It was faint at first, a tease of sound on the wind. Johnny lifted his head with surprise and strained to listen. The steady thump of a helicopter grew louder.
He reached up in the gloom, his hand scrabbling against the rock at his back and upwards until he found the steering wheel. Small rocks and loose dirt fell on top of both of them as he cleared away part of the dashboard. He rapidly turned the knob for the headlights, flashing them on and off several times.
The sound faded into the distance.
Johnny dropped his arm and leaned back against the boulder with a heavy, defeated sigh. Roy hadn't moved at all, still laying against his chest. Johnny started to check him, but then heard it again. He reached back up to the knob, this time flipping it in alternating short and long bursts.
The helicopter got louder until Johnny was sure it must be right above them. He used the steering wheel to pull himself up higher and shoved his arm through the opening in the windshield as far as he could to wave frantically. He pulled his arm back in and looked up through the gap. A tiny traffic copter, a plastic bubble with rotors, moved into his line of sight. It did a little bob in the sky, then flew off. Johnny dropped back down into the seat, and leaned back with an exhausted smile.
He looked down at Roy, and the smile melted. Johnny gave him a little shake on the shoulder, careful not to jostle him too much, but there was no response. "They've found us, Roy," he said anyway. He looked up through the hole again. "Feels like we've been here forever... hard to believe it's still daylight."
The jackets had been moved when he was trying to signal. Johnny put them back into place, and settled against the rock. He wrapped around Roy, determined to keep him warm, and checked his pulse again. "It might be a while before they can get us out of here. You just gotta hang on a bit."
"B-both hands." Roy's voice was faint and raspy, but Johnny smiled.
"Hi, there," Johnny said, giving his friend a little squeeze. "I think whoever owned that car must have reported the slide, and they sent a traffic chopper to investigate. Took 'em long enough."
"It's in the ocean," Roy replied sleepily, already drifting back out of his moment of awareness.
Johnny swallowed and cleared his throat. "Whatever you say, Roy." He looked up at their tiny window to the world, and took a slow breath. "C'mon, guys," he said very quietly.
The herald of salvation came in the form of the familiar wail of sirens after what felt like an eternity. Johnny gave a shaky laugh of pure relief. "They're here, Roy."
There was no answer. Johnny grew more impatient as minutes and then an hour ticked by. The sound of a chopper drifted over the truck, but it kept its distance. He eventually reached up and laid into the truck's horn. "This is still a rescue - not a recovery!" he hissed angrily at the hole. A long blast unique to a fire engine answered.
Another hour passed, and then, finally, the rattle of climbing gear. Johnny looked up when a shadow blocked out the light above him. A helmeted face out of station 127 stared back at him with surprise. "John?"
"What is taking so damn long?" Johnny said by way of greeting. Something attached to the undercarriage of the truck with a clank of metal under his feet.
"It's not easy to get to you," the young man said. He looked off to his side, then down, and back again, doing a terrible job of hiding his nervousness. He looked back at Johnny. "We have to get the vehicle stabilized first. Don't move around in there."
"I'm okay," Johnny said, "but Roy is in a bad way. If you get Rampart on the line, I think we can squeeze some supplies in through this hole."
"Yeah," Luke said, already taking off the stethoscope around his neck. He fed it in through the gap, followed by a BP cuff and then his paramedic tool pouch. "I'll be right back. And don't move!"
Johnny ignored the sounds and shouting outside while he worked, his focus completely on his partner. Luke served as a relay to the hospital, passing information and items, and eventually a tightly rolled asbestos blanket was crammed through the hole.
Johnny unfolded it over the both of them, one arm wrapped around Roy and the other holding up an IV bag. Sparks rained down on them as two different powerful tools worked together to pry open and cut into the wreck. Roy didn't rouse again, despite the incredibly loud racket in the small space.
Johnny looked out from under the blanket when the machines fell silent, just in time to see the passenger door suddenly pull away. He blinked as daylight flooded their cramped prison.
The rescuers carefully pulled Roy out first, quickly bundling him away. Several firemen had already carried the stokes a good distance by the time Johnny crawled out. His legs wobbled as he tried to stand but he wasn't allowed the time to get his feet under himself properly. Several pairs of hands caught him, half dragging and half carrying him away in a rush.
Johnny looked up as the roar of a helicopter swooped in overhead, coming to a hover above the men crouched around Roy's stokes. Everyone turned at the sound of metal tearing. The mangled wreckage of the truck was buried under a mound of rocks, caught up against a huge oak tree that clung to the lip of a ledge. Its roots clawed at the sky, leafy branches whipping in the downdraft from the chopper.
The helicopter proved to be the final straw. A huge slab of stone on the roof of the truck finally gave way to gravity, crushing the cab. The truck shuddered under the blow, and it was too much for the tree. Wood splintered as the tree lost its grip and slipped over the edge, dragging the truck down with it.
The multiple lines attached to the truck snapped taught with a loud crack. Johnny looked upwards at the sudden shouting of many voices. The combined weight of tree, truck, and rock as it fell began to drag the heavy fire engine above them before the ropes were hastily severed.
Johnny looked back to where the truck had been, and just stared with a blank, numb expression. Rocks started shifting, slithering down from the hillside above them, jolting Johnny out of his thoughts. He looked up to see that the chopper was lowering a basket for the stokes. Roy was loaded up first, then Johnny, and then the paramedic team.
Johnny stared down at the scene below as the helicopter banked and headed away. Part of the road had been cleared, enough to allow the fire engine to take a risky position directly above the stranded vehicle. Even as he watched, the crew began inching the engine backwards down the road and away from the dangerously unstable hillside.
Johnny gave a startled jump when a BP cuff slipped over his arm. "Listen," he said, shouting to be heard over the helicopter and trying to undo the cuff. "Roy needs both of you, so stop wasting time on me. I'm fine."
"Trevor is taking care of Roy," Luke said calmly. Johnny opened his mouth to argue, but Luke grabbed the paramedic's wrist and held it up. Johnny's hand was shaking. Luke's voice was firm but kind as he continued getting vitals. "No one is immune to constant adrenaline. Let us do our job."
Johnny settled for watching Trevor like a hawk.
The city passed below them in a blur until the familiar, gigantic hospital came into view. An army of nurses and doctors waited on the tarmac, ready for them. Johnny knelt on the floor of the chopper as it landed, and reached into Roy's back pocket to get his wallet. No one stopped him from helping get the stokes transferred to the gurney.
He followed them all the way to the OR, but that was as far as he got. Bracket stopped him at the door while everyone else filed inside. "Sorry, Johnny," the doctor said, looking truly apologetic, "but I can't let you in an operating room like that."
Johnny looked down at himself, and blinked. He'd rinsed his hands before getting an IV started on Roy, but was otherwise covered head to toe in grime. He looked at the wallet in his hand, then back at the doctor. "Joanne is out of town. Is there a phone I can use to make a long distance call?"
"Use my office," Bracket said without hesitation, pointing down the hall. "There are some scrubs in the closet. Get cleaned up, and then I want you to find some one to check you over."
"I'm fine," Johnny said automatically.
Bracket tilted his head. "Why does everyone in your line of work always say that?" He gave a wave of his hand before Johnny could answer, and smiled. "Just humor me."
Johnny sighed, too tired to argue, and nodded.
"And Johnny..." Bracket added. He frowned a little, as though debating whether or not to finish the sentence. "Please don't sit in my chair."
Johnny looked back down at his feet, then behind him at the muddy trail he'd left on the hospital's pristine white floor. He looked back at Bracket and gave the doctor a little smile.
The door behind Bracket opened partially and Doctor Early leaned halfway out. "We're ready, Kel." He gave Johnny a brief, encouraging smile before disappearing again.
"I promise I'll let you know something as soon as possible," Bracket said quickly and followed.
Johnny stood in the hallway for several long seconds, staring at the door. He took a slow, deep breath, then turned on his heel and headed for Bracket's office. He stood at the desk, rummaging through his partner's wallet until he found the contact list with his mother in law's phone number. Johnny's hand hovered over the phone for nearly a full minute before he snatched it up and started dialing.
It took what felt like forever before Roy was moved to a hospital room for recovery. Johnny, still in borrowed hospital scrubs, had been pacing in the waiting area with the rest of A shift when Doctor Bracket himself came to give them the news.
The staff let in visitors and – though it was against the rules- they reluctantly allowed the entire crew to cram into the room. Roy barely seemed aware of them, drugged up to his eyeballs, but that didn't stop them from chattering away in a chorus of voices.
Johnny spotted the clock on the wall and snapped his fingers. "Hey, somebody needs to pick up Joanne at the airport in a couple hours."
"I'll get her," Stoker instantly volunteered.
"Why can't you?" Chet asked, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"Because he doesn't have a car, you twit," Hank answered.
Johnny's eyes suddenly got round as though the reality of that fact was just occurring to him. "I don't have a car!"
"That thing only cost you two hundred bucks, remember?" Marco said, trying to be encouraging. "I bet it would have stopping running next week anyway."
"I'm a decent mechanic," Johnny said with indignation. "Why should I spend good money on a new car when I'm perfectly capable of fixing up an old one?" He shook his head before Marco could answer. "The point is that I don't have a car. I can't go on a date in a taxi!"
Stoker froze in the act of trying to sneak towards the door when Chet pointed directly at him. He spoke to Johnny, however. "You mean Stoker is picking up Roy's wife because you have a date?"
Johnny fidgeted uncomfortably. "Well... I... That is..."
"That's real classy, Johnny," Marco said, crossing his arms.
Chet shook his head in clucked his tongue. "Your partner is laid up in the hospital and you're going on a date."
"He's gonna be okay," Johnny said, standing up straight and waving both arms in Roy's general direction as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "It took me weeks to set up this date. What good would—"
"I love you guys."
Every head in the room turned to look at Roy. The paramedic smiled up at them with half closed eyes.
They all stared for several full seconds.
Hank broke the silence. "Bracket gave you the really good stuff."
Roy blinked lazily up at Hank. "Hi, Cap."
"Hi, Roy," Hank answered with a little laugh.
Roy's gaze roved across the room, taking in everyone ranged around his bed until his eyes came to Johnny at his other side. His smile widened slowly into the wide grin that people rarely got to see because the paramedic thought it was too goofy. Johnny smiled back.
"Out," Dixie spoke up. She spread out her arms and made shooing motions with her hands, rounding up the crew and pushing them towards the door to a cacophony of protests. "Let the man sleep."
Johnny ducked out of the group and back into the room at the last second. "Hey, Roy—"
"You know where the keys are," Roy said sleepily.
Johnny grinned at him. "You're a life saver, pally."
"Gage!" Hank shouted from the hallway.
"I'll be back tomorrow to tell ya all about it," Johnny said quickly, then spun on his heel and hurried after the crew.
Roy stared at the door with a disappointed little frown that turned back into a sleepy smile as Johnny's voice loudly drifted through the halls of Rampart General Hospital.
"Hey! Wait for me, guys. I need a ride to the station!"
Author's Note: This scrawling started as an exercise in third person objective. The camera can focus on whatever it wishes, but if the camera does not see or hear it, then neither does the reader. The idea was to convey everything through description, action, dialog, etc, without actually dipping into anyone's head – the same as if one were watching the TV show. While I enjoyed the challenge, I strongly disliked the result and removed the story without finishing it. I apologize to those of you who enjoyed or preferred the previous version, but I find this rendition more to my liking when I got back to finishing it.
Thank you for reading!