“GET THE FUCK OFF OF ME, I NEED TO SEE HER! FINNLEY!” he screams as I get right in front of him and put my hands on his chest.
“Collin, we’re handling it,” I tell him as calmly as I can. “You of all people know you can’t be here right now. Go sit your ass down in my truck and let me do my job.”
His eyes are wild with unshed tears and fear and it breaks my heart to see him like this. He’s already been through enough to get to a happy, normal life with the woman he loves. He doesn’t deserve this shit.
“Oh, God! How bad is she?”
I don’t answer him right away because I can’t say anything good. Finnley is a mess and she’s lucky to still be alive at this point.
“FUCKING ANSWER ME!” he screams as he continues to struggle against the arms that are holding him in place.
“She’s alive, Collin. That’s all you need to think about right now.”
The flashing lights of three fire trucks and four cop cars illuminate his face and thankfully, the other ambulance pulls up right then.
“Wait in my truck and I’ll keep you posted as soon as we get her out of the car, okay?”
The tears finally fall from his eyes as he nods his head in understanding.
“I’m going back and I promise you, I will take good care of her. Luckily, the hospital is only a few minutes away, so we don’t have to worry about Life Flight. We’ll follow right behind the ambulance in my truck, got it?”
The fight leaves his body and he slumps into the men’s arms as they help him over to where my truck is parked while I toss my keys to one of the cops. I turn and race back to Finnley’s car just as the firemen break through the roof and yank the thing off.
Two other paramedics catch up to me with the gurney and thankfully, it’s two of my own men. I can work well with any paramedic, but the group of men I’ve trained and worked side-by-side with run like a well-oiled machine.
“Patrick, get the backboard ready,” I tell the one closest to me as I climb up onto the top of the car and carefully ease myself down inside and crouch on the center console, checking her pulse while Brad rattles off her BP from behind me.
Her pulse is weak, but it’s there, thank God. There is no fucking way I’m going back to my fucking truck without news that Finnley is alive.
Brad has done everything he was supposed to, her IV lines are in place, oxygen mask is pressed against her nose and mouth and the brace is wrapped firmly around her neck. I use my pocketknife to saw through her seatbelt as Patrick climbs up the rear of the car with the backboard. When the seatbelt comes loose, I hold her body steady so Patrick can slide the backboard down behind her through the open roof of the car. I turn my body so my back is pressed up against the dashboard as Brad slides almost fully inside the vehicle from the passenger side, places Finnley’s IV bags on the passenger seat and helps us secure her to the backboard. Patrick calls for assistance and I hear the clamor of feet as a few more people climb onto the car. On the count of three, I hold Finnley’s legs and help Brad lift her while Patrick and everyone else pulls her up and out of her seat as gently as possible. Once we’ve got her resting on the tops of the seats, I help push her body the rest of the way up the backboard so her legs aren’t dangling off and secure the straps around them, as well. Brad slides back out of the passenger side window and runs around to help everyone else move her the rest of the way off of the car as I climb out of the top with her IV bags.
Once we get her secured to the gurney, we take off running, me holding the IV bags above her as Patrick and Brad push the bed through the wreckage and other vehicles. Collin is waiting for us by the open back of the ambulance, and I shoot him a dirty look as we stop and flip the latches to collapse the legs of the gurney. I watch as he quickly leans over Finnley, smoothing her bloody hair off her face, full on sobbing when he gets his first good look at her. My anger that he didn’t wait in my truck quickly fades when I see how important it was for him to see her. Even though she looks really bad, I know it helps for him to see that she’s still breathing.
“You gotta move, man. We need to get her to the hospital STAT,” I tell him as we fold the gurney down and lift it inside. Patrick and Brad jump inside and immediately start working on her, taking her blood pressure and checking her vitals.
Slamming the doors closed, I pound on the back end. The siren wails and the ambulance takes off at top speed.
“Come on, let’s get to my truck,” I tell him as I grab onto his arm and help him walk.
We have to walk back through the accident site as we go, and I try to get Collin to look anywhere but at Finnley’s car, but it’s no use. His feet come to a halt like they’re filled with cement when we get right next to her car.