Red Rose, who seemed to have been forgotten in the fire with her own foe, lay on the bare ground, expecting herself to burn as she closed her eyes.
A few moments ago, when the smoke bomb was unleashed, she was blasted away and hit her back against the wall, which caused her to have a concussion for a moment before her opponent struck at her with a gun. She dodged the attack sloppily and was indeed lucky since her opponent was a weak one. This gave her an edge over him.
But this didn't last. The moment the explosion went off, her body was once again blasted into a pile of rubble due to the shockwave from the explosion.
When she opened her eyes, the whole place was already burning to the ground. Planks and irons fell to the ground, and this time, iron concretes fell on her legs, causing her inability to move in any way.
"I...I can't feel my legs," she wailed in horror, realizing her current condition, and in agonizing pain.
Everything crumbled to the ground, sealing away the sound of her wailful pains. Soon, cop vehicles blitzed down to the scene of the ruckus, same with the firefighters and ambulance. They all came in early response from calls from different residents around the location.
Though the response wasn't fast, they at least still showed up before everything burned to the ground.
The medical team, who came in the ambulance, scraped through the charred corpses and bodies present in the scene, examining the cause of death. As much as some had missing parts, they still tried to identify them.
"Over here," one of the medical team members called out.
At the call of one of their members, the rest of the team converged towards the direction of the call. On getting there, Rose's body was found; her heart was still beating, but most of her face was covered with second-degree burns. Towards the lower part of her body were heavy metals, which rested on her directly.
"She's still alive," the doctor said after examining her body condition. He, with his gloves, touched the abdomen of Rose, who at this point was already disfigured.
Slight movement could be felt, just like when the body is digesting something.
"We need more hands over here," the medical team called out to the cops, and in turn, the cops selected a few strong men amongst the onlookers who had gathered, to which they readily responded.
They all came together and used the best of their muscle and strength to lift the heavy metals that were on Rose. After lifting, they all looked in horror at the sight of the lady whom they were all trying to pull.
Her whole legs were shattered, so visible that the sight of it was unbearable, combined with the amount of burns on her face to her chest. The only thing that was still normal was her abdomen, which was supposed to look strange, but none paid attention to that little aspect.
"Oh God, this is horrific," one of the cops said, using a handkerchief to cover his nose and his other hand rubbing his hair as he stared at the sky, unable to process the sight of what he saw.
First thing that bothered him was why such an incident occurred at a warehouse in the middle of the city. Why didn't anyone hear any sound till the building exploded? Secondly, how did the lady survive such an explosion, even though her burns were severe, and there was already a wreck on her lower body?
"No pictures are allowed, and if anyone has any news about what happened before the explosion, please come forward, for we will be needing your assistance for this case," he said, walking towards the gathered onlookers who were now feeling nauseous and scared upon the sight of the charred corpses.
"We should call this in to the captain," a female cop suggested to the male cop.
"By the way, what did you see over there to make you this agitated?" she asked in a low voice.
"You don't want to know. You really wouldn't want to know..." He stopped mid-sentence as he saw the body, which they had rescued, being pulled on a stretcher, along with a small emergency oxygen tank being placed beside the rescued Rose.
The female cop, at the sight of this, felt her legs go limp, and her body became exceedingly trembling.
"How could such a thing happen?" she began questioning the reality she had lived in.
She wasn't the only one with such a reaction. Other female cops at the scene and some male cops had similar reactions.
The crowd's curious atmosphere turned into a chilling and sad one. Many, not being able to ascertain the cause and the perpetrators of the incident, became overwhelmed with fear.
Yellow duct tape was made around the scene. The male cop, who was suggested to call the captain, did indeed call the cops, who later arrived at the scene, along with many detectives and reporters.
"How many bodies were found?" the captain asked with a frown.
"Eighteen found dead and burnt, while one is in critical condition, sir," he responded, trembling.
"Any witnesses yet?" one of the detectives, male, present asked with his hand by his waist.
"Not yet, but my colleagues have gone about to ask the neighbors around if they noticed anything suspicious," he answered.
"What of the survivor? Where is she?" another detective asked.
"She's in critical condition and is being transported for proper medical attention in the ambulance, as we speak," he answered, giving detailed explanation of how the survivor was found and the condition she was in.
The ambulance left the moment they had safely placed Rose inside it and was moving at a very fast speed. They overtook many traffic lights but weren't chased after, since its siren was on the moment they were on the road, indicating that the emergency was an urgent one.