Set in Stone

Chapter 25

"Daga, what are you waiting for? Open the door!" Grace cried, desperate to go and help people injured in the terrible road accident that their bus had narrowly avoided being caught up in.

"No! Wait and make sure the traffic around us is all stopped first!" Elena insisted.

"She's right," Seth said, putting a hand on Grace's shoulder from behind. "You can't just walk onto the interstate."

Hearing tyres squealing outside the bus, Grace realised they were right. A car stopped not far from hitting the bus. Cars had screeched to a halt in the other lanes, too. Looking out of the windows, she saw the traffic now starting to back up. The accident was over. "Okay, they're all stopped. Open the door!"

Elena pushed the relevant button, and the door hissed open.

Rushing down the steps, Grace was first off the bus, all of her friends close behind her. It was obvious from the scale of the destruction they had seen that there would be many injuries, with some deaths also likely.

Grace froze for a moment, trying to take in the horrendous scene in front of her. "Jesus Christ," she said under her breath. There was destruction everywhere. It was impossible to tell from the wreckage strewn all over their side of the interstate how exactly the huge pileup had started. What she could tell was that more cars than she could count were involved, along with several trucks, one of which was now engulfed in fire. If the driver was still inside, he was dead.

"Come on, let's find people who need help!" Seth cried. He and Zelina rushed past Grace, heading towards a white van that was lying on its side.

Bayley and Elena also ran by, rushing over to a car that had gone into the back of another car. A family were struggling to get out of the wreck.

Where am I going to go? Who am I going to help? Grace thought, looking around. Off to her right, her eyes settled on a horrifying sight. A metal shipping container had fallen off an overturned truck trailer and landed square on top of a car, squashing the passenger compartment flat. She began to say a prayer for whoever had been inside. There was no way anyone could have survived.

"Help! Help me!"

It was a man's voice. To Grace's immense shock, it was coming from the crushed car. Somehow, there was someone alive under the shipping container. "Holy shit," Grace said, running over there.

"Help!" the man yelled again as Grace approached what would have been the driver's side of the car. She could see no sign of the person, who had to be somewhere underneath the container.

"Hello? Can you hear me?" she cried, crouching down to try and see through the twisted and mangled bodywork.

"I can hear you!" the man called, sounding relieved, yet still frightened. "I'm trapped! I can't get out!"

"What's your name?" Grace said, realising that she wasn't going to have to yell for him to hear her.

"Trevor."

"Trevor, I'm Grace. How bad are you hurt?" She dreaded the answer.

"I don't think I'm hurt," he said, to her immense surprise. "I saw the container falling, and I threw myself into the footwell. God knows how I reacted so fast, but I did. I'm stuck in here. I can barely move."

"Okay," Grace said, looking at the container, fearful that it might shift and crush Trevor. It actually looked to her like it was settled in place. "I think the container isn't going to move, so you should be okay. Obviously I can't move it. The emergency services will be on the way. Were you alone in the car?"

"Yes. I was on my way home. Hey, I can see a bit of light," Trevor said. Through a small hole low down in the twisted bodywork, Grace saw a hand appear. It was white, and looked fairly young. She saw a watch on the wrist, and the sleeves of a black suit jacket and a light blue shirt. "Can you see my hand?"