CHAPTER 1

Roy Desoto's eyes flew open and he sat up in his bed sweating. He thought he heard a noise coming from the bay area, so he grabbed a flashlight, which was conveniently located under his bed, and began to creep out of the bunkroom. Everyone else stayed sleeping, unaware of the sounds coming from where the squad and engine were.

The sound stopped as soon as Roy's foot touched the concrete in the bay. He took his flashlight and ran around the other side. Nothing however looked touched. Though he thought he might have seen a shadow exiting the building, he came to the conclusion that it all was just in his head and went back to the bunkroom to get some sleep.

CHAPTER 2

The smell of Marco's morning coffee filled the station. All the men were up and in the kitchen, reading papers, and watching TV. Roy had just finished pouring his cup of coffee, and walked over to sit next to his partner Gage, who was reading the morning paper at the table.

"Hey John…" he said with a nod.

"Hey Roy. Did you read about this bust in the paper? Man! Vince and them must've had their hands full last night. They caught some guys breaking into 10's squad and they stole a whole loot of drugs."

"Really! Wow. Glad they caught em' though… in fact umm.. I was gonna ask…. Did you hear any noises last night?"

"Well what kinda noises? I hear Chet snore all night, I mean those types of noises or what?"

"Actually I meant like a noise out in the bay. I think I heard someone creeping around there last night, I went out to check on it, but as soon as I got there, whatever, or whoever it was left. I didn't really see any signs of foul play so I just left and went back to bed."

"Man. You mean someone was in the station last night? That's not good. We should probably tell Cap and check and make sure things are alright"

"Yeah I was thinking the same thing."

Just as John and Roy stood to go to Stanley's office however, the klaxons sounded off.

"Squad 51, we have report of a man down, possible drug overdose, in the Cambridge developments. Cross street Hamilton. Time out 5:45"

Captain Stanley picked up the mic to respond " Squad 51, 10-4 kmg365" as always he handed the paper to Roy in the drivers seat and the two paramedics sped off to their destination.

CHAPTER 3

The squad pulled up outside of the apartment buildings in Cambridge. There was a crowd gathered outside talking, looking, and pointing to a window up on the third floor that was broken.

John walked over to the crowd while Roy got the equipment.

"Can ugh.. anyone tell me what's going on here?"

"Yea…" said a voice from behind "I called you guys. My roommate up there… he.. he was braggin about all this stuff he got last night off the street. Said it would really mess em' up if ya know what I mean. So he shot some of it up in his arm, and before I knew it he just starts going off. Man I dunno what it was, but he was just throwin stuff left and right and then he grabbed his chest like he couldn't breathe. Then he started grabbin at me, so I dipped outa there and called you guys!"

John just took a breath and looked up at the broken window. Roy had already begun to climb the stairs, so he ran to catch up with his partner and help him carry the equipment up.

He told Roy the story of their patient on the way up so that they could be ready and prepared. They could hear muffled sounds coming from inside the apartment when they reached it. They both took the initiative to set their equipment down.

"Okay Roy, I'm gonna swing the door open."

"Yea, okay, just make sure we're both standin out to the side."

John nodded in agreement and flung open the door.

"LA County Fire Department!" John shouted.

Nothing came flying out through the door, so both John and Roy figured it would be safe to go in. Both sets of the men's eyes quickly located a body in the corner of the room in a spasm frenzy. It was apparent that the other man's roommate had gone into a full-blown seizure.

John and Roy both rushed over and fell to their knees by the man. Roy held the patients head to keep c-spine control, while John loosened the man's clothing and tried to help Roy keep the body still and stable.

After a lapse of about five minutes went by, the mans body turned limp. Drool exited out of his mouth onto paramedic Roy Desoto's pant leg, and his eyes were locked in a dead stare.

John got up and went to the door to get the equipment, while Roy began to assess their patient and try to speak calmly to him, seeing as how he was in the latter state of a seizure.

CHAPTER 4

The ambulance unloaded 51's patient into Rampart General and John and Roy walked over to the nurses counter to get some new supplies.

Dr. Brackett walked out of one of the exam rooms and over to where they stood.

"Hey guys…"

"Hey Doc. How's our guy doing?" Roy asked

"He'll live. Bunch of idiots though if ya ask me. I don't get why all these guys are just about getting a high. A bad trip's all most of em' get though."

"Yea, I know what cha mean."

Dr. Brackett finished signing off on some charts and say bye to John and Roy and continued with his next patient in another room.

CHAPTER 5

The men from engine 51 and squad 51, backed their vehicles into the bay and wearily climbed out. They had just finished a small, 4 hour, structure fire that had brought them now to the night and all were tired and ready for sleep.

The men had all showered and changed by now and Captain Stanley reached over and turned the lights off.

It was probably close to midnight when Roy sat up in bed. It was the second night in a row now that he had heard the noises. He got up to go check it out, but this time he woke his partner to come with him.

"John…John" Roy whispered. "John get up."

"Wha… wha…what.. what? Roy? Is that you?"

"Yes!"

"Well what d'ya want? Can't ya see I'm tryina sleep?"

"John… I heard that noise again, I wanted to go check it out, come on"

"O fine, you wake me up cuz you're hearing noises like a little girl and want me to come hold your hand right?"

Just then something metal hit the floor in the bay area and kind of woke everyone slightly, but they all stayed asleep.

"Roy!…. Roy.. I think something's out there!" John whispered.

"Yea Junior, lets go check it out."

Both John and Roy grabbed their flashlights and headed out of the bunkroom. They didn't want to turn the lights on, just in case they might scare their intruder away.

John took the left side of the squad around the front of it, while Roy went around the back off to the right. When they met on the other side their flash lights fixed on two men working steady away to get the drug box open on the squad.

"HEY!" Johnny yelled "Hey … stop right there!"

John and Roy both ran in to grab them. But a much larger and quicker third man appeared behind Roy.

"Roy! Look out!" John screamed, but it was too late. The guy gave Roy a nice firm hit across the back of his head, and he went down like a sack of potatoes.

John turned to run, but the other two guys on the floor jumped on top of him. He was determined, however, not to go down without a good fight.

He took his flashlight and gave the first guy a good "whack" across his brow, and began a fist fight with the second guy after his flashlight flew from his grip.

The second man was much bigger than Johnny and after several punches to the face and upper torso, John blacked out and his strength left him.

The third man who had hit Roy came up to the other two.

"Lets go guys!"

"Whatda we do Danny? These guys can I.D us!"

"We'll just have to take one for insurance then. Grab the small one beside you. Leave the other guy though, that's too much to haul off. Come on lets get!"

The two men who had gotten into a brawl with John, hefted him up in their arms and followed their leader out of the door and into the night.

CHAPTER 6

Roy was beginning to arouse. He could feel a cold damp pool of blood beneath his face that he had apparently been laying in. It was still night outside he could see, so he figured he couldn't have been out too long, and by the feel of it, he only had a minor concussion and maybe a the need for a few stitches.

He managed to prop himself up against the side of the squad. "I need help." He thought to himself. So he did the only logical thing that came to his mind at the moment. He called for help.

"CAP!…. CAP!….." Roy continued to call.

Captain Stanley heard shouts coming from the bay area. The other men had heard them too, and were already out of their beds and running in the same direction as Hank Stanley.

"Roy were coming!" Cap shouted back.

They all followed the sounds of his voice and ended up on the other side of the squad. Captain Stanley saw the blood in two different places on the floor.

"God Roy, are you okay?" The man obviously had concern in his voice for the older paramedic.

"Yea, I'll be alright."

"Well what happened?"

"I got hit in the head. John and I heard noises coming from the bay. So we came out here to check things out, but the next thing I knew, I was lying on the floor. I remember John fighting with two of the guys, but then it was lights out for me."

"Well where's John now?"

"What? You mean he's not here?"

"I don't see him anywhere."

"He's gotta be! Where could he have gone?"

The entire crew got up and began looking around the station. They looked in Johns bunk, in the kitchen, in the locker/bathroom's, they even looked outside in the parking lot. Chet came in from looking outside.

"Hey guys! I saw blood out front like they carried a body. Bastards must have taken John!"

"Well I'll get on the horn and see if we can't get men out there looking for him" was Stanley's only reply as he walked into his office.

Marco helped Roy into the squad and called them out on a Code I, and labeled them in route to Rampart General to get Roy stitched up.

CHAPTER 7

John's eyes rolled back in his head. He tried to pull his hands up to massage his temples. But he found that he couldn't move them because they were bound behind his back to the chair he was in.

He opened his eyes fully now and the room spun for only a moment before he was able to focus in.

The room was extremely dark inside, and there was a table in front of him, with what looked like cocaine spread out on it.

His eyes continued to search around the room. Bloody gauze and dirty used needles were thrown all over the floor. Wrapper trash covered about fifty percent.

John tried to yell out, but there was duct tape across his mouth. He began moving around in frustration trying to undo himself and someone walked in.

John recognized him as the man that was in the station earlier that had hit Roy.

"Comin around now I see. Hope your head doesn't hurt too much." The man laughed and jousted Johnny in his skull. John winced in pain. "That must hurt doesn't it? I see you have a nice cut there too, let me help that out some." The man retrieved a small container of salt from the other side of the room and sprinkled it into Johns open head wound.

"gg..hhhhh…!" You could hear John's muffled screams coming from under the tape.

"Ouch! That must hurt." The man continued to laugh at John's pain. "You know though man, my expertise is in curing the pain. I have the power to make that go away you know. And since you've been such a quiet, nice, guy, I'll give you some for free."

The man walked over to the table and grabbed a needle that was already filled with something.

John's eyes widened with fear and he tried to struggle away.

"Now come on man, just relax and enjoy, it'll be great. I promise!"

The bigger man grabbed John's arm and thrust the needle into it. John's head wrenched back in pain and then drooped over to his right shoulder as the sweat poured from his brow.

"Now, ya see man. Nothing too it."

Just then another man, accompanied by the two others that were in the station earlier, entered the room.

"Here's the buyer Dan." The man on the left said

"Alright, well here's your stuff, just gimme the cash and go."

The buyer was just about to leave, when he saw John strapped to the chair, and beginning to have abnormal breathing. He paused only for a moment and then left.

CHAPTER 8

Vince walked outside into the night air, and ran across the street to where the S.W.A.T van was waiting.

"I bought the stuff." He said taking a deep breath. "We also got a location on our missing person John Gage. I saw him inside. He's off to the right of the door. So whenever you guys are ready… you can go take em' down and I'll call in for an ambulance."

The S.W.A.T team moved out, and Vince sighed a relief of prayer to himself that he had been luck enough to have found John on their sting operation.

CHAPTER 9

Roy and Marco had gotten back from Rampart, and Roy was feeling almost in top shape and decided to stay on duty until they had found John. Until then though, Brice had been called in to take his position.

The rest of station 51, along with Roy, Marco, and Brice, were just beginning to bed down again when the klaxons sounded off.

"Station 51, squad 51, we have location on missing person, and we have man down, Birmingham street, crossroad Tiger LN. Time out 10:37."

All of the men jumped from their beds and ran for their various vehicles. Captain Stanley grabbed the mic and responded a "10-4, kmg-365" to dispatch.

CHAPTER 10

Stoker, who was driving the engine, widened his eyes at the mess of sirens and lights flashing in the night before him.

Cop cars and S.W.A.T teams covered the street. He honked the engines horn to get through the building crowd that was outside of the yellow police crossing line. They opened up the street barriers and let the squad and the engine through.

Roy and Brice immediately exited the squad, grabbed the equipment, and rushed to where police officer Vince was waving them toward himself.

There was a flight of stairs that led down to a basement town house.

"Come on guys…" Vince led. "He's down here, and he's not doing too well"

When Roy entered into the room he saw five men holding John down to the ambulance stretcher. The ambulance had just arrived minutes before them and they were putting straps on his arms and legs to hold the flailing Gage tightly down.

"AGHHH! … GET OFF ME! … they're…. They're everywhere! …AGHHHHHH!" John's body twisted and turned. One of his fists flew up and hit an officer in the jaw. He was crying and screaming out.

Roy could see how pale his partner was, and the massive cold sweat that was formed on his brow. He then also, noticed the needle markings on his arm.

"Do you know what they gave him Vince?" Roy screamed up the stairs.

"Yea, I think it was LSD! That's what the boys got busted for and that's all we found on em' down there."

John was still flailing around, but Brice managed to slip on a B/P cuff, and get some unstable vitals. Roy flipped open the bio-phone and called into Rampart.

"Rampart.. this is squad 51, how do you read?"

"We read you loud and clear 51, go ahead." Dixie McCall and Dr. Early stood on the other end.

"We have a patient here, male, 26 years of age, he has had a dose, possible over dose of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide injected into his left arm. At this time he is having hallucinations and convulsions and is very violent. His pulse is 120, B/P 145/98, and pupils are dilated. His face is also very flushed and warm."

"51, be advised, patient is on a 'bad-trip'. Try to calm him down and talk him out of his thoughts as much as you can. Try to cool off his body temperature some and give him full flush IV with D5W and ringers lactate. I want him hooked up and for you to send me lead two when you're en route. Transport as soon as possible!"

CHAPTER 11

The ambulance was five minutes away from Rampart General. John had been struggling for control the entire time.

"Roy…. ROY!" he screamed his partners name as he lay in complete helplessness.

Roy leaned over top of the stretcher but all John saw was a vicious face with claws, and blood crazy teeth. "NOOOOOO!….. NOOOOO!" he screamed and tried to thrust his hands up in defense against the 'beast'. He thought he began to feel his flesh being eaten away.

"John.. John… it's just me… Roy! It's okay, you're okay partner, don't focus on what you see. Just close your eyes… calm down!"

But Roy's words were too late. John's fear sent him into an intense panic attack and the heart monitor began to ring out.

Roy grabbed the handy-talkie that was next to him and turned it to Ramparts channel.

"Rampart, this is 51. …. Be advised… patient is going into v-fib."

Roy threw the handy-talkie down and began to charge the defibrillator to 500. After two shocks and a pulse check, John's rhythm returned to, what under the current circumstances, was normal.

CHAPTER 12

John was rushed into his usual exam room 2. Dixie was waiting next to the hospital bed, with a sedative in hand.

Their goal was to be able to calm John down as much as they could, and get him to sleep so that the drugs would just be able to wear off.

Roy followed in close behind the orderly's, holding up the IV pouch. John's eyes were wide open and filled with fear. Kelly Brackett didn't like the expressions on his younger paramedic's face.

Brackett took out a penlight and checked John's pupils and his pulse, before he was going to let them move him onto the hospital bed.

His pupils were still dilated and his pulse was a little edgy, but he wasn't making any rash movements or convulsions.

"Alright guys…"Brackett announced "Let's try moving him… take the straps off slowly though and make this process nice and easy. We're in no rush here."

The orderly's carefully finished undoing the straps, and just as soon as they did, John leaped up from of the bed and ran for the door.

His IV bag was pulled from Roy's hands and he yanked the needle out of his arm. He held the needle up high in his hand as everyone tried to approach him and get him strapped back down.

"DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!….." he screamed in anger "I DON'T KNOW WHO YOU ARE, OR WHAT YOU WANT, BUT STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!"

"John it's me, Roy. Come on pal, nobody's trying to hurt you here."

"O YEA,WHAT'S ALL THE NEEDLES FOR THEN? HUGH, TRYING TO HELP ME, I DON'T KNOW YOU! AND IF YOU COME ANY CLOSER, I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL STAB YOU!"

Roy and everyone else in the room saw the seriousness in his face and in his tone, so they all backed off.

I would now just be a stand off until John either passed out or the drugs wore off.

Everyone watched him closely as he stood by the door fidgeting. His arms were going into slight convulsions, and his head twitched slightly.

"Come on John!" Brackett pleaded "Let us help you out, we know you're not feeling well."

"NO!"

And as soon as John replied he reached for the door handle and ran out of the exam room.

Brackett and the others ran out full force after him. They were gonna let the stand off in the room happen, but now he was going out to the public and he was either going to hurt himself or someone else.

They all looked down the hallway, crowded with patients and visitors and couldn't spot John.

Just then they heard a familiar voice screaming Dr. Brackett's name from the ambulance entrance.

The group all ran there and found Officer Vince kneeling on the floor holding down a convulsing John Gage.

"What happened?" Brackett ordered

"I was coming in here from the call to check on John, and I saw him running for the doors like a mad man. I called his name and told him to stop be he kept going. I figured something must be wrong. So I grabbed a hold of his arm and he threw around with a punch, but I caught it and sent him down to the ground where I'm holding him now."

Brackett and Roy looked at John as they too knelt beside him, and they both immediately noticed the blood coming from his side.

With them all holding him they rolled him over and saw his needle sticking in his side.

His breathing began to labor more and more and his fever had returned in full. His body stopped the convulsions and Brackett checked for a pulse. He felt one there, but it was faint and irregular.

"Lets get him back in the room."

Roy and Vince carried John back into the room. Just as they got him on the table he started to come around again.

"John! Calm down, it's just us partner" Roy tried to sooth. But his partner began flailing and kicking and screaming.

Though it was a tough task to handle they managed to hold him down this time and get the straps on.

Roy walked over to John's head and put a cold cloth on it.

"It's okay partner. You're gonna be okay, ya hear? I'm right here and it's alright, nothing's gonna happen to you."

Roy could see the tears swell in John's eyes. He could tell that his junior partner was scared, and he, himself, couldn't even begin to imagine what images may be flowing through his partners mind. He knew that John probably just wanted someone to comfort him and for this to be all over.

"Get that sedative into his IV STAT!" Brackett broke the silence in the eyes that Roy was holding with John in that moment.

The sedative began to kick in and John's pulse returned to a normal sinus rhythm. Roy held John's hand as his eyes began to close.

"It's gonna be okay partner….. you're doing just fine" and John's eyes closed into a peaceful sleep.

CHAPTER 13

Two weeks later…….

John and Roy backed the squad into the ambulance entrance doors. They unloaded their patient from the car accident and pushed his gurney down the hall to the exam room, and then they both headed over to the nurses station.

Brackett and Dixie were standing there drinking coffee and talking. Brackett acknowledged the two men approaching and addressed them.

"Hey Roy… John.. how've you been feeling John?"

"I've been just great Doc. We had the trial hearing yesterday at the courthouse. I think those drug dealers are gonna be put away for a good while. Not only are they gonna be charged with drug trafficking, but also with kidnapping, and they said they may even try to throw in attempted murder. Either way, I'm glad their gonna be behind bars. I'd never want to go through that experience again."

"Yeah you did give us quite a scare there partner, and we were all worried for you" Roy smiled and patted his partner on the back.

They all four smiled at each other. And John and Roy turned and left to head back to the station.

Dixie shook her head and sighed.

"What's wrong Dix?" Brackett inquired

"Nothing, it just gets me the extent some idiot would go, just for a drugbox. What's wrong with people?"

"I dunno Dix. I just don't know." And Brackett shrugged his shoulders and left to continue his rounds.

"Well neither do I Kel!"

THE END!

Hope you all enjoyed this. This is only my second story that I have written. I would appreciate any reviews anyone has to offer, I know I probably get some terms and stuff wrong and could possibly use some help or guidance with my writing. Thanks for taking time to read. Have a good day, and God bless.