Page 20 of Cocoa

A grinding screech echoed through the snowstorm. A horn. Shouting. And then a brutal, jarring crash. Ryder barely had time to look up.

The world shuddered. Something enormous slammed into the back of the SUV, flinging it forward several feet. The frame groaned and twisted around him, metal crumpling. Ryder braced instinctively, one arm shooting out to clutch the patient as best he could, his side cracking against the center console.The air filled with glass and snow and the sharp hiss of something rupturing.

Then everything stopped except for the thick swirl of snow and the sobbing screams of the little baby. Ryder sucked in a breath and tried to move. His ribs ached. One leg was pinned beneath a collapsed portion of the dashboard, not crushed but trapped. His shoulder throbbed. The patient groaned again, more alert now, dazed eyes rolling in panic.

Whatever hit the pileup at the back pushed several vehicles, including the woman’s SUV where Ryder worked. It had spun halfway around and now lay jammed against a box truck with a little sports car half up the front bumper.

“Hey. Hey, you’re okay,” Ryder said, voice low, steady. “We got hit, but I’m still here. You’re not alone.”

His radio crackled weakly. Eva’s voice filtered through in bursts, distorted and static-laced. “Ryder… do you copy? I don’t see you back here, and I’m kinda freaking out. What’s your status?” Her voice, usually so stoic and professional, held a distinct note of panic.

He reached for the mic clipped to his chest and pressed the button. “I’m in an SUV about halfway up. Driver, female, semi-conscious. Baby, maybe one year old, is alert, no obvious injuries, but I can’t get to her. I’m pinned, but okay.”

“Copy that,” she replied and muttered a curse. “Hold tight. They’ll reach you as soon as they can.” The radio cut out again.

Snowflakes drifted through the shattered front window, melting against his cheek. Ryder pressed closer to the woman, using his body as a shield as best he could in the awkward angle. The baby whimpered behind him, but not in pain. Just fear and cold and confusion.

He didn’t panic. He’d be a shitty EMT if he did. The weight pressing against his leg wasn’t budging, though. The passenger side door had buckled inward, the dashboard crunched tightagainst his hip just enough to get him stuck but not crush anything. The back end of the SUV was completely crumpled from the impact, but the damage hadn’t affected the backseat at all. The sound of power tools started up in the distance, the firefighters and rescue crews working through layers of twisted metal.

Minutes passed and stretched ever longer. He focused on the patient, monitoring her breathing and pulse while trying to shield her from the icy wind and snow swirling in through the broken windshield. He kept up a constant chatter of soothing words and questions as she drifted in and out of consciousness.

The cold crept in, and he started to shiver. The woman and baby already quaked from the cold. It settled into his fingers and arms through the thin gloves and coat. It made his breaths shorter, his movements a bit more awkward. But his training held. He stayed sharp and listened to the slow approach of rescue crews behind them.

One thought infiltrated his work-mode mind: Lucas.

He hadn’t meant to think of him just then, but the image surfaced uninvited. Lucas was on the couch, curled into his side, cocoa in hand and that soft, content smile on his lips. Lucas laughing over takeout. Lucas tracing his fingers across Ryder’s chest after they’d kissed for a long time and didn’t want to stop.

Ryder closed his eyes for a second. He wasn’t afraid, not in the way that civilians were in situations like that. He knew they’d get out, get medical care, and be fine. This wasn’t death staring him in the face. It was just a reminder of limits and of possibilities.

He’d heard over the radio that they’d closed the road after the last accident – a tractor trailer that simply couldn’t stop on the icy downslope. It had plowed through a cop car before slamming into the back of the pileup, shifting everything in adomino effect. That wouldn’t happen again, so all he had to do was wait.

I’m going to see him again, and I’m going to tell him how I feel.He almost smiled at the thought, but then glanced over to see the woman awake and staring at him.

“You’re okay,” he repeated. “The rescue team will get here really soon to get you both out and to the hospital for help, okay? Can you tell me your name?”

“Miriam.” Her head jerked to the side. “Rachel?”

Her mother’s voice made the little one cry out again, but at least she didn’t start wailing like before. Her little cheeks were pink from the cold, and her eyes rimmed with red.

Ryder pressed gently on the woman’s shoulder. “It’s best if you stay still until they can check you out. Rachel’s fine. Scared and a bit cold, but fine from what I can see.”

The screech of metal suddenly sounded from close by, and Ryder twisted around to look. Voices joined the din, and he stuck his arm out of the cracked window and waved it, hoping someone would get to them soon. Miriam and Rachel need to get warm and taken care of, and his ribs and leg ached badly.

“We see you,” someone called, and Ryder recognized the voice. Will, the firefighter, in work mode. He spoke to his partner next. “Go around to the driver’s side. Let’s get her out first.”

Ryder’s thigh screamed in protest as the pressure shifted. Metal screeched as the door and roof peeled back, and poor baby Rachel started screaming again. He couldn’t blame her. The SUV groaned and shook, but then the far side opened up enough to extract Miriam safely. Two bundled up rescuers with a stretcher appeared and eased her out of the mess.

She half sat up as they affixed the cervical collar. “Rachel. My baby!”

“I’ll get her,” Ryder called. “We’ll be right behind you, Miriam.” With a painful shift and yank, he managed to extricate his leg from the too-tight space between the crushed dash and the seat. He crawled out through the cut open driver’s side and leaned against the SUV for a moment as feeling – too much of it – rushed back into his leg.

“You got her?” Will asked as his partner hefted the saw and headed toward a compact car with a man trapped inside several yards away.

“Yup.” The back door wouldn’t open, however, so Ryder scrambled back over and pulled the rest of the cracked window out of its frame. There was no way he could get the car seat out, but he wasn’t going to keep momma and baby apart for another minute.

He unbuckled Rachel carefully as she squirmed and reached for him. It took mere moments to draw her out of the window and tuck her tight against his chest. One gloved hand covered her little head to help protect her from the swirling snow and frigid wind. “Come on, little one,” he murmured as she whimpered. “Let’s get you safe and warm.”

Baby snug in his arms, her tiny face tucked against his beard, he made his way through the wreckage toward the flashing lights of the ambulance in the distance. As he handed her off to the team working on Miriam and saw the baby returned to her mother’s arms, a tired smile grew on his face and something warm bloomed in his heart.

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