Chapter Four
"Oh my God, no!" Tom shouted as he sprinted over towards the edge of the ditch. He looked down the slope with his horror-filled eyes and all he could see was the ambulance containing Jeff and Dixie smashed up into thousands of pieces.
"Dixie!" Tom shouted, "Dixie! Can you hear me?" But there was no reply. The fire crew began ushering Tom out of the way whilst they did the necessary things to make it possible to get down the ditch to the duo. All Tom could do was wait at the roadside until he was shouted to go and help but the longer he sat there, the more and more time dragged and the more and more critical Dixie and Jeff would be getting. Tom needed to get the couple and quick.
"Can I come down yet?" Tom shouted to the fire officers who were already down the ditch.
"Sorry, not yet. We are still stabilising the ambulance as the whole thing could still roll over onto its roof because of the way it's landed. Won't be too long now!" he shouted back before getting back to work.
Tom allowed himself to collapse back onto the road side – all he could do was wait. Thoughts swirled around in his head causing his brain to go into overload. He didn't know what was going to happen to Jeff and Dixie: he didn't know how long he would have to wait before he could treat them. Thoughts kept flooding into his mind but he was whisked away from his thoughts as his phone had began to ring. Tom glanced at the screen to see who was calling. Nick Jordan. Tom thought he had better answer it.
"Hello," said Tom in a dull sounding voice.
"Tom, what's going on? Someone said that an ambulance has been involved. Is it one of ours?" Nick asked enquiringly.
"It's true," Tom replied. "Jeff and Dixie were in the ambulance, Dixie wasn't looking too good and Jeff was unconscious. I was trying to get to Jeff but I couldn't. Next thing the ambulance went over the side and rolled down a ditch." Tom explained. He had never witnessed anything like this before and what made it all worse was that fact that he knew the people involved. Tom classed the duo as his long lost cousins as they were always there to cheer him up and he loved their funny sense of humour.
"Are they okay?" Nick asked sounding rather worried. He hated having to treat members of his staff. Strictly speaking, Jeff and Dixie aren't his staff but Nick treats them like they are as they spend most of their time waltzing in and out of the ED on shouts.
Tom found this question really difficult to answer as he didn't know the answer. "I don't know, I really don't know." Tom finally replied. He was getting extremely worried about the couple and whether or not they would make it. He was beginning to feel like it was his fault. If he hadn't of touched the ambulance in the first place then maybe it might not have moved.
"They're fighters Tom, don't worry." Nick said trying to reassure Tom but it wasn't working.
"Too late for that I already..." Tom started but he paused as he saw a fire officer walking towards him.
"Can I go down yet?" Tom asked sounding impatient. He hated hanging around doing nothing – especially when he knew that two fellow colleagues were in trouble.
"Yes you can but just be careful." The fire officer warned. Tom was about to hurry off to help when he realised that Nick was still on the other end of the phone.
"Sorry about that, they've steadied the ambulance so I can go and help them now. Talk later." Tom hung up before Nick had a chance to say anything else. Tom had already wasted enough time in his eyes and was just wanting to go and help his friends.
He carefully climbed down towards the vehicle. Now that he had got closer, he could see the full extent of the damage even more. It was truly horrific. The entire ambulance was dented and scratched, windows smashed, mirrors snapped off, doors cut open. Tom peered in through the front of the ambulance and saw the outline of two figures – neither of them were moving.