Austin caught the boy’s hand in his. He was in sheer panic mode. His legs were kicking wildly, his wide eyes turned to Austin’s. This time Austin was more forceful. This time he pushed the mouthpiece right up to the boy’s mouth. Now, he understood. He made a grab for it and sucked in some air.
Austin turned his torch light on the drawstring of the shorts. He couldn’t believe they were caught so tightly. It seemed ridiculous but no matter how hard he tugged at them they wouldn’t free. What he really needed was a knife to cut the string, but since he was dressed in a wetsuit a knife was the last thing he had.
He started to feel the pressure on his lungs. He needed to breathe. The young boy was still panicking, so Austin shrugged off his oxygen tank and left him with it as he pushed to the surface.
‘Have you got him?’ Corrine screamed.
He nodded. ‘Just taking a breath. He’s caught. His shorts are tangled on the roller-coaster framework. I’ve given him my oxygen tank. Give me a few minutes to free him.’ He could see some of the lake first-aiders hurrying towards Corrine carrying a stretcher and some supplies. ‘He’s broken his arm. It looks nasty.’
Corrine nodded. ‘Just get him free. I’ll worry about the arm once we get him out.’
Austin took a deep breath and disappeared under the water again.
She watched him disappear with her heart in her mouth. She felt so useless. There was no boat to let her get out there to help. The lake staff had been notified about the accident and were responding quickly. But standing at the side of the lake, waiting for Austin to reappear, was making her antsy.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t capable. He’d already proved that. But she knew he’d handed his oxygen over to the kid and he was struggling to get him free. Part of her just wanted to dive into the lake to help. But she knew she would be more of a hindrance than a help.
Blair appeared at her side with the portable stretcher. ‘Ambulance is on its way. Is he unconscious?’
She shook her head. ‘Austin gave him his oxygen tank. He’s just trying to get him free.’
‘Thank goodness.’
It seemed as though minutes had passed—but they couldn’t have, because Austin would have had to come up for air. Or maybe he was sharing the tank with the boy?
Finally his head appeared in the water. He had the teenage boy in his arms.
Blair moved to the water’s edge. ‘Over here, Austin.’
Austin swam slowly, still cradling the boy in his arms. The teenage boy was sobbing, his head against Austin’s shoulder, and he made no effort to try and move himself. As soon as she set eyes on his arm she realised why.
The broken bone was clearly visible and the surrounding tissue completely damaged. The bone had erupted through the skin, leaving a wide-open tear. Compound fractures like this were always at a huge risk of infection. And in a lake like this? The very thought made her shudder. He needed out of there and careful treatment as soon as possible.
She gulped and started unpacking sterile dressings from the medical kit. As Austin approached the lake edge the boy flinched at Blair’s outstretched arms.
‘Don’t touch me! Don’t touch my arm.’
Austin paused. He was treading water just as she’d seen him do before, but this time he had a whole other person in his arms. The weight must be dragging him down. But he seemed cool and calm.
‘How do you want to do this?’ he directed towards her.
She leaned forward with Blair, both their arms in the water. ‘What’s your name?’ she called to the boy.
Austin repeated the question in his ear and the boy mumbled a response. ‘Mason. His name’s Mason.’
‘Mason, I’m Corrine Carter. I’m a doctor. We’re going to help you and as soon as we get you out of here I’ll give you something for that arm. Just hold it steady. I promise. We won’t touch it.’ She nodded towards Austin. ‘Can you boost him up a little?’
Another pair of arms appeared next to her. It was one of the first-aiders. Austin clenched his teeth and tried to boost Mason towards them. No one touched his arm but Mason let out a yelp that echoed around the lake. It was understandable—with an open fracture like that any movement of his body would cause pain in his arm.
They lifted him as best they could out of the lake. Austin didn’t hesitate. He pushed up with his forearms, jumping out of the lake and coming to help. Between the four of them they managed to get Mason onto the bright orange portable stretcher.
A motorboat appeared on the lake. The first-aider looked up as his radio beeped. He spoke quickly for a few seconds. ‘The ambulance is waiting for us. It’s come around the lake as far as it can.’ He nodded towards the motorboat. ‘Some of the team are just going to retrieve the jet bike and do a check for any more people who shouldn’t be on that part of the lake.’
Corrine nodded in sympathy. The team here worked really hard to keep everything as safe as possible. It was a shame when a few reckless teenagers spoiled things for the other lake users.
She opened some sterile saline and poured some onto the sterile dressings. ‘Mason, I’m going to lay these gently on your arm while we transport you to the ambulance. Once we get there, I’ll give you something for the pain.’
Mason winced and wh
impered as she gently laid the wet sterile drapes over his arm. It was important to protect it from any further chance of infection. An open wound and fractured bones could lead to serious, life-threatening infections. She didn’t even want to think about what kinds of bacteria were in the lake and already affecting his wound.
There were plenty of hands to help lift the stretcher to the ambulance, where she gave the paramedics a brief rundown on what had happened. It only took a few minutes to connect Mason to the monitoring equipment and get his vitals. The paramedic met her gaze and glanced at Mason’s arm. ‘Morphine?’
She nodded as he drew the drug up. Mason would really need some strong pain relief before she even touched his arm again.
‘How do you want to clean it?’
She lifted the wet gauze and tried to stop from wincing now she had a clear view of the damage. ‘How far away are we from the nearest trauma centre?’
Her brain was currently in overdrive. Mason would need a tetanus shot and some IV antibiotics. If they weren’t going to be at a trauma centre soon she would have to find some way to administer them.
‘It’s only about a thirty-minute journey.’ She nodded. ‘In that case, I’m going to do the absolute basics. There’s some debris in the wound that needs to be flushed out.’ Mason was whimpering again and she lifted her hand. ‘I’m not going to touch or poke or prod it. I promise you. What I am going to do is just pour some more saline over the wound to try and get rid of any dirt and any bugs. We’ll leave the rest to the experts at the hospital. Okay?’
The paramedic finished inserting the IV on Mason’s other arm and administered the morphine. Corrine waited a few minutes before she lifted the wet swabs away. She held a disposable bowl underneath and gently poured some sterile saline over the fracture site, washing away some of the debris and dirt that was trapped in the wound. Once she was finished she wet some other sterile swabs and covered the site over.
She nodded to the paramedic. ‘We’ll leave it like that in the meantime.’