The house was a bright torch in the middle of the street when the team turned up. The sick feeling that Casey got on the ride to any call was aching at the base of his stomach, the acidic feeling rising up into the back of this throat. He had no idea whether it was the adrenalin pumping through his body or it was genuine fear and anticipation. The smoke was bellowing from the upper windows of the building, and the flames licking the already soot covered brick of the outside of the windows. The fire was a bright orange colour, the one that told any firefighter that there was plenty of fuel inside the building. The same things applied for every call that the men went on under Casey's command, and they where all used to his instructions by now, even though the more experienced firefighters like Herrmann and Mouch weren't very happy when a younger and newer firefighter was put as lieutenant. However, a command was a command, the age of the higher rank didn't matter. They where higher than you, you listened and followed, simple as that.
The guys jumped out of the cab of the trucks and headed round, helmets on and halligan in hand, towards the huddle around the two lieutenants, who where standing either side of the chief. It took seconds for both Severide and Casey to plan a forceful but semi safe entry into the building. Watching them work separately was amazing but when they where together, no words could describe the sight. Casey turned round to face his company, just the same as Severide on the other side. "Ok, 81 listen up!" he shouted over the roar of the fire. "This ones a cross, dangerous buildings and its marked. I want two teams, Otis, Mouch you're with me. Herrmann and Cruz I want you to take the first floor. My team we're headed down to the basement, mask up!"
"Newhouse, Tony, Clarke I want you to take the third floor; Capp you're with me on second. Follow 81 in and men, stay together." Severide ordered as he headed into the inferno, just behind his friend's company.
Inside the head was bearable - but just. The furniture was casting eerie shadows on to the ash stricken walls of the building. At the main hallway, Casey and his team headed forwards and down towards the basement stairs at the end of the corridor. Behind him, Herrmann had already dived into another room, followed by Cruz and confidently began searching even through the heat was painstakingly hard to move in. As Casey and his team descended down the rickety wooden stairs, they could only just hear their Squad colleagues climbing the stairs above them to get to the upper floors that needed searching. The basement stairs where strangely unaffected by the fire that was down here, Casey noted that they needed to move quickly if they wanted to have an easy exit. "Ok, Mouch, Otis - take the left side to search. You find anything, my names the first thing you shout. Understand?" they both nodded before heading into the flames of the left side of the basement. Casey turned and moved swiftly through a huge wall of fire that was blocking his way into a room. "Fire Department, call out!" he shouted through the thick plastic of his breathing mask. He came into the room and tried the first door he came to. Locked, great, he moaned to himself. He lifted his halligan and shoved the tip between the doorframe and the door itself. Casey then jerked it down and the door instantly gave way, he scanned the hallway he had just gained into seeing if there was any imminent bodies that he could get out before he continued forward into the other rooms. The more he thought about it, the more he thought that the building was becoming a maze and he'd have trouble finding his way out. The sick feeling began to rise up in his throat again and the dizzy feeling working its way into every corner of his mind. Still trying every door, he shook his head as he desperately tried to clear his mind to let him focus on his job. However, Gabby's reaction was still at the forefront of his mind. Just as his dizziness cleared he felt a surge of power as he turned and slammed his foot into the door, sending it swinging round and bouncing onto the wall it was hinged onto. He stepped inside and scanned the room. "Fire Department, Call out!" he shouted again, still no answer. He brought his radio up to his mouth and pressed the button. "How we looking Otis?" he asked.
There was a few seconds of radio crackle before his colleague's voice filled the air. "Looking good lieutenant. No victims in the rooms we've searched and we have a few left. We'll radio you back once we've finished and organize a rendezvous point?"
"Sounds good to me, i'll check in with Herrmann and i'll get back to you. Stand by."
"Copy that lieutenant." Otis replied as the radio went silent.
_
"Cruz, check that last room. I've got a bad feeling about it!" Herrmann ordered as he kicked in the door opposite. He turned around just as a woman came into view out of the corner of his eye. He jumped into action as he climbed over the debris of the room and headed straight for her, his heart pounding as he heard the sound of splintering wood around him. "Cruz, I need some help over here!" he shouted as his friend turned round then bounded towards him.
"Herrmann, how we looking up there? We've got nothing down here and so if you're clear, we can pile out." Herrmann heard Casey's voice come from his radio just as he and Cruz began to carry the woman towards the door. The shire dead weight of her was making it difficult for them to maneuver through the small doorways of he building. "Herrmann, do you copy?" He heard Casey ask again, going against this, his lieutenant would be expecting the good excuse he was about to get. Just as Cruz and Herrmann managed to get the woman out into the hallway that lead to the exit door when the inevitable happened. Both the firefighters, along with the unconscious victim, dropped to the floor as the celling gave way. Although they where both fine, it was hard to move under the heavy weight of the rubble that was piled on top of them. "Herrmann, Cruz report!" They heard their lieutenant shout worriedly through the radio, this was the chance that Herrmann had to tell him that they where both ok but in need of assistance. "Lieutenant, Herrmann here. Cruz and I have a victim on the first floor hallway, just beside the basement stairs. We're in need of assistance and suggest that Squad aid the extraction from the outside window of the basement."
"Copy that Herrmann, we're all on our way up to assist you." He could hear Casey and the rest of Truck climbing the stairs close to them as he tried to lift the heavy concrete and still burning wood off of him, the victim and his colleague. "Cruz, you ok buddy?!"
"Yeah, i'm fine. Where's Casey?" he asked as he pushed himself to his feet and began pulling debris off of the still unconscious victim, the smoke around them getting thicker and more black with every second that passed.
"I'm not sure but-"
"Guys, is everyone ok?" Casey demanded as he ran up to them and immediately began to help move the rubble that was still on top of Herrmann's legs.
"Yeah, we're fine." Cruz shouted as he looked over his shoulder to see Otis and Mouch bounding down the hallway towards them. Then he turned his focus back to his lieutenant, who had already gotten most of the rubble off both Herrmann and the victim, and now was helping his colleague up to his feet.
"Ok, so if everyone's ok we need to get this woman back down to the basement." He turned and saw the fire appearing from the top of the stairs, not a good sign. Casey lifted his radio up to his mouth, "Chief, i'm gunna need Squad down on the east basement window. We need a 15 foot ladder and 61 on standby."
"Copy that Casey, Squad is taking position now. I gotta warn ya, smokes turning black real fast. You need to get outta there as fast as you can. The chance of a secondary collapse cant be ruled out."
"You got it chief, over." He looked down at the body then back to the stairs. "Hey Cruz, is she still breathing?" he demanded as he watched him crouch down and put his hand over the woman's mouth and nose.
"She's breathing." He shouted over the ever growing loudness of the roar of the fire around them.
Casey moved round to the head of the victim and grabbed her under her arms. "Everyone take a side. We need to get down to the basement ASAP!"
With everyone supporting some part of the woman's body, they all hustled down the stairs and out into the main area of the basement. There was a large open space that already had the ladder that Casey had asked for poking down from the window. "Casey, you guys there?" Severide shouted through the small gap between the ladder and the window frame.
"Yeah we're here. Lower it down boys!" he shouted back.
Just as he'd ordered, Squad lowered the ladder down to the floor and the firefighters of 81 gently placed the victim onto it, just as the firefighters outside pulled the ladder out into the fresher air of outside. Once the ladder was free, the girls of 61 wheeled her away on the gurney where their job started as they tried desperately to keep her alive, long enough to transport her to Chicago Med.
"Guys, it's your turn now!" Kelly yelled just as his team pushed the ladder back through the window so that the rest of truck could come back through the fiery gates of hell and back into the reality that was, the safety of the outside. After Otis, Mouch and Cruz where safely out of the building, Herrmann began his accent up the ladder. Suddenly, a tremor raced through the structure of the building, knocking him off balance and sent him tumbling onto the floor. What he didn't know was that his lieutenant was also in the same place and likewise for the other firefighters out on the street. The building had begun to collapse and in the confusion, heat and panic of the situation, Herrmann and Casey had been split up.
"Herrmann, get up now!" Kelly ordered as he helped steady the ladder that was still, only just visible through the thick and heavy gray smoke.
"But Casey-!" He began as he turned and started looking for his lieutenant.
"Herrmann, get your ass back up here. I'll go and get him, if the structure goes, think about your family!"
"I'm not leaving him down here!" he shouted just before the smoke around him consumed his dark turnout jacket.
"Goddamned truck guys!" Kelly cursed as she made the bold decision to go in after his friends.
Before he was able to get his legs though the window he felt a strong hand grab onto his arm and drag him to his feet. He tried to fight but when he realized who it was, that idea was way out of the question. Kelly's eyes met with Boden's and he let out a sigh if frustration.
"Herrmann and Casey are down there chief, I'm not letting Herrmann risk his life on his own!" the pain in his voice told Boden everything.
"Herrmann is a good firefighter, we all know that and he'll find Casey and they'll both be fine!" he said as he held onto his squad lieutenant just a little bit tighter.
"Kelly, Chief, whats going on!?" Gabby shouted as she ran towards the huddle of firefighters. Her t-shirt was covered in blood but she seemed to be ok, typical Gabby. When she reached Kelly, breathing hard, she looked from the smokey window to both her boss then her friend. "Where's Casey? Kelly, goddammit where is he?!"
"Gabby take a step back, Herrmann is down there now looking for him." Boden said walking her over to the rest of the truck company. "What happened to the victim?" he asked trying to make her focus on something other than what was happening in the collapsed building.
Gabby took a deep breath and looked down at the floor, "97 took her to Med, they're on their way now." She looked over his shoulder as two silhouettes emerged from the smokey window. Gabby felt her heart beat quicken as the panic subsided a little and hope filled her body. She'd been meaning to tell Casey how she felt for ages now, ever since she first met him in fact. That was ten years ago, the only thing stopping her was that she knew that he didn't feel the same way. The guilt of the way she acted in roll call this morning was one of the reasons why she knew he didn't feel the same way, if he did he would have come after her. She'd been trying to make herself tell him for all the time that she'd know him but every time she'd wanted to, it was either the wrong time or she was just too nervous to tell him. Now, the reality of it was that she had four months to tell him the truth and now the call had really put a kink in her plan. What if he doesn't make it out alive, she asked herself. She knew she was over reacting so she took a deep breath and prepared herself for the worst.
"Capp, help him up!" Kelly ordered as he rushed to Herrmann's side. Just as the firefighter was pulled up onto his feet, Casey emerged coughing and spluttering from up the ladder.
"Matt!" Gabby called out as chief released his grip on her. She ran up to him and stopped two feet from where he was standing. She was afraid that if she got any closer, something would happen that she'd regret later on. He we looking straight at her, a mix of fear and relief burned brightly behind his eyes as he continued to cough. She jumped into action, grabbed his arm and began to lead him towards the ambo. "Steady on their lieutenant, anyone would think you where trying to get yourself killed." she managed to say as the relief in her body was making her throat feel tight.