Title: Balance – Pt. 2
By: FanofRandy
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. Emergency! is owned by Universal and Mark VII Productions. I make no profit from my imagination—only a personal joy and peace.
Summary: Challenge accepted! Response to Ginger S challenge. Johnny finds himself stuck in an elevator.
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Roy pushed the elevator button, but it did not light up. He pushed it again to no avail. He looked at the lights above the doors to see if it was perhaps stopped on one particular floor…but, those lights were not lit either. "What the hell?" He whispered to himself. He briefly thought of just using the stairs, but wondered if perhaps something might be wrong. He knew that there was an alarm on elevators that would sound if it was stuck between floors or stopped open on a certain floor for too long. But, he could hear no such alarm and had no explanation for the lights not working.
He walked quickly back to the Nurse's station. "Dixie…can you call maintenance? The elevator doesn't seem to be working."
"What do you mean, Roy?" She queried as she picked up the phone to make the call. "What's it doing?"
"It's not doing anything…that's the problem. No lights, no sound, no movement, no nothin'." He answered her. She began talking to whoever answered the phone and he had a sudden, sinking thought…
"What if someone is stuck in the elevator between floors?" A slight sheen of dampness shown on his forehead as he came to the realization and listened to Dixie's end of the call.
"Uh huh…yes…no…I don't know, just a sec." She covered the mouthpiece of the phone and asked Roy, "How long has it been like this?"
"I don't know." Roy honestly answered. "I pushed the button a couple minutes ago and…nothin'." He shook his head in disbelief. Dixie relayed his response and then hung up the phone.
She updated Roy. "They don't have any alarms showing, but they're gonna check on it now. We should use the main and service elevators or the stairs in the meantime, he said."
Roy looked back toward the elevator at the end of the hall. He had an uneasy feeling, but went to the stairs to join his Partner in Orthopedics.
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Johnny wasn't particularly claustrophobic. He had been squeezed into spaces tighter than this on many rescues. But, the thought of being stuck in this elevator for very long was unpleasant. After the shift he'd just endured, all he wanted to do was to go home, shower, and then sleep for the next 8 hours.
He shined his penlight at his watch and saw that it was 07:05. Just another 55 minutes and their shift would end. He had only hoped that they would get no runs, but now…he just wanted out of this damn elevator. He banged on the button pad and willed for the alarm to sound so someone would know he was there. He thought about yelling, but decided to wait a few minutes.
"This is a busy hospital…someone is bound to notice that the elevator is not working and call someone to fix it!" He reasoned aloud. He took a deep breath and backed away from the buttons and slid down to the floor to await help to arrive.
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Morton saw Roy exit the stairs and walk his way. He smiled slightly as he walked toward Roy, too. The men met in the middle of the hallway. "Roy, you here to check on the little girl, too." Morton asked.
Roy nodded, and added, "Yeah…and, to collect my Partner so we can go home." Morton's face contorted as Roy looked on.
"Roy, he left about 10 minutes ago." Morton said matter-of-factly. Roy swiftly turned toward the elevator and gasped.
"Did he get on the elevator?" Roy asked.
"Of course he did." Morton replied and then picked up on the slight panic in Roy's question. "What's wrong?"
Roy ran toward the elevator and pushed the button and looked above the doors. No lights shown at all. He turned to Morton…"The elevator's not working. I think Johnny may be stuck in there."
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It had been 20 minutes and Johnny had not heard anything. No alarm bells, no hails from someone offering assistance…just the beating of his own heart and slightly increasing breaths. He stood and walked to the door. He had been stuck in an elevator before. Talk about small spaces...the small elevator barely had enough room for Roy, Johnny and their victim. It had stalled and they had to be rescued. That reassured him some as he became increasingly uncomfortable. It was only then that he realized that what he had smelled was smoke from an electrical short. And, now the smell was growing stronger.
He also felt the elevator car list again and he worried for a short moment the entire thing would plummet to the bottom. He thought for a moment and decided he would remain as still as possible and stay toward the middle of the car to provide a balance of weight as to not cause any strain the already creaking cables.
"C'mon, Roy." He mumbled aloud. "Get me the hell outta here."
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Brackett, Dixie and the Hospital Maintenance supervisor joined Roy and Morton on the 6th Floor in front of the elevator doors. "There's been a short in the electrical system and there is a strain on the cables. There is a threat that they could snap completely." The stocky, balding man reported. "We've got men on the roof now. You say there's someone in there?" He looked at Roy. Roy thought the man looked very nervous as he answered.
Roy nodded. "I think my Partner, John Gage, might be in there. He was seen getting in this elevator about 30 minutes ago and no one has seen him since." Roy absently glanced at his watch as the others discussed what to do next.
"Look, I will get something to pry these doors open and then we can see where it has stopped. We can also call to see if he is really in there, okay?" The Maintenance supervisor said, with an attempt to sound authoritative. Roy glanced at the man, rolled his eyes a bit, and then moved toward the stairwell door. He entered the stairs and a moment later, he returned with a fire axe.
"Here, let's use this." Roy said as he walked to the doors. The shorter man just nodded his approval and joined Roy at the doors.
The two men placed the axe in the space where the doors met in the middle and both applied pressure to the axe handle and the doors slowly opened. Once there was enough space, Roy pulled the axe long ways and pushed it between the doors to prevent them from closing. What they saw and smelled told them the situation was far more grave than they originally believed.
"What's burning?" Brackett asked as the noticed the smoke and acrid smell. And, the loud whining of the tightly stretched cables. They could hear little besides that strange "crying" noise.
"There's no tellin'…could just be a minor short in the electrical system…or,…" The man looked up toward the roof, "…it could be the motor…and, the friction of the cables when the car fell." The three onlookers couldn't believe what they just heard.
"The car FELL?" Roy bellowed. "How do you know that…and, why are we just hearing this?" He turned and flashed a worried look toward Brackett. "Doc, I'm gonna call this in to Dispatch. We need a crew out here to get Johnny…or, whoever is on that elevator out of there now!" Brackett nodded as he smirked at the Maintenance supervisor. They all exchanged worried looks as LA Dispatcher, Sam Lanier beckoned,
"Engine 51, respond to call at Rampart General Hospital. Possible entrapment. Squad 51 at scene. Time out 7:45."
"10-4 Station 51, KMG-365." Came the reply as Cap rushed to join the Engine crew on Big Red.
TBC