Ryman only saw the movement from the corner of his eye. In the heat of the moment, and thinking it was an orderly going to take him down, he turned and swung, hitting Ava in the chest so hard she flew backward into the wall.
Hunt saw her gasp, grab at her chest, and then she was down. And in that moment, Hunt remembered Elliot’s message.
She’ll die and be reborn. Don’t quit.
“No! No, you stupid bastard! What have you done?” Hunt shouted, and ran to her.
Ryman was horrified and instantly abject and holding up his hands and walking backward. “I didn’t mean to hit her! I didn’t know it was her!”
Hunt pushed past him, and then dropped down beside Ava’s body and rolled her over, frantically searching for a pulse. There was none.
“She’s not breathing!” he shouted. “Is there a defibrillator?”
“Just one, and they’re using it trying to keep the Dillon girl alive,” Rhonda Bailey said.
“Jesus help me,” Hunt muttered and started chest compressions. “Tell them we need it!” he shouted and kept pushing.
Josh Ryman was in tears, and the families who’d been fighting were staring in horror at what they had unwittingly caused. The brawl was over, but for the injured girl who’d just lost the baby she was carrying, the fight to stay alive was still ongoing.
Hunt was still doing CPR when Rhonda came running back. She dropped to her knees beside him and began to help.
When the police arrived, Hunt was barely aware of what was happening behind him. His focus was completely on Ava. Her lips were blue now. Her skin had no color. He hadn’t been this scared the day he and his gunner were shot down, but he hadn’t quit on life then and he wasn’t going to quit on hers now.
Chief Pittman began arresting the people who’d been fighting, then hauling them out.
But Hunt kept hearing Elliot’s warning.
Don’t quit. Don’t quit.
The words echoed in his head as he continued with compressions. One minute ran into two, then three, then four, and Hunt was too scared now to stop because that would mean giving her up to God.
Don’t quit. Don’t quit.
All of a sudden there was a rush of people coming out of ER, and Dr. Quick issuing clipped, decisive orders. They lifted Ava up onto a gurney and rolled her into the last empty exam room on the floor.
Nurses began cutting away Ava’s clothing and attaching the leads to the electrodes that were connected to the heart monitor. Another nurse came running, pushing the defibrillator into the room, and moments later it was charging.
Hunt was shaking from the tension of what he’d been doing and panic was setting in.
Don’t quit me, Ava. Please God, don’t quit me, baby. Come back. Please come back.
“Clear!” the doctor yelled, and slapped the paddles to her chest.
Her body bucked from the shock, but the monitor still registered a flat line.
They charged it again, and again the doctor yelled, “Clear!” and hit her with the paddles one more time.
They stepped back, watching for a heartbeat, and then Ava gasped. The monitor registered a beep, and then a series of erratic beeps, and then all of a sudden there was a heartbeat, and all Hunt could think was Thank you, God.
“I’ve got a pulse!” Rhonda cried.
They put her on oxygen and started an IV, making sure that each heartbeat was followed by the next.
Dr. Quick turned to Hunt. Now that Ava had a heartbeat, he wanted to know what had caused it to stop.
“Somebody…just tell me what the hell happened?” he asked.
“She took a hard blow to her chest,” Hunt said. “I saw her gasp, grab her chest, and drop. When I got to her, she wasn’t breathing. I think the blow stopped her heart.”
Quick began ordering X-rays to check for broken bones.
“When will she wake up?” Hunt asked.
“I don’t know, but the important thing right now is that she has a heartbeat. I’ll know more later.”
“I need to call her parents,” Hunt said, then took Ava’s phone from the pocket of the scrub top she’d been wearing and stepped out into the hall to make the call.
Karen answered, thinking it was her daughter.
“Hi, honey!”
“Karen, it’s me, Hunt. I’m calling to let you guys know there was a fight in the ER. Ava got hurt.”
“Oh my God! Are you there?”
“Yes. We’re still in the ER.”
“Dear lord, what happened? Is she bleeding? Last time this happened she got stitches.”
“No, ma’am. She’s not bleeding. I’ll tell you about it after you get here, okay?”
“We’re on the way,” Karen said.
Hunt put Ava’s phone in his pocket and went back into the room. Dr. Quick was still checking vital signs and waiting for the portable X-ray to come in.
“Her parents are on the way.”
Quick nodded. “Her blood pressure is coming up. Her pulse is getting stronger. Her pupils are reactive.”
“This is good, right?” Hunt asked.
“Yes, this is good.”
“She needed a defibrillator. Rhonda said you only had the one,” Hunt said.
“Small hospital. Few luxuries here. We only have one and were trying to resuscitate one of the victims they brought in. Your CPR saved Ava’s life,” Quick said.
“What about your patient?” Hunt asked.
“We didn’t save the baby she was carrying, but we saved her,” Quick said.
“Then it happened the way it was meant to happen,” Hunt said. “Will Ava stay here, or will she have to be transported somewhere?”
“She’s stable here. Right now, we don’t know what all we’re dealing with, so moving her wouldn’t be wise. I need to see X-rays and then we’ll go from there.”
“Then I’ll be here with her,” Hunt said.
Quick smiled. “I expected that. We’ll be moving her upstairs soon.”
“Her parents are on the way,” Hunt said.
“They’ll be fine. I don’t expect them to cause a fight. And I understand we have you to thank for ending the other one. Our orderlies were having a terrible time keeping the families out of the exam rooms, too. That’s what started the fight in the first place.”
“I wasn’t trying to be a hero. I was just trying to get to Ava. They were in the way,” Hunt said.