by a thread.”
Together, the three firefighters loaded the man into the ambulance. Buck felt a connection to him, something told him to stay with him. Hen and Buck get in the back of the ambulance while Bobby jumps up front.
Buck held T.K’s hand as Hen worked on him, not there was much she could do for him. T.K’s eyes cracked open.
“Hey,” Buck says gently. “We got you. You’re okay. What’s your name?”
“T.K.” T.K eeks out just above a whisper.
Just as soon as he woke up, he passed out again.
“Someone needs to call Austin FD.” Hen says.