But as she spoke, the woman’s eyes rolled back in her head. Caitlin felt a sudden panic as she checked the woman’s pulse. Nothing.
“No!” she hissed. “You’re not doing this to me, do you hear?”
She started CPR, pumping on the woman’s chest and breathing into her mouth.
And she was suddenly back there.
It is so dark she can barely see and so hot she can barely breathe. Above her is just a mound of broken beams and debris, keeping the rest of it from collapsing. There is a sound in the background that she can’t quite place. A low roar and crackle coming closer.
A mist darker than the gloom around her is snaking across the ground and she realizes it’s smoke.
Terror rips through her.
She struggles but can’t move. With an effort, she lifts her head and realizes that a ceiling beam has fallen across her legs. It’s made of timber but feels as heavy as concrete. She can’t move it, despite how hard she heaves and strains.
The crackling sound is getting louder and she looks down to see flames slowly licking at the end of the beam, getting closer and closer to where she’s lying.
“Help!” she screams, but her voice is barely a whisper. “Help!”
“Caitlin?” an equally hoarse voice gasps from nearby.
Caitlin turns her head and sees a woman lying next to her. She looks in a worse state than Caitlin. Her skin has lost all its color and her breaths are coming in short, shallow gasps.
Now Caitlin remembers. This is the woman she was working on before this happened. What had she said her name was? Amy?
She reaches out her left arm, fingers groping along the debris-littered floor, until she finds Amy’s hand. She squeezes it tight.
“We’re going to be all right,” she says. “They’re going to get us out of here. You just need to stay with me.”
“Sure,” Amy whispers. “It doesn’t hurt anymore anyway.”
Her eyes flutter closed.
“Amy!” Caitlin cries. “Don’t fall asleep! You have to stay with me!”
But it’s too late. Amy is gone and the flames are coming closer...
“Caitlin!”
Kai’s voice snapped her back into the present. In front of her, the woman’s eyes had rolled back in her head and she was no longer breathing.
No! Not again!
Caitlin hammered on the woman’s chest, one, two, three times, then pressed her ear against her breast, listening for a heartbeat.
Nothing.
She went back to CPR, count the compressions, breathe. Count the compressions, breathe. She would not lose another one! She wouldn’t!
“Caitlin!” Kai grabbed her shoulder, forcing her to look at him. His face was streaked with sweat and dirt. “She’s gone!”
“No!” Caitlin cried. “I have to save her! I have to!”
She turned back to the woman, but Kai’s fingers tightened on her shoulder just as two arrows thudded into the dirt not two paces from where Caitlin knelt.
Kai swore under his breath and jumped to his feet. “Damn it! Time’s up. We have to go. Now!”
He grabbed Caitlin under the armpits, heaved her to her feet, and began dragging her away.
