Perfect Illusion

Chapter 13: Duty of Care

"You okay?" He more or less let his words out as a breathy whisper, his body in utter shock. Presumably she was the same, here eyes wide and a small knick on her forehead bleeding lightly. She merely nodded in response. Her eyes eventually scanned their surroundings, inviting him to do the same as they got to their feet cautiously. "Elliot." Gasping his name quietly he moved over to the grey-haired consultant, who looked a little stunned but otherwise unhurt.

"Sam, Chrissie." He whispered as the helped him up. "You're both okay? Thank God." He panted, looking around the room at the many, many wounded and deceased. "We should start making our way around, see to those in desperate need." Finally looking back to them, he was relieved to see Mark and Tricia finding their way over to them, treading carefully over the building remains beneath their feet. Mark had a nasty gash on his head but Tricia looked more or less in tact as well. They really had been the lucky table as Mark had implied earlier. Sam's brain quickly flew into overdrive, looking at Elliot with such intense concern that Elliot didn't even need to ask what was wrong.

"Connie." He whispered lightly before speaking again with more volume. "Connie, where's Connie?" His panicked body language sent Elliot into a frenzy too as his gaze moved back to the corridor leading to the toilets.

It was completely destroyed.

He was tearing through the rubble like a man possessed, he couldn't help it. His heart was beating so incredibly loud and fast, it almost drowned out every other noise around him.

"Mr Strachan!" Elliot's urgent voice behind him was no match for his strong-willed mind, he was going to reach her no matter what. "Sam! Stop!"

"We can't just leave her in there!" He growled, continuing to pull at the mountain of debris before him, even if he just made a small enough gap to crawl through.

"No but we can wait until help arrives, Sam! You don't know what lies beyond this, you could cause further damage!" He was attempting to halt the younger male from rushing in foolishly. But it didn't seem to be having any kind of effect, in fact it was only making him work faster.

"Sam, Elliot's right." Chrissie's voice chimed in now too, only further aggravating him. "You could cause another collapse, we should wait-"

"I am not waiting for the people beyond this wall of rubble to die from any injuries they could've sustained, you're right, for all we know I might makes things worse, but for all else we know they could be seriously hurt."

"You mean, there were more people beyond this hallway?" Elliot blinked worriedly, of course he was gravely concerned for his pregnant friend but also knowing there were more lives at risk he was starting to think maybe Sam was right.

"Yes." Sam swallowed tiredly, his body starting to feel the effects of moving heavy concrete chunks in such a quick fashion. He didn't stop though, he could see a gap forming and this only fuelled on his actions. "Four or five other women. Maybe even more, I don't know."

"But still, you can't just go ahead and bulldoze your way through, Sam." Chrissie glanced up at the ceiling as she spoke, the nerves radiating off her words. "I think we should have some sort of strategy in place and focus on the people out here who need us and th-"

"Alright." He barked, turning around quickly and dropping the debris currently in his hands. His forehead was coated with a mixture of beaded sweat and rubble dust, the large darkened room being illuminated every so often with the flashing of the remaining ceiling lights above them. "Strategy, you want some order? Fine, you and Elliot move to the outer left of the room, Mark and Tricia move the the outer right. You'll work in pairs and move inwards, meeting in the centre of the room, help anyone that needs it urgently." His nostrils flared with impatience, he could already see other wounded Hospital staff attempting to help anyone they could.