Special Thanks to teachermomkmg365, another reviewer from last chapter! I didn't see your review until after I posted the next chapter! Also thanks to gunbuster and Debbie (I wasn't trying to guilt anyone into reviewing, I just felt bad for mot updating for so long! ;}). DixieDavenport, I loved your review AND your 'Typical Day' PM, it made me laugh!

We're in the final stretch here guys, just this chapter and a prologue. Which really screws with my OCD because now I don't have a nice even number of chapters...

Chapter 8:

Time seemed to freeze, but Roy was the first to snap out of his trance, "Out of the way!" he yelled, tackling Cutler, effectively pushing both of them out of the way. Johnny and Chrysler had taken cover in the hole Johnny had pulled Cutler out of.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, until the rockslide stopped and everything seemed to be clear. "We have to find her, now!" Chrysler looked frantic, "We're all gonna get buried alive down here!"

Cutler fell to his knees and started scooping mud out of the way. Roy and John each had a shovel, digging with superhuman speed. The rain was falling faster and faster and the sky was so dark it felt like midnight rather than mid afternoon.

Chrysler was a few feet above the guys but they heard her shout clearly, "I found her! Up here!"

Leaving Cutler to pull himself up after them, the two paramedics crawled up the mud to where Chrysler's shovel was feverishly flinging mud. Abel's unnaturally pale face was streaked with blood and dirt, her head resting at an unnatural angel. "We need to get her out of here," Roy muttered. Turning around, he shouted down to Cutler, who stood further down the hill. "Can you grab a C-Collar from the from the box and toss it up here?"

Cutler acknowledged with a wave of his hand, limping over to gear. The trio worked quickly, so by the time the C-Collar bounced in the mud beside them, Abel was exposed almost to her knees. Roy, who had been supporting her head, gently wrapped the collar around Abel's neck as another hunk of dirt and mud rolled past.

"We need to get out of here," Chrysler repeated, glancing up at sky. A streak of lightning lit up the world, and for a moment, the top of the hill was visible again. The rainwater was rolling over the embankment like a waterfall with no expectations that it would stop any time soon.

"I think we can pull her out," John said, tossing his shovel aside and stepping down into the hole around Abel. With Roy on her other side and Julie Chrysler digging at her feet, John carefully stood up, wrapping his arms around Abel and pulling her with him.

"Wait, wait, she's caught!" Chrysler was yanking on a piece of rock and Roy did his best to help her without letting Abel's head fall.

"Uggh, what-" Abel moaned and shifted, "What happened?"

"Don't move," Johnny replied, "we'll get you out."

"Out of where? And why are you so close to my face?" Abel asked, blinking. She started to reach up and wipe the mud out of her eyes, but cringed, "What the hell is wrong with my neck? And my hand?" She held up the mangled looking hand, which had a least two broken fingers.

"You got caught in a landslide," John explained, "just hold still, you're fine."

Before Abel said anything, there was another clap of thunder, which sent a sludgy stream of mud down the hill and onto Abel, Johnny, Roy, and Chrysler.

Abel spit out a mouthful of mud, "What-"

"Okay, she's free," Chrysler said, standing up, "let's go!"

Somehow, Johnny and Roy managed to gain enough of a foothold to pull Abel out of the mud and slide as carefully as possible down the hill. "There's no way we're getting back up the way we came!" Roy yelled, "I think we're going to have to try and get down to the fire road where 123 is!"

The foursome reached the bottom of the hill where Rich Cutler was balancing himself on a discarded shovel. "We going down?"

"Yeah, you think you can make it?"

Cutler shrugged, "Do I have any other choice?"

The five firefighters moved away from the direction they'd come and started to make their way down the rest of the hill. The didn't get very far before John's line stopped him, "I'm gonna have to cut this," he said, unable to unclip the safely belt, "There's not enough line to get us all the way to the bottom."

"Flying solo," Chrysler muttered, sawing through John's rope, then her own, with a heavy duty pocket knife. Roy had unclipped his line a while back and obviously, Cutler and Abel hadn't had lines to begin with.

Their progress was slow and painful, with Abel drifting in and out of consciousness and Cutler cursing as he limped down the hill on his bad ankle. Although she hadn't said anything about it, Chrysler's previously injured hand was dripping blood, and had been for a while. She and Johnny had their arms around Abel while Roy held onto Cutler the best he could.

They all lost their footing more than once in the ankle deep mud and blinding rain. The road was nowhere in sight and the only way Roy was sure they were heading in the right direction was the downhill slope.

Johnny cried out as he tipped, pitching forward and pulling Chrysler and Liz Abel with him. Chrysler dug her heels into the ground the best she could, grunting at the effort of staying upright until Roy and Cutler each grabbed onto one of the trio and the elder paramedic called out, "You doing okay?"

Once he was standing again, panting Johnny shrugged, futilely wiping the mud off his face with his dirty sleeve, "We've got to get to the bottom soon, right? I don't know how much farther I can go."

Abel moaned seemingly in agreement, her head resting against the C-Collar, eyes closed, hair a mass of blood and mud. The paramedics hadn't gotten a chance to really look her over after they'd dug her out of the landslide and they hadn't had enough hands to haul their gear down with them. Roy could only pray that she wasn't too seriously injured.

As they climbed, everyone became aware of a distant rumbling. "What's that?" Cutler yelled hesitantly, squinting over his shoulder.

"I don't think I want to know!" Chrysler shouted back, "Faster!"

The rumbling was growing louder and there was no denying what was right behind them. The landslide was going to catch them, a brown river of mud, rocks, trees, and Lord only knows what else. The group was racing now, cringing at the cries of Abel and the curses of Cutler.

"Look!" Roy shouted, "do you see that?"

Johnny pulled his head up, searching the horizon for- "Lights! It's lights from the truck!"

The last hundred feet of their dash was blur as the firefighters ran, shouting just feet in front of the landslide. They fell into the road, right in front of Truck 123, where they were pulled up onto the truck in one tangled, filthy mess. The truck roared up the road, just barely getting out of the way before a sea of mud covered the road where they had been idling moments before.

Rampart had been blessedly quiet since the circus had pulled out a few hours earlier after doctors announced that all of the members, suffering from their various illnesses, were free to go home.

They had gotten no call, but a siren outside the ER doors brought orderlies running, along with Dixie McCall. A fire truck, plastered with mud, pulled up, completely blocking both doors. As five mud-covered figures were unloaded, two more trucks could be heard pulling into the parking lot behind them.

"What's going on?" Dixie asked, glancing at the first victim, a young fireman she didn't recognize who was limping painfully.

Right behind him, Roy DeSoto and John Gage supported a woman firefighter while another one followed directly behind.

Dr. Brackett had poked his head out of his office at the first sirens, and now both he and Dr. Early arrived, "What's going on?"

John Gage answered, "We got caught in some mud."

"I can see that," Dixie muttered halfheartedly, glancing at the grime covering the floor.

Brackett looked closer at the limp firefighter between John and Roy, "Take her into Two."

"I'll take you in Five," Joe Early said, point at Rich Cutler who was leaning on an orderly, but limping profoundly.

Two orderlies with a gurney took over for John and Roy, effortlessly hefting Abel up onto the gurney and wheeling her towards room two. "Stay here," Brackett commanded, "I want to check you three out later."

With that he was gone, taking Abel with him. Early disappeared with Cutler, and all that was left was a roomful of muddy firemen.

Slightly out of breath, Rita Meadows reached the waiting room and immediately sought out the paramedics, "What happened? Is Abel okay? Are you guys okay?"

John and Roy exchanged a glance. In the truck on the way over, Abel had begun to slip into shock. A possible back injury that hadn't been properly taken care of right away, three broken fingers, a broken wrist, head trauma…things could go either way.

"She's being taken care of," Chrysler answered for them, "we did what we could."

Her answer had given enough of the story to satisfy the Cap. She frowned; looking worried, but didn't press the subject any further.

Hank Stanley came to stand with is paramedics, who were looking worn out and anxious, "You guys did good out there."

"We'll see," Johnny replied, "we'll see."

What is it with me and cliffies lately?

~S