Chief McConike continued to hover over the group of injured firefighters as he issued out the next orders for containing the scene of the fire. The hotel had collapsed due to the massive interior damage from the gas line explosion, which in turn trapped five firefighters who were clearing the floors of the hotel at the time of said explosion. Three firefighters, Roy DeSoto, Marco Lopez and Mike Stoker managed to escape the confines of the quickly deteriorating structure before its total collapse. The remaining two firefighters, Johnny Gage and Chet Kelley, were buried in the rubble.

Captain Hank Stanley watched with an uneasy pit in his stomach as firefighters from other houses in the county proceeded to dig through the rubble in attempt to locate and rescue his two missing men.

Station 8, Station 36, Station 10 and Station 45 were all at the scene. While Station 51's men began the sweep of the hotel to locate any person who may have been lagging behind or injured when the hotel was evacuated, the remaining stations began manning the hoses in an attempt to contain the fire from the outside as well from the inside. The call to vacate the building was issued, forcing the other stations to back off while 51 was still inside.

With the paramedic teams treating the evacuated patrons and employees of the hotel for smoke inhalation and minor burns, it left the field with a single paramedic team remaining. The team of Craig Brice and Bob Bellingham.

Brice was treating Roy's injuries while Bellingham was assisting in extracting both Johnny and Chet from the collapsed hotel.

Captain Stone had finished securing Chet to a backboard and assisted the other firefighters with lifting the injured man up and out of the hole in the debris pile. Looking over he could see Bellingham kneeling over Johnny with his hand pressed against the downed man's chest.

"Bob, is something wrong with Johnny?"

"He's having a hard time breathing. I can feel a few ribs giving away under my hand, but I'm not sure if any of the breaks have punctured his lung or not."

Stone looked at Johnny's pale face and sighed heavily. "Let's hope we don't have to intubate in the field."

"Right."

With Chet now safely extricated from hotel ruins the second backboard was slipped down into the hole for Johnny. Working together Stone and Bellingham carefully picked Johnny up from the ground and slid the backboard under his body. Securing the safety straps over Johnny's upper body and legs, the two men lifted the backboard from the dirty ground and toward the opening created by the responding firefighters.

"Let's get him out of here."

Hank stood up from the yellow tarp where he had been placed due to his own injury. From the small triage location he could see one man being lifted from the debris of the hotel on a backboard. "That's one..."

Marco was carrying one end of the backboard while a man from Station 45 was carrying the other.

"Good man Marco, never leaves a man behind."

An ambulance returned to the scene, ready to deliver Roy to Rampart General Hospital. The attendants exited the back of the vehicle and rolled a gurney toward Roy.

Brice looked down at Roy and looked back at the former site of the hotel where his own partner was still working to extricate Johnny He finally looked up at Hank, who had his gaze fixed on the scene in the distance. "Roy can't wait, we need to move now Captain Stanley."

Hank looked down at Roy's unusually pale, lifeless face and nodded. "I understand."

"And you're coming with him."

"What? No, I have to wait for-"

"Captain Stanley I must remind you that you are injured and require medical attention. Bellingham will treat Gage and Kelley."

McConike overheard Brice's little 'reminder' and intervened. "He's right Hank. You're no longer in any form of command here until you've been cleared by Rampart. I'll stay with your men."

Despite their differences and personal grievances with each other, both men still carried a great amount of respect toward one another.

"Hank, don't make me issue an order."

"Fine, I'll go." Hank reluctantly complied. "But I'm riding in back with Roy on the way to the hospital."

"Of course." Brice acknowledged, deciding to not remind the worried Captain that since he was a patient he was required to ride in the back of the ambulance anyway.

As Roy was loaded into the ambulance with Hank at his side, Chet was carried over and laid down on the yellow tarp.

Marco kneeled down next Chet, his headache now throbbing at full force thanks to his broken nose. "Hey Chet, how do you feel?"

"Like a crushed soda can," He slipped off his dirty, smudges face mask. "and I'm stuck to the bottom of someone's boot!"

"Is your ankle bothering you?"

"Nah, it's fine. I think the adrenaline has taken the edge off." Chet watched as Roy and Hank disappeared in the back of the ambulance. "How bad is Roy?"

Marco frowned and sighed a little. "Not doing too good, but he's alive. And he's strong. He'll pull through, no problem."

"Yeah, you're right."

Bellingham and Captain Stone walked over to the tarp with Johnny on the backboard.

"Johnny?" Chet asked for his friend. "You still with us, pal?"

Unable to speak or open his eyes, Johnny could only move his hand slightly to signify that he heard the question.

"Roy's already on the way to the hospital. With Brice."

Marco looked around and noticed Mike was curiously absent. "Hey, where'd Stoker get to?"

Stone answered. "He's assisting my men with equipment."

"Good ol' Stoker. Always a professional.

Bellingham began carefully examining Johnny's condition and injuries.

...to be continued...