Page 106 of Enforcer

I shake my head. “Get him first. Please, get him out first,” I plead.

His eyes flick over to Dante momentarily. "I’ve got a team of guys getting that side open, alright? My priority is you.”

I want to argue with him, but I want him to get Dante out first. Then I’ll be fine.

Logic tells me that I don’t know if I’m fine.

Nausea swirls as the pain begins to flood through the haze of adrenaline.

I close my eyes to try to keep my composure.

“No, don’t do that. Stay with me, sweetheart,” the man says as I hear what sounds like saws against metal on Dante’s side.

“Look at me!”

I open my eyes and pin him with a glare. I don’t know why I’m so frustrated, but I want to go home.

I’m tired, and I don’t feel good.

“I’m going to cut this belt, alright? As soon as you drop, my friend Charlie here will help me pull you out, okay?”

I nod, sniffling. I hadn’t realized I’d been crying this entire time.

The fireman works some cutter through the belt, and when it pops finally, my weight flies free.

Charlie is there, though. He braces my fall, and the two men tug me out of the window slowly, carefully.

Like I’m breakablenow, even though I survived the horrific crash.

Metal bending and squealing still fill the air as they work to get Dante out. I try to take a backward glance as I’m strapped to a board and lifted off the ground, but I can’t.

“Is he going to be alright?” I ask Charlie.

He’s young—my age, with kind brown eyes and red hair.

Funny. Charlie, the fireman with fire-engine red hair.

“I don’t know, ma’am. We have to ensure you’re going to be alright. That’s my job today.”

I’m shut into an ambulance, and two paramedics start to asses me before putting in an IV and hooking me to monitors.

The ride to the hospital is a blur. I can’t help but feel I’ve left Dante behind.

Is he still trapped?

Is he scared?

Is he alive?

“Ma’am?! Stay with me, alright?” the female paramedic says, working furiously over my body, accepting things from the man to my left.

Stay with her? I’m right here.

My vision pinpoints, seeming as if I’m going through a dark tunnel—one that might have death on the other end.

“Ma’am!”

My eyes close, and I listen to the sound of my heart slowing down as a peaceful, warm feeling washes over me—a feeling not many know and few come back from.