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Max felt the time slow down until it stopped before speeding up faster and faster. He felt his body reach out for the flailing hand and miss just by millimeters. He looked over the railing and closed his eyes just before he heard the splash and Avery’s ever-present voice calling: “Man overboard!”
Everything happened too quickly. A drunk passenger splashed some water at them from the pool. Tristan quickly hid behind Max to save his clothes from the unwanted dip. The lifeguard called: “No running on deck,” just when Max frowned and called: “Not cool, man,”
The running man slipped on the newly wet floor and in an attempt to save himself grabbed Tristan’s arm. Tristan yelped in surprise when he felt his body tip over the railing and lose footing. His free arm was too wet to hold onto the metallic railing and Max’s reflexes were just a tad too slow to hold him in place.
Max kept looking at the water, hoping to see the men break the surface, swim behind the ship, resurface , to check if they were okay. A firm turned him around and a firm voice called him. The captain kept barking orders and shaking Max, yelling at him to go to the boats with his triage kit.
“I have to go as well!” Avery argued.
“I need at least one medic on board.” The captain argued and pushed Max in the direction of the infirmary. “Go!”
“But sir-” Avery tried to argue but the captain already moved on to ordering someone else.
Max slapped himself running down the stairs, focus Max , he kept telling himself as he moved on autopilot.
The boats moved out, it seemed like there were protocols their captain was willing to break. All their boats were deployed for this rescue. Max strained his eyes, frantically searching for any break in the surface of the never-ending ever-present water.
He was so focused he almost missed the crackle of the comms saying: “Found them, boat 8, bring the doc.”
Their boat sped it and Max lost his footing, just barely keeping himself upright. They moved towards boat 8 and Max saw the movement of a person performing chest compressions and one person in a blanket with their back turned to them. Please be okay, Max prayed as he strained his eyes to see which silhouette was which, please let Tristan be okay.
Max jumped on the other boat as soon as he could, landing on his knees next to the unconscious man, the passenger. His head snapped up to find Tristan’s eyes. He was sitting on the edge of the rescue boat with a blanket around his shoulders and over his head, hand on his chest, and eyes closed, focusing on his breathing.
“You need an oxygen mask,” Max commented. Tristan frowned and shook his head, pointing in the direction of the only oxygen mask on the boat being used on the unconscious man.
After that brief exchange, Max focused on the man he had under his hands, pushing in EPI and compressing his chest, the only things he could do on the boat.
“Hey, doc?” A voice broke his focus. One member of the search party was maneuvering Tristan to the floor of the raft.
Max’s brows knitted in fear , they switched positions, the passenger fully in the hands of the other crew members. Max moved Tristan’s head back to check his breathing only to find that there was no breathing going on.
“ Oh come on,” Max yelled in frustration. “Top speed.” He called over his shoulder and began compressing Tristan’s chest.
With a cough, Tristan gasped for breath but his eyes stayed closed. A minute later they met Avery and the Captain with two stretchers and extra oxygen prepared. From that moment forward they all moved on autopilot, moving in practiced movements around the infirmary.
Max stretched his limbs and called it. “Time of death 13:26.” Then he turned and saw that their captain never left the infirmary, watching their every movement with keen eyes and the frown of a worried father waiting for an update on his child.
Max waved at him and together they moved to the other bed, hidden behind the cloth “wall.” A steady beeping of a heart monitor could be heard and Avery’s soft voice talking sweet calming nothings to herself.
“He’ll be fine.” Max braced his hands against one side of the bed. “Tristan fell second so the impact wasn’t as hard. A concussion, a few broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, and more water in his alveoli than I’d liked. But stable, everything fixable with time and rest.”
The captain released a sigh of relief he’s been holding since he heard the words ‘man overboard’ and hugged the sobbing Avery.
“He’ll be fine,” Max repeated his words and held Avery’s free hand, the one hand that wasn’t holding Tristan’s healthy one in a death grip.
“He’ll be fine.” He repeated once more to himself and smiled, relief also settling in his bones as the three of them listened to the steady rhythm of Tristan’s heart.