The narrow passage took three attempts to cross with Dain’s stretcher.
Kellan went ahead with a responder, checking the route while Garrick and Cael held the front handles. Eli and Keir held the rear. Tessa walked beside them, carrying the identification and the responder’s record of the time of death. The thermal sheet covered Dain, but the edges kept catching on the stretcher frame as they turned.
“Stop,” Kellan called.
A piece of ceiling panel had fallen across the floor since the previous group passed. The gap beside it was wide enough for one person, not the stretcher. Kellan tested the panel with a pole. It moved at one edge but remained caught beneath a heavier piece of debris.
“We can lift this end,” he said, “but I don’t want anyone under the other side.”
Cael set the stretcher down with the others. Garrick helped Kellan raise the loose edge while the responder slid a support beneath it. They moved the stretcher through the gap, then lowered the panel onto the support rather than dropping it back into the lane.
A contestant came from the opposite direction, breathless and carrying a training case. He saw the covered form and stopped.
