Page 70 of A Sudden Response

As soon as they reached the scene, Eric pulled around and blocked the road. He left the emergency lights on as they jumped out, glad to see the other ambulances that were stationed alongside of them earlier heading towards the accident.

When he got his hands on the little bastard, he was going to kill him, Eric decided as he and Joe worked quickly to pull their stretcher out, load it with oxygen, a trauma bag, and the longboard. Just as he was about to push the stretcher towards the overturned ambulance, Joe jumped back into the ambulance. Seconds later, she was jumping out with a fire blanket in her arms with a muttered, “Glass,” and shoving the stretcher.

As soon as he caught the scent of gasoline, Eric shot a look towards Joe and mumbled a few curses that she thankfully missed over the sounds of sirens drawing near. He didn’t want her anywhere near this accident, but he didn’t have much of a choice. They had three patients inside the fucked-up ambulance and they were going to need as many hands as they could get to get them all out of there before the damn thing caught fire. They-

“Eric,” Joe said, her voice breaking.

“What?” he asked as he watched Joe kneel down next to the driver’s side door.

“He’s dead,” she said hollowly.

Praying that she was wrong, Eric moved to kneel down next to her and took in the bloody mess. When his eyes landed on Greg’s vacant expression and the severe damage to his head and neck, Eric knew that he was gone. Without a word, they stood up and made their way to the passenger side to find Greg’s partner in the same condition.

“The third rider,” Joe said flatly as she got to her feet and moved to the side doors of the patient compartment.

When she couldn’t get the doors to budge, Eric gently pushed her aside and grabbed hold of the door and pulled, only to curse when they didn’t budge. Praying that they weren’t too late, they quickly moved to the back of the ambulance and-

Sighed with relief when he heard the third rider crying.

“We need a neck collar and the longboard,” Eric said as he yanked the back door open.

With a nod, Joe took off to grab the stretcher while he inspected the mess inside the ambulance. He grabbed the stretcher that was lying across the ceiling and pulled it free before shoving it away from the ambulance so that he could reach the third rider hanging upside down in the tech seat. He quickly made his way inside, ignoring the sounds of broken glassbreaking beneath his boots and focused on the small woman struggling to free herself.

“Hold still. We’re going to get you out,” Eric said, crouching low as he walked towards her.

“I-I c-can smell gas,” she mumbled in a daze.

“I know,” Eric said soothingly. “We’re going to get you out of here as fast we can, but I need you to do exactly what I say, okay?”

“O-Okay,” she agreed, forcing herself to remain still.

He heard broken glass being crushed behind him and wasn’t surprised when Joe and Justin, an EMT who worked for a large private ambulance company, moved in behind him. Justin was a large guy, but most importantly, he knew his shit and would help get this woman out of here quickly.

“I’ll secure her neck if you gentlemen, and I use that term loosely,” Joe said, forcing herself to get into the rhythm of things and keep everyone calm as she moved towards the patient, “would be so kind as to get her down.”

“Sounds good,” Justin said, shifting to Eric’s left.

They quickly pulled on gloves as Joe carefully worked the collar around her neck. Eric reached over and held the woman’s head still as Joe secured the neck collar. When she was done, Eric removed his hands and Joe got into a position where she could hold the woman’s head still so they could work.

“If I cut her down, do you think you could grab her?” Eric asked Justin.

With a firm nod, Justin got his hands into position, ready to hold the woman where she was until Eric could help move her. He’d love a few extra hands, but there wasn’t enough room or time for that. Shooting a nervous glance at Joe, Eric grabbed his trauma shears out of his pants and cut the lap belt.

“I-It was a-a priority three call. He wasn’t supposed to use the emergency lights or sirens,” the third rider said softly astears rolled down her cheeks, surprising the hell out of them. “Mark told him to slow down, b-but he wouldn’t listen.”

“Shhh, it’s okay,” Joe said, trying to give the woman what little comfort she could.

“I didn’t want to ride with him,” she admitted as Eric shared a look with Joe.

“On my count,” Eric said, focusing on getting the hell out of there as he prepared to cut her shoulder belt. “One, two...three.”

When the belt gave way, Eric dropped his shears and reached up to grab hold of her and gently guided her down. Carefully, but quickly, the three of them managed to keep her neck stabilized and moved her to the longboard. Justin picked up the other end of the backboard while he picked up his end while Joe did her best to keep her head stabilized. They didn’t bother with straps as they moved their asses and-

“Fire!” Eric yelled when he caught the scent of smoke.

Thankfully, Joe and Justin reacted quickly as did the EMTs waiting just outside the ambulance. The moment they cleared the ambulance, everyone grabbed hold of the backboard and moved their asses. Within seconds, immense heat flashed behind them with a loud explosion that sent them stumbling. As soon as they were safely behind their ambulance, they placed the backboard on the ground and worked together to secure her to the backboard. When she was secured, they placed her on another crew’s stretcher and let them take over since their stretcher was now consumed in flames.

CHAPTER 30

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