Embracing Juliette (Texas Heroes: Station 9 #1)

Chapter 37

37

Dylan

“ F uck!”

I jerked the car towards the curb and jumped out, just in time to see a woman run into the smoking house. In. Not out.

At the doorway, she turned to look me in the eye and wailed, “My baby! Help!” Then she disappeared into the house.

Juliette stood beside me, gaping at the smoke. “I have to go in,” I said. “Call for help. Station 7 is close, they’ll be here quickly.”

“No!” She grabbed my arm and held on, her eyes wide with panic. “You can’t go by yourself with no gear!”

“Baby, I have to. I’m not waiting again. Call 911. Hurry.”

I pulled away and ducked back into the car to grab the little equipment I had. Two fire evacuation masks and a small fire extinguisher. I kissed Juliette hard and fast, then ran toward the house. I heard Juliette yell for me, but I didn’t look back, not only because I didn’t have a second to spare, but because I couldn’t let the fear I knew I’d see on her face stop me. I’d been too late before. I wasn’t going to let that happen again.

I put on a mask and breached the front door. Fuck. It was a kitchen fire that was still relatively small, but too big for the small extinguisher I had. I quickly sprayed the base of the fire on the stove, but too quickly, the foam gave its last few spurts. The pot on the stove was still smoldering and there were more flames shooting up from the curtains and countertops.

I’d bought us a few extra minutes to get out, but smoke was already filling the room and the remaining fire would spread fast. “Where are you?” I bellowed.

“Up here!”

Fuck. The only stairs were next to the kitchen, mere feet from the burning cabinets. I would make it up, but unless I could grab them and get down within a minute, we weren’t coming back down these stairs. I ran up. I thought I’d trained for every possible scenario, but not once did we plan for entering an active fire alone without any equipment. I felt naked and exposed. Thank fuck we were less than a mile from Station 7. If we couldn’t make it out, I’d get us to a safe place to wait for extraction.

I was breaking every protocol and rule. The chief would have my ass for this. But I had no choice. My nights had been plagued by the sound of that girl’s screams cut off by the gunshot, then the deafening silence. But in my nightmares, she screamed my name while I turned and walked away from her. I would not wait again. I was on this street at that exact moment for a reason. This baby was getting safely out of the house, whatever it took.

A smoky haze wafted up the stairs. I could still breathe thanks to the evacuation mask, but the mom, and especially the baby with its smaller airways and lung capacity, would be feeling it. And this was nothing compared to what it would be in just a few minutes. Station 7 should be here any minute, but the baby might not have an extra minute to wait.

The first room was the master bedroom. Empty. There! The second room was a nursery. The woman was holding a baby with one hand, banging on a closed window with the other. Gray smoke started filling the room. The woman was coughing hard. The baby was coughing weakly with chest retractions visible even from this distance. Fuck fuck fuck.

I ran in and grabbed the baby from the woman’s arms, immediately sinking to the floor to get below the smoke, pulling the mom down with me. I put her hand on the back of my shirt and closed it into a fist. “Do not let go!” I said firmly, and with the baby cradled in one arm and mom tagging behind, I crawled back to the stairs. The baby felt tiny and limp in my arm. I had to get him out of here right the fuck now.

Fuck, the fire was licking the base of the stairs. There was no safe exit. In any other rescue, my team would be on top of that fire with the hose to clear a path or outside with a ladder on this level. I’d have backup and communication. I’d have a way out.

Making my decision, I quickly looked back at the mom. I pointed towards the bathroom at the end of the hallway. It was the furthest room from the kitchen. “Window in bathroom?” I had to yell to be heard over the roar of the fire.

She nodded.

“Hold on.”

She nodded again, coughing deeply.

I led us down the hallway. Every door was open, every room filled with smoke. I couldn’t avoid the smoke, but I could get us as far from the flames as possible while we waited for extraction. They were only a few blocks away. We should be safe in there for the minute or two it would take for the crew to arrive.

Once in the bathroom, I quickly closed the door, handed the baby back to its mom, and gently pushed her to sit on the floor away from the door. I wet a towel and slid it under the bottom of the door, then filled in the remaining cracks with washcloths and the shower curtain. I opened the window just enough to eye the surroundings and slide a towel out, then closed the window to hold it in place to alert the crew that we were in here. The air was a little smoky from the door being open before we entered, but not too bad, and it was well sealed now. It was manageable enough that fresh air wasn’t worth the risk of drawing in the fire and smoke, or causing a backdraft.

Once I’d done everything I could, I dropped to my knees in front of the woman and her baby. I slid my extra evacuation mask over the baby’s face and placed mom’s hand on his neck, showing her how to hold the large mask in place as best as possible. I watched his chest rise and fall. Ensuring she had a firm hold on his mask, I pulled mine off and allowed myself a moment to truly look in her eyes for the first time.

“Hi. I’m Dylan. I’m a firefighter. Help is on the way. You’ll be okay.”

She opened her mouth, but only a cough came out.

“Don’t talk. This will filter out the smoke and fumes, allowing you to breathe in more oxygen,” I said as I placed my mask over her face.

Fuck, I hadn’t realized how much the mask helped until I removed it.

She shook her head frantically and pointed at me.

“I’m okay. I’ve been wearing it this whole time. You need it now.”

She shook her head again, her eyes wide with panic.

“Take it! I’ll be okay.”

Her eyebrows raised in disbelief. I couldn’t help but chuckle, coughing and disproving myself as I did.

“Your baby needs you. Take it.”

I felt her acquiesce. She slowly nodded then touched my arm to stop me. “I’m Sarah. This is Benji. Thank you.”

“It’s my pleasure.” She held still for me to pull the mask over her face. As I slid the mask on, I continued to reassure her. “We’ll be okay. The fire station is close, and my girlfriend’s calling for help. She’ll get them here as fast as possible.” I kept talking, promising her that Juliette would take care of us, trying to distract her. And perhaps myself, too.

Where was help? We were less than a mile from the firehouse. They should’ve been here already. Even if they weren’t available, the next station wasn’t that far. Smoke was starting to come in from around the door. We couldn’t wait much longer.