"The floor's getting weaker." Taylor noted
"Yeah, just one more room and we'll be out of this part." Jimmy replied
Jimmy was checking around a bunch of tables when he heard something snap.
"Alex?" He said
"Jimmy!" She yelled
Within seconds the ceiling above them came crashing down. In what felt like slow motion to him, Jimmy watched as debris hit Taylor and then she was forced through the floor.
Taylor grasped for anything she could, but she was falling too fast. She fell down onto the top of machine before rolling off of that and hitting the floor hard. The machine slowly began to topple over and she tried to move but the building was unforgiving and the impact of her fall and the machine caused that floor to give way and down she went.
Jimmy rushed to the hole and looked down, but there was too much smoke and debris to see where Taylor had fallen.
"MAY DAY MAY DAY MAY DAY!" Jimmy yelled into his radio
All other radio traffic stopped
"We have a firefighter down, 5th floor. The floor collapsed unknown location on the firefighter." Jimmy said
"There's been a May Day issued, all units not operating the May Day switch to channel 2. All units not operating the May Day switch to channel 2." The dispatcher said
Jimmy didn't want to give up the search for Taylor. She was one of his best friends. He admired her strength and courage after 9/11 when her father was missing. Jimmy heard the sirens, but he was determined to bring Taylor out alive.
"Come on Jimmy let's go. Chief's ordering everyone out." Lombardo said
"I'm not letting her die in here!" Jimmy replied as he feverishly searched the area.
"We've got to go Jimmy, the building's too unstable." Lombardo argued
"Quiet!" DK yelled
Jimmy and Lombardo stood silently.
"Hear that?" DK asked
"It's an alarm." Jimmy said, "Taylor's down there!"
Taylor lay motionless amid the debris. She was unconscious but could hear the sound of scraping metal. She began to come to enough to realize what had happened, just as her PAS device activated.
"Oh God!" She thought to herself. "That's my alarm. How far did I fall?"
She began running through questions in her head but her thoughts were drowned out by the sound of the alarm and the roar of the fire.
"I've got to get out of here." She said.
Taylor tried to move when she realized that she couldn't. She was trapped.
"Are all of your men out?" The Chief asked
"Sir, I see no sign of them yet." Lt. Johnson radioed
"Lt. Johnson, get your men out of that building now!" The Chief demanded. "I'm not losing any more firefighters."
Lt. Johnson reached for his radio to call them. "Jimmy, DK, Lombardo, get the hell out of there now." He radioed
He got static back so he repeated his message.
"Hear that?" Lombardo asked of the radio call
"Yeah." Jimmy replied
"Let's find Taylor and get out of here. I don't want to leave little Joe fatherless." Lombardo said of his now 4 month old son.
"Taylor?" DK called
"Taylor can you hear us?" Jimmy asked
"There!" DK pointed as he saw the light from Taylor's flashlight.
"Hang on Alex, we're coming." Jimmy said as they made their way through debris
"She's stuck." DK said
"We gotta get her out of here." Jimmy said
"Squad 5-5 to Lieutenant 5-5, we found her!" Lombardo exclaimed
"Lombardo, you get her and you get out of there!" Lt. Johnson returned
DK and Jimmy were struggling to free Taylor.
"You hang in there Alex, you hear me? Wake up." Jimmy said
"Come on Alex." DK said
Taylor's thoughts focused on the academy.
"The number 1 rule of firefighting, NEVER leave your partner behind!" The instructor drilled into their heads. "You got that Taylor?"
"I got that sir. Never leave my partner behind." Alex replied
The other recruits and instructors didn't take too kindly to Alex being in their class. Women weren't supposed to be firefighters. It didn't matter who their father was, women didn't belong in turnout gear.
It seemed like every drill and evolution was made that much harder for her. But Alex fought the urge to give up- even when it seemed like giving up was the only option.
On graduation day she stood in formation with the rest of her class. It was the greatest day of her life. She searched the crowd for her father. He wouldn't show it to everyone else, but he was proud that she had gotten through the academy. It was much to her mother's dismay though.
After the ceremony she stood with her father.
"Alex, you don't even know how proud I am of you." Angus said
"I know that you're proud of me Daddy." Alex said
Angus pulled a small box from his dress coat. "I want you to have this."
From the box he pulled a gold necklace with a St. Florian ring on it. "St. Florian, protector of firefighters." He said with a smile
"Thank you." Taylor said as her father fastened the necklace around her neck.
They posed for a couple pictures together and then her father left.
"Don't leave me." Taylor whimpered
"We're not going to leave you Alex; we're getting you out of here." Jimmy said as he and DK picked her up and started on their way out of the building.
It didn't take long before they were outside of the building. Kim and Carlos moved the stretcher closer to DK and Jimmy. Soon they were removing equipment and then the protective clothing.
"How far did she fall?" Kim asked as a crowd of firefighters gathered around them, including the Battalion Chief and Lieutenant Johnson.
"3 floors." Jimmy replied
"She land on her back?" Carlos asked quickly
"That's how she was when we found her." Jimmy replied as they loaded Taylor into the back of the medic unit.
"I'm going to need Carlos in the back with me, so we need a driver." Kim said
"Say no more." Jimmy replied
Kim and Carlos worked quickly to establish an IV and do a quick trauma assessment.
"Her respirations are shallow." Carlos said
"We need to get an airway in, I have a feeling she won't be breathing on her own if we don't." Kim replied
Carlos was nervous as he attempted to insert the tube.
"Come on Carlos." He said to himself, "You've done this hundreds of times before. Just because it's Alex doesn't make it any different."
"Do you have the tube?" Kim asked impatiently
"It's in!" Carlos announced
"Alright Jimmy let's go!" Kim yelled
Jimmy hit the sirens and headed towards Mercy. It was only a few minutes before they pulled up to the doors of the emergency room.
Everything was a blur as they rushed Taylor inside.
"30 year old female. Fell 3 floors inside a factory fire. Resps shallow, pulse thready, in and out of consciousness, possible femur and pelvic fractures as well as multiple upper body injuries." Kim rattled off
"How long was she trapped?" Dr. Fields asked as he listened to Taylor's heartbeat
"Approximately 45 minutes." Kim answered
Kim, Carlos, and Jimmy were pushed out of the room and they watched helplessly as Dr. Fields and the nurses worked on Taylor.
"I need X Ray in here stat!" Dr. Fields yelled, "And page surgery."
Kim began to cry and Jimmy put his arm around her.
"It's Alex, she'll be okay." Jimmy said
"You don't know that!" Carlos snapped, "No one knows that!" He grabbed the stretcher and stormed out of the ER.
"We'll have to wait and see." Kim said, "Hang in there Alex."