Beth POV

People, who had been lucky enough to be standing outside the blast radius, but close enough to feel it in their bones and feel the shock wave, like I had, were running left and right around me. It felt like I was in the epicenter of it all. just because I am a paramedic, doesn't mean I'm completely immune to situations as this. I was no different from the others, I too was in shock of what had happened. My ears were still ringing from the sudden loud noise but my mind was not clear. I was scared out of my damn mind.

Once the initial shock passed, I started to move. I stood out from the crowd as I was the only one, who tried to walk towards, where the blast had happened, not run away from it. My partner was there, somewhere. From the outside, I probably looked like the crazy person. Someone constantly bumped into me, slowing my walking down, significantly.

"Callie, come in!" I pressed the button on my radio trying to get in touch with my partner as I was trying to locate her. There was no answer. Only static sound. I tried to reach her again, but just like the first time, I got no response.

I had to briefly stop and help a man get up from the ground, who had tripped and fallen down, now in the danger of being stomped on. He thank me, once he was on his feet, before he continued to hurry out of here.

Once the area had cleared out of the people, who were okay to leave on their own, I saw the real damage the blast had done. And it wasn't anything like I had seen before. Surely, this sight will haunt me for the next couple of week. It wasn't just the sight, that got to me. It was a combination of the 3 senses - sight, hearing and smell.

But what really knocked the air out of my lungs, was witnessing, how Amy was calling out for her daughter. I heard the desperation, fear and the panic in her voice. The realization of what that meant, hit me hard. My knees got weak for a moment.

And if I was feeling like this, I can't even imagine how Amy was feeling right now.

Amy didn't see me standing here. She wasn't looking for me. Her eyes were on the people on the ground. People, who had been caught in the blast.

When Amy took of running towards someone, I was too afraid to look. Too scared of the possible outcome. Of her losing another child.

Looking to where Amy had come from, I saw Stef in the distance as well. Her head was leaned down to her left shoulder, hand was on the radio as well. She was in communication with someone. A second later, I saw her do a 360 scan of the area. She leaned slightly towards the her radio again, did another 360, but stopped when she spotted someone. Stef said something in the radio, and put her hand on her holster by her side.

The bastard was still on the scene. He must be watching.

The hunt of the person responsible had started.

A moment later, not sure from where, two more police officers ran up to her. They talked to each other. Pointed to the direction of the parking lot and then all of them took off running towards where they had just pointed.

As I averted my attention back to Amy, I saw help a person sit down. The person must be Callie, though, she was completely unrecognizable form this distance. It has to be. I need her to be. Otherwise, I might not know how I will be able to continue this job if she doesn't come out okay from all of this.

"Start there! I will take this side!" I heard a person shout, but I paid no attention to the voices

"Hey!" The paramedic called out, but I was still watching the centenary that was unfolding in front of me. My eyes were on Amy and Callie.

"Hey!" this time the voice came from someone right by my side and I felt a hand on my shoulder. That snapped me out of my thoughts. I turned towards the person. Vincent, the paramedic that I had just heard calling out, was standing next to me.

"Are you hurt?" he asked with a worried expression, his eyes going up and down me as he assessed if I needed any medical attention

"No," I shook my head making eye contact with him "No, I'm good. Just a little bit shook, that's all."

"Where's your partner?" He asked looking around

"I think she was caught in the blast," I replied looking over to Amy, who was now leaned down over Callie. Vincent's eyes followed my gaze. He took a moment to process the information that one of his colleges was injured and also the fact that we were a man down until the help gets here.

"Are you good to go?" Vincent turned back to me

I gave back a firm head nod "I'll go get my bag and be right back."

Job awaits. I can't just stand here and mope around, while people around me could be dying. Callie and all the other people needed our help. They were depending on us. I can't waist any more time.

"Go!" Dominic urged me, patting me on my shoulder, before he ran towards the first injured person that he saw.

As I turned towards, where Callie and I had parked the ambulance, I saw Callie's dog, Duke, coming towards me. His nose was down to the ground, he was sniffing the path. Duke walked in a circle, where Callie and I had stood and chatted in the shadow, before coming to the ice cream stand. Once he picked up Callie's scent again, he came towards me. It appeared, that he had run away from the rest of the family, as his leash was dragging next to him.

Duke stopped, when he saw me. But it wasn't for long. The next second his nose was to the ground again and continued to move towards where Amy and Callie where.

I sprinted towards the ambulance, grabbed both of the bags and ran back as fast as I could.

Some few hours later I was sitting on the back of the ambulance and pouring what little water was left in the bottle over my head as I was trying to cool down. Never had a day drained me out like today had. All the running, the heat, the stress of the situation, had left me completely exhausted. And I barely had enough energy left in me to keep going. All of the casualties had been taken care of. People who needed it, where taken to the nearest hospitals. There was no one left, that needed any more of my help. It was now mostly police, who were in the area.

The total count of how many people didn't make it, how many more were in hospital in critical condition, we will find out only on the news the following days.

After sitting on the back of the ambulance for another 5 minutes, just to catch my breath, I drove back to the firehouse.

When I entered the building, I was met by all of the guys. They were already out of the uniforms, washed and cleaned up. Of course, everyone already heard the news.

I received a quick hug from all of them, before Kyle asked me "We're all going to the hospital. You coming?" The boys had been waiting for me, so we could all go there together as the family/team that we were.

"5 minutes. I will hop in the shower real quick."

"Sure thing," Kyle patted me on the shoulder. I felt all of their eyes on me as , when I headed to the wardrobe to get a quick shower.

"Hey!" My Captain Raymond Jennings called, when I had reached the doors to the wardrobe. I turned to him, without saying anything in return.

"You did good. I'm proud of you, Beth!" He praised me. I simply nodded back and managed to return a small smile, before I disappeared into the wardrobe.

Jude POV

How long does it take to write a text message?

It's probably depending on how much the user uses the phone, how advances are the persons typing skill, how well does the person knows how to handle the certain mobile phone, in what situation is the person typing the message, are acronyms used. There are of course many more parameters to take into consideration to answer that question.

R u ok - this would probably not take more than 2 seconds for me

I'm okay – I would say 5 seconds

R you safe? - somewhere around 7

Where are you? - Out of all, this would probably take me the longest. 10 seconds.

There were 3 people, we had sent text message of the sort.

There were 3 people, we were waiting a text message from.

Yet there were zero people, who had answered us or written to us.

And it was driving us absolutely crazy as it had been over two hours, but still we had no idea if Stef, Amy or Callie are okay.

Lena had sent the same text to all three of them. Saying that we were all together. We were all safe and okay. And asking about if they were safe/okay and if they knew anything about the others.

We were all restless. The stress and worry was getting to us all. Jesus had snapped at me, when I had asked if he's okay after he had paced the length for the hundredth time. Of course he apologized once he realized how he had responded. Mariana had started to bite her thumb nail. Brandon was constantly checking his phone, to see what time it was, but the minutes went by painfully slow. Cooper was constantly rubbing his right palm, with which he had held on to Duke's leash before he had run off. Lena was being completely still, staring down at the phone in her hand, waiting for it give out the notification sound or buzz. Frankie hasn't really stopped crying, she was so scared for her mom and others. She wasn't crying out loud, but a single, silent tear rolled down her cheek every now and then. Frankie wiped them away quickly, but another one would just appear a moment later. But I had actually found myself praying to myself even though I do not believe in God.

We were all going crazy. The longer we waited, the more horrible scenarios our brains created. Brain was horrible that way. I wished I could turn it off. Just till we receive some more news about the situation.

"Oh my gosh!" Lena jumped at the sudden sound of her phone, scaring the rest of us

"Who answerd?" Brandon was first to ask

"It's Amy!" Lena said unlocking her phone and going to the messages

"What is she saying?" Cooper marched closer to her

Lena stared at the screen, but said nothing. Seconds passed. She remained quiet. Her eyes fixated on the screen. I saw her face drop as her eyes scanned over the words in the message.

"Mama, what does it say?" Jesus pressed on

Lena slowly looked up to us and gulped down, before saying slowly and quietly, almost as if she was too afraid to say it out loud "It says – Saint Cross hospital."

We didn't even need to go inside the hospital to find Amy. She was sat on one of the chairs not far from the entrance, with Duke sitting right by her. His head was placed on Amy's lap and she was slowly running her palm over Duke's head, petting him non stop. All while staring blankly and numbly at the ground, like her whole World had shattered beneath her feet. There was dried blood on her hands and clothes. Some of it had gotten to Duke's fur as well.

We all knew it then and there, just by seeing how Amy, that the injured person was Callie. No need to ask to clarify it.

"Amy," Cooper announced himself as he crouched down by her, taking the had she was not using to pet Duke into his

She slowly raised her head to look at him, then at us, and finally back at Cooper.

"What happened?"

Her mouth parted a little as if she wanted to answer, but no sound came out. Instead, she shrugged her shoulder and slowly shook her head as if she had no idea how to answer.

"How bad is it?" I asked, dreading the answer, but still needing to hear it

Amy's reaction was basically the same as before. Mouth parted as if she wanted to answer, but simply couldn't. Only this time, the shrug and head shake was replaced with bowing her head down and Duke whimpering out and pressing even closer to Amy's leg, pushing her palm, so that she would continue to pet him.

"Oh my gosh," I heard Lena gasp behind me

"Was she alive, when..." Cooper questioned carefully. Thankfully, Amy nodded her head this time. I let out a breath I was holding, but at the same time, took a step back running my hands through my hair.

Cooper took the seat next to Amy on the bench and pulled her into her side, kissing her cheek and holding her tightly as much as she allowed. Amy did not cry. No, she was putting on a brave face.

Mariana pulled on my shirt. I glanced to her. Without saying anything, she pulled me into a hug and hugged me so tightly, it almost hurt.

"She's going to be okay," I heard Jesus whisper in my ear as I felt him wrap his long arms around both of us, Mariana and me.

"Positive thoughts," Brandon said joining the family hug

Frankie and mama joined the hug without saying anything.