Page 28 of Combust (Everyday Heroes 2)
“I’m here. You okay?”
“I can’t see you. I can’t . . . shit . . . I can’t find a clear line out.” The same panic I feel laces the edge of his voice.
“I’m here. I’m here,” I yell as my body heats with fear.
Another crack.
Then slam.
A beam falling.
A scream.
“Drew!” I shout. “Drew!”
Sweat coats my skin as I wait for an answer.
Seconds.
Tick.
Tick.
“I’m trapped.” His voice is almost quiet. Pained. “I can’t . . . I can’t.” Fearful. “Grady.” Terrified.
“I’m here. I’m coming, Drew. I’m coming.” Every part of my body shakes. Scared. Afraid.
Seconds feel like minutes. Minutes feel like hours. And neither of them are things we have.
“There’s no way in. There’s no . . . Fuck.” His breath is labored. With fear. With exhaustion. With smoke. “I can’t . . .”
“Don’t you fucking give up on me. Don’t you dare!” I scream and then radio back to dispatch that I need help. “Mayday. Mayday. Drew’s down. He’s trapped.” I look back into the flames where I last saw him, but only see black. And orange. And yellow. I give our location in the building and then turn my attention back to my partner. “Two-in. Two-out, man. Get over here so we can go two out!” All I hear is his breath laboring through the intercom. “Get through a wall. Push back and swim through it. Goddamn it, Drew, answer me!”
Another crack of the ceiling. Another deluge of burning debris rains down on us.
“Grady!” His voice is packed with every kind of fear I’ve ever imagined in my life, and I can’t do anything but cover my head and ward off the flames as they fall on me.
“Hold on! They’re coming for us.”
“My mask is cracked. I can’t breathe.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“C’mon, Drew. Hold on.” I take my axe and start hitting anything I can in a blind panic to try to get to him.
His gasps are in my ear. Each painful draw, coming more and more infrequently.
“Tell . . . tell Shelby I love her . . . tell her I’m sorry.” Each word is labored exhaustion as the carbon monoxide drugs him. As the fire takes over.
“No!” I shout the word at the top of my lungs, as if it’s going to help me get to him. “Chief, where the fuck are you guys?”
“Tell . . . tell Brody . . . I love him . . . promise me . . .Grady . . . you’ll take care of him. Please.”
“No! I won’t. You tell him. They’re coming for us, Drew. Any minute. Hold on. Hold the fuck on.”
I try to pass through the fallen beams. I try to get to him. I try to save him.
“The whole west side is gone. We’re breaching from the north.” The chief’s voice breaks through the panic ricocheting around inside me but does nothing to abate it.
