Nebulous || Evan Buckley [1]

chapter twenty four

"And I can put them back on after you take them off." She held a mischievous look then Mark matched that look before moving quickly causing her to erupt into giggles.

Josephine took a sharp inhale inside the hazmat suit worn along with the rest of the 118 members as they arrived at a plastic surgeon's office from a dispatch call. She filed in after Hen where dead silence met the firefighters. It was quite frightening with the uncertainty of what they've just stepped into.

"What are we thinking? Gas leak?" Chimney pondered, closing the door behind him.

Everyone surveyed the quiet and empty waiting room.

"Could be some pathogen. World's a crazy place these days." Hen remarked.

Bobby held up the electronic tool in the room. "Negative for combustibles as of now. Masks stay on for the duration." He strictly ordered, still unsure of the situation.

"Where is everyone? It's too quiet." Buck asked as the team further inside the office space.

Strolling down the hallway, Josephine peered the first receptionist desk on the left-hand side. She perked at the sight of the receptionist on the floor. She nudged Eddie, motioning to the woman. "Got one over here." She called out, rushing to woman's side with the brunette man trailing. "She's got a pulse."

Eddie chimed in, examining the unconscious woman's eyes. "Pupillary response...normal."

"Help! Please help!" The rest of the team's attention turned their heads to a screaming woman's voice down the hall. They went ahead to check out the scene leaving Josephine and Eddie lurking around the area.

The latter found themselves entering the nearest patient room where one of the employees and a patient on the floor unconscious. Both departed each other's side to examine the duo on the floor.

"Eddie, Josie, you copy?" Bobby called in.

"Yeah, Cap." They responded in unison on the line.

"What's your status?"

Josephine pressed onto her radio, responding. "Found a couple more patients in the back. Also, stable."

"I'm gonna send Chim your way. You guys see if you can locate the tank supply room. You turn anything off that's a knob or a valve in this place."

When they exit out of the room and waited in the hallway for Chimney to meet them, Josephine spoke up. "You know I saw a construction truck parked nearby when we came in. I'm guessing it has a connection to what happened to everyone here."

"Seeing that everyone seems fine except being unconscious, possibly." Eddie said.

With their strong intuition, they were right once breaching the tank supply room. Josephine entered first flashing her light and seeing two construction workers on the scene. Eddie took strides over to the man farthest in the room. "I got this guy over here."

"Chim, grab the guy on the table. I'll search for the leak." She ordered to which he obliged and headed to the second unconscious worker.

"Stable here."

"This one's breathing. This guy won't budge."

Josephine walked towards the opened wall of pipes. She beamed her flashlight soon discovering the leakage. She radioed in, "Cap, found our leak." She turned the knob tightly, diffusing the leak brewing within the office. "Plugging the leak now."

"Copy that, Josie."

"Hey, Eddie! Need your help over here! Grab some tools!" Chimney shouted from the other side of the room.