me connected to it in any way. I needed to talk to Leo as soon as
possible.
We arrived at the call and
found the entire building engulfed in flames as residents screamed from the
upper floors that they had no way out.
"Raise the ladder!"
Chief Riley yelled at the guys from the truck. "Newsome, Connor, get the
hose ready to go in. Kelly, you're lead!"
"Gotcha, Chief,"
Mike said as he prepped his gear and got ready to take the door while Danny and
I hooked up the hose.
The heat of the fire had
blown out the lower windows and the flames were climbing the building. I knew
that the inside was getting hotter by the second, and that if we didn't get
those people out, it was highly likely that the floors would collapse and send
them tumbling down to their deaths.
"You ready, Kelly?"
I hollered from behind my oxygen mask and got a nod as Mike raised his axe and
busted in the front door. He leapt backwards as the flames shot out and I hit
them with a blast of the hose.
Above us, the guys from the
truck were climbing the ladder as they waited for it to reach the edge of the
building. As soon as it did, they began transferring people from the open
window in a bucket brigade fashion that soon had the stranded residents down on
the ground. The children stood huddled against their parents' legs as their
tears left tracks in the soot on their cheeks.
Mike led us into the building
and pointed toward the inferno raging in the corner.
"Hit it, guys!" he
yelled as he began to vent the lower rooms calling out in case anyone had been
left inside. It didn't take long for Danny and I to bring the flames under
control on the ground floor, and the guys on the ladder worked it from above.
The problem came when Mike
climbed up to the second floor yelling, "Fire department! Call out!" It
was there, in a small studio apartment in the back corner, that he found what
looked like the body of a young woman badly burned but still alive.
"MEDIC!" Mike
screamed over and over until the paramedic climbed the stairs to check out what
he'd found. They quickly assessed her injuries and loaded her up on a backboard
carrying her down to the ambulance and whisking her off to the hospital. After
canvassing the rest of the second floor, Mike came back down and helped us
break up the walls.
"Hey, man," he said
as he looked at me.
"Don't say a word,"
I said as I swung my axe. "Not a fucking word."
He nodded and we worked with
only the sound of the water flowing from the hose outside and our axes hitting
the walls as we tore the building apart.
#
Nobody said
anything to me once we got back to the station when I took Tesla out to the
yard to play ball. I stood there throwing the damn tennis ball thinking about
what had happened and how close to home the situation had been. My eyes were
dry, but my chest was tight, and I felt the weight of the world bearing down on
my shoulders.
More than anything, I wanted
to talk to Alex. I wanted to feel Alex's body pressed against mine and her lips
moving under my own. I wanted Alex. I pulled out my phone and stared at the
screen for a long time before I scrolled through and found her number. I
debated whether I should call or not and then hit the dial button and waited.
"Hey, Cam, what's
up?" she said and I could hear the smile in her voice.
"Nothing much, just
bored out of my skull," I said smiling back.
"Oh, so I'm your fall
back for mind numbing boredom? Good to know," she laughed. I could hear
noise in the background.
"You sure you're not
busy?" I asked.
"No, I'm just helping
Liz with a project she started but couldn't finish on her own," she
laughed as I heard running water in the background.
"Uh, okay?" I said
as I picked up the ball that Tesla dropped at my feet and chucked it halfway
across the yard. I watched as she tore off to find the ball in the dark yard
and smiled when she did.
"Liz started dying her
hair and got stuck because she couldn't reach the back strands," Alex
explained. "So now I'm here