Charlie sighed as he hung up the red phone.
"Alright, there's been a major RTC involving a truck and a school bus; roughly thirty children are currently trapped. The paramedics are getting ready to go right now, but we'll also need a doctor to go to the site."
"I'll go!" Ethan and Cal volunteered simultaneously.
Charlie gave a small chuckle at their synchronised enthusiasm, and said, "Either of you will do. Sort it out between yourselves- quickly, please."
Ethan and Cal turned to each other, narrowing their eyes slightly as they each waited for the other to back down.
After a moment's pause, Ethan suggested, "Rock paper scissors?"
Cal sniggered slightly at his brother's immaturity, but then put his fist out.
"Rock, paper, scissors!"
Ethan threw out a paper, whilst Cal played a rock. Ethan grinned, pleased with his victory.
"Alright, go ahead and suit up then, Ethan." Charlie smiled.
"Best of three?" Cal called after Ethan in vain as he hurried off to the staff room to get changed.
"You ready to get going, mate?" Iain asked Ethan as he entered the ambulance station.
He smiled and nodded in reply.
The drive there was fairly short, and they soon pulled up at the scene of the accident on the motorway.
Ethan sucked in a small breath of surprise at the sight of the crash. It was definitely on the worse end of the spectrum; by the looks of it the school bus had hurtled straight into the side of the truck at full speed.
The chief of the team of firemen at the site soon came up to the paramedics and Ethan.
"Alright, the driver of the truck has already been extracted and is on his way to the hospital now-"
"What about the kids? Why haven't the children been extracted yet?" Ethan asked, frowning in concern. Although they were standing quite far from the bus, he could just make out the distressed children through the windows of the bus.
"The thing is, there are very large amounts of petrol leaking from the bus- a single spark from the wreck could set off an explosion. With the amount of fuel everywhere, we're taking about a pretty huge explosion too."
"Surely that's even more reason that we should get them out of there as soon as possible?" Ethan interjected.
The fire chief sighed, obviously annoyed at Ethan's continuous questioning.
"We can't let anyone go anywhere near the wreck until it's stable and we're sure that it won't just result in more injuries and deaths-"
"No- you said it yourself, that bus is a ticking time bomb, and you're happy to just leave those children in there to die?" Ethan argued.
"Look, there's no other choice, I can't let any of my team risk their lives by going near-"
He was cut off by Ethan turning and walking briskly towards the wreck.
"Hey! HEY! What do you think you're doing?!" He yelled angrily.
"You said you aren't willing to let your team go in there- so I'll go instead." Ethan stated simply, not even bothering to turn around to face him.
Iain ran over to him and grabbed his arm, "Ethan- you heard him. It's not safe in there."
"Even more reason why the children should be taken out of there right now."
"Come on Ethan, you know you're going against policy-"
"Well, that's my problem. I'll deal with the consequences."
Iain sighed as he realised that there was no changing the stubborn young doctor's mind.
"I... Alright then. Just be careful, and get out at the first sign of danger. Okay?"
Ethan nodded briefly and began to run towards the semi-destroyed bus. As he approached the front of the bus, he soon caught sight of the reason why they were trapped. The door of the bus was warped and had twisted in such a way that it couldn't be opened with the handle.
Ethan sighed and ran a hand through his hair, eventually deciding that brute force was the only way to get the door open.
If only Cal was here; brute force is his specialty, Ethan thought to himself with a wry smile.
He positioned his fingers around the warped metal and pulled back as hard as he could, using all his weight to lean backwards. After a few seconds, the metal gave a huge creak and the door bent and swung open.
Immediately a few of the non-injured children ran out of the bus, crying and sniffling. Ethan paused for a second, wondering if he should help them to safety, but they seemed to be heading to the other paramedics fine, and there were more pressing matters currently.
He carefully entered the bus, horribly aware of the fact that the entire bus wobbled and creaked with each movement.
Many of the children's seatbelts had become jammed or locked on during the crash, and Ethan wasted no time in wrenching the seatbelts off to free the small children. Around a third of them had injuries of some kind, mostly superficial, but Ethan made sure to carry them out and run to hastily hand them over to a paramedic or fireman before rushing back to the bus.
Within ten or so minutes, Ethan had managed to get most of the children out to safety. The paramedics were busy looking after and treating them. At last, there were only two more children left in the back of the bus.
Once more, Ethan entered the bus. He was horribly aware of the fact that the wreck was continuing to become more and more unstable.
He assessed the situation when he reached the back of the bus: there was one boy whose arm was trapped by a bent piece of metal, and one girl who seemed to have a leg injury and was sobbing and panicking.
He stood there for a second, torn between who to help first.
Eventually he turned to the girl and pulled her seatbelt off. She was still crying and gasping for breath.
"I need you to try to calm down for me, okay?" Ethan said soothingly, "What's your name?"
"M-Mia," The girl managed to get out between sobs.
"Okay, you're going to be just fine Mia. Try to take deep breaths for me; copy my breathing," he said, taking her tiny hand and placing it on his chest.
A few moments later, Mia's breathing was almost back to normal, and she had calmed down considerably.
"Well done," Ethan praised, putting on a smile in an attempt to keep her calm.
He then turned to the boy, "What's your name?"
"Thomas," the boy whispered, his eyes filled with tears of pain.
"Okay, Thomas, I know it hurts, but just stay still for me, alright? We'll get you out of here in no time- I promise it'll all be fine."
"A-Are you a superhero?" Thomas asked, sniffling, his eyes wide.
Ethan opened his mouth to reply in the negative, but then stopped himself. A child would probably feel more safe in the hands of a superhero than a doctor.
"I... Yes. I'm a superhero, and I've come to make sure that you and Mia will be safe. I'm staying right here with you until you can get out, I'm not going anywhere." Ethan said comfortingly.
To Ethan's surprise, Thomas shook his head violently.
"No- don't stay here. Get Mia out and make her better please." He said.
Ethan stared at him for a second. To be very honest, it would probably be at least another half hour before Thomas' arm could be freed- and that's not considering the fact that the bus could blow up at any given moment. Logically speaking, it would make sense to get Mia out first as soon as possible.
"Are... Are you sure that you don't mind being alone for a little bit whilst I get Mia out?" Ethan asked.
Thomas gave a small nod, "I'll be okay."
"...Alright. You're extremely brave, Thomas, you know that?"
Thomas managed a small smile through his tears.
Ethan turned to Mia.
"Okay, this may hurt your leg a bit, but the only way I can get you out of here is to carry you. Is that okay, Mia?" Ethan inquired anxiously.
"Y-Yes..." Mia said, her voice wobbling as she held back her tears.
"Good girl. I'll try to be as gentle as possible."
Ethan slowly scooped her up in his arms, taking extreme care not to jostle her leg. He left the bus as hastily as he could without hurting Mia.
When he had exited, he noticed that yellow tape had been set up in a large radius around the wreck- presumably to keep people a large distance away from the bus if or when it exploded.
"Ethan! Over here!" He heard Iain's voice coming from just behind the tape.
He hurried over, ducked under the yellow tape and handed Mia over to Iain.
"Alright, this is Mia, she has a suspected break to the femur, pulse is stable-"
He stopped abruptly when he realised that Iain wasn't listening to a word he was saying- his eyes were fixed on something over Ethan's shoulder. Ethan turned around, a pit of dread opening in his stomach.
The bus was on fire.
Without a second thought, Ethan began sprinting towards the burning bus.
"Ethan! ETHAN!" Iain yelled desperately, "ETHAN! GET BACK! IT'S GOING TO EXPLODE!"
The words barely registered to Ethan- he didn't care. The only thing he cared about in that moment was the fact there was a little boy called Thomas trapped in the back of a burning bus. A burning bus that could explode at any second.
He sprinted faster than he even knew he could. He skidded round the corner of the wreck and ran straight into the bus without a second's hesitation.
As he entered it, a huge flame licked up the side of his leg, immediately burning away part of his uniform and scorching the flesh underneath it. But he barely felt it- the adrenaline was pumping too hard, and his thoughts were too focused on Thomas.
The smoke in the bus was thick and suffocating, mixed with the fumes of petrol. He coughed and spluttered, unable to get any oxygen into his lungs.
Through all of this, he still pushed forwards towards the back of the bus, ignoring the flames licking at his arms and legs.
"Thomas?!" He called out desperately, his voice strained from the smoke.
"Help me..." A small voice cried in the distance.
Ethan's legs were almost beginning to give out from the severe burns, but he forced himself to keep going. He had to get to Thomas.
He staggered forwards blindly, the smoke obscuring his vision and filling his throat. Finally he could just make out a small figure slumped at the back of the bus. He willed himself to keep going, he was only a few metres away now, just a bit more-
BANG.
A white hot pain ripped through Ethan's body, so intense that he was completely unaware of anything else around him. He couldn't focus on anything but the pain. In that moment, he wished for nothing more than to just die and be spared of the agony.
He felt himself get thrown by the explosion at huge speed- he was flung straight through a window of the bus, the glass shattering and embedding itself in his body, adding even more to the pain that he thought surely couldn't get any worse.
As he was flung from the bus at breakneck speed, he glimpsed something hurtling towards him and felt it lodge itself in his chest; but he didn't have time to look down at it before he smashed into the ground with a sharp thud, and his vision spun into blackness.