"Jax, get out!"Max’s voice is the last thing I hear.
The bus slides. It tips past the point of no return.
I try to lunge for the window, but the angle is too steep. I slide backward, tumbling down the length of the bus as it rolls.
The radio handset flies out of my hand.
I hit the back wall hard. Darkness spins. The sound of crunching metal and shattering glass is deafening.
Then, we are falling.
Maxwell
"Jax, get out!"I scream.
There is a sound over the radio that will haunt me for the rest of my life. The screech of metal tearing. The roar of snow.
And then, silence.
Static.
"Jax?"
I press the button. My thumb is white.
"Jax, report!"
Nothing.
"O'Connell!" I shout, my voice cracking. "Answer me!"
The radio is dead.
I stand there in the red light. The silence in the ER is absolute. The nurses have stopped moving. Mama Ortiz has her hands over her mouth.
I stare at the radio handset in my hand.
He’s gone.
The bus went over.
I drop the headset. It clatters on the desk.
"Dr. York?" Ortiz whispers.
I turn around.
I feel a cold, terrifying clarity wash over me. The panic is gone. There is only the mission.
"Prepare OR 1," I say. My voice sounds like it’s coming from someone else. "Call the blood bank. Initiate Massive Transfusion Protocol. Get the perfusionist here now."
"Sir?" Ortiz asks, tears in her eyes. "They said... they said it went over the edge."
"He is not dead," I say fiercely. I look her in the eye. "He is the best trauma surgeon in this state. He survived Afghanistan. He survived me. He isnotallowed to be dead."
I walk toward the ambulance bay doors.
"When they bring him in," I say, "I want everything ready. No delays. No mistakes."
