Water Under the Bridge || Evan Buckley [2]

chapter eight

knocking down the pins

Doors burst into the bowling alley establishment where the members of the 118 filed inside with a gurney. Civilians were cleared once the dispatch call was made, leaving the employees to wait for help to arrive. Bobby leading the team had spotted one of the employees dressed in their pink uniformed shirt on the side glued to his phone. 

"Hey. Are you in charge here?" He asked the employee. 

Appearing unamused, the young man shrugged, "I guess." He answered in a monotone voice. 

Thankfully, another employee in a blue shirt popped up that seemed to have more awareness of the situation. "Thank God you're here! She's this way." He started to guide the firefighters en route to the back. "Okay, her name's Arlene Branson. She's the owner. She was working on lane five when the pin setter came down on her. I wasn't sure what to do, so I shut off the power to stop it from cycling again, but I didn't think I should move it until you guys got here." He further explained to them. 

When they entered to the back room, painful moans were heard presuming to belong to the owner. "Help!" She shouted. 

"Arlene?"

"Garrett?"

The young employee rushed to his boss' aid. "It's okay, Arlene. I'm here." He responded while the members of the 118 surrounded the woman. "These people are gonna help you, okay?"

Analyzing the predicament between the owner's arm and pin setter, Chimney voiced out to the team. "All right, I got a compound fracture, more outside than in. Pulse is very weak." He gathered at the sight of the arm. 

"She's lost a lot of blood. Let's get fluids going." Hen added, unraveling the equipment to check Arlene's blood pressure. 

Bobby swiveled his head back at Garrett, "All right, do you know how to move this thing? How to release it?"

He shook his head, "Not really. I've only watched Arlene do it."

"Do you have a manual?" Josephine directed at Garrett while assisting Chimney to prep a bag of fluids. 

Arlene groaned a 'yes' in response which lit Garrett's eyes and nodding rigorously. "Right, manual release. Which is here somewhere." He began to search around. 

"We could take it apart piece by piece." Buck proposed, examining the machine.  

Eddie disagreed, glancing down at Arlene. "Not sure what that's gonna do for her arm."

Garrett returned with metal handle in his hand to pass on to Bobby. "Here. Put this in the back, then turn it." He said, Bobby grabbed the tool to give to Eddie. 

"Blood pressure's dropping." Hen declared. 

"Pushing fluids through." Chimney announced. 

Eddie interjected, "I'll get the tourniquet, tie the arm, and get her out."