Chapter 21 #2
“Becca?” Sue appeared in Kaiah’s peripheral vision. “Oh! Kaiah! What’s happened?”
“I think Kaiah’s having an allergic reaction to a sting,” Becca said, but her voice sounded far away. “We need help!”
“Blake!” Sue called. “Get some ice!”
Kaiah tried to focus, but her vision was fuzzy at the edges. She tried to watch as people rushed around, but nothing made
sense. Voices were hollering, and it sounded like a little girl was crying.
What’s happening?
Becca knelt in front of her as she punched in numbers on her phone. Kaiah tried to watch her, but her eyes felt so heavy,
they kept wanting to close.
And why was it so hard to breathe? Was someone sitting on her chest?
“Reid!” Becca yelled. “Reid! I’ve been trying to call you. It’s an emergency. Get to Mom’s house—quick! It’s Kaiah. She’s having an allergic reaction to a beesting. She needs an EpiPen, and I don’t have one!” Her voice broke,
her breaths grew ragged. “Get here, Reid. Please!”
Dots swam in front of Kaiah’s eyes, and then everything went black.
Reid rested his hands on his lap. Chris and Cash addressed the crew while they stood in the bay beside the fire engines. It
was their usual afternoon debrief.
Nothing too intriguing to discuss. The most exciting call they’d had was when one of Cash’s neighbors had accidentally set
his yard on fire while burning some trash, but it didn’t take long to extinguish it. Reid appreciated dull days when they
only had a couple of calls and no one was seriously hurt. Not only were the residents okay, but he also didn’t have much paperwork.
It really was a win-win for both Reid and the team.
Reid’s phone vibrated with a call, and he ignored it. He couldn’t stand it when his team studied their phones while he was
addressing them. Instead, he expected to receive his team’s full attention, and he always did his best to extend the same
courtesy to his captain and his chief. Folding his arms over his chest, Reid tried to concentrate on the meeting.
When his phone began vibrating again, Reid assumed it was a spam call. Surely it was someone trying to sell him an extended
warranty on the Suburban or some other scam.
But then unease gripped his chest. It was something he only felt when his sister was anxious about something. It was their “twin thing,” as they’d called it since they were little.
Something’s wrong.
He couldn’t stop himself from fishing his phone from his pocket. His eyes focused on his sister’s name on the screen. Becca
knew better than to blow up his phone when he was at work. She would only repeatedly call him if she had reason to—if it was
serious. That anxiety that had been building in his chest morphed into something deeper.
Dread.
His blood ran cold. Had something happened to one of their parents? Or Piper?
Oh no.
He had to call her back—now—whether or not his bosses considered him rude or, worse yet, insubordinate. He unlocked his phone just as a shrill tone screamed
through the loudspeaker, startling him. At the same time, the fluorescent lights above him in the large bay flickered.
“All available units respond to 250 Little Island Road. Female, mid-twenties. Multiple insect stings and possible anaphylaxis.”
Reid’s eyes snapped to Cash’s. “That’s my parents’ house.”
“Right.” Cash waved at the team. “Let’s go.”
Just as the voice began to repeat the call, Reid’s phone vibrated, indicating that his sister had left a message.
A sick feeling washed over him. She rarely left him a message, and she’d never leave one just to chat, especially when he
was at work. His fingers shook and adrenaline pulsed through his body as he listened to her message, and her frantic voice
filled his ears.
“Cash!” Reid’s body shook as he listened to the message. “Cash! We gotta go. It’s Kaiah!”
Cash’s eyes were swimming in puzzlement. “How do you know?”
“Becca called me, and it sounds like she’s going into shock. Let’s go!”
Reid grabbed his gear and raced to the engine. He jumped into the passenger seat, his body continuing to vibrate while worry
coursed through him.
What if they didn’t make it in time? What if she . . .?
No, no, no! This is not happening again!
Cash, Chris, and the rest of the crew joined him, and the engine roared to life, siren blaring.
As Chris steered the truck down the street, Reid switched on the radio and waited for more information to come through. He
drummed his fingers on the door of the truck as worry and fear clashed within him. His pulse sounded loud in his ears.
“Reid,” Cash said, speaking over his headset. “She’s gonna be fine, man.”
Reid waved off his brother-in-law’s platitudes. “Do we have an EpiPen?”
“Of course we do,” Cash told him. “The ambulance will meet us there, and they’ll have one too.”
Hang on, Kaiah. Please, just hang on.
“Units are responding to a female, approximately mid-twenties, with at least three beestings,” the voice continued. “Patient
is unconscious and unresponsive. She’s pale, and areas around the stings are covered in hives.”
Reid felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. Kaiah was unresponsive. Would they arrive in time to help her? He turned
to Chris as the fire truck approached an intersection. “Can we hurry?”
“We’re almost there.” Chris kept his eyes trained on the road ahead as they roared onto Little Island Road. “It’s all going
to be fine. We’ll help her.”
Reid braced the door handle, ready to launch himself from the truck when they arrived. When his parents’ house came into view, his heartbeat spiked. Flashing lights from two ambulances reflected off the house.
“EMTs are here,” Cash said, stating the obvious. “She’s in good hands.”
As soon as the truck slowed, Reid wrenched the door open and jumped from the moving truck. He took off running across the
driveway past curious onlookers.
He had to save Kaiah. He just had to.