CHAPTER 1- 999
Connie, Ash, Tess, Lily and Ethan were on the road to St. Stevens, to, as Connie put it, 'raise standards across the NHS', and for additional funding for their hospital.
The came up to a roundabout. Lily was studying the map for any signs of where they were and Tess was hopelessly trying to help her. Ash was sitting at the back, half focused on the map, half focused on the little amount of leg room he had. Ethan was looking around for any signs that would help, but couldn't see any. They were lost. If Connie wasn't hell-bent against using the sat-nav on Ethan's phone, they'd probably be there by now.
"Have we gone over the B2379 yet?" Lily asked Ethan, who was still trying to work out which roundabout they were on.
"Not sure…" He answered honestly.
"We're between two pages. It's really hard to see." Lily told them. Sat nav. Why couldn't they just use a sat-nav?
"Right, sorry, yes, it's Connie Beauchamp." Connie had rung St. Stevens to tell them about the holdup- this was not good, she thought. The later they were, the less time they would have. "We are going to be a little bit late. One of my most promising doctors can't read a map." She sounded more fed up by the second as she turned around to look at Lily. Ash wanted to try and help, but that meant taking his seatbelt off. It was unlikely that anything was going to happen to them, but just to be safe he hung back, keeping his seatbelt on, and watching things unfold in front of him.
"It's not my fault!" Lily fought back. "The roads aren't where they're supposed to be." Tess could see what was happening.
"Connie, this map doesn't even have the bypass on it. We're not going to get far with this." Tess told the clinical lead when she hung up the phone, looking quite annoyed. But, whatever they were going to do, they were not using a sat-nav. They were as unreliable as pig giving directions. (A/N Shut up.)
"Right, give me the map." Connie instructed Lily. Ash wondered what she could do with that map, but didn't question her actions. The clinical lead went to take the map from Lily's outstretched arms when all of them heard a crash. None of them could make out what exactly was happening in the seconds where disaster struck. Something had made the van bang against the road. The car that had collided with it, sent the front right side scraping against the road, leaving the back right slightly off the cold hard floor, but when it finally stopped moving, the back of it came down with a thump.
Connie woke up to a sharp pain in her head. Why was she in pain? She found herself on her side, held in place by, was it a seatbelt? Her eyelids fluttered open as she tried to make sense of where she was. She looked around and saw a damaged windshield. Then it hit her. Being lost, the phone call, the car out of the corner of her eye, why wasn't it stopping? Dizziness, Screams, Darkness. She and her team had been swiped off the road.
"Is everyone okay? Everyone okay?" She prayed everyone was, but knew that wasn't the case. She heard Tess, thank god someone replied.
"Yeah." Tess responded. She was trying to keep as calm as she could. She wasn't as badly hurt as the others as she wasn't on the side of the van.
"Ethan?" Connie raised her hand and placed it on Ethan's shoulder, noticing the young doctor had his eyes closed, and gently shook him.
"My arm, I can't feel my arm!" Lily complained. Tess placed her hand on the F2's shoulder in a feeble attempt to comfort her.
"Ethan, can you hear me?" No response from the doctor. Connie was growing increasingly more worried for her team.
"Ash?" Tess questioned. She could him from when she turned her head. He was conscious but looked like he was in slight pain. "You okay?"
"Yeh." Was all he could offer. He was focusing more on his shoulder which, at best, seemed dislocated. He thought about his neck, it seemed fine, there was no pain, and what he could feel, there were no cuts on his head. He looked around in the van. Lily was complaining about loss of sensation in her arm. That would probably be because, like Ash, she was on the side that scraped against the ground. Tess and Connie looked better than he or Lily. They were conscious at least. His gaze then drew to Ethan. He hadn't said anything, and he saw Connie's attempt to get a response from him. Nothing.
Lily wanted to hear Ethan, she cared for the man. "Ethan?" She cried. There was no reply. Combined with the freight she felt, the worry for Ethan, and the pain she was in, she couldn't contain her sobs.
Connie placed her fingers on the inside of Ethan's neck and felt for a pulse. There better be a pulse. There was, but only just. She thought she better tell the others. "Pulse is very weak." Tess looked towards her hopelessly, Ash mirrored this reaction. If they didn't get Ethan out soon, he wouldn't make it.
They needed an ambulance. Connie, Tess and Ash knew they had to keep calm. Especially for Lily. If she couldn't keep calm, they needed to. Connie struggled to reach her phone which had fallen down. She was conscious that her right arm was throbbing, but that wasn't important at this stage.
"Get me out!" Lily pleaded, between her sobs.
"Lily it's fine." Connie said. She knew it wasn't fine. They all knew it wasn't fine. Tess could tell Lily was panicking, and the last thing she wanted Lily to do was have a panic attack. Her breathing was already quickening from anxiety.
"Just try and breathe. It's going to be okay." Tess told the younger woman while rubbing her arm. It wasn't helping comfort her, but it was better than nothing.
Connie dialed 999 and put the phone to her ear. "Ambulance, please. We need an ambulance." She panted, becoming increasingly aware of the pain that resided in her arm, of Lily's sobs, of Ash's grunts of pain, of Tess's attempts to comfort Lily, and of the still unconscious Ethan. "There's been…there's been a car crash." Connie was trying to fill the operator in with as much detail as possible.
"My arm hurts!" Lily continued crying out. She felt stressed, worried, and panicked. Tess continued trying to console her. Ash undid his seatbelt and tried to keep his shoulder out of harm's way as best he could as he turned the right way up and moved closer to Tess and Lily.
"Lily, you've got to stay calm okay? I know it's hard, but you just have to try." Ash had stepped in to try and help Lily. Both Tess and he were failing to calm the young doctor down. Ash saw Connie put down the phone and look over to them.
All of them knew this was far from good.
Well, this chapter has been written for god knows how long, but the rest of the story hasn't! Oh well, looks like I shall write it as I go along!
I'm trying out this new layout, as well as naming chapters. Is it better?
Please review and tell me what you think of this first chapter!