The stretcher stopped with one handle still beyond the door.
“Hold,” the forward carrier said.
Everyone held. Eli kept the near landing clear while Tessa looked past the frame to the injured scout. The woman was conscious, one hand gripping the strap across her waist. Pain had drawn her face tight enough that every answer came between breaths.
“The turn pulled it,” she said.
Tessa did not tell the carriers to finish because they were nearly through. She checked the injured leg’s position and directed a small adjustment from the safe side. The rear carrier lowered his end onto the prepared support. A rescuer shifted the padding without twisting the limb. Only when the scout said she was ready did the team resume.
The frame cleared the handle’s catch point and reached the near landing.
Bram’s crew remained beyond the threshold, resetting the brace against another shift in the exposed edge. The independent line carried short reports between the working positions and the surface. Its cable lay clear of the physical carrying route. People and equipment would have to make the entire return by hand; no voice on the receiver could lift them through a turn.
Tessa treated the more serious injury before moving the scout farther. She checked circulation and sensation, secured the injured limb under the available medical procedures, and watched the woman’s awareness while an assistant prepared the next transfer. The other injured scout could walk with support but needed treatment and a companion who would not…
