From Blood & Ashes
Disclaimer: I do not own HSM.
Chapter Nine
"Just one spark starts the fire" –Send It On, Disney Stars
Dust rose from the road, spinning with the movement of the jeep's wheels. On both sides, the land rose and fell in swells. Scrubby bush and scraggly, sparse trees dotted the landscape. Heat rose in waves that distorted the view, creating a rippling effect that made one think of water. The driver steered sharply to avoid a series of potholes and the jeep continued to rumble through the desolate countryside.
In the backseat, Gabriella grimaced and braced her aching body for another impact. Rubbing her head where it had banged off the support, she closed her eyes to block out the unforgiving sun. They had been on the road for more than an hour and she had not seen another group of people since leaving the tiny tarmac in the middle of nowhere. Gabriella couldn't decide if she was grateful or not. She had been told that no encounters were good encounters.
The road stretched on. The scenery never changed. Another pothole; another bruise. Still no vehicles, no houses, no people.
Then the horizon changed. Like ants, crawling from the mouth of a disturbed nest, one truck after another crested the hill and streamed towards them. She could see the glint of metal but whether it was the shell of the truck or a weapon, Gabriella couldn't distinguish it. They got closer.
"Where's your ID?" The driver in front of her had turned around and was shouting at her. "Make sure it's visible. Whatever you do, don't let them take it."
"Who are they?" She asked, fumbling to straighten the cord around her neck and clutching her passport and visa though the fabric of her pant pocket. "Why would they stop us?"
"They will stop us when they see you are American. And they would stop us anyway because the rest of us are not." Gabriella looked around to see the hard lines on the faces of her companions. "Don't look so terrified."
But she was terrified. Her hands were white in her lap as the military came closer. She tried to remember why she was here. Shutting her eyes, she waited for the onslaught of words she wouldn't understand and the foreign hands that would grab her. She waited for her first taste of hatred.
Men were climbing down from their vehicle and shouting. Someone pulled Gabriella from the jeep, their fingers yanking on the cord of her ID. One of her companions pulled her out of the crowd, away from where they were searching the jeep.
"It'll be over soon," he promised her. She nodded, looking up to assure herself that someone else was there.
His eyes were blue.
Gabriella's eyes snapped open. The darkness around her was unfamiliar, as was the couch she was laying on. Sitting up, she tried to remember. She was at East, her second of four night shifts. She had been sleeping on one of the cots in the room upstairs with Kelsi, but her tossing and turning had chased her down to the living room. It had been a quiet night; no calls.
Slowly pushing back the cobwebs of sleep, Gabriella fumbled to recollect her dream. The real event had been nonviolent and relatively free of stress. One truck had stopped and asked for ID. Satisfied, they had checked the boxes of vaccine being carried on the seat beside Gabriella and then waved them on down the road again. No one had had blue eyes.
Shivering, Gabriella pulled her quilt up and turned on the television. Even muted, the quiet hum broke the choking silence.
Troy couldn't take Zeke's snoring any longer. It would begin like a chain saw and then turn into a snort followed by an annoying shuffling noise in the bed before dulling to an even but heavy breathing. A few seconds would tick by, and then the cycle would begin again. Sighing, Troy swung his legs over the side of the cot and fumbled around in the dark for his sneakers and a sweatshirt. Pulling it over his head, he drew the hood up to ward off the dungeon like chill of the garage bay as he opened the door of the bunk room and began climbing down the stairs as quietly as possible.
A light flickered in the rec room, its eerie glow fading in and out with the picture he couldn't see. He paused in the doorway, about to flick on the light to help him find the remote, when he caught the figure on the coach staring back at him. Her eyes were drowsy with sleep, her hair mussed up from its usual silky curls or braid.
"You do know it's like three in the morning, right?" he asked, leaning against the door frame.
"Can you put your hood down?" Gabriella asked in return, her voice shaking as she curled her feet towards her butt.
Troy did as she asked, a frown on his face. Her voice was so low, it was nearly impossible to hear her. She pulled the sleeves of her shirt down over her hands but he noticed the way they gripped her knees, her fingernails digging through the fabric.
"Are you okay?" He took a seat on the edge of the couch.
"Fine." The weak smile held little conviction.
"You were asleep down here this morning, too," Troy remembered and Gabriella looked away. "Does Kelsi snore or something?"
"It's just," she licked her lips and laid her head back against the cushion. "It's nothing."
"Well, I'll leave you to sleep down here then." He turned to leave.
"No," she called out, only slightly louder than before but it was enough to still Troy in his tracks. "You can stay. I can move over."
Troy lifted the blanket that covered her feet and took a seat on the extra long couch. Propping his feet up on the coffee table, he resettled the blanket around Gabriella. Silently, she offered him the TV remote. There was a basketball game on and Troy skimmed the channels to locate it. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Gabriella.
With all his might, Troy wanted to blurt out questions. Selfishly, not all of them were to know her but to hear what it was like. He had left high school with dreams of being a basketball star. Like all good parents, his father had pushed him to be the best and Troy had been. He wasn't the best at college and he wasn't the best in the US. Instead, he sat the bench most of the time and for Troy, there was more to life than just watching others play the game. So he had left school with his degree in criminology half finished, and moved home to Albuquerque to become a firefighter.
Troy had always felt at home within the boundaries of a team. He could lead, and he could take direction. Firefighting suited him as his father told him constantly. It mixed physical awareness with his desire to be in the community. The adrenaline rush was hard to deny as well. Despite the maturity that had settled upon Troy after one too many tragic endings on the job, the adrenaline kept him going. The thrill of the danger; the sweat and the perceived bravery. The heroism that people bestowed on him. It kept him from wallowing in the despair of what couldn't be changed—or those who couldn't be saved.
To Troy, Gabriella's past was a vault to be explored. He wanted to probe and examine the pieces to live through what she had. He wanted to know how the rush felt to be in the heart of danger. Yet, part of him wanted to protect her from reliving it. He hardly knew her and yet the vulnerability he so frequently saw seemed not to suit her. She wasn't comfortable in her own surroundings and she was constantly on a separate plane from the rest of them. The aftermath of adrenaline seemed to haunt her and Troy was curious to know what could do that.
She shifted and Troy realized that she was still awake. Her eyes watched something just beyond the TV screen. When a sudden flash of light lit her face, Troy saw the dilation of her pupils. Shadows flew across Gabriella's face as she turned her head towards him, meeting Troy's gaze. It was the first time Troy had ever felt that she actually saw him. Gabriella looked back to the screen.
"You were staring," she said softly. "Do you need more space? Or does the TV bother you?"
"No, I'm fine, Montez." Troy's voice was gentle. "You should get some sleep."
"Sleep is overrated."
"You won't be saying that when we get a call in two hours and you can't see straight." Troy's lips twisted into a smirk when she glared at him.
"I don't see you catching z's," she snapped. Troy had stepped beyond the boundary of co-worker. He'd sounded interfering.
"Zeke snores," Troy shrugged uncrossing and recrossing his legs on the table while slinging an arm along the back of the couch. "What's your excuse?"
"It's against protocol to be under the influence."
Troy barked an amused laugh, turning his gaze back to the TV. A few moments later, the implication of her words sunk in. He snapped his head back. Her head was cradled in the palm of her hand on the pillow. Her eyes were shut, but as he watched, the lashes fluttered against her cheeks.
Gabriella was awakened by the piercing scream of the firebells and the intercom system directing all available units to an apartment building on the corner of 27th East and Main. Troy was already on his feet when she sat up. His sweatshirt landed in her lap as he shed layers on his way to the garage bay. Pushing the blankets back, Gabriella grabbed her jacket off the back of the couch as she stood to shove her feet into her boots. Yanking her hair back into a ponytail, she pulled the elastic tight and laced her boots. From the bay, she could hear Chad yelling.
"Montez!" She quickly laced her boots.
"Yeah?" Her jacket was zipped.
"You loaded the truck after that fender bender last night, right?" Chad handed her a radio as she entered the bay, still working out the kinks in her back from sleeping on the couch.
"Yeah, we're good." The clock above the lockers told her it was 3am.
The drive was quick with full lights and sirens blaring. Pulling up to the curb behind two East fire trucks, Chad slammed the ambulance into park and jumped out. Gabriella was already pulling equipment from the back while evaluating the situation a few feet away. Flames shot from a set of second story windows, and smoke poured out. Troy and Jason were already rolling out hoses while Zeke twisted the cap off the fire hydrant.
Over the radio, Gabriella kept track of what was going on as she and Chad set up a triage spot on the sidewalk. A group of teenaged girls huddled under blankets, tears streaking their faces. From what Gabriella gathered, they had decided to hold a séance in the living room of one apartment during their sleepover. A sleeping bag had caught fire and then the sofa. The fire had gone rampant from there. Most of the girls only suffered from smoke inhalation. One had burns on her hands from trying to extinguish the fire. It had been her apartment. Another had burns on her arm where she had pushed open the door to the patio to get air. The fire had grown in the minutes since the East crew had arrived, engorging itself with fuel supplied by the structure of the building In the dark, the orange pulsated with heat, licking at the brick of the outer walls.
Shaking her head, Gabriella administered oxygen while Chad dressed the worst of the burns. Troy`s voice crackled over the radio from the western side of the building. Zeke`s responded from the Eastern portion. The ground was littered with glass that flickered in the crimson glow. Gabriella was reminded of sand but that was as far as the thought went. Jason`s voice flared on the radio.
"It's in the stairwell and we've still got people on the sixth floor." The static itched in Gabriella's ears as she looked up at the building. It was Chad that radioed back; a boxing match of voices trying to be heard.
"Where do you need us?"
"Zeke's rerouting people down an outside fire escape."
"The stairwell just collapsed."
"There's someone on a third floor balcony."
"Fuck, Zara, I told you they would jump."
"Screw off Danforth and get your ass there to help them."
"Why the hell isn't Montez wearing a helmet?"
"I left it in the truck; we were in a hurry."
"Montez, put the fucking helmet on."
"We're going to evacuate people to the fourth floor and then lower them from the balcony. Baylor, are you on the fourth?"
Gabriella tuned out the arguments and the orders and the commands as she and Chad raced to the southwest side of the building where a forty-something year old woman had jumped over her balcony instead of waiting for Jimmy Zara to find her in all the smoke. The woman was unconscious and Chad was yelling at people who had rushed forward to not move her. Kneeling down, Gabriella began an assessment, her gloved hands swiftly moving over the woman's body to locate any injuries.
"Head injury, spinal injury, maybe ribs," Chad started relaying the possibilities to the ER attendant at the closest hospital. Reading Gabriella's hand signals and gestures, he added: "Definitely leg injuries and a busted shoulder."
"Her airway is clear," Gabriella added as she slipped a c-collar around the woman's neck. Oxygen tubes went in her nose. "On my count, we can move her to the board. One, two, three-"
"Guys, there are people coming down the ladder to your left." Zeke was leaning over a balcony, his face hidden by the mask and protective gear. "Cross is going first and then five of them and then Neilsen. Can you triage them when they get down?"
It happened fast, but slow enough that Gabriella had time to react. A propane tank on a nearby balcony, it's white painted sides flickering in the glow of the fire, had heated past the level of safety. There was a deafening boom that blasted through the eardrums of everyone on site. Gabriella felt the sound slam into her and the heat rise towards unbearable. She had enough thought to throw herself over the victim on the ground before her muscles tensed in reaction to the explosion.
"Chad, the balcony!"
She wondered for a moment what the balcony was doing, not knowing where the explosion had come from but thinking that the static over the radio sounded muffled, but then something slammed into the back of her head. Stars exploded in Gabriella's vision as the inside straps dug into her scalp with the impact. She thought she would throw up. Then she lost reference to where the ground was. Chad's voice filtered through until she found him leaning over her, yelling into a radio while prodding at her helmet that was still strapped to her head.
"Montez? Gabriella!"
"Stop shouting," she growled, gripping his arm and hauling herself back up. "People will think I'm dead. What the fuck was that?"
"A support beam from the balcony on the story above us. Propane exploded. Follow my finger," Chad demanded. "Blink. Where are you?"
"I am sitting on the ground. Now, could you move? We need to move our patient. I am fine." Gabriella crawled to her knees, the ground seeming unsteady for a moment but then it settled. Her vision was nearly normal and except for a throbbing headache, nothing seemed off. "Seriously, it caught the helmet and it didn't fall that far."
"You're getting checked out the first chance we get."
"No, I'm not. I am fine. I'm not even dizzy."
Chad eyed her sceptically, relaying the message over the radio to the Chief who was shouting for information. Gabriella ignored him and the pulsing pinch between her eyes. She'd been concussed before and knew to trust her own assessments after incidents. She would have a headache that she could sleep off when the shift was over but the helmet would have protected her from receiving even a tiny lump.
"You're seeing a doctor. Chief's orders."
"I have a radio too, Danforth. Chief said shit."
Chad said nothing, but she could feel him watching her as they loaded their patient in the ambulance along with three burn victims. Gabriella sat in the back with them while Chad drove. She made sure he didn't see how the harsh fluorescent lighting in the back of the truck made her squint. He couldn't see the black spots that danced whenever she looked up.
Dawn was peeking through the windows of the emergency room's waiting area when Gabriella and Chad dropped off their final patient from the fire. They had made four or five trips during the past two hours, their victim from the balcony being the most crucial. It had been a lucky night for injuries. Now, after restocking supplies and swapping empty oxygen tanks for new ones, Gabriella could only think of going to her apartment and crawling into bed. Her jaw hurt from clenching each time the hospital lighting burned into her pupils and her neck felt stiff. Troy's comments about sleep were dead on and Gabriella felt that conversation had occurred days ago instead of hours.
Beside her, Chad took his time weaving the stretcher with its fresh linen through the narrow corridors and aisles of the ER. Gabriella was convinced that his plan was to keep her in the hospital until she passed out so she would have to see a doctor. She had other plans. It didn't stop him, though from constantly watching her. Pausing just inside the main doors, Gabriella relieved the stretcher of some of the gear to make it lighter to steer on the curb. She pressed one finger to her temple and grimaced when Chad's radio began squawking. The fire crew were headed back to East.
"You could get tonight off if you ask Chief. He'll understand," Chad said, turning down the volume on the radio.
"Chad, it's fine. Leave it alone." Gabriella argued as she swung her bag over her shoulder and began hauling equipment back to the ambulance waiting outside the emergency bay.
"Look, I get it. You want to tough it out, fix it up yourself with some ice back at the house. Whatever. But we are in the ER and at the end of our shift. I am sure one of these lovely nurses will find a doc to check you over." Chad had managed to plant himself between Gabriella and the double swinging doors. When her glare didn't cause him to back down, she attempted to simply walk around him. He moved with her, mirroring her sluggish movements. Her pounding headache had crept up to rest behind her eyes.
"All I need is some sleep and a shower. Please, drop this." Gabriella had hoped to keep the pleading from her voice and simply sound annoyed, but Chad had caught the glimpse of vulnerability and fear across her face as well as the way the flickering florescent lights made her wince.
"No. You're having someone check you out. For God's sake, Gabriella, you got hit in the head with half a balcony," Chad protested loudly, garnering the attention of the male resident in a white coat picking up a chart at the front desk.
"I had a helmet on," she argued back, dropping the gear in her hands and throwing them into the air in frustration. She ground her teeth at his over exaggeration. She'd seen the piece. Nothing to worry about.
"You lost consciousness."
"Is this true, Miss?" The new voice was unexpected and Gabriella whipped her head around sharply to find its source. The resident stood behind her, his hands already reaching to remove a small flashlight from his front pocket. "Did you lose consciousness in the field?"
"I got dizzy," Gabriella corrected, turning to glare at Chad, "For like, five seconds. It's gone."
"Do you have a headache?" The resident asked, one hand reaching to grip Gabriella's chin and the other shining the flashlight in her eyes. "Nausea? Blurred vision?"
"My vision is fine," Gabriella growled, trying to pull her head away. She was aware of how others in the waiting room had taken notice of the threesome. "This is completely unnecessary."
"I'm deeming it necessary. You could have a concussion." The resident nodded to Chad as Gabriella's mouth hung open. "Your partner will notify your chief of command and then come find us in cubicle six. Do you have a medical file with this hospital?" He turned to make sure Gabriella was following him past the front desk, leaving Chad behind while he spoke quietly into his cell phone.
Defeated, Gabriella simply shook her head. "No," she answered quietly, staring at her hands as the resident guided her towards the bed and gestured for a nurse. "I just moved to Albuquerque. Chief has my file."
"That's fine. I'll have someone bring it over."
As he left, he didn't see Gabriella bite her lip or the way her hand went instinctly for the charm dangling from her neck.
Troy guided his white pick-up truck through the streets of Albuquerque to the hospital. Beside him, the plain brown file folder seemed to burn for his attention. Taking the next left through the intersection, a right and then another right, Troy pulled the truck into a parking spot in the ER lot between a black convertible and a red mini van. Chad and Gabriella's ambulance was still parked beside the curb. Shutting off the ignition, Troy unbuckled his seatbelt and turned in the seat to look at the folder.
He had just gotten out of the shower when Chief had called him into his office to relay Chad's message from the hospital. A doctor was holding Gabriella pending x-rays and CT scan to rule out a concussion. Troy had smiled at the Chief's wry comment of Montez being stubborn. The smile had quickly vanished however when he was given the task of driving her medical file down to the hospital. Apparently her full medical history was required to be assessable in case of emergency and Chief had not had the chance to drop it off himself before the debris of the balcony had slammed into her head.
Troy hadn't looked at its contents. He had glanced at it long enough to see her full name scrawled out: Gabriella Carmina Angelo di Montez. It was a mouthful and Troy found himself whispering it aloud, rolling the syllables. And yet, despite the way her name and the file called to him, Troy had ripped his gaze away to watch the road, refusing to give in. He knew what he would find in it. Chief's orders had been to tell the hospital staff to copy anything necessary and give the originals back to Gabriella. Her assignments would be inside. Her time in LA. Her reasons for coming to Albuquerque. The answer to how she'd gotten the jagged white scar that stood out across her abdomen when she had stripped off her sweatshirt the night before to put her uniform shirt on over her tank top.
It would be easy. Open it, read it, put it back together and give it the receptionist at the nurses' desk.
He would know though, and somehow, Troy knew that would be unacceptable to Gabriella.
Casting another scathing glare at the folder, Troy grabbed it from the passenger seat and slid out of the truck. Inside, he caught sight of Chad who waved to him while sipping a cup of coffee. Troy waved back but approached the reception desk first, needing to rid himself of the temptation.
"I have a file for Gabriella Montez," Troy informed the nurse quietly, sliding it across the surface into the pretty blond girl's waiting hand. She flashed a smile. "Chief said to make a copy and send the original back with her when she's released."
"I'll let the doctor know," she assured him, spinning away on her chair towards a filing rack. Troy stepped away from the desk and turned to where Chad was waiting.
"Where is she?" Troy asked, leading Chad back to the coffee maker to fix his own cup. He knew it would be horrible but he needed to do something with his hands.
"Cubicle six, down there on your right. She's waiting for the results but the doctor thinks she's fine. No weird vision things anymore and her speech hasn't been slurred. She's got a headache but that's not major concern yet." Chad sipped his coffee before digging into his pocket and pulling out a bottle of water. "I grabbed this for her from the staff lounge. You want to take it to her while I go move the ambulance? They're bound to start bringing people in and it's in the way."
Troy left the waiting area of the ER and followed Chad's directions to the individual cubicles at the back. Following the carefully labelled sets of curtains, he paused outside one Gabriella was in. The curtains were closed, their particular shade of blue blocking even a shadow of anyone inside. Clearing his throat, he knocked on the metal pole and called her name.
"Montez? You decent?"
"By hospital standards." Troy grinned at her annoyance as he ducked through the barrier and let the curtains fall behind him.
"I brought you water," he told her. His eyes scanned over her as she took the water and screwed off the top. Her hair was pulled up in a bun, showing the lines of her neck and shoulders that were exposed by the flimsy hospital gown. Her back was exposed; the shirt only tied together with strings. Troy swallowed and moved so he could sit in front of her. "Nice outfit."
"Shut up," Gabriella growled, rolling her eyes.
"Lighten up," he joked, leaning back and crossing his feet. "I think it's sexy. Only you could pull it off."
"Other than Kelsi, I'm the only one who needs it," she shot back. "The rest of you would be in here in the buff trying to flirt with the nurses."
"True." Silence fell over them as Troy watched her take tiny sips from her water. One hand toyed with the necklace she still wore. She was lost in thought. "Gabriella?"
"Hmm?" she seemed to shake herself, and then looked at her watch. "You should go. I'm sure Chief didn't give you the day off just to drop off my file. You could get a call."
Troy nodded and stood, stretching his arms over his head. Gabriella drew patterns in the condensation on the bottle. Taking a final sip of the coffee, he tossed the rest in the garbage, staring at it for a moment before looking back at Gabriella. She turned, not meeting his gaze. Her feet swung absently from the bed.
"Gabriella?" She didn't look up but he saw her listening. "I didn't look at it." She was silent, her shoulders relaxing slightly. "It's not for me to know."
He was just about to the lift the curtain and leave when she answered quietly from behind.
"Thank you."
Troy gave her a small smile and left.