“You’re an EMT in a supermarket and a guy is bleeding,” I said to B the Former EMT, who is my reference for All Things Vibeke. “What do you do?”

She chewed her food thoughtfully. “EMTs don’t really like to work off-duty.”

Hmm. “There’s just been a meteor shower and you’re the only one who can help him.”

“Well, you apply pressure…and then make a bandage…is she a paramedic or an EMT? EMTs are kind of limited in what they can actually do.”

“But you always seemed to know a lot.”

“Oh, we know plenty, but legally we couldn’t do certain things. But that doesn’t mean she couldn’t rise to the occasion or something.”

Vibeke doesn’t actually do all that much EMT-type work, although her two companions don’t always make the distinction between EMTs and paramedics, and thus expect her to be more medically knowledgeable than she is. She tries to help a guy who gets bitten, only to be thwarted by the undead. She also ends up trying to describe the undead from a scientific/medical standpoint, whereas she’s all “Dudes, I just drove the rig.”

Mostly, though, I wanted V to be an EMT because B’s ability to handle a crisis situation skyrocketed once she’d had the job a few months. She was always a cool customer, but after taking on that job she just became…unflappable. Nothing could shock her. Vibeke needed a little bit of that.

Cover work’s in, edits are finished, gun questions have been answered. Tonight I shall format.

In celebration of NaNoWriMo, I’ll be pricing it (and Echoes) at 99 cents throughout November. We’ll see how that sales tactic works.

In the meantime, I’m all kinds of sick, and living off soup, water, and juice. Fun times.