Fourth of July Read Online Free PDF Page A

He felt rage boil inside of him. No time for that now, help these people, and then bring those responsible to justice.
    “Were you thrown?” Chris asked.
    “No,” she said with a slight shake of her head.
    Good, no spinal injury.
    “What are you doing?” She glanced in his direction, finally seeming to notice him.
    “I’m going to get you to a hospital.” Chris lifted her off the ground.
    The shock wore off. She screamed, arching away from his touch. “Set me down. Ow!”
    She thrashed and squirmed, crying out with ear-shattering intensity. Chris ran with her to a waiting ambulance. He handed her over to an EMT who didn’t even flinch.
    He sprinted back to the scene and helped a large middle-aged man named Jacob hobble away from the fire. Jacob’s injuries were mostly to his upper body, so he was able to walk with Chris’s assistance. Chris took him to find an ambulance, but unfortunately the critically injured already filled the available space.
    “What’s he supposed to do?” Chris asked one of the EMTs.
    “Sorry, he’ll have to wait.”
    Chris settled Jacob onto the ground, leaving him with an apology as he went to assist more victims.
    Grimacing, Jacob shook Chris’s hand. “I appreciate your help.”
    Chris nodded. “I’ll come check on you in a minute.”
    He spent the next hour transporting people to ambulances or the waiting line. Most went willingly, some fought like the teenage girl.
    Searching the entire time for his friend, he never glimpsed Dylan or his family members.
    While escorting an elderly woman, his phone buzzed on his hip. Hope flared within him. Chris swiped his cell without glancing at the caller I.D.
    “Dylan?” Chris asked.
    “Dylan?” Danielle’s incensed voice crackled through the phone lines. “This is not Dylan. Where are you? I’m at your apartment and you aren’t answering your door.”
    “Danielle?” Chris had forgotten all about their date. “Haven’t you heard about the explosion?”
    “What does that have to do with you?”
    A jolt of anger raced through him. “It has a lot to do with me. It could be terrorist backed.”
    “Oh.”
    “I’ve got to go. I’ll call you later.”
    “But, but...” Danielle sputtered, “What about the day I’ve planned for us?”
    Chris bit back an angry retort. “I’ll call you later.”
    Her voice softened. “Where are you? I’ll come to you.”
    He exhaled. “No, Danielle. I’ll call you tonight.”
    He dropped his phone in his pocket before she could protest further. How dare she care more about her day than these victims?
    Chris half-carried the frail lady, who was clinging to his arm. She reminded him of his grandmother. A loud clap and the ground vibrating beneath their feet whirled them around. Another explosion hurled more debris into the air. It was far enough away Chris couldn’t see who was impacted by it.

    Dylan placed two fingers against the young man’s smooth neck. Not even old enough to grow facial hair. Dylan shook his head. No pulse. Nothing.
    Why, Lord ? His whole life ahead of him .
    “He didn’t make it,” Dylan informed a nearby EMT.
    Standing, he stretched his back to ease the ache. Looking for someone in need of his help, he observed rows of stretchers and hundreds of volunteers assisting the emergency personnel. The secondary blast had been in the same spot as the first one so thankfully hadn’t produced much more chaos. The EMTs appeared to have the situation under control.
    Dylan felt as if he had been on autopilot for the past two hours. Frantically moving from victim to victim, he helped as many as he could, saying a brief prayer for others as he gently closed their eyes for the last time. The implications of what had happened began to register and he couldn’t stop the shudder that shook his entire frame.
    He glanced in sorrow at the wreckage. A solitary tear slid down his cheek. How many had died here today? What was the reason for the explosion? Was it a terrorist act, a