Bottom Line – alt outcome 2

“Put the gun down, Vince. Vince, put the gun down.”

The other men of Station 51 heard the panic in Johnny’s voice and went running toward their friend’s cry. They couldn’t believe what they saw when they rounded the back of the ambulance.

Vince had his gun trained on Johnny. Johnny’s eyes were showing the terror he was feeling. After a stunned silence, all of the men began speaking.

“Vince, that’s Johnny you have your gun on, buddy. How about putting the gun away and letting Roy check you out?” Captain Stanley was praying that this would work out without anyone getting hurt.

“Yeah, Vince. Let me take a look at you.” Roy started to approach Vince. His arms outstretched, palms upward as in a sign of peace.

“Stop. Shut up. All of you shut up.” Vince was wiping the sweat from his brow. He didn’t seem to notice the trickle of blood that was mixed with the sweat.

Roy took one more step.

“I told you to stop!” Vince fired the gun.

“Gauge! Oh my God! OH-MY-GOD!!!” Mike was frantic. “What the hell are you doing, Vince?”

The rest of the men looked on in stunned silence as Vince returned Mike’s screams. “I told you to shut up!” With that, Vince fired the gun again.

“Tank! Goddammit, Vince! Stop it now!! PLEASE!!” Mike was even more frantic.

The other firemen were shocked into complete silence. The sound of the bullet penetrating the body tore at each of their hearts. They looked on in disbelief at the amount of fluid flowing from the bullet holes. The men were afraid to talk, afraid to move, afraid to do anything. Nothing was making sense. They heard Mike yelling – screaming really – but they couldn’t quite comprehend what was going on. They couldn’t figure out how to end this situation before Vince fired again.

Roy noticed the blood flowing a bit heavier from Vince’s head. When he saw that Vince was losing focus and having to wipe his face more and more, he made his move. He made a quick dash toward Vince and tackled him to the ground. Chet and Marco helped get the gun away from the injured policeman.

Mike ran to his injured friend. “Oh, no. Gauge. Tank. Oh, Red, how am I going to fix you?” Mike sat on his beloved engine and cried.

Hank Stanley immediately took control of the rescue. “Gage, we have to stop the flow of the water from the tank. Bring some rags or towels – and plastic bags. And, find the duct tape. Close the auxiliary valve. Chet, grab a bag. Gather the pieces of the gauge. Let’s save what we can. DeSoto, get Vince out of here and to the hospital. Marco, follow DeSoto in the squad.”

It was only then that he turned his attention to his distraught engineer. “Mike, I’m sorry, pal. We’ll get her patched up. She’ll be back in service before you know it. She’s a tough ol’ gal.” Captain Stanley placed a reassuring hand on his friend’s shoulder.

Mike just shook his head, wiped away the tears from his cheeks, and buried his face in his hands.

The End