100TWC - Day 17: Vengeance

"You sure this is the right road?"
"Yes! A34, south of Alderley Edge the message said. It was quite clear."
"Well where is he then?"
"I don't know! Keep looking!"

Their blues illuminated the hedgerows on either side of the narrow, winding 'A' road to the south of Manchester as Foxtrot Uniform 32 sped through the failing evening light. Jed Evans, driver, watched the far side while keeping one eye on the unruly road. His fellow paramedic Trixie Mbantu stared fixedly at the nearside hedge, waiting for any sign of the crashed vehicle they were looking for. Jed had killed the siren once they'd left the main street of Alderley, and the traffic, behind.

"It's getting harder to tell which of these are gates and which might be crash damage," Trixie yelled over the noise of the engine as Jed changed down into a tight left-hander. "Wait! There!"

The ambulance had entered a short straight section of road. Trixie pointed ahead at a collapsed section of hedge. Their headlights revealed fish-tailing skid marks leading to the hole in the foliage.

"Looks like he lost it on that last bend," Jed said, braking the vehicle to a stop. "No sign of the car though," he added, peering through the gloom.

They left the ambulance with its blues still flashing a warning to oncoming vehicles, and started across the verge. Trixie picked up a mangled lump of metal from the side of the road.

"What's this?"
"Give it here?"

Jed turned the debris over and examined the surface.

"Looks like part of a motorcycle fender."
"I thought you said this was a car crash."
"It is. Supposed to be. But there's bike tracks here look, in the mud."

Single tyre tracks were clearly visible in the soft verge, deeply bitten into the mud. Trixie had already reached the hole in the fence. She shone her powerful halogen torch into the field beyond. A few yards away a silver Mercedes had been stopped catastrophically quickly by a large oak tree. Steam hissed from its wrecked bonnet and dissipated quickly into the cooling air of the evening.

"Over here! I've found it!" she called, starting through the fence without waiting for Jed, her paramedic's bag catching on the spines of the blackthorn.

The driver had attempted to free himself from the crumpled cabin. He had fallen through the opened door leaving his legs at an unnatural angle under the displaced steering column. He gave a soft moan as Trixie approached.

"Hello? Can you hear me? I'm a paramedic. Can you tell me your name?"
"Did... did I get him?"