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The hole had to be at least 50 feet across, probably more considering one side curved over a cliff. It was so deep Buck couldn’t see the ground past where it crumbled at his feet.
The harness dug uncomfortably into his waist and thighs. He’s the foremost ropes expert on his team, so when they rolled up to the scene spotting the midsized sedan hanging onto the road by a thread, Buck got to work. He left his turnout in the rig and grabbed the rest of his equipment.
A sinkhole appeared on a coastal road that buffeted a massive cliff. Buck had been to his fair share of sinkhole calls, but they were usually 10 or 15 feet max. It’d been raining nonstop for the last two weeks, and sinkholes were not uncommon in the greater Los Angeles area. That’s why they had so many protocols about them.
“Alright, you guys know the drill. We can’t get the driver out until we secure the vehicle. No one opens a door without the hooks and winch in place.” Bobby was talking to everyone, but his gaze paused on Buck for a fraction of a second too long.
Buck secured his harness as much as he could, strapped on his helmet, and raised an eyebrow at his Captain like, ‘See Dad, I’m following all the rules.’
Bobby shook his head at the younger firefighter but looked amused. Evan Buckley was a professional, he could do a rope rescue, he’d done at least a hundred, it was like riding a bike.
His partner, Eddie Diaz, caught the exchange between pseudo-father and son and rolled his eyes. It was pretty normal for their crew to perform rescues like this one. He had just as much faith in his team as they did in him.
Eddie finished securing his harness and helmet. Wherever Buck went, Eddie wasn’t far behind. They promised they would always watch each other’s backs early on in their friendship, and Eddie wasn’t a liar. The deep feelings of love and trust were only exemplified when they finally confessed.
It was already dark and the rain hadn’t let up in the slightest, but it didn’t matter to the crew of the 118. They had a job to do, and that was to save the driver in their teetering vehicle.
Hen was in her gear, ready to assist with the medical side as soon as the boys stabilized the car. The way it was situated, only one tire was still fully on the road. The rest of the vehicle was slanted on an angle hanging off the edge. If the driver hadn’t gotten stuck on the ground that jutted from where the road broke off, they would be performing a recovery instead of a rescue.
Chim had his medkit and the stretcher prepped for their patient. He readied the winch, handing Buck and Eddie the hooks to secure everything.
Buck and Eddie made their way toward the wreck, carefully avoiding any smaller sinkholes littering the ground around them. The last thing they needed was to fall into a hole themselves.
Buck had that exact thought as the ground disappeared from under his foot. He stumbled forward, windmilling to keep his balance. A tug on his harness stopped him from falling face-first on the wet asphalt.
“I got you,” Eddie said, pulling him away from a pocket of earth that sunk about two feet.
Buck glanced at him with a self-deprecating smile. “I know. I’m glad you’re here, that would’ve hurt.”
Eddie smirked, patting him on the shoulder, before circling to the opposite side of the car. “Careful, Darlin’.”
Buck was glad it was too dark to see how hot his skin got because they’d probably see his blush from space any other time of day. It wasn’t fair when Eddie used a southern drawl or sweet-sounding Spanish that Buck didn’t know. They were on a call so Eddie kept the cariños and mi sols to a minimum, but still.
Hen hopped over the hole, coming to a stop beside him. She looked like she was about to say something obnoxious and telling, so Buck ignored her.
Once they were at the suspended vehicle, Buck and Eddie secured it with the hooks and lines. Eddie looped a hook around the axle and another one under the bumper. Buck had to go further down to find a purchase for his hooks.
He looked over the edge of the sinkhole. The falling dirt and broken ground carved a crude shape from the cliffside. It was like a giant monster took a bite of the coastline, and their victim somehow managed to escape its hungry maw.
Buck tugged on the ropes attached to anchors on the fire engine. He tapped the remaining ground next to the hole checking that his weight wouldn’t send him tumbling off the cliff.
He fastened his hooks to the belt of his harness. Slowly and carefully, Buck dropped over the edge of the cliff. He pounded a cam into the ground where the earth felt stable enough. Once everything was affixed correctly, Buck dropped the remaining rope to hang below him.
He wasn’t afraid of heights, but glancing down to where the sinkhole ended and the sheer cliff face continued did something weird to his brain. A bed of rushing water spilled out of the wall like a broken faucet in an opening halfway down the cliff.
No wonder there was a cave-in. It looked like an entire river was gushing just beneath the surface. Buck couldn’t imagine what it would be like to get caught in the torrent of water. The flow dribbled out of the hole, tearing its way to the ocean a few miles down.
It was a terrible reminder that someone’s life was literally hanging in the balance. Buck swung to the side, finding a handhold seemingly sturdy enough for him. He could just reach the rear bumper, so he attached a hook. They’d need to pull Eddie’s side closer to the road to get the door open, so he moved back to place a hook on the frame of the car beside the front passenger tire.
A rumble of thunder echoed in the sky. It was too far away for the ongoing storm to be right above them, but you couldn’t tell that from the torrential downpour that showed no signs of letting up.
Buck pulled out his radio. “All good down here, Cap.”
Eddie echoed him, and he saw the moment the winch anchored the car’s weight.
“Alright, good job, guys,” Bobby’s voice crackled over the small speaker. “Buck, get back up here, I don’t trust the ground around the sinkhole.”
The blonde didn’t need to be told twice. He swung back to take the cam out so they could pull him up. Before that, he caught something out of the corner of his eye that stopped him cold.
“Eddie, is the driver’s side door open?” Buck asked, squinting through the dark at the rear passenger side window.
“Uh, not yet, the whole rear driver’s side is caved-in. It looks like it fell into the cliffside when she hit the sinkhole. We’ll need the jaws!” Eddie answered. The first part was to Buck, but the second part about the jaws was louder and further away like he was yelling over his shoulder.
“What’s going on, Buck?” Bobby asked, tension making his voice sound harder than usual.
“I-I can see something pink in the back seat. I’m not sure what it is, but I’ve got movement. Did dispatch say anything about a second passenger?” Buck swung back to the handhold, grabbing the slick running board. Nothing shifted so he counted that as a win.
“Negative. The on-board navigation system reported the accident,” The Captain relayed. “Eddie, can you see anything from your side?”
“Nothing,” Eddie grunted into the mic. “Anything past the driver’s seat is completely blocked off.”
“I think I can get into the backseat from here,” Buck said, testing more parts of the car to see if it would hold him.
“Wait a second, Buck, I don’t want you going in there and then the ground giving out.” Bobby sounded serious, so Buck stopped moving. “Hen, Eddie, are you almost done with the extraction?”
“Yeah, Cap, we just need to put her in a C collar. Chim, you can bring the stretcher over,” Hen’s voice cut in on the radio.
“Alright, as soon as we get her out, we’ll pull the car the rest of the way up, and check the back,” Bobby said, “Buck, come on up.”
Buck sighed, but he knew Bobby was right. Even if someone were in the backseat, waiting until they could pull the car out of the sinkhole was safer. At least, that’s what Buck thought before hearing the heart-stopping sound of the ground crumbling and falling away in chunks.
“Guys, we’ve got a problem down here!” Buck scrambled back to the anchored cam as the car dropped a few inches. The wheels spun like it was in neutral, kicking up dirt from the cliffside.
“Buck, what’s happening?” Bobby asked urgently.
The wind whipped Buck’s sweaty hair into a frenzy where it stuck out under his helmet. He glanced at the edge of the sinkhole, spotting where the weight of the car pulled the ground away from the road.
“The ground’s giving away, I don’t think we have much time left.”
“Get up here, now,” Bobby ordered. “Hen, Eddie, are you clear?”
“Affirmative, the victim’s secure and coming around now,” Eddie said. Buck exhaled in relief but was cut off by the most blood-curdling scream he’d heard in a long time. It gave him instant flashbacks of his leg being crushed mercilessly under the ladder truck.
Eddie’s radio was still on, which was the only reason Buck heard the driver’s desperate cries.
“Addie! Addie, where are you? Where is she? Where’s Addie?” The woman’s wrecked voice blared over the radio like she was being murdered.
“Ma’am, ma’am, please stop moving, you were in an accident,” Hen was farther away from the radio than the woman. “Who is Addie? Was there someone else in the car with you?”
Buck didn’t need to hear the response before throwing himself back at the careening car. He almost had a hand on the running board again when a rumbling shook the earth. The vehicle buckled the ground underneath it, sliding enough so Buck was beside the passenger side door instead of beneath it.
“Eddie, Hen, get out of there!” Bobby yelled over the radio. “Buck-”
“Cap, the winch can’t hold all the weight!” Chim said, cursing when more of the ground crumbled sending the car further down.
“The dirt from the sinkhole is piling inside, it’s gonna fall,” Buck pounced on the door, ignoring the car’s ominously shaking frame. He didn’t have the luxury to go slow if someone was in there.
“Buckley, it’s not stable, get away from the vehicle,” Buck could hear the fear, anger, and anxiety in Bobby’s voice. His Captain was the epitome of ‘keep it cool’ unless someone he cared about was about to do something really stupid and dangerous.
Buck tried the door, jiggling the handle, but it wouldn’t budge. He squinted through the slightly tinted window that caught the darkness of the surrounding night. Jagged rocks and sodden mud poured into the car from the driver’s side.
The car lurched back almost throwing Buck over the side. He clung to the handle and mirror, his fingers clamping the door as he shimmied until his feet settled back on the running board.
Another foreboding sound creaked from the car’s precarious lean into the cliffside. His already limited time was shortening before his eyes.
“Goddamnit, Buck!” Eddie shouted through the radio. He could already hear Bobby and Eddie’s lectures about recklessness and a lack of self-preservation. It would be worth it if he could save someone’s life.
“I’ve almost got it, I can see her, I-I think I can see her!” Buck pulled himself along the side of the car, doing his best not to look down at the plummeting ground. If the car went, he wasn’t getting out of the way in time to avoid going with it. He needed to get in and out as quickly as possible.
His fingers grazed the rear door, gliding over the rain-soaked metal. He grunted in pain as the rope attached to his harness stopped him just short of what he needed. He reached as hard as he could, but it was no use. The cam his rope was attached to was secure enough that there was no give, which would usually be exactly what Buck wanted it to do.
He was so close if he could just-
The car groaned, sinking further into the cliff. It turned with the weight of the rocks and mud filling up the driver’s side. Buck held on as the car rotated until he was on top of the passenger’s door. His new position put him farther away from the cliffside and sinkhole. He could stand on the side and walk to the back of the car if he wanted, but that was even more dangerous than what he was already doing.
“Buck, whatever you’re doing, I suggest you hurry,” Chim frantically yelled.
“Almost there!” Buck loosened the rope on his harness, having enough excess for a little slack. He lowered himself until his knees were just above the window. He tried the door, praying to hear the click of the latch releasing.
It wouldn’t open. The handle was lax and locked, and he didn’t have a key. Buck paused in disbelief. He didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t sure if he could break the window without sending the entire car plunging to the ground. Also, if someone was in there, he didn’t want them to get cut by glass when he broke it.
“Cap,” Buck said, his voice shaking with adrenaline and fear. “Bobby, I-I don’t-”
A small hand, maybe five times smaller than Buck’s, appeared inside the window. He stared at it, his breath catching in his throat. He put his hand over the tiny one, pressing his face next to it.
A little girl, probably five or six by how little she was, stared back at him. She didn’t look hurt besides a small cut on her forehead. A dribble of blood ran down, disappearing into the collar of her shirt. She was in a booster seat similar to the one Christopher had.
He did his best to smile, wanting to reassure her that someone was there to help. Big, fat tears rolled down her chubby baby-like cheeks.
“Buck, there’s no time left, we have to let the car go, or it’s gonna start taking the engine down with it,” Bobby was worried and Buck could hear it, but he was a Fire Captain through and through, he would get everyone through this, that was his job.
“I found her, I’ve got her, I just need to get into the car, but it’s locked,” Buck stammered, stumbling over his words. He had her, he just needed to get to her.
His radio was silent for so long Buck checked to see if it was still working. He was glad the car shifted so he was sitting on top of it because out of nowhere a voice came out of the car. His startled jump might have sent him off the edge if he was still hanging on the side.
“The vehicle has been unlocked.” A robotic voice, which sounded a lot like Hildy, chirped brightly.
The lock disengaged and within seconds Buck was climbing over to open it. He stuck his head inside, finding terrified, chocolate-brown eyes staring back at him.
“Addie?” Buck asked tentatively. They didn’t really have time to get acquainted, but things would go a lot smoother if she didn’t freak out. “Hi there, I’m Buck. It’s very nice to meet you.”
The little girl had dark brown hair that curled cutely over her scrunched-up face. She wore blue overalls clasped over her purple shirt, and she was missing a shoe.
“Momma!” she cried, squirming in her car seat.
“I know, I know bud,” Buck said, reaching into the car with both hands to free her from her baby prison. “You’re momma’s right out here, I just need to get you outta there, and then we can go see her, okay?”
Addie was justifiably upset about her predicament but stopped struggling when she realized Buck was trying to unbuckle her.
“Buck, you better be on your way back up here,” Bobby yelled, and maybe Buck missed them saying things to him because he was so focused on keeping the door open and getting Addie out safely.
He couldn’t use his radio, but he would be with them in a few moments if he could get the car seat to cooperate. The final strap took too long, but eventually, he unhooked it.
“Okay, here we go,” Buck lifted Addie out of the seat, pulling her to his chest. “I’m gonna take you to your Momma right now, but I need you to be so, so brave and hold onto me tight, okay?”
Addie sniffled and whimpered, but did as she was told. Her tiny arms looped around Buck’s neck, and her little legs clamped around his waist. He brought her out into the wind and rain that soaked through her clothes immediately.
The final and loudest groan from the car came seconds after the door slammed shut. The gravity pulled it closed as soon as Buck and Addie were out of the way. The car dropped at least five feet. Buck could hear a cacophony of yelling from his radio.
Nothing, however, was as loud as the snap of one of the lines hooked to the front of the car. After that one, it was like a domino effect. Each of the lines pulled taut before snapping. The car creaked and the windshield broke from a hook crashing through the glass.
“Hold on to me, Addie, hold on!” Buck yelled, folding his whole body around her, and jumping away from the car. That was the last straw as the tension from the winch disappeared causing the car to tumble down while dragging parts of the sinkhole with it.
It rolled and crunched into the cliffside until it vanished from sight coming to rest somewhere on the coast. Buck and Addie couldn’t watch it because the rope attached to Buck’s harness was still loose from when he reached for the handle.
Buck pressed Addie further into his chest with a hand on the back of her head. He reached up to wrap his other arm around the rope, hoping to slow their descent. They fell more than ten to twenty feet down, and when the tension from his rope finally pulled taut, it felt like his arm was being ripped out of the socket.
Buck bit down on a scream, not wanting to scare the little girl in his arms. It hurt like a bitch, but at least they stopped moving. They dangled in mid-air for a pregnant moment. Buck took a cautious breath, feeling the wind sweep through his hair. He panted into his abused shoulder, groaning at the thought of moving so he could get to his radio.
Addie was quiet, her head buried in the juncture between Buck’s neck and shoulder. His arm was still wrapped around her, so hopefully she didn’t feel the drop too badly.
“Buck, please, please answer me,” Eddie pleaded, startling the blonde with the sudden noise. He was happy to hear his partner, but his heart couldn’t take much more after cosplaying a base jumper without a parachute. He slowly unraveled the rope from his arm, lowering them until he could let go and have their weight supported by his harness.
Buck saw rope burns and bruising starting to form on his forearm. He couldn’t see very much skin and wasn’t looking forward to any other ‘gifts’ he got from the fall.
He opened the channel on his radio and groaned, “We’re here, we’re good. We could use a lift, though.”
A wet chuckle came across the radio. Buck wasn’t sure who it was, but Bobby was on the line next. “Understood, we’re bringing you up now. Are you hurt? How’s your passenger?”
Buck looked down at Addie who trembled in his grasp. It was a little messy, but they made it. He would have said as much to Bobby, but suddenly he felt a slight give in the rope. At first, the only way his mind could process it was that the winch was pulling them up, but if they were being pulled up, then why were they going down?
He looked up just in time to see the cam crack, slipping easily out of the wall. He wrapped his body tighter around Addie before they were sailing through the air. It was a shorter trip, but the cam kept them away from the wall, so without it, they crashed heavily into the bottom of the sinkhole.
Buck was expecting a hard stop so he turned his body to take the brunt of the collision. Color him surprised when they met the frigid water from the underground spout that probably caused the sinkhole in the first place.
Buck gasped when they hit the water. He’d been wet for the entire rescue, but there was something different about the arctic flood they crashed into. Addie’s grip loosened for a moment, but he refused to let her go, despite his arm screaming in pain.
They were only in the water for a moment or two. They kept swinging in and out of the hole so at least they weren’t drowning. When the violent motion slowed to a stop, Buck felt the tell-tale signs of his body lifting in jolts due to the winch.
He curled protectively over Addie anticipating the rocks and dirt from the sinkhole falling onto them as they made their ascent. Buck was so worn out he couldn't tell if someone was talking to him through the radio, or if it was silent the whole way up.
It could have taken ten minutes or two hours, he had no idea. He wasn’t aware of anything until a hand grabbed him, pulling them over the cliff.
Buck blinked up into panicky, red-rimmed eyes. Eddie looked at Buck like he was a ghost. The younger firefighter tried to smile because that made sense, but the tears streaming down his boyfriend’s face told him he was wrong about that.
Bobby and Hen rushed behind Eddie to help pull Buck and Addie from the edge. Buck’s arms were locked around the little girl. He couldn’t feel anything and wasn’t sure if it was from the cold water, fatigue, or shock.
Hen looked at him with concern, helping to ease the little girl out of his numb grasp. She gave him a look that spoke paragraphs before taking Addie over to the waiting ambulance where her mother was lying on a stretcher.
The woman cried as she reached for her little girl. Addie saw her mom and immediately scrambled to get to her. They cried together, holding each other like they would never let go.
Buck watched them as Eddie carefully led him to the fire engine. He looked at Buck like he was afraid he would disappear, his fingers clenched around the younger man’s elbow so he couldn’t wander off. Buck was too tired to mind. He wasn’t tracking well, but he knew Eddie was there so everything would be okay.
“You got me,” Buck said hoarsely, his voice cracking from the adrenaline and the muffled screams he tried to stifle when they fell.
“I know,” Eddie said tearfully, looking like he had so many other things to say, but instead, he pulled Buck into a gentle hug. Bobby was a few feet away, just over Eddie’s shoulder, watching them. Buck met his eyes and saw the relief shining there. Their Captain smiled at them softly, leaving them to reunite and reassure each other that they made it.
Buck buried his face in Eddie’s hair, basking in the warmth. He was shaking, or maybe it was Eddie, he wasn’t sure. The brunette pulled back enough to look into his eyes and Buck knew the lurking fear wouldn’t go away with a hug. There would be lectures, poking and prodding, and whispers of love in his near future.
But, Buck would do the same thing every time, as long as the outcome was a little girl and her momma getting to hold each other again. It was just a fact of life, that’s who he was, and what he did. Everyone knew Evan Buckley was a professional, he could do a rope rescue, he’d done at least a hundred, it was like riding a bike.
-fin-