Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
OSCAR
My stomach growls as the truck pulls back into the station. We were about to sit down for dinner when we got the call that someone had been burning garden waste in their back yard and had let things get out of control.
Justin sighs, unzipping his jacket. “Well, that guy was a fucking idiot.”
Mack scowls at him. “It was an accident.”
“Why was he burning shit so close to his house?” he protests.
The truck comes to a stop and I open the door. “He’s not going to make that mistake again.” We managed to put the fire out before it did any damage to the home, but it was a close call.
The crew piles out of the truck and starts into our routine to get everything reset for the next call.
I pull off my gear and throw it into a plastic bag, labelling it as contaminated before putting it in one of the bins ready to be cleaned.
Justin heads to the kit room to grab everybody new turnouts as Mack goes upstairs to write his report.
“You alright doing radio batteries?” I ask Ryan.
“Got it!” he yells behind him, already jogging to where we keep the spare ones charging.
I walk around to the side of the truck where Jenna’s already got all the hatches open. She starts replacing the air canisters, her movements sure. We’ve all done this a hundred times, we could probably reset the truck with our eyes closed.
“That guy’s gonna be sleeping on the couch tonight,” Jenna chuckles.
“Oh yeah, his wife was pissed.” I start unfurling the hose, ready to inspect it.
“Hey, you still coming to trivia this month?”
“Wouldn’t miss it.” Some of the crew go to trivia night at Hawkins’ Bar once a month. We come in at last place every time, but it’s a nice way to blow off some steam.
Ryan comes jogging up to me. “Batteries are done, you need a hand?”
“Sure, can you grab the other one?” I nod towards the second hose, still on its roll. Ryan pulls it out, and once the two are laying side by side, we start to check them for any damage.
We get halfway down before he pipes up. “Hey, I wanted to ask you something,” he says, sounding uncertain.
“You good?”
“Yeah, I just… do you think there’s anything I could be doing better?”
I frown over at him. “In what way?”
“With all this. Like, I’m coming up on the end of my probation, and I just want to do a good job, you know?”
Why’s he asking me? “Maybe you should talk to Mack about this?”
“I did.” He shrugs. “But I wanted your opinion too.”
I chew the inside of my lip. He really cares what I think? “Just keep doing what you’re doing. All you need is more experience.”
“Nothing else?”
“Well, you could stop giving me shit all the time.” We get to the end of our checks and go to reel the lines back in.
“Nah, you’d miss my shit.”
I pull down the shutter, ready to finally get some food, when the alarm starts blaring.
“Fuck my life,” I groan, letting my head fall against the cool metal. I guess this dinner is cursed.
Mack appears from the office door as I jog towards my equipment.
“What are we looking at?” I ask across the room.
“Apartment block,” he calls without looking, moving to the truck.
A trickle of ice catches at the back of my throat. There aren’t many apartment blocks in town, maybe three?
But that doesn’t mean it’s her.
I repeat the words to myself as I approach Mack. I grip the handrail on the passenger side, my face level with his knees, my knuckles white.
“Where?” I try to sound casual.
Mack looks away from his computer. Seeing it’s me, his face shifts almost imperceptibly, and it’s all I need to know. My heart starts hammering against my ribs as I turn on my heel and run back to finish getting my gear on.
Get there, get there, get there.
The thoughts play on a loop, time feeling like it’s slowing down as I zip my jacket shut and grab my helmet.
“Murphy.” Mack’s voice comes from behind me. “You know you’ve got to sit this one out.”
“No,” I growl, moving past him to haul myself up into the rig.
“Murph.”
“No.”
Jenna slides in across from me and I slam the door closed. Mack climbs in up front, his body twisting to face me.
“Oscar, you’re not in any state—”
“Just fucking drive,” I snap. “We’re wasting time.”
“I can’t let you come.” His face is like stone, but if he really thinks I’m gonna sit behind while Freya could be in danger, then he’s a moron.
“You’re going to have to drag me out of here and lock me in your office, and we both know you don’t have time for that.”
He looks at me and I stare him down. Whatever he sees, it’s enough to turn to Jenna and give her a nod.
I try to control my breathing as terrifying flashes of every worst-case scenario invade my vision. Freya hurt, scared, trapped. Her calling for me, waiting for me to come, me not being able to help her. I squeeze my eyes shut, resting the back of my head against the seat.
Get it the fuck together.
I can’t help her if I’m like this.
I’m vaguely aware of the snippets of conversation, the crew trying to talk to me as we pull out of the station, but I barely hear it. Instead, all I can think about is my dad’s face the day he died, when I couldn’t do anything except watch.
Fuck. No. This isn’t like that.
I won’t be helpless again. Not this time. Not when it’s her.
Mack starts calling out assignments. I expect him to tell me what he does at almost every callout we go to, that he and I will be first in.
“Murphy, you’re on the pump.”
“Mack,” I snarl, starting to protest, but he cuts me off.
“It’s that or nothing, kid.” He says it with absolute finality. “When we get in, Garcia’s gonna start us up, you can find your girl, then when you’re ready to do your fucking job, you can take over.”
It’s hard not to feel scolded, but I know he’s just saying what he has to. If we’re following procedure then I shouldn’t even be out here, not when I have a vested interest, but there’s nothing on this earth that could have kept me off this truck.
Even if it had, I’d just have run there.
The need to see her, to feel her safe in my arms, has a feeling building in my chest so intense it almost scares me.
I can’t lose her.
In a town the size of Cedar Creek, it doesn’t take us long to get anywhere, and we pull into the parking lot of Freya’s complex within ten minutes.
“Keep your head on,” Mack mutters to me as the team starts piling out.
My feet hit the tarmac and everything fades away as I look for her, my eyes on a swivel. I can hear the crew getting set up behind me, but it hardly registers. I scan the building. There’s smoke coming from a window and my chest tightens at the sight. Not Freya’s, but close.
There are people filing out of the building in groups.
They mostly look alright, except for the occasional person coughing.
An older woman in a bathrobe walks out, supported by a man who looks to be in his twenties.
I run toward them and take her other arm, guiding her over to where an ambulance has just pulled up.
“Murph!” a voice yells from behind me. Once I’ve handed her off into the care of the EMTs, I turn to see Ryan. He points over to his left, and there she is.
My breath comes out like I’ve been punched.
I feel fused to the ground as I see her, perched on the end of somebody’s pickup truck, bare feet dangling. She’s looking off at the trees, like none of this is happening.
Where the fuck are her shoes? It’s only seven p.m., so most people out here are in regular clothes, but Freya must be having one of her early nights because all she’s wearing are her green-and-white-striped pajamas.
I run toward her, my gear thumping against my legs. She looks up when I’m a couple of meters away, her eyes softening as she sees me, the muscles in her jaw relaxing. I skid to a stop at her feet.
My hands itch to check that she’s alright, but for some reason, I can’t make them move. It’s like reaching for her will make this disappear, as if this is an illusion I’m too afraid to shatter.
But of course it’s Freya, braver than she knows, who closes the distance. Her fingers brush against mine and the contact is an electric shock through my system. Suddenly unbound, I lurch forward and pull her into my arms, her head finding its rest just below my chin.
“You’re okay,” I whisper into her hair. “You’re okay.”
“I’m okay.”
“Did you get hurt?” I pull back and take her face in my hands, running my thumbs under her eyes as I inspect her. There’s no visible sign of injury, but I know better than anyone that looks can be deceiving.
“I promise I’m alright.” She tugs at the hem of my jacket, her eyes imploring.
“Yeah.” I sigh, trying to force my breathing to slow down. After my initial reluctance to touch her, now I can’t let her go. I need to keep her here, tethered to me so she can’t go anywhere. “Yeah.”
She lets out a small cough and my heart rate ratchets up again.
“What’s wrong? Did you breathe in smoke?”
“I’m fine,” Freya grumbles.
“Maybe you should get checked out.”
“Oscar, there’s a burning building behind us. I don’t think I’m the priority here.”
“You’re always the priority.” I say firmly. I glance around and see Mack leaving the apartment block. He gives me a thumbs up and I sigh in relief. It must not be as bad as we thought.
“Hey,” she whispers back. “I’m fine.”
“Humor me.”
“If you insist,” she huffs.
I grin, dropping a peck to the tip of her nose. “I insist.”
She rolls her eyes and scoots forward, going to slide off the tailgate. My hand shoots forward, flattening against her stomach and stopping her from going any further. “You don’t have shoes on.”
“Oh, yeah,” she mumbles sheepishly, “that was kind of a panic move.”
“Running onto asphalt with bare feet?”
“The alarm was going off! I thought the ceiling was about to cave in! I was running for my life, there wasn’t time.”
Even hearing her joke about it has another twist of anxiety blooming. I cup the back of her neck and pull her into my chest.
“Murphy!” I hear a yell from behind me. I let out a growl before releasing Freya. When I turn, I’m faced with Mack’s expectant expression. “All good?”
“Go,” Freya urges. “I’m fine.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I coughed one time.” She quirks an eyebrow. “And I didn’t even breathe in any smoke.”
“Most harmful fumes are invisible.”
“Other people need you,” she whispers.
“Do you need me?” If she does, then fuck everyone else.
“No!” She’s laughing at me now, and sure, maybe I’m being a little much, but ten minutes ago I thought she could be dead.
“You’d better not be lying.”
“I am a terrible liar.”
“Okay, okay, fine. We can hold off on the ambulance.”
She looks behind me to where the crew are prepping to go in for cleanup. “Do you think they’ll let us back into the building tonight?”
“I don’t know, but there’s no sense in you waiting. It could be hours.” I pull back, digging through my layers of clothing until I get to my phone. “I’m gonna text my mom, get her to come pick you up.”
“That’s not necessary.”
“Think of it as a favor.”
“For who?”
“Me.” I scroll to my mom’s contact and fire off a quick message, though she’ll have heard what’s going on down here by now. I’m half expecting her to be on her way already.
Freya looks at me with a questioning frown as I put the device away.
“You good with staying at my mom’s place tonight?” I ask.
She worries her bottom lip. “I don’t want to put her out.”
Her apartment building was ablaze twenty minutes ago, but she’s worried about inconveniencing my mother.
“You’re not. She’ll be excited to have someone at the house who can keep up with her knitting talk.”
“Only if you’re sure.” She glances around the parking lot. “This looks like this might take a while.”
“Everything’s gonna be okay, I promise.” I lean in to kiss her, not able to hold myself back anymore, but footsteps approach before our lips can find each other’s.
“Freya, you doing alright?” Mack asks from behind me.
She looks over my shoulder, giving him a wry smile. “I’m fine, not that this one believes me.” She jerks her head in my direction.
“I’m sure he doesn’t.” Mack slaps me on the back. “But I do. So, if you’re sure you’re going to make it, you mind if I have my firefighter back?”
“By all means.” She gives my hand a quick squeeze.
I sigh. “You need anything, just wave.” I press a quick kiss to her forehead. “I’ll be right over there.”
“Come on, lover boy.” Mack slings an arm around my shoulders and steers me toward the truck, where the crew are getting ready to start the inspection of the building.
When my mom arrives about ten minutes later, I hand off the clipboard I’m holding to Ryan and jog over to her. As soon as she sees me, she wraps me up in a tight hug.
“You doing okay, sweetheart?”
“Yeah,” I huff out, not sure how true it is. “Just… just take care of her, okay?”
She reaches to tuck some of my hair behind my ear, same way she’s been doing since I was a kid. “Of course.”
She turns to reach back into her car, pulling out the pair of shoes I asked her to bring.
“She’s over there.” I point to where Freya’s still sitting. I don’t even know whose truck that is, or where they are.
At least now I know that she’ll be safe, taken care of by the one person in the world I’d trust with her right now. I watch as my mom heads over there and hands Freya the shoes, along with a thick coat I hadn’t noticed her holding.
She’s alright.
She’ll be alright.