The ambulance pulled up outside the building, the red on white a beacon of hope for Dawson. He thought it looked more rugged than an ordinary ambulance – a white Land Cruiser with just one line of stripes along its centre. It had lights and a siren, but they weren’t on.

A woman dressed in blue shorts and shirt jumped out of the driver’s seat and went straight to the back of the ambulance, opening the double doors. Dawson thought the large spare tyre hanging off the vehicle’s left door looked out of place. But he realised it was a necessity out here on unsealed roads in the middle of nowhere.

A man carrying a black bag came out of the passenger side and approached Dawson and Burt. His hair was cut so short, it almost wasn’t there. He wore pale blue shorts, a shirt with orange dust stains and a pair of chunky, battered brown boots. A shark-tooth necklace hung around his neck. An image of a toothless shark in the desert flashed briefly into Dawson’s mind.

‘I’m the nurse,’ said the man. ‘Can ya take me to the patient, please?’

‘You’re the nurse?’ Putting his hands on his hips, Burt looked at the guy with some scepticism.

‘Too right, I am,’ he said. ‘The name’s Bruce. Now can I see the patient?’

‘My dad’s this way,’ said Dawson, heading for the Transcontinental Hotel.

He led him into the building, leaving Burt and Gwen behind, and indicated the doorway. Bruce jumped carefully into the cellar. Dawson remained up top, looking down. Without a word, Sam took Em’s hand and stood back out of the way. Bruce nodded to them, then knelt down beside Dad and did a quick examination as he introduced himself.

Bruce took Dad’s blood pressure the old-fashioned way – pumping up the armband and listening to his pulse through a stethoscope as he checked the gauge. He waved a little light in front of Dad’s eyes, then asked lots of questions about vision, nausea and how his head felt.

‘Are ya allergic to any medications?’ asked Bruce as he put his equipment away into his bag.

‘Nope,’ answered Dad, his voice weak, and his face pale and sweaty.

‘Well then, I’m gonna give ya a little something for the pain.’ Bruce produced a syringe from his bag and swabbed a spot on Dad’s leg. ‘Just a bit of morphine,’ said Bruce, jabbing the needle into his leg. Once the injection was done he added, ‘Don’t ya worry about a thing, mate. We’ll have ya outta here in a jiffy.’

Then he was on his feet, scrutinising the surroundings. He took a quick look at the blocked stairs and the second doorway, then kicked some of the debris away from the floor near the main door. Glancing up, he saw there was no ceiling or roof, the blue sky clearly visible.

‘Picked yaself a nice spot,’ he quipped, before springing up into the doorway and heading out. With his shark tooth and heavy Aussie accent, Dawson thought Bruce looked like that guy from those old Crocodile Dundee films. A few minutes later he was back with the driver and a complicated-looking stretcher – one with straps and wheels and things. But it was all folded up.

Bruce jumped into the cellar again. The driver pushed the stretcher along the ground so that one end hung out over the cellar, then she edged past it and jumped down as well.

She grabbed the overlapping end and pulled the stretcher into the room, Bruce gripping the other side before it could fall. They carried it over to Dad and laid it down beside him. Dawson marvelled at the fact that they did all this in a matter of seconds.

‘This here is Jen,’ said Bruce with a grin. ‘Fastest ambo driver this side of the big rock.’

Dad actually yelled out when Bruce and Jen shifted him onto the stretcher.

‘Sorry, mate,’ said Bruce.

Em clutched onto Sam, scared by Dad’s obvious pain, and whimpered. Sam put her arms around her younger sister and stroked her hair.

‘Don’t worry, luv.’ Bruce winked at her. ‘He’ll be right.’

Em nodded uncertainly and clung tighter to Sam.

Bruce and Jen lifted the stretcher to the doorway. Then Bruce hoisted himself up through the opposite doorway and jogged around to the stretcher, pulling it through. Jen followed.

With the experts now taking care of Dad, Dawson suddenly felt a bit useless.

Sam passed Em out of the cellar to Dawson, then jumped up. The three of them followed the stretcher out to the ambulance and watched as Bruce and Jen loaded the stretcher into the back, Bruce hopping in after it. Dawson wondered how many times the pair had done this before. Countless times, probably.

‘Who’s coming with us?’ asked Jen, heading for the driver’s seat.

‘I will!’ said Dawson and Sam at the same time.

‘Sorry, only got room for one,’ said Jen.

‘You’ll be better at keeping Em calm,’ Dawson said to Sam. ‘So I should go with Dad.’

Sam nodded.

Dawson could see the disappointment and frustration on his sister’s face. It was obvious that she really wanted to go with Dad. But this arrangement made more sense.

He was trying to think of what else he could say to her, when he heard a vehicle. Turning, he saw their car making its way up the main road from the camping site. Burt stuck his head out of the window. ‘I’ll follow the ambulance in your car,’ he said. ‘And Gwen will follow in ours. Now, what about you kids? Which car are you going in?’

‘Do you want to come with me?’ Gwen asked Em.

Em shook her head and clung on to her older sister. It was all getting a bit too much for her.

‘I think we’ll both go in our car,’ answered Sam.

Dawson saw the change of expression on Sam’s face. She knew that she needed to stay with Em.

‘Sure thing,’ said Gwen.

Everyone got into their vehicles, and the convoy moved out.