Page 88 of Angels Fall

Oh, shit.

“Fuck,” I mutter. “Did you clear it?” I ask Dean.

He shakes his head. “Nah, man. When we got here there was another crew on the scene. They said the cleaners told ’em the place was closed and that they didn’t know if anyone was in there but they didn’t think so.”

“And they didn’t fucking check?” I ask in astonishment.

“Shit was already lit up when they got here, man. They just got right to trying to contain it.”

Maddie’s still yelling and waving her arms. It’s hard to make out the words, but not at all hard to understand what she’s saying.

And then…

All of the sudden—and fuck, you can goddamn see it fucking coming…

“I got it!” shouts Jeff.

He slaps his visor down and goes tearing inside, through the wall of fire.

Doesn’t put on his tank, doesn’t even consider the best way to breach, just goes racing inside. I guess because, in his mind, he has to.

“Yo!” Dean calls after him.

And then…

Without a word, Brandon throws his oxygen tank on and rips off inside too. After Jeff. Heavy 44. That’s where Brandon came from. The ones who rescue the rescuers.

Maddie turns to face me and buries her head in my chest. I don’t know what else to do, so I stroke her hair as she cries all over my shirt.

The cop I blew past to get here rolls up, but Dean pulls him aside and seems to be explaining the situation. He’s persuasive.

The hoses all around us are blasting full tilt, four crews of firefighters all working diligently to bring things back under some version of control. But the hoses seem to be doing almost nothing. It strikes me that we were just, not a half hour ago, embedded within more than enough water all around us to snuff this candle out in about ten seconds flat, and what a shitty irony that is, but whatever. It makes no difference now.

And then…

Without warning, there is an explosion.

I have no idea where it comes from, apart from somewhere within the building that is no longer a building, not in any meaningful sense. Upon hearing and seeing it, I flinch. Thankfully, Maddie flat-out jumps and shrieks so that she can’t see me react the way I did. I don’t give a shit because of my dumb fucking ego or whatever, but because it’s clear in a real vivid way that I’m gonna need to be here for her, and I can’t afford to allow my feelings to get in the fucking way right now. Even if they’re authentic.

“What was that?” she screams.

“I dunno,” I tell her in as soothing a voice as I can find. “Could be a lot of things.”

And while that’s true, I honestly can’t imagine what could have caused a fireball like that to erupt from in there. It’s a fucking strip club, not a chemical plant.

And then…

The roof collapses.

“No!” Maddie’s wail rips through me.

“It’s OK, it’s OK,” I assure her.

It’s not OK. Not even a little bit.

And then…

As the fire swoops around on itself and swallows its tail, like some kind of cannibalistic swan of flame, Brandon emerges.