AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Here, take care of him!” She thrust the crying boy into Derek’s arms. “Go inside the rig!”
Derek nodded and opened the back doors to carry the boy inside. She spun and ran back out into the street where the parade had abruptly stopped.
Her gaze landed on a cop sprawled on the ground on the other side of the street.Joe? No, please, Lord, no!Elly grabbed her abandoned first aid kit and darted through the screaming mass of people, nearly tripping over an abandoned tuba lying in the street in her haste to reach the fallen officer.
Not Joe, but a familiar face. She searched her memory for his name as she avoided looking down at the massive pool of blood forming beneath him. Kyle. That’s right, his name was Kyle.
“Elly?” He stared up at her, confusion in his eyes, as if he didn’t understand what was going on. Frankly, she didn’t either.
“I’m here. You’re going to be okay.” The edges of her vision blurred, and she had to tell herself again not to faint.Not now! Please, Lord, not now!
“El...” He tried to say something more, but then his eyes closed, and his body went limp.
Why was this happening? Her fingers fumbled on the first aid kit as she searched for gauze. As if the small amount she carried could stem the flow of blood running like a river across the frozen street. She swallowed hard, praying she wouldn’t be sick. She pressed gauze to his groin wound, but instantly, it was soaked in blood. No use. It was no use!
“Elly!” It took a moment for her name to register. Dazed, she glanced up to see Joe making a beeline toward her, a look of panic etched on his features. Over his shoulder, she saw a man wearing a long dark coat standing above the others. He lifted a long automatic rifle.
“Down!” She screamed the word as loud as she could. Joe reacted instantly, as if she were Rhy shouting an order, and hit the ground as another crack of gunfire rang out. She watched in horror as Joe rolled over, lifted his own weapon, and returned fire.
The guy in the long coat ducked, then disappeared. She rose to her feet, stumbling toward Joe. “He’s getting away!”
“Go back to the ambulance.” Joe looked as if he wanted to stay with her, but he turned and ran toward the location the shooter had last been, talking into his radio as he went, no doubt putting the other officers in the area on alert to help him search. People were still screaming, some running away, others cradling injured loved ones close.
The entire scene was surreal and straight out of a horror flick. The amount of blood was paralyzing, but Elly forced herself to do her job.
The way Joe was.
Slightly calmer now that she knew the gunman had left the scene, she turned back to Kyle. When she couldn’t feel a pulse, she forced herself to move on to the next victim. In times of a crisis, there was no time to waste on those who had no chance of survival. Not when there were so many other victims to assess and treat.
The next closest victim was a young woman being held by a man who was likely her husband. The woman was bleeding from an upper chest wound, but she still had a pulse. Despite being pale and in shock, the woman glanced at her. “Hurts.”
“I know.” Elly crouched beside them, using more gauze and pressing it against the exit wound. “Hold this,” she instructed. The dazed man did as she instructed. “You’re going to be okay. Let’s get you up and over to the ambulance.”
The man looked grateful for something constructive to do. She stood and helped him lift the injured woman. “Hang on to me, Lisa,” he instructed.
“I don’t understand,” Lisa murmured. As if there was a way to make sense out of this horrible act of violence. “Why, Dan? Why?”
“I don’t know.” He pressed a kiss to her temple and half carried her across the street to the ambulance. There were other victims there now, too, having instinctively gone to the closest source of aid. Derek had the young boy inside, but he was now kneeling beside another victim. He glanced up as she approached.
He looked as if he wanted to say something, but then shook his head and went back to work. She completely understood. There was nothing else they could do but continue providing care until more help arrived.
The wail of police sirens was a welcome relief. Yet after she quickly assessed those with more minor injuries, she forced herself to head back out to the street.
There were several people up on the flatbed of the truck, tending to the two ice skaters. She had to swallow hard against another wave of nausea when she saw blood dripping off the edge and onto the street. Somehow, she managed to climb up.
“We need to get him to the hospital,” a man was saying. “They need to get the Lifeline chopper out here ASAP.”
“Are you a doctor or nurse?” Elly asked. The way they’d mentioned the Lifeline rescue helicopter made her think so.
“I’m a doctor,” the young woman said. “He’s a nurse. The female skater is dead, but the male is still alive.”
“Okay, you stay with him. I’ll keep searching for other victims.” Elly told herself the injured skater was in good hands. Much better hands than hers, that was for sure.
She wanted to cry when she found another dead body, an elderly man who’d taken a bullet to his chest. But after that, she was grateful to find two more live victims.
After stabilizing their injuries as much as she was able to with her limited supplies, she helped them get over toward the ambulance. It seemed like the best place to keep the victims together.
As she worked, Elly couldn’t stop thinking about Joe. Or the man in the long dark coat who had done this terrible thing.
