Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Daniel
“You stuck up pussycat prick!” Clyde calls from across the field. “You couldn’t score a hit if the ball was catnip.”
“You’re just jealous because you think the bat is a bone, Kibble Breath,” I reply. He’s a wolf, so of course I tease him about being a dog and he teases me about being a housecat.
Brent throws the pitch. He’s a horse shifter. He’s also probably the best firefighting technology mechanic in the world. You can think of him as an automotive engineer, a hydraulic engineer, and a structural engineer all in one. He’s also a good pitcher. I swing and miss. Garrett, my boss and a gorilla shifter calls, “Strike two!”He’s catching for both teams.
Naturally, Clyde teases some more. The others in the outfield join in but since they’re a lion and a panther, they don’t do the kitty cat stuff. I have to admit all of my focus now is on the perfect wolf-destroying insult I’ll be able to use after I get a hit. Something about a mangy cur comes to mind. Brent pitches and I swing. The contact tells me I have a homer.
And the fucking alarm rings.
I hit a homer that is going to humiliate the hell out of Clyde and put the whole cats and dogs thing to rest for a while and nobody can stick around and see it. It’s an all-hands alarm so we all have to rush back to the firehouse.
I have my fire gear on faster than any of the other guys because home plate is closest to the house and Garret, the only one closer than me, makes sure everyone else is moving. I start the engine check while the rest get dressed.
Garrett gets details on the call and soon our engine, our truck, and our Type 5, which is designed for wilderness firefighting, are heading out. Our truck is an aerial ladder truck so we’re clearly going to fight a fire at a large building that must abut grasslands or wilderness in some way. I don’t know but it really doesn’t matter. At this point, I’m a cog in a machine.
As we leave the firehouse, my mind flashes over to Samantha. Of course it does. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing with that girl. Okay, that’s a load of crap. I know exactly what I’m doing with that girl. I’m playing with fire. I don’t know about the ethics of sleeping with her. I’m not some prudish guy who thinks a girl in her twenties can’t make her own decisions about sexual partners but I do think I ought to at least think harder about things when I’m her landlord and her boss.
She’s a brilliant girl. I think she knows what’s going on in her mind, and our relationship from a work perspective is informal. We don’t even have a lease or any sort of an employment contract. So, it wouldn’t be accurate to suggest that we’re in some sort of typical workplace setting. Also, she’s the one who initiated all of the behavior I’m struggling with. I didn’t seduce her. It was the other way around. Granted, her seducing me was a whole hell of a lot like candy seducing the tongue. She didn’t have to work at it. Not at all.
The real problem with this situation is that the morality isn’t absolutely clear. If I end things because I think it’s unfair to her, am I treating her like a child? Can I even trust my thoughts on this? Giving her up will really suck, so am I going to convince myself I’m not being an asshole so I can keep her without any worries.
“Fuck this shit!” I say that almost as a shout. A few of the guys look my way.
Curtis, a lion, says, “Someone must be getting laid.” It’s a cliché, we shifters getting screwed up over romance.
“Always more than you, Garfield.” The guys all chuckle and then, we’re swinging around a corner and coming into view of the fire.
It’s a big one and it’s moving fast. The building is an abandoned office complex that is surrounded by overgrowth. If any squatters are there, it’ll be a real problem. As it is now, it’s a horrible scenario. Then, we get Garrett on the radio and it becomes even worse. “Guys, we’re getting reports that there are individuals trapped in the main building.”
“Shit.” Curtis shakes his head.
We all jump out and get ready to fight a fire that looks to be well on its way to devouring a significant piece of acreage. Now, we have to think about looking for any survivors. It always complicates things because now, we have to rearrange priorities and can’t take things down without clearing them first.
A bunch of us hit the hoses and get them going. A few of us gear up to go in where there are most likely people trapped inside. I go over to Garrett. “That building is about to go down. There can’t possibly be anyone still alive in there.”
“Well, a groundskeeper told the dispatcher that he hasn’t seen his employee and is thinking that he went in to use the restroom.”
“That’s a lot of doubt for us to be running in there and risking more lives.”
Garrett nods. “I know, but we can’t ignore it, you know that. I need you and Curtis and Vittorio to head in there and clear it.”
I stare at the fire engulfing the building. “Where the hell are we going in with that?”
“Do your job, Daniel.”
Of course, I will do my job. I’m a little shocked at myself for being so hesitant. Is it because my head was filled with thoughts of Samantha on the way over here? Is being with her making me more cautious about taking risks on the job?
I deal with it, naturally, by snapping at him. “Of course I’m going to do my damned job, Garrett, and your job is to have the damned information that keeps the people in Company 417 safe so why don’t you spare me the fucking bullshit.” I walk away before he says anything. I have to. I’m utterly wrong here. I sure as hell don’t want to have to hear him say it.
I frown and then, I don’t bother to wait for everyone to be ready. I just march over and circle the building until I see one corner that seems fire free. The only entrance is a window. I run over and take my axe in hand. It’s just as I get to the window that Curtis comes up with an extinguisher ready and aimed. “Tell me you weren’t going to go in there and introduce more oxygen to this party.”
“Just fucking get ready.”I knock the window out easily and there’s a whine as air rushes in and the fire tries to jump to a new target. Curtis gets it controlled, and we both climb in.
The smoke is pretty thick. I yell, “Fire department! Hello?”There’s no response. Damn it all, we have to go inside. We move quickly and clear the bottom floor. The fire is rerouting rapidly even as my buddies work on it. New pockets are bursting to life. I hit the stairs and start running. I don’t communicate with Curtis. I just go.
I find the guy in the stairwell near the third-floor exit. He’s passed out and I check for vitals. They’re thready but there. I hike him up over my shoulder and start heading back down.And that’s when the fire makes a jump through a window on the landing below us. I’m cut off.
Normally stairwells in buildings are meant to be protected from fire. They’ll be the last areas to succumb. The doors are usually firesafe and there are no windows. This place doesn’t seem commercial after all. Maybe it was designed to be some guy’s elaborate mansion or some private retreat. It doesn’t matter now. What matters is that I’m now trapped and need to find another way out.
And I need to find it now because the smoke is getting thicker and the heat is becoming very evident. The fire is moving into the remaining pockets. The building is going to go down.I run back up and through a door into the building. I see a long hallway. There are flames licking along one side and the ceiling. If I could, I’d shift and get us both out of there, but my tiger form would be too big inside where I’m currently trapped.
I’m sweating profusely in my gear and the guy is getting damn heavy. I have my oxygen mask but I switched it to the victim. I take it back briefly, breathe, and return it. My spare doesn’t kick in when I put it on. It’ll definitely be something for the next equipment check.
I get to the stairwell at the other end and barrel through the door. The flames have beat me to it, but I just can’t take the time to look for any other way through. I drop the victim briefly, pull an emergency blanket from my pack, cover him and hike him back onto my shoulder.I enter the stairwell and start running.
I don’t know how it goes after the second floor. I seem to be moving, but everything feels surreal. The guy weighs nothing now because I’m completely unaware of my body in time and space. I just go down and down. I walk through flames with my blanket-covered bundle and then, I’m outside and my radio is squawking.
I register nothing, though, except the last image of Samantha in my mind. She’s laughing and I feel my breath hitching in my throat.
And then, everything is quiet.