FIRE AT THE

GAGE RESIDENCE

Syd had just dropped off to sleep. She was laying against Gage's chest. He had his arms around her when something woke her up.

She opened her eyes as she looked around.

"What's wrong Syd?" Gage asked.

Syd shook her head as she laid her head back down on his shoulder.

"I'm not sure." Syd said as she closed her eyes and soon fell back to sleep.

Later on that night, Gage woke up.

Something didn't feel right.

"Anything wrong Francis?" Syd asked.

"Do you smell anything funny?" Gage asked.

Syd took a sniff, but shook her head.

"I don't smell anything Francis . Maybe someone's burning leaves somewhere." Syd told him.

"At this time of the night? It's 2:00 in the morning." Gage thought to himself as he got out of bed.

Syd laid there, she didn't want to get out of the warm bed. She snuggled back down and was soon sound asleep. Gage came out to the hallway when what he smelled earlier was stronger.

"That's no leaves burning. Wonder where it's coming from?" Gage thought to himself as he checked out the rest of the house.

Trent and Carlos were out and were just going past Gage's place when Trent seen something out of the corner of his eye.

He stopped the car as he looked again.

"Carlos, call the fire department!Gage's place is on fire!" Trent shouted as he got out of the car and ran to the front door and pounded on it.

Gage was heading down to the basement when he could smell smoke coming from there.

"(cough!)Good lord! (cough! cough!) The place is on fire! (cough! cough!)" Gage thought outloud to himself as ran back upstairs to get Syd out of the house.

He heard someone pounding on the front door.

He ran to the door and opened it to find Carlos and Trent standing there.

"Come on Gage! Your place is on fire!" Trent told him.

"I gotta go back and get Syd! She's still in the bedroom!" Gage told them.

"I'll get her Gage. You go with Trent!" Carlos said as he ran inside to the bedroom.

Syd was overcome by the smoke.

"Syd! Come on, I gotta get you out of here!" Carlos said as he shook her, but there was no response from her.

He carefully picked her up as he came out of the bedroom, only to be driven back by the thick black smoke. Gage was standing there worrying.

"What is taking him so long?" Gage asked in a worried voice.

Carlos knew he was in a tense situation. He quickly got Syd back on the bed as he closed the door and stuffed blankets around the bottom of the door. Carlos, then ran over to the window and opened it.

"Trent! I'm here by their bedroom window! I can't come out the way I came in. The smoke is too thick!" Carlos called over the radio.

"We're on our way Carlos." Trent said as him and Gage ran around to the side of the house.

Carlos could hear the crackling of the fire.

"Come on guys, what's taking you so long?" Carlos thought to himself as he ran into the bathroom to get some wet bath towels. Gage seen the open window and grabbed a hold of the window seal and climbed in.

"CARLOS! WHERE ARE YOU?" Gage shouted.

The smoke was starting to billow into the room.

Gage carefully picked up Syd as he handed her to Trent. "Take her Trent!" Gage said as he turned around to try and find Carlos.

The smoke in the room was starting to get thicker.

"CARLOS! WHERE ARE YOU?" Gage shouted again.

Trent took Syd down to the car and carefully laid her on the ground.

"Come on Syd, wake up." Trent said as he carefully slapped her face. There was no response from her.

"This is Trent! We need an ambulance here at Gage's. Also, where in the hell is that fire department? The house is nearly fully involved!" Trent shouted over the phone.

"The fire department should be at your location in a couple of minutes." Trivette told him.

Walker heard the call go out for the fire department over at Gage's.

"This is Walker. I'm on my way over to Gage's to help." Walker called.

"Thanks Walker." Trent said as he saw the ambulance pull up.

"Is everyone out?" The ambulance attendant asked.

Trent shook his head.

"There's still two more inside." Trent said as he got up and ran back to the bedroom window.

"GAGE! COME ON! THE PLACE IS NEARLY FULLY INVOLVED!" Trent shouted, but couldn't see anything. Grabbing a hold of the window, he pulled himself up and crawled inside.

He found both Gage and Carlos on the floor near the bathroom. Both were unconscious.

"Great! This is Trent! How soon you getting here Walker? I've got two victims!" Trent called over the phone as he got Gage to the window.

"I just pulled up. Where you at?" Walker asked as he got out of his truck.

"I'm on the south side by the bedroom window. I've already got Gage leaning out of it." Trent told him. Walker ran around to the side and found Gage.

Being as careful as he could, he lifted Gage out of the window and brought him around to the front of the house.

He laid him down on the ground and ran back to help with Carlos. Trent had Carlos leaning out the window and was crawling out himself when Walker came back.

"I'll take him Trent." Walker said as Trent ran ahead of him.

When Trent got to the front, the fire department had arrived Syd was already on her way to the hospital.

"Where's Syd?" Trivette asked in a worried voice.

"She's already on her way to the hospital. She was overcome by the smoke." Trent told him.

Several hours later, Carlos came around and found himself in the hospital.

"Syd! I've got to go back there and get her out of the house!" Carlos said as he started to raise up, but Dr. Brown pushed him back down.

"She's okay Carlos. In fact all three of you are very lucky you're still alive." Dr. Brown told him.

"What do you mean Dr. Brown?" Carlos asked as he laid back down.

"You, Syd and Gage were all overcome by the smoke. But it was thanks to Trent and Walker that they got the three of you out of there. From what I heard the house was totally destroyed." Dr. Brown told him.

"Do they know what caused it yet?" Carlos asked in a concerned voice.

"They're still at the scene investigating it." Dr. Brown said. Meanwhile, in the next room, Gage and Syd both woke up at the same time. Syd glanced over and seen Gage laying there looking at her.

"You okay Syd?" Gage asked.

Syd nodded her head.

"I'm okay Francis." Syd replied as she saw Dr. Brown come in the door.

"Well, looks like all three of you are awake. How are the two of you feeling?" Dr. Brown asked.

"Better than we did. Is Carlos okay?" Gage asked.

Syd gave him a worried look.

Dr. Brown nodded his head.

"He's gonna be fine. He just woke up a few minutes ago. Just to be on the safe side, I'm gonna keep the three of you in here overnight for observation." Dr. Brown said.

The cause of the fire was caused by faulty wiring in the basement. It was thanks to the heroic effort of Carlos Sandoval that Gage, Syd and Trent did not perish in that fire. The three of them told Walker that they wanted to recommend commendations to Carlos for saving their lives. When the three got out of the hospital and had come back to work, Walker held the ceremony.

It made Carlos wonder what was going on when Walker called him into his office.

"Carlos? Would you come into my office for a moment?" Walker asked.

"Sure Walker." Carlos said as he followed him into his office.

Syd, Gage and Trent were already in there with big smiles on their faces.

"Carlos Sandoval. For your act of bravery in saving the lives of Gage, Syd and Trent. It's my pleasure to award you with the Medal of Valor. If it wasn't for you, they wouldn't be here right now." Walker said as he pinned the medal on Carlos's shirt.

Gage walked over to Carlos as he put a hand on his shoulder. "Thanks Carlos. If it hadn't of been for you. Syd, myself and Trent wouldn't be here." Gage told him. Carlos grinned as he glanced over at both Trent and Syd. "You're welcome my friend." Carlos told him with a smile. Syd walked over to Carlos as she raised up on her toes and gave him a small kiss on the cheek.

THE END!