Six Feet From Hell: The Lost Chronicles (Book 1) Read Free

outside of it. Two dozen or more patients were in the ER that was only meant to hold six or seven at most. The ER physician that was crossing the hall from the nurse’s station to an adjacent room shot the crew a disapproving glance.
    “Look, you guys are our lowest priority right now. Whatever that stuff was that came up is nothing like I've ever seen before. Drop off your guys in triage. Put whatever guys you have on notice, we are gonna start shipping em out to Richlands, Pikeville, Tazewell and whoever else we can get to take em. We don’t have the resources, now if you’ll excuse me I've got to intubate this fellow in three.”
    Josh turned to Steve and shrugged. They took and transferred their backboarded patient to the lone available hospital bed in triage and sat the other two miners in triage in the floor, as it was the only available space. They tossed the dirty linen off the stretcher and again had to plow through people to get back outside. They loaded up the stretcher in the ambulance and got back in, already getting tired from their early morning debacle. They had no sooner than got in than Josh’s phone rang. He grabbed the cell out of his pocket and answered. It was Joe, a friend of his and former partner at Star Ambulance’s office in Grundy.
    “Hey what the hell is going on down there? Larry just called me and everybody else in, some kind of mining accident down there,” Joe said anxiously.
    “Yeah some kind of underground explosion or something happened a while ago. It felt like a damn earthquake to be honest. I don’t know what they have planned for ya’ll in Tazewell, but be expecting a shitload of work comin’ your way,” Josh said as he put the truck back in gear and backed out of his spot at the hospital.
    “How many injured are there?”
    Josh slammed the truck into gear and began easing forward, being careful not to hit any of the pedestrians that were still pouring into the hospital. “I'm not sure but I would guess they got about a hundred here at least and they are overwhelmed. You know how Buck General is; there ain’t much to go around so they are gonna ship ‘em up your way.”
    “Damn, well how are you guys holding up so far?”
    “Not too good at the moment, from what we can tell comin’ across the radio the same thing happened in McDowell and Pike County too. Some serious shit is hittin’ the fan here, dude.”
    “What the hell is happening with the patients? What are we gonna need?”
    Josh wheeled out of the parking lot and back onto the main road. “Valium, Benadryl, and Epi - I'm not real sure to be honest. It looks like seizures and anaphylaxis combined, some bad shit goin on with ‘em. It doesn’t look good.”
    “Well I'm on my way in; you guys…careful…need any…us…”
    “Joe, you’re breaking up. If you can hear me call me after this shit dies down, gimme a call.”
    Josh looked at his phone, the call disconnected. He slid the phone back into his pocket and focused back on driving. The sun had just come up, but in Grundy, it would be several hours before it would make any kind of appearance and it looked as if rain was on the way. The dark, gray sky was looking over top of the mountains, the clouds dancing on the edges of the tops. Josh glanced up at the ominous-looking coverage and then brought his eyes back to the road when he first noticed what appeared to be a drunken man walking in the middle of the road.
    “SHIT!” He exclaimed as he slammed on the brakes, bringing the truck to an abrupt halt.
    “What the hell is this asshole’s problem?” Steve threw up his hands in contempt. Josh quickly threw the truck into park and flung the driver’s side door open.
    “Hey buddy, what the hell? Get your drunk ass out of the way!”
    The man turned to Josh, as soon as he did Josh wished he had not said anything. The man missing the left side of his face was the first sign of something amiss. The unstable gait that he walked with was another. The man