*TRIGGER WARNING* contains descriptions of attempted rape. I will mark where it begins and ends
Chapter 14 Panic
Sam looked at the sky and frowned. Dark clouds were gathering, and the air pressure was dropping. "Better call Tom. Hopefully this won't be as bad as the Great Storm," he muttered. Sam never wanted to do that again. Arnold and Ellie had really been put through their paces. They did an incredible job. Especially since they were fresh out of the academy. Sam walked up the stairs of the station, not really paying attention to anything around him. "OOF!" Sam had ran right into Station Officer Steele. "Oh! Sorry Sir!" he exclaimed. "It's alright Sam, just be more careful next time," Steele said gruffly. "Uh… yes sir," Sam said, a little confused at the gruffness. Penny looked at Sam questioningly. Sam shrugged his shoulders and shook his head a little. Maybe everything was getting to him. "I'm heading out to a meeting today. I should be back by noon, hopefully. Those meetings seem to drag on forever. Sam you're in charge. Please get everyone ready for the storm," he instructed. "yes sir," Sam said with a salute. "Very good then." Steele said. Then he turned and went down the stairs. "Umm…" Penny started, also confused by the gruffness. "I have no idea and I definitely don't want to find out," Sam told her. Penny nodded. Station Officer Steele had been on edge a lot lately, hell everyone has. "Sam, there's something I need to talk to you about. But later when we things have calmed down. We'll talk then. For now we'd better get the town ready," Penny said, trying to focus on the task at hand. "Yeah, I was actually on my way to call Tom. I'll go do that really quickly and join you. We'll talk after work ok?" Penny nodded. Sam headed to the office and dialed up Tom. "Mountain Rescue Center, this is Tom Thomas speaking," he answered. "Hey Tom, it's Sam," "Hey Sam, what's up?" he replied "Well, it looks like we're in for a nasty storm. Are you all set up there? You don't need to fly anywhere?" Sam asked "I'm good here mate. I won't need fly unless there's an emergency. Knock on wood" he said cheerfully. "Great. If you need anything let me know. I'll talk to you later," Sam said. "No problem Sam. Talk to you later." Tom knew how nervous storms made Sam. Especially since the big one last year. It didn't help that e everyone and their mother were already on edge. Tom look at the storm clouds gathering and prayed that he wouldn't have to fly in it. While Sam was on the phone with Tom, Penny had asked Ellie to come man the phones and Arnold to help prepare for the nasty weather. She had already prepared everything beforehand so they could be quick and efficient. "This looks like another nasty one huh?" commented Arnold. "Hopefully it'll just be a lot of rain and not the insanity we had last year," said Ellie. Sam and Penny nodded. That was the last thing Pontypandy needed right now. "OK Ellie, we're off. Hopefully this won't take too long" Sam told her. "Alright. Be safe everyone," Ellie said, waving them off. It took about two hours to help prepare everyone. The storm turned out to be just a lot of rain. The team sat in the station thankful that's all it was. "So much for my visit with Elvis," grumbled Ellie. "He'll understand Ell," comforted Arnold. "How's he doing by the way?" asked Sam. "Well, his injuries didn't dim his smile. He's still the Elvis we know and love," Ellie told them. "Man I miss him," Sam said softly. "Yeah, things just aren't the same without him here," Penny said quietly. The room fell silent. Things just weren't as bright without Elvis.
"Does anyone have an update on Moose?" Penny asked, breaking the gloomy silence. It had been a week since they had heard anything about their friend. "I do" Tom said, shaking off the rain. "Hey Tom," Sam greeted in surprise. "Hey mates," He greeted. "I take it you've been up there visiting?" asked Arnold. "Yeah. And there's good news. There was miraculously no brain damage from the rock slide," Tom told the team. "That's great!" "What a relief!" "Thank goodness!" "That's incredible news!" they all spoke over each other. "Any other news?" asked Sam. "Well, he's still unable to walk. The doctor said that it could take months for any swelling inside to go down. So only time will tell," he answered. "At least there's that," Penny said hopefully. "Very true Penny. But I miss my best mate. And Elvis. The family's just not together without them, ya know?" "Agreed!" answered Ben. "Hey guys!" greeted Ben "I just came up to see if anything else needed to be done?" He asked. "Nope. Everything seems to be set. We just need to wait out the storm," replied Sam. "But you're welcome to stay and have a nice hot cuppa," Penny invited. "Thanks. I think I will" he replied. Just then the lights went out. Sam groaned. "Damnit" he cursed under his breath. "The generator should be kicking on any minute though" Arnold said. As if on cue, the lights flickered and turned on again. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Until the lights went off again. "seriously?!" Sam said exasperated. "I got it Sam said Penny with a smile. "I'll be back in a jiffy," she said as she went down the stairs. "sheesh what a day!" she said to herself. Armed with a flashlight she looked at the control box. Nothing seemed amiss. She then decided to look at the generators. They shouldn't have failed. Sam was adamant about keeping those charged and in good working order. Just as she was approaching the generators, THUD! Her world went black. "It's been a while since she's gone down there," Sam said nervously. "I think I'm going to go check on her" "Sure mate," said Tom. Sam quietly went down the stairs. "Penny? He called out. "You alright?" no answer. Sam felt a knot rising in his throat. Something wasn't right. It was the same feeling he got when they went out to the missing hiker call. He could see Penny's flashlight. "Penny?" he asked. But she wasn't there. What WAS there was blood spatter. Pure panic took over Sam. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't speak, he couldn't move. 'calm down, calm down, pull your shit together' he thought. But he couldn't think straight. The firehouse was supposed to be the ONE place where everyone was safe! He saw the bloody drag marks leaving the station. That snapped him back. "OH FUCK!" he yelled in his panic. Everyone immediately went silent, eyes widened! Sam NEVER dropped the F-bomb. The team rushed downstairs to Sam. "Sam! What happened?!" yelled Tom. By this time Sam was hyperventilating. "Sh- sh-he's gone!" He gasped. The generators kicked on again and the team could clearly see the blood on the walls and floor. "Oh my God!" Ellie exclaimed in horror!
Station Officer Steele pulled into the station to quite a sight! The whole team looked terrified, Sam was having a full blown panic attack and there was blood spatter on the walls and floor. "Fy Duw!" he gasped! Wha-what happened?!" he gasped horrified! Ellie was desperately trying to calm Sam down. It was pandemonium! Tom was struggling to relay the events. No one knew where Penny was, or how badly she was injured. The rain had finally started to slow down. Sam had finally calmed down enough to be cognitive. "We need all hands on deck! Search everywhere!" ordered Steele. "Sam? Maybe you should stay here?" He suggested. "No sir!" he said fiercely. "I HAVE to go look for her!" Steele hesitated. On one hand, Sam was extremely emotional at the moment and may not be able to think things through, but on the other hand, being stuck here would drive him insane. He could end up doing something incredibly reckless. "I'll let you go. On ONE condition! You don't go or do ANYTHING alone. NO ONE goes alone," he ordered firmly. "Yes sir!" they all said in unison. Steele called Bronwyn and asked her to get together as many volunteers as possible. When she heard that Penny was missing she gathered everyone in record time. He reiterated that no one was to be alone. "Sir, I'd like to take a look around in the Wallaby. Maybe I can spot something from the air?" Tom requested. "Good idea Tom," he agreed. Tom nodded then hopped into his jeep, rushing up the mountain. The rain had finally stopped. The Whole village was spread out in partners looking for any clues. Steele was partnered with Sam. He wanted to keep a close eye on him. Just what in the hell was going on? Pontypandy had NEVER seen this amount of incidents. Not in all the forty plus years he had been here. Meanwhile Tom was firing up the Wallaby. "This is Tom Thomas, Over" he said over the walkie-talkie. "Go ahead Tom," Steele replied. "I'm getting ready to take off and search, over" "Very good, keep us posted, over and out" said Steele. Sam had been eerily silent the whole time. "You alright?" he asked. Sam sighed heavily. "No. I'm not. But I have to keep it together so we can find Penny," he replied honestly. "I know son, we'll find her" Sam nodded, unable to speak. Everyone combed the village exhaustively, leaving no stone unturned. But there was absolutely no sign of her. The police had arrived to also investigate and help with the search. Nothing. There were tire tracks, but those were of the emergency vehicles. Darkness had started to fall.
"Tom, Station Officer Steele here. Have you spotted anything? Over," he radioed. "Not a thing sir. Over" he responded. This was beyond anyone's comprehension. "I'm going to make a few more rounds to see if I missed anything, over" "Very good Tom, over & out," Tom's mind was reeling. Who would hurt Penny. Or Elvis? "Please Penny, be alright" he prayed as he started to look around the village and over the forest. It was the same as it had been. Calm. No signs of campers, or anyone being in the forest. He racked his brain at where else they could possibly look. Maybe a cave somewhere? Penny loved caving. He decided he would finish his search over the forest and start looking around the caves. Hopefully he would be able to find SOME kind of clue or hint. "Tom to Steele," he radioed. "Steele here," he responded. "I've finish my rounds . I'm going to go up by the caves, see if there's anything I missed, over" "Good idea Tom, let us know if you see something," "Roger, over and out" Tom carefully flew around the various cave systems he knew of. But there was still nothing. The sun had almost set now. He was about to do another look around when he saw it. A little bit of smoke. "Please be a lead!" he prayed. "Come in Station Officer Steele. I think I found something. Due northwest, coordin-" Out of nowhere alarms went off! "Low fuel" came the robotic voice. "How the hell?!" Exclaimed. He was sure he had filled her up just this morning. "Warning! Critical failure!" said the computer. The copter was starting to spiral. "Shit shit shit!" he cursed in a panic. "Mayday! Mayday! I'm going dow-!" he yelled over his radio. Then silence. All anyone could do was stare at their radios in horror as they listened to their friend go down. Douglas too had been listening the whole time. "looks like I need to find a new hiding spot" he muttered. *TRIGGER WARNING starts here* Penny was starting to come to. "Mmm… ow!" she groaned. "Good morning Penny" he said maliciously. Before she could scream, he straddled himself on his knees on top of her, covered her mouth and held up a nasty looking knife to her throat. He eyes widened with fear, her heart was pounding, her head hurt from where he had bashed her with something. Her feet and hands were bound but she didn't know with what. "Hush my pet. I'll not hurt you. I WANT you alive." He told her. "For now, you're going to be a good girl, get the keys to your car so I can drive us far away. You understand?" he instructed. All Penny could do was nod in sheer terror. She looked around, moving just her eyes, trying to get a grasp of her surroundings. She recognized where she was. She was in Sam's shed. And now Tom had crashed looking for her. A thousand regrets ran through her mind. Douglas leaned down and smelled her neck. "You smell delicious. No wonder Sam can't resist you," he said as he licked his lips. He trailed the knife to the top of her uniform shirt and slowly sliced it open to reveal a bit of cleavage. "So pretty. He said with a nasty perverse smile. "But I'll play with you later." he mused as he got off her. "Let's go." He said as he jerked her up by her arm. "And be quiet. Or I WILL hurt you," he warned. Penny nodded, tears streaming down her face. *TRIGGER WARNING ends here*
Tom let out a pained groan. Miraculously, he had survived the wreck. Thank goodness Sam had insisted that everyone had GPS on them. Tom tried to move and screamed out in pain. He wasn't sure if he would actually make it out of this mess alive. Night had fallen by now. It could get extremely cold during the night, even in the summer. It was supposed to get down to 48° tonight. Tom was grateful that his helicopter shot already had thermal layers in it. Tom could feel the heaviness of sleep coming over him. "No. Gotta… stay… awake…"he struggled to say. "flair… I need… Can't… so tired…" he was struggling to stay cognitive. Black out. A shot a pain woke Tom with a loud scream! He didn't know how long he had been out. It was bitterly cold, and the wind wasn't helping any. Tom tried to gather his thoughts in spite of the mind erasing pain he felt. He needed to do a preliminary check. But all he could focus on was the pain. "Come on Tom, focus. You can do this," he said to himself. "right. Toes" he winced as he attempted to wiggle them. He could move them and he could DEFINITELY feel them. That was a good sign. Next he checked if he could move his ankles. Hurt like hell but he could do it. Next he tried bending his knees. He screamed out in pain. He was pinned. "Fuck" he cursed as the pain surged through him. "Better check my upper part" he said, breathing heavily from the pain and exertion. "Please let my hands and arms at least function. Just a little bit," he prayed. Though Tom considered himself to be Christian, he wasn't super religious. He hardly ever prayed. But it seemed like he'd been praying a lot lately. Tom calmed himself with a few deep breaths and braced himself for more pain. Carefully he moved his fingers. He could move them and there was no pain. That was definitely good! Next he slowly checked the function of his wrists, then his elbows. He could move them just fine. But when he tried to move his arms from his shoulders a shooting pain ripped through him. Tom carefully felt around for his radio, hoping that it wasn't crushed during the crash. It had stayed firmly planted on his harness. He tried looking around to see how bad things were and if he could maybe drag himself to a clear spot. The twisted metal made it impossible to get out. He thank God that the damn thing hadn't caught fire. With labored breath Tom spoke into his radio. "This *breath* is Tom *breath* Tom Thomas. *breath* I'm pinned. *breath* I think *breath* something's broken *breath* it hurts *breath* GPS is on *breath* uh GPS *breath*" the radio went silent as his friend's listened to his words become more and more slurred. "God, *breath* if you're listening *breath* please let me live" Tom started to sob as he prayed. "I promise I'll be better, *sobbing breath* I'll go back to church" he suddenly stopped sobbing. "I don't want to die" he whispered before he blacked out again. Tom couldn't remember much after that. It was a blur of lights, voices and the sounds of mechanical tools. They had found him. He vaguely remembered seeing Sam's face and asking if they found Penny yet. But he didn't remember the answer.
The villagers continued to search for Penny while Sam Station Officer Steele and Nurse Flood went to rescue Tom. They were joined by another search and rescue team from Newtown. The GPS thankfully cut the time down in their search. The wreckage was pretty bad. It looked as if the helicopter had bounced off the sheer cliffs several times then rolled. It was a miracle that Tom survived! He had several fractures in his extremities but his head and face were protected by his helmet. Helen stayed with him until they could contact his twin sister, Tasmin. Nurse Flood had come back with the report. He was going to survive but he had broken his back. Recovery was going to be rough. "Thank God he had GPS on him, or who knows how long it would've taken to find him!" she was saying. "That's it! GPS! Penny always makes a point to have it on her whenever she's on duty! Helen you're a genius!" Sam exclaimed! Arnold looked stunned. "why didn't we think of that before?!" he asked "Because we were blindsided." Steele replied. "We were attacked in our own home!" Everyone nodded solemnly. "Sam I want you to look up her location using the GPS" "Yes sir" he rushed up to the computer room. Arnold and Ellie following on his heels. "locating Firefighter Penelope Morris" the computer voice said. But the three firefighters looked at the screen in confusion. "it says that she's here?" asked Ellie in confusion. "But she's not. We've checked every nook and cranny of the station. Sam leaned heavily on the desk and took a deep breath. He was slowly breaking. "Her GPS clip must have been removed before she was abducted." Ellie said softly. "Now what do we do?" asked Arnold. Sam was silent for a long minute. "We need to find out what Tom saw." He said. "Unfortunately he wasn't able to finish giving us the coordinate," Arnold replied. "True, but we do have a clue. Due northwest. Maybe start where he crashed?" suggested Ellie. "Good idea Ellie. We'll have to start there," praised Sam. Everyone had been stretched beyond their limits. No one had slept. A fresh team of search and rescue members from Newtown came to relieve the first crew. "Get some rest everyone.. That's an order," Chief Boyce said. No one could argue. They were too exhausted. The team, at least what was left of it, went to the station beds and fell into an uneasy sleep.
