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When Gertrude woke up, she was lying on the floor, with no idea how she’d gotten there. A paramedic was asking her if she was OK. She looked around for Dave, and saw him standing near his front door, looking at her, smiling. She glared at him. He drugged me!
She looked at the paramedic, “He drugged me!”
“It’s OK. You’re OK. My name is Ashley, and we’re going to get you to a hospital.”
Gertrude sat up, which brought on an unpleasant bout of dizziness. She put her hand to her head. She looked around the room, and it looked like all the other women were still there. Another paramedic was tending to Dorothy. A police officer was talking to Samantha, and someone in a different uniform was standing beside Dave. She squinted at the patch on his shirt and decided he must be a game warden.
“No,” Gertrude said, “you should get these other women to the hospital first. I’m fit as a fiddle.”
Ashley smiled. “Do you need a stretcher, or can I help you walk to the ambulance?”
Gertrude looked at her. “I said, I don’t want to go to the hospital. Take someone else.”
The paramedic sighed and looked toward the cop, “Jack, can you help me get her into the ambulance?”
Jack flipped his notebook shut and strode across the room to Gertrude. He bent over and put her left arm around the back of his neck. “Up we go,” he said, and in one smooth movement, pulled her to her feet. The paramedic held onto her right arm, and in this way, they escorted her out the door and to the ambulance. “Step right up,” the officer said, and Gertrude stepped.
Ashley thanked Jack, and Jack vanished.
“Are you comfortable sitting, or would you rather lie down?” Ashley asked.
“Why don’t you care that that man drugged me?”
“He said you fell asleep.”
“I didn’t just fall asleep.”
Ashley looked at Gertrude. “I’m telling you, you did. Now let it go. You are safe. You are a hero. Leave it at that.” She spoke into her radio. “Antoine, I’m going to stay out here with the patient. Can you get the others out?”
“Sure can, Ash.”
Gertrude looked out the back of the ambulance to see the cabin door open. Three women, one of them Samantha, followed Jack to the police cruiser. He opened the door for them, and they climbed inside. Three others followed the game warden to the truck. And Antoine led three women toward the ambulance.
“Gonna be snug,” Gertrude remarked.
“Yep, but we’ve done it before.”
“Has someone already gone to help Sue?” Gertrude asked.
“Sue?”
“The kidnapper?”
“Oh! Yes. I haven’t heard yet that they’ve found her, but yes, they’re looking.”
“We left her tied up,” Gertrude said, suddenly feeling a little guilty about that.
Ashley patted Gertrude on the knee. “You did good, Gertrude. Real good.” Then Ashley hopped out of the ambulance so that she could help the others climb in. Two slid onto the bench seat beside Gertrude. Ruth took Ashley’s seat.
When they were all loaded, Ashley started to shut the back door of the bus. Gertrude looked out past her, and saw Dave standing in the doorway of his cabin. He smiled at Gertrude. And then waved.