Although it seemed like an eternity, only a minute passed before the rumbling ceased and everything was quiet. Ralph shook his head to clear it and stood up, fighting a bout of dizziness. He touched his head and winced at the bruise beginning to form around the cut. Coughing, he turned to his classroom, and saw it was in shambles. There were fallen trees outside, almost completely blocking out the light, but there was enough to light the room.
He cleared his throat again. "OK, roll call, is anyone hurt?" he hollered. Cyler, Paco, Rhonda and the others gave various yells saying they were a bit shaken, but unhurt.
"Where's Tony?" said Ralph, frowning. "Tony?..." he stopped when he took a closer look at the bookshelf. It had fallen over, but not before hitting a desk, Tony's desk. Ralph frowned when he saw the teen's boots peeking out from underneath the shelves.
"Damn," said Ralph as he headed toward the bookshelf. "Cyler, Paco help me lift up the case."
The other two teens helped Ralph pick up the heavy bookshelf, and after removing the fallen books as well, found Tony lying underneath. The teen was unconscious, and one of his legs was clearly broken.
Ralph gently checked Tony's vitals and injuries. Paco became worried when he saw Ralph frown. "What's wrong Mr. H?" he said. "Tony don't look too good."
"He isn't Paco. Fortunately, the desk stopped the bookself from falling all the way, or it'd be worse," said Ralph frowning. "Listen, I need you to go over to the rest of the class and keep them calm, especially Rhonda. Just tell them I'll come over in a couple of minutes."
"Right Mr. H," said Paco as he headed back toward the others.
Cyler turned back to Ralph and frowned. "OK, what's wrong with him? I mean, it's got to be bad if you're telling Paco to keep an eye on Rhonda."
"Tony's right leg is broken from where the bookcase hit it. I don't know if he's got any other injuries though," said Ralph. "I think he also has severe concussion from when his head hit the ground. I've tried what I know to get a response from him, but he's not even flinching."
"That's bad, right?"
"From what I learned in first aid, very bad, that's why I need your help."
Cyler nodded grimly. "OK, what do you need me to do?"
"First thing we've got to do is splint his leg and try to keep him from going into shock," said Ralph quietly as took off his tie to start a splint. "Listen, I have some school supply magazines under my desk. My coat's also there. Grab those and bring them over here."
As Cyler went and grabbed the items, Ralph began to feel a little warm and tingly. Instead of feeling like he was going to pass out, he blinked a couple of times, feeling like he had the best night's sleep he had in months. 'What the...' he started thinking before someone shook his shoulder, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Mr. H, you all right?" said Cyler. "You zoned out on me for a moment."
"Yeah, in fact, I feel terrific," dismissed Ralph as he grabbed the coat and covered Tony with it. Ralph then splinted Tony's leg as best he could and carefully elevated Tony's good foot to keep him from going into shock.
After checking the teen's vitals again, finding they improved slightly, Ralph cleared his throat and stood up, surprised to feel not the slightest bit dizzy. He walked over to the class, realizing he'd have to tell them something.
"Mr. H, is Tony..." started Rhonda.
"Tony's alive," said Ralph.
Rhonda sighed in relief. "Will he be all right?" she said.
"I think so Rhonda, but I'm sure the fire department and paramedics will be here shortly to help out. The one thing we need to do is see if we can get the rest of you out. Now the trees are blocking the windows right now, and I don't..."
"Mr. H, I took a quick look in the hallway, and it's blocked off," said Chaffee simply. "And, I don't know if we can dig our way out."
Ralph walked out into the hallway and sure enough, there was debris blocking the way. Testing a couple of spots, he had to back away when he heard the ceiling groan.
"Damn," said Ralph as he headed back into the room. He realized that the hallway ceiling was unstable, and if it went, the rest of the ceiling could collapse and bury them in rubble. And with the two side walls being classrooms and the outside blocked, they were trapped.
While he knew the suit would protect him, he realized that if he made a mistake, he'd kill the class. Ralph decided that the best thing to do at the moment was wait and work out a different way out... using the suit as little as possible.
