chapter twenty-eight
Noah
Thirty Minutes Earlier
“Where’ s Dave? ” I ask, concern lacing my voice.
The fire burns hot, the flames licking up the side of the building. We’ve rescued almost all the students left inside, but this fire hasn’t been easy. Our running theory is a possible gas leak on the lower level.
“I don’t know, I can’t find him either!” Jeff shouts over the sound of the blaze. “The last time I saw him was when he ran back inside.”
A weight lands on my chest. That was almost twenty minutes ago. That’s too long. One of the other crew’s men already had to be rushed to the hospital due to smoke inhalation.
“Last one!” an officer calls as he carries a woman out of the building. She’s covered in burns and looks to be unconscious. She doesn’t look much older than Kira. That could have been Kira. She’s at home, I remind myself. She’s safe.
I eye the entrance to the building, smoke billowing out of the doorway. There’s not enough time. It doesn’t matter; he’s part of my crew, and he’s making it out. I pull my mask onto my face and stride toward the door. A hand lands on my chest right as I reach it.
“No one else goes in,” the man orders, his gloved hand still on my chest. I don’t recognize him. He must be from one of the other departments.
“One of our officers is in there,” I tell him. I’ll be damned if anyone tries to tell me to abandon one of my men.
“Doesn’t matter. I was ordered not to let anyone else enter. The structure isn’t safe.”
I cringe at his statement. I know it’s protocol, and he’s just doing his job, but I’m not leaving Dave in there.
“ Fine, ” I say, backing away with my hands raised.
The officer nods as he watches me. He won’t budge, and I need to find a way in.
“I need a favor,” I tell Jeff.
“Sure, anything. Did you find Dave?”
I shake my head. “He won’t let me in,” I say, gesturing toward the officer guarding the door. “I need you to distract him.”
We ’re quickly running out of time.
The conflict in his features makes me nervous, but he sighs and finally nods. He runs toward the man, saying something that I can’t hear. The man nods and follows Jeff over to the truck.
Now is my chance.
To avoid suspicion, I walk to the entrance. I’m feet away when a voice booms behind me.
“Noah, what are you doing?”
It’ s Al.
His eyes level me, but I only have time to look back at him with a chin dip as I disappear behind the flames. The heat is immediate. I scan the inside of the building. Where the fuck could he have gone? Debris blocks the path to the left hallway, so I head right.
“ Dave! ” I call as I look into the first room.
This building must have at least fifty dorms. He could be anywhere. Not finding any trace of him, I continue down the hall. A thud sounds in front of me as pieces of the ceiling hit the ground. My pulse quickens, but I try to control it. There’s only so much oxygen in this Air-Pak, and I need to conserve as much of it as possible. There’s a high chance that Dave will need it.
I continue through the hallway. Dread fills me, spreading further with each empty room. What if I’m too late? Opening the last door leads me to a stairwell.
“Dave, where the fuck are you?” I call, listening as hard as I can for an answer. Sweat drips down my back as I climb the soot-covered stairs. The door for the second level is being held open by what looks like an end table from one of the rooms.
Always have an exit strategy .
“Dave! Can you hear me?” I yell through the haze of smoke.
I listen, needing to hear his voice. Sirens blare from somewhere outside, and the fire is so goddamn loud.
“Help! We need help!” I hear a scream down the hall, but it’s not Dave. It’s a woman’s voice. I charge toward the sound, looking into each room before I freeze. Wearing an officer’s gas mask is a woman in her early twenties. She’s huddled down in the corner, her arms and hands badly burned. She sobs as I enter, making an effort to stand.
“Please, he needs help,” she begs.
I follow her line of sight, and my heart stops when I see it. Dave is on the ground, unconscious, a beam pinning his leg to the ground.
“Shit, is he breathing?” I ask as I kneel to check his pulse. His heart rate is faint, but it’s there.
“Yes, I’ve been sharing the mask with both of us. I couldn’t leave him here,” she cries. “But, I can’t get him out.”
“You did great,” I tell her. “Can you walk?”
She looks at me, nodding frantically.
“Okay, good,” I pull my mask off, putting it over Dave’ s face.
“What’s your name?”
“ Susan, ” she answers.
“Okay, Susan. I’m Noah. Hold this mask while I free his leg,” I explain. She obeys, watching as I analyze the situation.
The beam must have fallen when he was trying to rescue her. It’s large, but I should be able to move it.
Wrapping my hands around the burnt wood, I lift it as high as possible, exposing his leg from below. The awkward angle of his foot tells me that something is likely broken. Channeling all of my strength into moving the beam, I toss it to the side, and it lands a few feet away. Dave stirs at the sound, and his voice is music to my ears.
“What is going on?” he asks, looking over at me.
The sounds of the building falling apart around us fill my ears.
“You’re hurt, and we need to get out of here. Now,” I explain, my voice hoarse from the smoke.
He nods, still dazed. His screams drown out the sirens as I haul him onto my shoulder. I wince, knowing that he is in excruciating pain, but he must pass out again because he goes silent.
“Let’s go,” I tell Susan, leading the way.
I glance in the direction I came from, grateful to see the door still open. Holding Dave’s legs with my right hand, I slowly navigate the stairwell, trying my best not to irritate his injury. The heat is suffocating now, and I’m running out of oxygen. We round the corner, and my heart drops when I look at what was our exit.
Flames burn high on the other side of the door that leads to the first-floor hallway. I try the door, but it doesn’t move. Debris is probably blocking it. I try again, sending my body weight into the metal, but it doesn’t budge.
“Are we stuck?” Susan cries as I rethink our plan.
This can’t be the only exit. I try to remember the building’s layout from the map we reviewed before we entered. There should be three stairwells—two on either side and one toward the center.
“Do you know how to get to the main staircase?” I ask, hoping she lives here or at least visits often.
She’s silent for a moment, my question processing in her mind.
“The one by the elevators? Yeah, I do.”
“Can you take us there? That might be our only way out,” I say, hoping and praying that that exit is clear. I follow Susan, moving as fast as I can without passing out. The smoke is starting to get to me. We trudge up the stairs and through the hallway on the second floor.
“It’s right over here,” she yells, pointing to a set of metal doors. I step before her, pushing the doors open with my shoulder. We carefully head down the steps, avoiding the rubble and quickly reaching the door to the main lobby. I see daylight through the glass, and I almost cry.
I shove open the door, stepping into the flame-filled room as a deafening sound booms from our left. The force throws my body to the side, and a shooting pain moves up my arm as we land.
I fade in and out of consciousness, focusing on the flashing blue and red lights outside. Go! Get out of here! I want to yell, but I can’t. It’s like I’m not physically here. Susan appears in the corner of my vision, her hands ripping at her mask. She slaps it onto my face as tears stream from her eyes.
God, this is it, isn’t it? This is the end. Dave isn’t going to make it to that Florida vacation. I’m never going to see Kira or Jared again. My son is forever going to resent me for what I did to him, and I won’t have the opportunity to apologize or even explain myself. My body feels weak, my vision fading.
You are worthy of love, Noah, and I want to be the person who gives that to you.
Kira ’s words replay in my mind, and I grab onto them.
I’m not done fighting.
I suck in air, and my body shoots up as Susan yelps, her hands dropping from my face.
“Jesus, I thought you were dead!”
The fear in her eyes proves her point, and I work to stabilize my vision, everything wobbling.
“Not yet,” I grunt. “Let’s go,” I say, heaving Dave back onto my shoulders. A sharp pain radiates through my wrist, but I push past it. Our path is far from clear, but the sight of the door gives me the edge I need.
I step around the pieces of building littering the floor, trying my best to keep my balance, the mixture of a lack of oxygen and the hit to my head making it hard to focus. We’re feet from the door now, and I look to Susan.
“Go, we’ll be right behind you!”
She nods, ready to get out of here. I’m at her heels and feel my legs about to give out. I know I won’t be able to stay vertical much longer. I take the last few steps, emerging into the clean air. I stumble, falling to my knees as I lay Dave on the grass.
Paramedics stride toward us, and I know I must have a concussion because I think I see Kira right before my vision goes black.