The siren rang out like a scream, cutting through the air, alerting all the other cars in a two-block radius to clear the way as the ambulance flew down the road. William stood over the older man strapped down to the gurney as his partner drove, weaving through intersections. Blood coated the front of Will’s blue uniform shirt, matching the red caduceus patch on his arm, his formerly white-gloved hand buried inside the huge gash in the man’s leg. Will desperately pinch closed the exposed vein in the man’s leg, holding what was left of the blood in his body from spraying out. A passenger airliner had experienced engine failure, and as it fell, one of its wings clipped a tower of one of the massive suspension bridges around the city. Every ambulance, fire engine, and off-duty nurse or doctor in half of the city was at the scene of the wreckage or rushing away from it with patients. Emergency and trauma departments in the city were nearly full as Will, and his partner rushed their third patient of the night across the state line to a small hospital with open beds.

The man on the stretcher groaned in pain as they rocked over another bump in the road. His face was pale, and sweat covered his face as he squeezed his eyes shut. Will had put his last tourniquet on the man’s right arm, which was missing from the elbow down, and was now forced to hold his slashed open artery closed to keep him from dying. He would probably lose his leg from the knee down due to blood loss if he did manage to survive. Suddenly, the entire world shifted as Will felt the ambulance tip and slam sideways, throwing him onto his back against the wall of the box. A sickening crunch could be heard, and pain flared up in his leg. The patient stayed secured, now hanging sideways, as he was strapped into the gurney, and it was locked into the floor. Blood began to pour out of his thigh, however, as short bursts of blood began to spray out of the vein, in time with the patient’s rapid heartbeat. 

Will tried to push himself back up to a standing position, only to find that the large defibrillation unit they kept on board had broken free of its mounts and landed on top of his ankle, no doubt shattering the bones. He groaned in pain before sliding down again, reaching for the radio on his hip to find it gone. He looked around and saw it lying near the rig's cab, where a dull orange glow emanated. The back doors sprung open, the hydraulic shocks on the doors forcing them open as Will’s partner appeared, a heavy line of blood running down his head, but Will was unsure how much was his or others from tonight.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Rig’s on fire!” He shouted, “Truck ran a red and hit us. Can you move?!”

“My leg!” Will managed to shout back.

“Shit!”

Smoke began to pour out of the cab and into the box as the fire spread into the rig's front seats. Will’s partner tried to reach him, but he was trying to crawl through the doors and over all the loose equipment. His movements were unsteady, and Will was confident he had a head injury.

“Get out!” Will yelled at him.

Red and white lights flashed from outside as what Will assumed was a fire engine pulled up. A blinding spotlight was activated on top of the truck and pointed into the ambulance, causing Will’s vision to turn white as he squeezed his eyes shut. A weightless feeling overtook his body as he guessed he was passing out from the pain. Then the words appeared. 

NETWORK INTEGRATION BEGUN

PLANET OF UNACCEPTABLE SIZE

SEARCHING FOR COMPATIBLE PLANETS

4 MATCHES FOUND

MERGING ACCEPTABLE PLANETS

NETWORK INTEGRATION FINALIZED

PLANETARY EXPANSION COMPLETE