Page 4 of After the End
“…for the dumbass has finally found a trace of common sense,” Callum finished, making her laugh.
The woman on the ice shouted at the man, who ignored her, continuing his trek toward shore. Taking a few running steps, she jumped on his back, tackling him. The two toppled forward onto the ice.
“Hey!” Lou yelled, and Callum took an automatic step closer before he stopped himself. He wasn’t in a dry suit. For this call, he was Lou’s dive tender. As much as he was driven to fix what was happening, he was stuck on shore.
The deputy obviously had the same instinct, because he was running toward the fallen couple. “Stop! Deputy!” Callum ordered, but Sweetness either couldn’t hear him or was ignoring him.
The couple tussled, rolling across the ice, as the deputy got closer. The woman wiggled free and pushed off of the man. She got to her feet, still yelling. As she took a step back, she froze, and Callum braced himself. He knew thatoh shitlook. He’d seen it before as the ice beneath someone’s feet gave way. Sure enough, a loudcrackfilled the sudden hush.
The woman dropped into the water.
The man’s body tilted as the ice collapsed beneath him. He scrabbled for a handhold, the panic on his face visible even from a distance. The broken slabs tilted, and he slid into the water. The deputy ran toward the couple, coming to a skidding stop ten feet away as the ice cracked under his feet.
“Derek!” Lou snapped, not missing a beat as she ran to take Wilt’s place carrying the boat. “We’ve got two people in the water. Let’s go!”
Callum grabbed his portable radio off of his duty belt. “Two people in the water. Possible third.”
“Copy,” the dispatcher responded. “Med One, what’s your ETA?”
“Five minutes.”
Wilt and Callum held the tow rope as Lou and Derek ran out onto the ice, carrying the raft between them. Callum watched them go, his muscles twitching with the need to follow.
“Always harder to be the person on shore,” Wilt said, as if reading his mind.
Although he grunted in agreement, Callum didn’t look away from the scene playing out on the ice. He couldn’t. Even though he knew Lou was capable of heading up this rescue—after all, that’s why he’d given her the lead—he still worried. Every rescue had an element of risk, and he couldn’t protect Lou from everything, as much as he wanted to.
“Get down,” Lou called to the deputy as they skirted around him. “Spread out your weight.”
Obediently, he slowly lowered himself to his knees and then laid on his front. Callum found himself nodding in approval, even though the deputy couldn’t see him. As Lou and Derek got closer to where the couple had broken through the ice, they started to crawl, dragging the boat along with them. The raft slid easily along the wet ice.
The ice cracked under Lou, and her body lurched sideways as her knee broke through. Callum’s fists tightened around the rope as his whole body went taut, the instinct to help her trying to override all of his knowledge and training.
“She’s okay,” Wilt said calmly, and Callum shot him a look. He wasn’t a rookie who needed to be reassured. He trusted Lou.
“I know.” He did. It was just hard to watch her struggle.
She recovered from the slip, climbing into the raft along with Derek. They maneuvered the front of the boat, which rose high in the air and exposed the bottom cut-out section, over the head of the struggling man. Leaning forward, Lou maneuvered the harness under the man’s arms and hooked the carabiners together at his chest. Grabbing both sides of the harness, she braced her feet and pulled him into the boat on top of her.
A part of Callum was impressed at her efficiency, but another part panicked slightly when she disappeared from view. The soaking wet man flailed, obviously disoriented by cold water and sudden rescue. He rocked from side to side like an inverted turtle, unable to coordinate his limbs well enough to turn completely. Derek helped the drenched man finally roll over, freeing Lou to sit up. Callum’s heart rate calmed slightly when he saw her. Lou didn’t appear any worse for wear and immediately moved the boat toward the second victim.
The woman was moving slowly, her head tipped back as she gulped for air. It looked like cold-shock had caused her to hyperventilate. Callum’s hands tightened on the rope.Don’t pass out, he thought, his gaze fixed on her intently, as if he could keep her conscious by the sheer force of his will. She paddled weakly, but then her head bobbed under the surface. Lou lunged forward, reaching into the water and grabbing the back of her waterlogged jacket. She hauled her to the surface and pulled, dragging the woman’s head and shoulders into the boat. The jacket rode up as the weight of her inert body sank back toward the water. Releasing the coat, Lou seized the woman’s upper arms and yanked, toppling backward with the force of her pull. The woman landed on top of her, and Derek—who’d been distracted tending to the man—hurried to help.
With a huff of quiet laughter, Wilt said, “That wasn’t quite textbook.”
“She got it done, though.” He’d lecture her at their next training, but, for now, Callum was just straight-up proud. “Ready?”
“Yep.”
As if she’d heard their exchange, Lou raised her arm and gave the signal for them to pull on the tow rope. The boat slid easily across the ice, and the deputy, lying on the ice that—thankfully—was holding together, started belly crawling to intercept the raft. As they drew close to the deputy, Lou gestured for them to stop pulling. She and Derek hoisted Deputy Sweetness into the boat, and Callum and Wilt hauled on the rope again.
“What’ve we got?” a paramedic called as she jogged toward them, her partner close behind.
“Two victims, one male, one female…” Callum continued rattling off the information automatically, even as his mind was in the rescue boat with Lou. It bumped up onto the shore, and Callum and Wilt dragged it several more feet across the snow. Both victims were awake and looked alert, although they were shivering. Callum eyed Lou, as well, trying to determine if she’d been hurt getting them out of the water. She caught his glance and gave him a brilliant smile that made it obvious that any pain was buried under a load of adrenaline.
They worked with the paramedics to wrap the victims in heated blankets and strap them into two Stokes baskets. The floating stretchers worked like sleds, and they pulled the two patients up the hill to where the ambulance waited.
“J-June,” the man said through chattering teeth. Callum hoped he wasn’t going to restart their argument. “June?”
