Page 44 of Rules of the Heart

She was just triaging a patient with a sprained ankle and a few small grazes as green when she heard a faint shouting.

“Hello? Help, someone please, help us!”

Ella approached the rubble cautiously. “Hello?”

“Please, are you a doctor?”

“Yes, I am.” She peered through a small gap in the broken pieces of the building and saw a young woman peering desperately back at her.

“Please, my daughter is trapped. There’s a beam through her leg. She’s bleeding badly.”

“Can you take off your sweater and use it to put pressure on the wound? I’m getting the rescue team right now.”

Ella didn’t wait to hear the response. She was off running, grabbing the nearest search-and-rescue guy by the arm.

“I need your help! There’s someone trapped here.”

“Ma’am, there are a lot of people who are trap—”

“Just hurry up and get your ass over here!” Ella snapped, yanking hard on his wrist. He allowed her to drag him to the small hole where she could just see the mother putting pressure on her daughter’s leg that was pumping blood. It looked like the femoral artery. The child couldn’t be more than seven. Ella knew she needed to get in there immediately or the little girl would die.

“Get in there!” Ella gestured frantically at the hole, but the man wasn’t moving.

“I can’t.”

“What do you mean, you can’t?”

“Look at that beam. It’s half-shattered. It’ll collapse at any moment. This whole area is too unstable. I’ll need to get a team to stabilize it before going in.”

“So go do that.”

“I will, but I should warn you, it’ll take at least an hour.”

“Anhour? She needs helpnow! She will die!”

Valerie suddenly appeared next to Ella. “What’s going on here?”

Ella had never been so glad to see her. Surely, Valerie would understand. “Valerie, tell this man that we have to get in there right now to help that child.”

Valerie peered through the gap and turned to the rescue guy. “She’s right. Get us in there now.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s not physically possible. It’ll take at least an hour. You’re not to go in there before that.”

Ella expected Valerie to argue—surely, she would fight for the patient—but instead, Valerie turned to her. “I’m sorry, Ella.”

They both knew that an hour would be far too long. That girl would be dead way before then.

“No fucking way! If you won’t get in there, then I will!” Ella grabbed her bag of essentials and pulled the hair elastic from her wrist and tied her hair up. A little girl wasn’t dying on her watch.

“Ella, don’t you dare! You will get yourself killed!”

“I can’t let her die, Valerie. I just can’t.”

Ella grabbed her medical bag and shoved it ahead of her, squeezing herself through the small hole in the rubble.

Behind her, Valerie cursed under her breath. “You’re going to be the death of me, Ella.”

Then she crawled in after her.

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