This Is The Moment (9-1-1: Lone Star)

Chapter One

House 118, single-vehicle car accident. Santa Monica Quarry. Police chopper in attendance. Heli-Med ETA thirty minutes.

Bobby Nash, Eddie Diaz, Howie "Chimney" Han, Henrietta "Hen" Wilson and Evan "Buck" Buckley all stop what they're doing, rush to their vehicles, get in and they make their way to the Quarry. Luckily, it's a dried out Quarry so they don't need to worry about any drownings.

When they arrive at the quarry, they see a car on its roof, the police chopper is hovering above them keeping an eye on the situation. They all jump out of their vehicles and get the equipment out.

'MOM!' They hear someone shout from the car. 'Mom wake up!'

'Let's go!' Bobby shouts. They all run over to the car. Chimney and Buck get on the floor by the passenger side where a teenage girl is clearly in distress whilst Hen and Eddie get on the floor by the driver's side.

'Miss, I'm Chimney. I'm a firefighter. Can you tell me your name?' Chimney introduces himself to the young girl.

'Avery.' The young girl replies. 'You've got to help my mom! Her name's Shianne. She won't wake up, she's breathing! I know she is!' Chimney looks at Hen who is checking Shianne's pulse. After a few seconds, Hen shakes her head. Chimney takes a few seconds before turning his attention back to Avery.

'Avery, we're going to help you and your mom.' Chimney reassures her. 'Are you in any pain anywhere?'

'My arm hurts like hell.' Avery tells him.

'What about your head, neck and spine?' Chimney queries. He notices that she's getting increasingly out of breath.

'No.' Avery says. 'Just my arm. And my chest. I can't breathe.'

'Okay.' Chimney nods as he takes a stethoscope out of the med bag. 'I'm just going to listen to your chest.' He places the earpieces in his ears and the bell on her chest. After a few seconds, he puts the stethoscope away. 'She has a tension pneumo!'

'What's that?' Avery asks scared.

'Part of your lung has collapsed.' Chimney explains. 'So I'm going to insert a needle into your chest and give you some oxygen through a mask, okay?'

'Yeah.' Avery nods. Chimney gets a needle out of the med bag and takes the sheath off.

'This is going to hurt but it will make you feel a whole lot better.' Chimney warns her. He moves her top down slightly, positions the needle and jabs it into her chest. He pulls out the wire and immediately there's a gush of air and Avery takes a deep breath. 'How does that feel?'

'Better.' Avery nods.

'Good.'  Chimney smiles. 'Let's get you to the hospital.'

A few hours have passed. Avery is asleep in a side room in the Emergency Department. An X-Ray revealed that she has a simple fracture to her left arm which has been put in a cast. Once she had been assessed and stabilised, the doctors broke the news about her mum. Chimney has decided to stay with her so that she wasn't alone. Avery slowly opens her eyes and sees Chimney is sat in a chair beside the bed.

'You stayed with me?' She asks him.

'Yeah.' Chimney laughs awkwardly. 'I didn't want to leave you alone.'

'That's nice,' Avery smiles slightly, 'but you didn't have to. I'm sure the nurses have called my dad or my brother. They'll most likely be here in the next couple of days.'

'I hear they're keeping you in for a week, at least.' Chimney says.

'Yeah.' Avery nods. 'They want to keep me in for observation and a psyche hold.' She sees that Chimney looks confused. 'I have a history of psychosis. I guess they want to see whether today will trigger that or not.'