LYNETTE
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TLynette tried to cooperate as Warren and a veteran EMT called Tori slid her up onto the bench, one of the other three motioning for the officer outside to close the doors before the ambulance pulled away. Two EMTs worked on either of the victims, Warren working frantically to staunch the blood flow as the two on the other side of the roll cage were already trying to extract. Lynette’s vision blurred - Tori’s pink scrubs became a blur, a bubblegum blob on a bustling grey backdrop. Warren seemed like a blue marshmallow, despite his lanky frame. Adelaide stood out for some reason, but Lynette doubted it showed in her eyes - she wore a faraway expression, eyes wide and nearly unseeing. Her hands were still white-knuckle-grasping the netting, but she was secured to the bench. As if she were drunk, the EMT was babbling slurred words of reassurance for her team and the officer who had been swept up in the chaos. Things like, “okay,” “alive,” “see,” “breath,” and “hurt.” She could feel, a sure sign the woman wasn’t going into shock, but with the dying down of panic came desperate pain. The bullet had stricken her and nestled in; it was as though a semi truck has rolled over the joint. It occurred to Lynette then to scream - the sound she’d been holding in escaped in a high-pitched shrieking moan that tore out of her throat when Tori pressed particularly hard on her shoulder, switching positions with Warren, somehow therapeutic to let out. The wail was common with extreme pain, but Lynette never expected it to come from her mouth. The fluorescent lights above her began to fade in and out, dark spots creeping into the edges of her vision. She started to mutter and shake, prompting one of the other EMTs to break out the spare oxygen mask. They hooked the machine up quickly, fitting the mask over Lynette’s nose and mouth and stretching the straps around the curvature of her occipitals. The lower strap found its was across her nape and mastoids. Her lip curled below the mask, struggling to take in the oxygen being forced through her windpipe.