My Way

Ch. 6

"Don't stop, just keep moving, don't look back, kids...", Joe kept urging them, as the fire around them seemed to intensify, even blinding him at times, whenever he tried to look behind him, to see how much time they had left. They were almost at the bottom of the stairs now, and further to the front he could already see some light coming in from where he and Nash had broken the revolving door earlier.

He steered directly for that light, telling the kids to just move forward and run for the light. The brighter it got, the clearer the air became and he noticed with slight satisfaction that it was indeed getting a little easier to breath. So when he spoke up, his voice sounded stronger than before:

"Keep moving and go out that door! Go on...go...", he yelled after them and saw that the first ones were already running out the door and onto the street, disappearing out of his view. Looking down to wipe the sweat out of his eyes, he realized that the floor was wet where he stood, so he figured that the fire crews had finally gotten the water flowing, trying to fight to flames down here.

Catching a few wet showers that rained down on him, from a water flow coming in from outside, he made sure that all the kids had made it out the door before he turned around and headed back to where he'd just come from, and up the stairs, that were now creaking dangerously under his feet, as he fought his way upstairs.

He could barely see anything through the smoke up there, but still remembering the outlay from minutes ago, he didn't hesitate long and walked all the way to the back, where Nash had went, and where he figured his partner would still be. Although he was definitely not feeling too confident that this was such a good idea...

The closer he came to the last doors at the end of the hall, the louder did he hear a voice that sounded like a young boy and above that, just slightly clearer there was the voice he knew all too well. It was Nash's. Yet he couldn't make out any words or what they were saying, so when he reached the last door and looked in, he didn't know what to expect. But what he saw made him flinch.

In the middle of the room, half a wall had come down, blocking the way towards the rest of the room, where in all the smoke and debris a little girl was standing right at the wall, not moving, if you didn't count in the heavy shivering sobs that kept on rocking through her body. And looking around he saw Nash, kneeling as close to the crumbled wall as possible with the burning debris all around it, and he was talking to the girl, obviously trying to get her attention and make her look at him. But as frightened as she was, it was one way road.

Whatever Nash had already tried, he wasn't able to get to her, or make her come to him. Not even the voice from the boy, who was standing a few feet behind Nash, made her move. It seemed like those two kids were the only ones left, and with the boy being okay, as far as he could see; now it was only a matter of getting the girl out, too.

"Nash, are you okay??" Joe called out to his friend, making him aware that he was now in the room, and immediately he got a reaction:

"Joe, I can't get to her! Get the boy out here while there's still time."

Throwing a short look over his shoulder and out into the hallway, Joe almost felt like saying 'yeah, right, as if there would be any time left at all', but he didn't, and hurrying over to the boy, picking him up in his arms, he just yelled back at Nash, merely louder than the fire…

"I found the other kids, they're out safely and the fire crews are working downstairs. But this thing is going down, Nash, we can't stay!"

Joe got up to meet the chief and shake his hand. The chief leaned over and whispered something into his ear.

"Consider your self their captain"

Joe looked up into the chiefs eyes and replied. "It would be an honor." He stepped up to the podium.

"That is the end of this ceremony; those of you who wish can join us for the burial after this closing. Thank you."

To break the silence, a song Nash had requested to be played at his funeral rang in the air.

"And now, the end is near,
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I'll say it clear
I'll state my case, of which I'm certain

I've lived a life that's full
I traveled each and every highway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way

Regrets, I've had a few
But then again, too few to mention
I did what I had to do and saw it through without exemption
I planned each charted course, each careful step along the byway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way"