Chapter 8
Anyone else having a problem loading this site recently? I wrote this chapter off the site because every time I'd go to save the chapter it wouldn't. IDK what's going on.
Gabby and Shay made their way across the second floor, walking around the fallen concrete to reach the supplies they'd left behind.
"I don't know Shay."
"Why not, Kelly and I have the room. If his last gift was any indication, your stalker is going to find you anywhere. At least our place is homey and not some hotel."
Gabby turned to look back at her friend. "How did you know he found us at the hotel?"
Shay exhaled all the air from her lungs, Kelly had told her that information in confidence. "Matt told Kelly about it. Kelly mentioned it to me on our way in this morning."
"Matt's be taking this whole thing kind of hard."
"Isn't PD even close to catching this guy? Antonio's the lead detective on the case right? This must be driving him crazy."
"I just can't wait till this whole dumb thing is over, I'm tired of feeling paranoid like someone is out to get me. It's also affected things at the fire house. Which is what I never wanted to happen."
Shay bit her lip, passing Gabby the rest of their supplies. "You haven't gotten any flowers or letters since that night at the hotel right?"
"Right."
"Maybe it's all over then... Maybe he's just given up?"
"I don't think so. What is it people say? "When the kids are quiet, it usually means they are doing something naughty." I think that delivery was just the first drop of rain before the down pour."
"That's ominous."
Gabby shrugged, there wasn't really anything she could do.
"Gabriela." A male voice called to Gabby from across the space.
"Sir you shouldn't be in here. The rest of your co workers are already outside." Shay said, stepping further into the room to get a look at the guy.
"Gabriela Dawson."
Shay realized the factory worker was calling out to her follow paramedic directly. The blonde looked over at her friend in confusion, Shay hadn't realized Gabby knew anyone who worked here.
Gabby was frozen in her black, eyes locked on the small black detonator in the mans left hand.
"Shay!" She called out sharply, trying to stop her friend from coming closer.
"Oh my god." Shay gasped, with her view no longer obstructed she could see what Gabby was seeing.
"Gabriela Dawson." The man once again demanded.
"Yeha!" Gabby raised her hands out in front of her, she tried to appear non threatening. "I'm Gabriela. Sir, why don't you tell us why your doing this today? Maybe we can help you."
The man smiled softly, his eyes zoned in on Gabby. It almost seemed like he didn't even see the other paramedic, maybe he didn't.
"You look beautiful." His face suddenly scrunched up. "Why isn't your hair down?"
"Sir what's your name?" Shay tried to question, but didn't get any response.
The man continued. "I prefer it down. Like how you wore it last summer, at your family BBQ." The man was lost in his own head, as if he was replaying the memory in his mind.
"Do I know you?" asked Gabby, this man looked familiar to her.
"Dawson!" Shay cautioned as her friend took a couple steps forward.
Gabby shook her head, letting Shay know she was alright.
"What's your name?" Gabby asked, hoping to reconnect with the man. "Do you work here?" She asked, knowing his clothes didn't match one of a factory worker.
He chuckled to himself. "You were entertaining the kids. Because Antonio and his wife were fighting." His face became expressionless. "They're always fighting. You and Matt fight a lot, don't you Gabriela?"
Gabby took a slow step back. "You're the one who'd been sending me those flowers and leaving notes."
The detonator in his hand, along with the realization that this was the man who'd be stalking her for weeks. Gabby knew what this man intended to do, she'd seen it in tv shows and heard similar stories from her brother.
"Did you like them?" He asked, stepping forward.
"They were beautiful." Gabby managed to say, she lowered her voice to speak to her partner. "Radio the chief."
The next five second happened so fast.
Shay raised her hands to press the button on the side of her radio, it was her movements that alerted the man before them that he and Gabby were not alone.
"Chief we!-" Shay started to speak, to get someone to contact Antonio or anyone of the detectives looking for this guy.
"Put it down-!" The man yelled, raising his left arm higher in a threatening motion.
"Stop!-" Gabby yelled, trying to get back control of the situation.
The moment escalated, "Go!" Gabby yelled to her partner.
Before she could even turn around, the floor beneath Gabby's feet started to shake. As not one but two explosions went off around her.
.
As the second explosion went off, both Lieutenants froze in pace. Behind them, they could hear their Chief calling for more trucks and the police department. Anyone of the fire fighters knew that this had become a recovery mission. The structure inside would be completely compromised, they would need more hands to move the pounds of concrete that stood between them, and their paramedics.
Matt reached up to his radio, hoping to get a response from on of the girls. "Gabby! Shay! You guys okay in there?"
Severide tried after Matt had gotten no response, and like this fellow firemen he was met with silence.
"Squad three! Truck 81!" Severide gestured for everyone to follow him and Matt, as they jogged toward the entrance to the building.
The dust had settled from the explosion. From what could be seen, there was only about 3 feet of concrete blocking the stairwell. If they could clear enough space at the top, Severide and Casey could fit though, and start looking for Shay and Dawson.
"Hey." The manager of the factory came up to the group, they were already passing concrete down the line of firemen. "My men would like to help."
The two lieutenants looked at each other, they were both desperate to get to their girls.
"Put on your work gloves and get in line." Matt told them, turning back to work.
10 minutes later when other trucks pulled up to the building, they joined the line. After another 5 minutes there was enough space for the Lieutenants to fit though they climbed in together.
"Gabby!?" Matt called as he and Severide called into the stairwell. "Shay!?"
"Shay! Gabby!"
Both men mad their way up the stairs, their hearts almost jumped in their throats when they heard coughing coming from the landing above them. The guys forced their feet to pound harder, legs to move faster up their stairs, when they got to the top they only saw one of their paramedics.
While Matt was happy she was safe, seeing only Shay laying before him coughing made him panic, where was Gabby?
"Shay." Severide dropped down onto his knees beside his roommate. "Shay are you okay?"
Grabbing the oxygen tank from his back, Severide turned it on. As soon as he heard the oxygen flowing he took the rubber mask and put it over Shay's nose and mouth.
"Chief, we found Shay. Still no sign of Dawson." Matt updated everyone via radio.
"Deep breaths Shay. Just breath."
Matt looked at the concrete pillar, the pillar that was blocking the entrance to the second floor. Matt knew they wouldn't be able to move it by hand, he radioed Herrmann asking him to bring up the power tools.
Shay sat up as her coughing died down, the fresh air in her lungs helping.
"There was a guy, he set off the bombs." Her eyes widening, her thoughts coming back clearer. "Gabby! He's in there with Gabby."
Severide pressed his hands to Shay's shoulders, stopping her from getting up.
"Woah. Take a minute." He told her, "Let's get you outside, we don't know if there are other explosives-"
"What guy?" Matt asked her.
"No no, there was only one detonator. She was right behind me." Shay looked up at Matt. "I'm so sorry, she was right behind me. Everything moved so freaking fast. One minutes we were all talking and the next."
Severide rubbed her back in reassurance. "Let's get you outside, PD with be here soon."
Shay looked over at Matt as she got to her feet. "The guy who set off those bombs, he's the one who'd been sending all those flowers to the fire house."
Casey and Severide looked at each other, looked at the entrance to the second floor entrance, then back at each other.
"Where was she standing when the explosions happened?" Matt asked, trying to keep his cool.
Shay took a second to collect her thoughts. "I was closer to the door, Gabby had tried to connect with the guy, get him not to set off the bombs. She'd walked further into the room. When things got out of hand we both turned to run for the stairs. She couldn't have been more than a couple steps behind me."
"Gabby? Gabby can you hear me!?" Matt shouted, hoping that somehow Gabby would hear him and respond.
"Here are your tools lieutenant." Herrmann said announcing himself to the group. "Good to see you're alright kid. Where's Dawson?"
Matt nodded his head behind them. "Trapped inside."
Severide took the tools from Herrrmann. "Let's get her out, Herrmann you make sure Shay gets outside and gets checked out by the back up ambo."
"No." Shay disagreed. "No way Kelly. I'm not leaving till Dawson's out of there."
"Shay." Kelly's tone sharp. "You could be bleeding internally and if you die because we didn't make you get checked out, Dawson would kick our asses. You can see her when she walks out of here with us."
Kelly watched, it seemed like his roommate was going to continue to fight him on this. After a solid 10 seconds she finally conceded.
"You bring her out." Shay demanded, pointing her pointer finger at the firemen.
Kelly have her a wink, Shay knew both men would do anything to get Gabby out.
.
30 minutes later, half of truck and squad were standing in the buildings stairwell. Other truck companies had joined the line, and were clearing as much concrete as possible so that they could get into the second floor.
The other half of truck and squad were outside, on the back of the building. After 15 minutes of seeming to get nowhere inside, Severide and Casey had sent some of their men to try and find another way in.
"I don't have a good feeling about this." Matt told Kelly, the two were working hard, made apparent by how out of breath they were.
Kelly shook his head. "You can't think that way man. Another 10 minutes and we'll be inside, don't let yourself think the worst."
"Too late."
The two men fell back into silence as they continued digging.
.
Shay felt herself getting frustrated, Antonio, Voight and the rest of the detectives from their unit had shown up. They couldn't get inside, despite the attempt from Antonio when he found out his sister was trapped inside.
"Then how do you know he was the guy?" Voight questioned her.
"He called her by her full name, he knew things about her. Just the way he talked, it creeped me out."
"We need more to go on than just your feeling."
Shay bit the inside of her cheek to keep from lashing out. "He set off three bombs in that building today. That's not enough for you to be interested in this case?"
Voight smirked. "I'm just covering all the bases."
"I've heard you're not really a big fan of the rules." The blonde paramedic took a deep breath to get herself back on track. "He seemed to know Antonio too, he was talking about some family BBQ you guys had. He didn't seem like he was really in his right mind."
"What?" Antonio asked, this was the first time he'd spoken, his mind distracted thinking about his sister in danger.
"Yeah. spoke about you Laura and Gabby. I was say that maybe you guys know him, or that he knows your family. But Gabby didn't seem to have a clue who he was."
Erin stepped forward. "Someone from one of your old cases?"
Antonio nodded, he turned back to Shay. "Did you get a good look at his face?" She nodded.
"He didn't even seem to notice me, but I saw his face, don't think I can forget it."
Voight came back into the conversation. "Antonio get a hold of mouse. Have him put together a collection of photo's, anyone within the last five years who's come across the unit."
Antonio already had his phone to his ear, before the order was spoken.
.
Cruz and Mouch tried the back entrance of the building, but it was not an option with all the fallen concrete. Instead Cruz quickly ran to the fire truck and backed it up till it was along side the building.
The windows had been blown out from the explosion, once they got high enough it wouldn't be hard to see inside.
"A little more to the left." Mouch instructed Cruz on ladder placement from the sidewalk bellow.
"Got it!" Cruz said, getting the ladder where he wanted it to be.
On the way up Cruz prepared himself for what he might see. Just from the sound alone he knew the damage would be nasty. However what he saw was not what he expected.
"Oh my god." He said to himself, quickly moving to turn on his radio. "Casey, Severide. Stop digging."
.
Matt whipped the sweat from his forehead, the stairwell getting hot with all the able bodies moving around.
He heard the crackle of his radio and stopped moving, along with the rest of the firemen so they could all hear what was about to be said.
"Casey, Severide. Stop digging." It was Cruz.
At his words, Matt felt his heart stop, a wave of dread fell over him. Cruz was among one of their guys he and Severide had sent to find another way into the building. The fact that he was radioing meant that he had found something, his tone suggesting that what he found wouldn't be what they wanted to hear.
"Cruz?" Matt asked him, restlessly waiting for the answer.
"I'm looking threw the broken windows on the second story. The explosives must have been attached to the floor supports, there is no second floor now, the buildings just one big room."
Severide looked at his friend, saw the heard break on his face.
"Any sign of Gabby?" Severide asked what Matt couldn't.
"Hard to say, there are wires all over the place. If we enter through the first floor window we can do a search and rescue, quick and dirty."
Severide and Casey were already on the move back out of the building when their chief came over the radio, "The structure is compromised, too many bodies inside is going to do more harm than good. Severide you're call."
Both lieutenants know their chief hadn't said both their names, because both men were not equally sound.
"Casey, New house and I will go in. The rest try to clear as much concrete as possible, it will make our exit with Dawson less risky."
With that order, everyone started to move. They'd already lot so much time. It had been almost an hour since the explosions and there hadn't been any indication of life from inside the building,
Matt couldn't help but think back to when the hospital had been bombed during the marathon. Gabby had been inside on that day too, buried deep beneath the rubble. Somehow this was worse, the odds of surviving the same event twice had to be lower.
Matt had tried to stay positive like Severide had told him to do, but an hour was a long time to go without medical attention. A thought that no doubt was in the back of everyone's minds was, how long could Gabby go without medical attention before it was too long.
.
The tree fire fighters started their search left of the building. If Gabby had been trying to run for the stair case with Shay, the fall would have put her somewhere close to the left wall.
"Casey!" Severide called out to him. "I've got her!"
Matt moved quickly but carefully across the uneven concrete that use to hold up the second floor.
"She's breathing but it's shallow. She has no radial pulse, but there is a curodid" Severide started doing a primary exam of the paramedic. "She's bleeding from the back of her head. Not responding to voices-" Kelly picked up her hand and dragged his nails across her palm. "or physical sensations."
Matt took off his helmet, there was nothing left above him to fall on his head anyway. "Gabby!" He knelt beside his partnering lieutenant.
Herrmann got up, "We need a back board!" He ordered into his radio, moving toward the broken windows to receive the yellow board. "And have the back up ambulance ready to go!"
Once he had it, Herrmann made the 13 foot dash back to Gabby.
Together, they carefully got Gabby secured on the board and began carrying her out of the building.
Shay had made it knows to the other paramedics that she will be staying with them, while they took Gabby to the hospital. Antonio had also manage to push his way to the front of the crowd.
"Oh god. Gabby." His tone nothing but worry for his sister.
Before Matt could even think of something to say, Gabby was on a stretcher and being rushed toward the awaiting ambulance.
"Matt." Voight called to him. "We'll give you a ride to the hospital."
Matt looked up at Chief Boden how quickly reinforced that it was more than okay for his to leave and go to the hospital.
The rest of the guys were going to be here for at least another hour, there was still one more body that needed to be found.
I REALLY hope you guys like'd this chapter. Can't wait to hear what you thought!
