The cold air slowly warmed as the young man held his old ragged jacket to himself. His eyes were closed as he was held in thrall by his recurring nightmare. Every night without fail, unless he drank enough to just black out.

It started with his friends, along with himself, pinned down in a firefight. Then the dream shifted as he was dragged through a corridor, finishing with his head plunging into a tank of water.

At that exact moment, a mixture of icy December air and ash went into his lungs causing him to cough so hard his eyes shot open. What he saw before him caused a knot of dread to coil in his gut, but it dissipated as he heard screams and he looked up to see the hands and faces of small children trapped inside the building that was now ablaze.

Charles turned and grab the shoulder of the older gentlemen he'd been sleeping next to for warmth and shouted, "George wake up! The orphanage is on fire, and there are still kids in there."

George, still mostly asleep, turned over and snuggled more firmly into his coat in an effort to ignore Charles, assuming the young man was just having an episode again. Then the smell of smoke and the screams filtered through his sleep fogged brain and he registered that what was going on was real.

"Oh my god!"

As George stared, stunned, at the scene before him, he abruptly brought back to reality by Charles.

"George, I'm going to need you to climb the fire escape on the building next to the orphanage, and get to the other roof. I'll find a way in, get the kids to the roof and pass them to you!" Before he finished speaking, Charles got up and started forward, but before he had made it a step, George grabbed his arm fiercely. Charles turned to berate his companion, and saw fear in the older man's eyes.

"We should stay out of it; the firemen are paid for this, and you aren't a soldier anymore Charles."

Charles shook his head roughly. "That has nothing to do with it; by the time help comes someone is going to die."

Charles jerked his arm from George's grip and ran towards the building, shouting behind him, "You get your old ass up to that other roof, or I'll kick it later."

As the young man dove out of the alleyway and across the snowy street, he didn't even look for oncoming traffic. It seemed that fate was on his side, as he hadn't been struck, and he managed to make it up the steps of the building in a few strides, grabbing hold of a small trashcan as he ran and using it to break the glass security door.

As the glass shattered, the heat smacked into Charles, and for a moment, made his legs feel like they were going to give out. He took a few precious moments taking in some small breaths and trying to get used to the environment, all the while, he could feel the oppressive heat from the flames cooking his skin.

Once he could breathe halfway decently, he started to move. Charles could feel the flooring creaking, his foot nearly breaking through, as he pushed forward.

The heat and the smoke were making it hard to see the way to the stairwell. He tried to use his hands to guide his way, but he could only touch the walls for a few moments before his hand was seared from the heat. Going farther into the building, he had to dodge falling pieces of ceiling and other debris as the building started to collapse around him.

The terrific noise instantly transported the young man back to the battlefield, but he shook it off; this was no time for him to freeze! Charles felt the steps give under his weight, so he moved faster, hoping to find securer footing higher up. He soon finds himself on the second floor. It wasn't engulfed as the first floor had been, yet, but he could see from the way the smoke crept through the floorboards that it wouldn't last long. "Kids, I'm here to help. We need to get you to the roof before the fire comes up!"

Charles started to open the door to the room and found that the fire was already there, but so were the children. He was able to coax the terrified kids out of the burning room and down the hallway towards the next staircase as he continued his search. He made sure to comb the room, so as to not leave any of the children behind. Once he was sure the room was clear, he exited, his eyes drawn to the stairs where the flames were crawling up like a living creature.

Charles' eyes dilated as he looked into the flames - he was back in a warzone or more specifically, his last one before being discharged from the service. He was staring into the face of the childhood friend he had enlisted with. The friend he had watched being blown apart; his body eaten by the flames of the explosion.

Charles didn't know how long he stood there, but he snapped out of it as a small boy grabbed his hand and tugged, urging his savior forward. "Mr … we need to go."

Charles blinked a few times, the heat from the flames had already dried his tears. He squeezed the boy's hand before urging the child onwards.

"Thanks, kid… you go ahead… I'll be along in a few moments I got a few more room to check."

The boy nodded, and Charles saw him wipe tears from his eyes, before running towards the staircase leading to the roof.

Charles watched to be sure the boy made it at least to the staircase before he returned to his search. He took the time to look through closets and under beds as he searched the various rooms, wanting to be positive he was not leaving a single child to die. To his relief, even as he felt the skin on his neck blister, he completed his search and began to head to the roof himself. Entering the hall, he realized it had been engulfed in flames; the smoke was begin to choke him along with the heat. Charles realized he had already been in the building too long, but as he made his way through the haze of heat and smoke, he heard a desperate cry for help.

Charles turned towards the sound, his eyes narrowing, and noticed a door to a room he had missed - perhaps the living quarters and office areas of the staff of the orphanage.

Now that he had heard the voice, he couldn't just leave them, so he moved towards the door. As he touched the doorknob, he felt it burn his hand, but he kept twisting, ignoring the pain. Charles could tell the door was already swelling from the buildup of heat inside the room, so he decided to slam his shoulder into the door, using his weight to try and bust his way in. Several shoulder tackles later, he heard the door creak, and then it finally gave way and he pushed his way into the room.

Once inside, Charles saw an older woman pinned beneath a fallen ceiling beam. As he got closer, he could see that the woman was badly injured, blood trickling from her mouth; despite that, she still struggled for freedom. Looking closer, he was able to see she was guarding a small child; desperately trying to keep the weight of the beam from crushing the small body. The old woman looked at Charles with pleading in her eyes. "Please … take her and go forget about me!"

Charles ignored the woman's plea to only save only the girl, not wanting to forsake anyone. The fact he was even in this Hell trying to save these kids proved self-preservation wasn't high on his priority list at the moment. The old lady looked shocked as Charles grabbed the beam in a bear hug. The smell of burning flesh overpowered even the oppressive smell of the smoke as Charles bit down on his lower lip and struggled valiently not to scream.

As Charles and the old lady eyes locked, he said to her, before she could speak, "Get out from under the beam and bring the kid… I can't hold it for much longer."

The old lady scrambled to do as he bid as she felt the pressure on her chest disappear. She could see the pain on the man's face as he struggled to save her and her charge. Once she was clear of the beam with the girl, Charles dropped the beam as he exhaled and let out a gasp of pain. After a few moments of taking in shallow breaths, he was able to control the pain enough to go help the old woman to her feet.

As the woman found her footing, the child in her arms began to stir. She touched the child's cheek gently and said something to soothing. She looked towards Charles, her light green eyes dimmed in the smoke of the flames, but plainly showing the pain and fatigue she was feeling.

"Thank you .. Sir. Bu..B..but, who are you?"

Charles looked at them, then towards the exit, "That's not important. We need to leave. Now."

The old lady nodded, and the three started to make their way to the stairs. Charles ensured the safety of his two charges by blocking the falling pieces of wall and celing pannels that were coming loose with alarming frequency as the fire got more intense. Eventually they made it across the hallway and up the staircase to the roof.

As they made it through the door,The change in tempture caused the two adults to pause as their lungs and bodies staggered, but Charles saw the children all waiting On the neighboring roof stood his friend George, doing what he could to keep the panicking group calm until they could be gotten off of the burning roof and to safety.

Charles guided the old woman and the child she carried to the others. Charles looked over towards George, "Any signs of help on the way?"

The old man gave his young friend a long look; if he knew, he would have already said something! Charles lifted his shoulder in a shrug, and than starting thinking on how much torque he have to build to toss each child to his friend and to safety. The old woman sat the child she been holding with the others before going to see if she could help Charles get the group to safety.

"Sir, I know it was too dangerous to go through the first floor entrance with all of those flames, but how will we get down from here?"

Charles looked at the old woman and gave her a weak smile as he fought back the a new jolt of pain with each icy gust that hit his injuries.

"My friend George over on the next roof is going to be catching you guys and then, hopefully, catch me!"

At first the old woman didn't understand what the young man meant about the catching until she saw him walk over to the childern, and before anyone could say anything, he had lifted up a small and started to spin. The old woman was about to rush to stop him, but as she reached him Charles let the girl go and she went soaring over the gap, and slamming into George's chest sending the old man down onto his butt with a crash.

"What the HELL OUR YOU DOING TO MY CHILDERN ."

The old lady was terrified, but the young man seemed to ignore her as he went and repeated the process, sending child after child soaring off of the roof and into the waiting arms of his comrade. By the time they had got all the kids over, the roof was literally comeing apart and Charles was breathing harder than he ever had before, his muscles screaming at him to stop. He could barely feel the old woman touch his back through the haze of pain.

"You've done so much…saved the children…and look, the fire department is here. If we can just hold out a little longer, they might be able to get a ladder up to us…"

Just as she said that, the old woman's foot broke through a weak point in the roof and she nearly fell. Charles caught her arm and pulled her into a embrace. All he could hear as he held her was a quietly sobbed, "Thank you…thank you."

The woman's near fall made one thing abundently clear, they couldn't wait for rescue. The roof was collapsing and they needed to go before it did. Charles thought as fast as his exhausted brain would let him, trying to figure out what to do next. The woman wasn't as heavy as she looked; a few of the kids he'd tossed earlier might be twenty pounds heavier. It was her height that worried him… but staying on the roof was becoming less of an option with every passing second.

Charles looked over at George, and saw the in his friend's face, but that couldn't be helped at the moment; he had chosen to help, and if that meant he didn't walk away from this, it just meant it was his time.

"George this roof is about to cave … I'm going try to toss the lady over and hopefully that will relive enough stress to buy me alittle more time… I need you to be ready to catch her if she comes up short on the toss."

At this both friends looked at one another, George giving the young man a angry glower, saying that this wasn't how it was supposed to go. But before George could verbalize any protests against this plan, Charles had backed up and charged forward, spinning like he was going to throw a shot put. In the next moment the old lady was soaring through the air, letting out a scream as she came crashing into Geroge. As the two adults picked themselves up, the horrified screams of the children had them turning to look back at the burning roof.

The brave young man that had saved so many lives that day was nowhere to be seen.

Beta Reader:Kittona