Page 27 of Combust (Everyday Heroes 2)
“I’m not afraid of shit,” I say as I turn back around and force a chuckle. “I had a shitty dream last night about a fire, and it felt like fucking déjà vu standing there. That’s all.”
“Is that what happens every time? Seems like a coincidence to me.”
“Look, Dix, I get your point. I know where you’re going here. The same place the other guys have gone. Were you the one elected this time to broach the subject? If so, thanks but no thanks. I’ll say it again, I’m fine.”
“We all lost him, Grady. You aren’t the only one.”
But I was the one who couldn’t save him! I scream the words in my head but on the outside, I nod while my insides churn with a guilt no one understands. It was my job to watch him and make sure he came out. But he never came out.
“Yeah. I know.”
“This is one hot motherfucker.”
I look over to where Drew stands in the doorway, the flame’s fingers licking all around him and smoke billowing like a son of a bitch above us and from the windows we’ve broken out. His voice sounds like it’s in a tin can as it echoes in his helmet and then through my radio.
“We need to knock down that head over there and then get the fuck out of here.”
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this, Malone.”
I glance over to him again and wave my gloved hand his way. “We’re fine. Hitch and Collins have the other side of this. Johnson’s holding down the escape route.”
“Are we sure this place is cleared?”
I can’t see his face as I search through the smoke. “Why?”
“I swear I keep hearing someone calling for help.”
I stop what I’m doing and hold up my fist to tell him to be quiet. And I listen. There’s the crack of the fire. The snap of wood as it tw
ists and pops under the pressure of the heat. The rush of the smoke as it pushes and pulls against the oxygen before devouring it. The roar of my own heartbeat in my ears.
But I don’t hear anyone crying for help.
“I don’t hear it, man.”
I take my axe to break apart a pile of burning debris, trying to dissipate the fire’s fuel. But it isn’t going to help. This place isn’t going to stop burning anytime soon.
“Listen.”
I stop again at Drew’s command, but the flames are closing in on us, roaring and spinning and whipping around in a vortex of heat I can feel through my turnouts.
For the life of me, I can’t hear shit. There’s a whistling somewhere, but I swear it’s the oxygen sucking through wood.
When I turn around to look back at Drew, he’s pushing deeper into the building. We should be getting the fuck out.
“Drew? Drew, c’mon. We gotta get out of here. We’ve been in here too long.”
“Just let me look in here.”
“Malone. Drew. We need to pull out. The roof’s unstable,” the chief commands over the radio.
“Goddamn it, Drew!” I move after him. My boots hitting debris I can’t see. My eyes are straining from searching through the dense smoke, and I’m just clearing the doorway as I hear the crack.
A portion of the ceiling falls in and lands in front of me and at his back.
Panic flickers and flames just as brightly as the fire raging around us.
“Grady? Where are you?”
