AllFreeNovel
Share Us
No pulse, no breathing. I think his neck is broken.
Another man, bleeding from the head. Unconscious, but breathing steadily. Good pulse. Michael took another picture, sent another message.
Water was running across the face of the next man, and Michael’s flashlight app revealed a lot of blood. At first he couldn’t find a source of the bleeding, and he used slippery fingers to send a pic with a message.
Blood everywhere. Breathing. Pulse. Help?
Head wound? Sit him up if you can.
He kept going, moving debris as he went. Some pieces were large, and it took him a while to get past them. Three more dead bodies, but then three who seemed alive. Two were moaning. Michael sent pictures with as much description as he could.
Another man was ashen in the light from the app. Something large had sliced across his thigh just above the knee.
Hannah’s response was quick.
Rip a shirt. Tie a tourniquet HERE. Elevate if you can.
She sent a picture of someone else’s leg, with a hand pointing.
He ripped a T-shirt off one of the dead bodies and tied as fast as he could.
“Tyler?” he called. “How you doing?”
No response. “Tyler!”
Nothing. Michael shined his flashlight in that direction. Tyler was still, his eyes closed. The metal bar still impaled his thigh.
But his chest rose and fell. He was still alive.
The light died, and Michael’s phone chimed a warning at him.
Low battery. 5% remaining.
Almost immediately, another text appeared from Hannah. When he opened it to try to reply, the phone died altogether.
Damn it! In the darkness, he patted the pockets of the next body he came to and found a phone. It was the older flip kind that probably wouldn’t take a picture. He moved on to the next body. An iPhone! Yes!
Passcode protected.
“Christ,” he muttered. Next body. An iPhone, though an older model. No passcode. A picture of a young girl and a boy as the background.
Kids.
Michael’s breathing shook as he felt his way up the body to find a pulse.
He almost cried when he found one.
He opened the texts and started a new one. He typed in Hannah’s number.
Phone died. Found a new one. Missed last message.–M
Asked if any burn victims?
This phone didn’t have a flashlight app, but Michael had seen enough to know that he hadn’t seen any burns.
No. Why?
Bomb squad investigating. Found fragments. Burn damage to building. Propane tanks intact. Still waiting on clearance to enter.
