"I hope you're proud of yourself. You destroyed people's lives today."

The harsh, but very clear words echoed through Carlos's mind as he silently left the hospital after being reprimanded by Morales. He was nothing more than a kid trying to play paramedic and failing at it.

Disgusted with himself, Carlos walked around to the side alley to decompress unaware that he was being followed, "Excuse me," he heard a voice say as footsteps approached. "Can we talk?"

Carlos turned and found himself being slammed into the brick siding by an angry looking man, "You hit my wife and you killed our child!" the man hissed in a vengeful voice, glaring at Carlos. "I had to rush over here from my job after getting a call from the hospital! You hit her with your ambulance!"

"I…I'm sorry," Carlos stuttered anxiously, scared to death. "What can I do to make it up…?"

The man slammed Carlos into the wall, sending him to the ground. A few moments later, Carlos heard an unzipping noise and felt the man on top of him administering very painful assaults while laughing.

As Carlos began to pass out, he suddenly felt the pressure ease and watched as the man stood over him with a heavy-duty wrench in one hand and a tire iron in the other, "You will learn what pain is," the man hissed, tears rolling down his face as he began to mercilessly beat every inch of Carlos's body with both the wrench and the tire iron. "Thanks to you, we have to bury a baby and you deserve this…"

Profanity filled Carlos's ears as the beating continued to both his body and face for several minutes before he heard loud clangs and footsteps. Trembling violently, Carlos forced himself to roll on to his stomach and tried to drag himself, but his left hand and wrist were swelling up like a balloon. He could see the wrench and tire iron were covered in blood and he wondered how badly he had been hurt.

Determined to make it out of the alley, Carlos painstakingly extended his right arm and whimpered as he tried to drag himself across the ground. Pain rocketed through his body, but he kept trying to move.

After several more minutes of trying and failing to move, Carlos forced himself over on his back and used his right hand to fumble for his radio, "This…this is Paramedic Nieto," he spoke in a shaky voice, trying his best to stay awake despite the increasing pain. "I've been beaten…I'm in an alley near Mercy."

There was a silence, "Adam 55-3, where is your partner?" a voice replied in a toneless voice.

"I…I don't know," Carlos spoke in a shaky voice, weak from blood loss. "I…I need some help."


"Adam 55-3," Doc suddenly heard a voice on his radio say as he sat in the lounge having a coffee before getting back to work and dealing with the rest of the day. "Adam 55-3, please respond…"

Sighing, Doc set his Styrofoam cup on the table and reached for his radio, "Adam 55-3," he replied.

"Paramedic Nieto just called in requesting assistance," the voice replied. "Are you with him?"

Doc frowned as he got up, "Assistance?" he asked into the radio. "Can you elaborate?"

"Paramedic Nieto reported being injured," the voice replied. "Are you with him?"

Alarmed, Doc ignored the radio and bolted through the ER out to the ambulance bay, confused when he saw the empty rig there and no sign of Carlos, "CARLOS!" Doc yelled at the top of his lungs. "CARLOS!"

A very faint coughing sound filled the air that was quickly drowned out by sirens as Kim and Bobby's bus pulled in with a patient, "Have you two seen Carlos?" Doc asked as they got out with their patient.

Bobby frowned as medical staff came out to meet the gurney, "No?" he asked in a confused voice.

As the gurney was whisked away, Doc frowned and eyed the nearby alleyway, "We had a rough call and he went out here after Morales reamed him out," he replied in a worried voice. "I'm worried…"

Feeling uneasy, Doc looked in the alleyway and was horrified to see a badly beaten Carlos lying face down in a growing pool of blood, "CARLOS!" Doc shouted as he ran over to his injured partner.

Hearing Doc's shouting, Kim and Bobby hurried over to the alleyway and were both horrified to see Doc kneeling over a badly beaten Carlos, "GET SOME SUPPLIES!" Doc shouted. "GET A DOCTOR OUT HERE!"

"…So loud," Carlos mumbled semi-consciously, hearing someone nearby. "…hurts…"

With a backboard, c-collar, and bag in his hands, Bobby ran down the alley and quickly put everything on the ground, "Help me roll him," Doc said in an anxious voice, frowning as Carlos started trembling.

Carlos let out a faint whimper of pain as he was gently rolled on to the backboard, "Doc…um," Bobby said, seeing that Carlos's pants were undone. "Um…I think he might have been sexually assaulted…"

Doc sighed and swore, "His wrist and hand are swollen," he finally replied, eyeing Carlos's left wrist.

"…I killed that guy's baby," Carlos mumbled as he struggled in his state of semi-consciousness.

Quickly realizing that the stillborn baby's father had done this to Carlos out of anger and grief, Doc quickly got a set of vitals and then set about splinting Carlos's wrist, "Kim went to grab a doctor," Bobby said in a worried voice, unnerved by Carlos's words. "What exactly happened to you guys today?"

Before Doc could reply, Carlos vomited blood all over himself, "Tension pneumos in both lungs," Bobby said in an anxious voice as he checked Carlos's breathing. "The blood means an internal injury."

Just then, medical staff and Kim hurried down the alleyway with a gurney, "My partner was beaten," Doc explained as the staff swarmed all over Carlos. "I…I don't know why, but he was raped too…"

Kim's eyes widened, "We'll take good care of your partner, Doc," one of the staffers said. "Okay?"

Doc nodded and watched as Carlos was secured to the backboard and lifted to the gurney, "I'll call the police," Bobby said in an anxious voice, sighing as Carlos was hurried away to the safety of the ER.


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