Tracks I
"When you get to the end of the bandage, you're going to use the closure strips to secure it in place." Severus instructed Nirei as the first year dressed the middle-aged man's upper arm.
"Like this?" Nirei asked as he finished sticking the strip in place.
"Yep, just like that." Severus nodded as he passed the newly brewed green tea to Mr Ito, who sat in his dungarees, his stepladder laying on the floor. "How are you feeling now Mr Ito?"
"I got splitting headache and my arm's throbbing a little but I'm just glad you were on patrol when I fell. Don't know what I would have done, if you hadn't found me." Mr Ito managed to smile sheepishly. "Can't imagine if my poor wife had walked in and seen me."
"Thank Mr Haruka, here." Severus stated, gesturing to Sakura, who looked away in embarrassment. "He's the one who heard you calling for help. We wouldn't have known you were here if it wasn't for him."
"Well then, thank you, Mr Haruka." Mr Ito said. "I can't tell you how grateful I am for your help."
"We have to continue our patrol, are you going to okay now?" Severus questioned as he packed away the first aid supplies into his world war two medical satchel before sitting it on his shoulder.
"I'll be alright now." Mr Ito told him. "Thanks again."
"Take it easy and I think take a break from DIY for today." Suo advised as he picked up the stepladder, and folding it up, he propped it against the wall.
"Ay, I'll do that." Mr Ito agreed.
"Take care, Mr Ito." Nirei waved as the students left the man's house, closing the front door behind them.
Severus had been put in charge of these three for the day as Hiragi was busy. And he'd normally have Sugishita Kyotaro as part of the group as well but Umemiya had asked him to help with the garden. It had been a mostly quiet patrol with little incident. The first years seemed to be doing well and took their patrol seriously which was always good to see.
They headed down the path which led to the end of their territory, they would walk down there before looping round and heading back for lunch. Down the sloping embankment ran the several railway tracks that led in and out of Makochi and, to Severus' irritation he could already see figures running about the tracks.
As they got closer it was obvious that it was a group of delinquents, they weren't an organized gang, they were just thugs out to cause chaos. Fencing each other crossbars, throwing bricks, spray painting the electrical boxes. The usual.
"I've been looking for a real fight for a while." Sakura announced, cracking his knuckles. "So, let's get stuck in shall we?"
"Absolutely not." Severus stated firmly, grabbing holding of Sakura's shoulder. "None of you are to go down there until I give the say so."
"Huh?" Sakura gasped, pulling away from Severus' grip and turning around in disbelief.
"What do you mean "Huh?"? Do you know how dangerous is to fight on train tracks?" Severus said. "There's a saying in First Aid: you have to worry about your own safety first before aiding others. And the same goes for fighting."
"So what, you expect us to do nothing and leave them to it?" Sakura prompted in annoyance.
"No, I'm only asking that you wait while I go through protocol." Severus reaffirmed as he took out his phone and dialed the memorized number.
"What do we do in the meantime?" prompted Nirei nervously.
"Well, to start I'm calling the rail company to inform them not to send trains this way. They can hold the trains for us until they've been dealt with and are out of the way." Severus explained. "When I know we don't have to worry about trains, then you can all go for it."
"And how longs that going to take exactly?" Sakura huffed.
"A couple of minutes at the most." Severus shrugged and then hearing a voice on the other end of his phone, he spoke to them, "Hello, sorry to ask but we have A32 going on and we would appreciate it if you could relay that to the drivers coming in and out of Makochi. We should only be a few minutes at the most." He then nodded and "yep"ed along before saying goodbye and ending the call. He then turned back to the three first years and announced, "They've blocked all trains leaving and entering Makochi for now. But you'll have to wait for just a couple of minutes because there's one train that went past the signal before it went live, so it should be coming through any minute now."
"Fine but once that trains gone, I'm jumping to it." Sakura said and began to limber up.
"Always in such a rush as usual." Suo teased.
"Hey I'm stuck!" came a startled shout from the tracks, grabbing their attention.
One of the men was pulling at his leg, his foot trapped in one of the point blades.
"Good job, dumbass." laughed another man.
"It's not funny, I can't get my foot out." The first man replied angrily but Severus could hear the distress in his voice. "Don't just stand there, help me."
A shiver ran up Severus' spine as he heard a distant train horn and, he saw his internal panic reflected in the faces of the first years.
"He's fucked!" shouted one of the men.
"Let's get out of here!" And the other men turned a fled.
"Guys, that's not funny!" The first man called. "GUYS!"
"Shit." Severus hissed and pulling off his bag and passing it to Suo, he threw off his lab coat and skidded down the embankment. He had just finished lecturing them about not taking unnecessary risks and here he was. "Stay calm, we're going to get you out." He told the man and grabbing one of the nearby discarded crowbars, he wedged it into gap between the track and point and began to shove his body weight against it. "If you want to live, push!"
The man grabbed hold of the crowbar and with desperation in his eyes, they levered it wider and wider and- "I'm free!"
"Come on!" Severus yelled as he pulled the crowbar free and ran towards the embankment.
They had just made it past the last track when Severus felt a blast of air, causing his ear to pop. He didn't dare move until finally he was sure the train had past them by. He then turned to see that the man was sat besides him, seemingly unharmed but staring off somewhere in the middle distance.