Nicole Haught kneeled near the engine block of her Ford Crown Victoria. She pointed her gun towards the small farmhouse in front of her.
Another officer's voice called over the loudspeaker of the patrol car.
"Come on Freddie we just want to talk!"
They'd been here for twenty minutes. So far no movement from inside the home. No voice contact. This was bad.
As she kept her eyes on the front door, she heard the crunching of tires behind her.
Taking a quick glance she saw the Sheriff's SUV and the blacked out Yukon of Deputy Marshall Dolls. She turned her attention back to the house. A glint of sunlight hit her eyes. It was coming from the upper window. Without hesitation Nicole yelled, "Everyone down!"
Her warning was cut short by the sound of gunfire. Bullets peppered the hood of her patrol car. She tucked herself as tightly as she could next to the car, holding her breath as the hiss and zip of a bullet passing by her head filled her ears.
"You back off or I kill em all!" a gravely voice yelled from the inside of the house. A commotion followed. Breaking glass and the sound of a woman's yell. Small kids crying.
"Hold your fire!" ordered the Sheriff as he crouched next to her.
"Hold your fire! He has hostages!" he called again, loud enough so the other officers heard his commands.
The large black SUV pulled up nose to nose with her patrol car and Deputy Marshall Dolls, Wynonna Earp and Waverly poured out and hid behind it.
Nicole's eyes got huge as she saw the youngest Earp at this dangerous scene.
"Waverly!" she harshly whispered. "You gotta get out of here!"
Before Waverly could respond another volley of gunfire erupted. The rounds seemed to bounce off of the black SUV. Nicole was intrigued. Bullet proof SUV. Highly tactical stuff. Super expensive.
Even for a Deputy Marshall.
Dolls pulled a black backpack covered with MOLLE webbing out of the back seat. He tossed a gas mask to Wynonna and donned one himself.
"Gas?" Nicole asked incredulously. "Sheriff there are kids in there!" she said.
Waverly crawled towards Wynonna and helped her adjust the mask.
"Shit." Nicole whispered. She low crawled to the trunk of her patrol car and grabbed her go bag from the trunk. She attached the drop leg gas mask pouch to her leg and pulled it out, affixing it to her face."
She crawled back over to the front of the car and slid in behind where Wynonna was crouched.
"Where do you think you're going?" Dolls asked her.
"With you." she replied.
Wynonna shrugged. "Threesomes aren't normally my thing, but let's do it."
Waverly made eye contact with Nicole through the gas mask. Nicole could see the fear in her eyes. Nicole winked at her as she stood and ran with Dolls and Wynonna to the side of the front door. They stacked on the door, waiting for Dolls to give the command to go.
Nicole slid closer to the Sheriff to get a better vantage. Sheriff Nedley pushed her back towards cover. He tossed her a Remington 870 shotgun that had been locked in the front of Nicole's police car.
"Watch the windows." he ordered.
Dolls broke the bottom window and threw the tear gas canisters inside. The house began to fill and loud coughing and gagging was heard. The Deputy Marshall nodded at Wynonna and Nicole. With the signal given Nicole booted the front door with a solid kick from her right leg. Deputy Marshall Dolls then deployed two "flash bang grenades." The bright flash and loud noise made Waverly jump. The glass in all of the windows had blown out by the concussion. The three moved quickly into the home and more shouting was heard. Then the crack of a gunshot...then another, and another. More screams.
The telltale sound of the opening of the gates of hell filled Waverly's ears. The Revenant was dead. Wynonna must have been dead on with Peacemaker. However there had been many shots. Waverly glanced at the first floor and her eyes caught glimpse of an orange glow...then thick dark smoke.
"Aw hell." she heard the Sheriff say. He grabbed his radio.
"Haught! You guys gotta evac! The flash bangs caused a fire!" He looked to his left and whistled to his other Deputys. "Get the fire department out here now! And medics! Move!" They scrambled to follow his orders.
From the smoke emerged Wynonna, followed by Dolls who was carrying a woman in his arms. Last was Nicole Haught, a boy of no more than 3 cradled against her chest. They ran and collapsed behind the vehicles.
They all stripped the gas masks from their faces and coughed. The woman had a large bruise to her cheek. She was starting to come to. Waverly grabbed a first aid kit and began to tend to her. The woman grabbed Waverly's hand. She rasped, "He said that the light was going away and everything would be shadows." Waverly furrowed her brow. Shadows? The woman must have been concussed.
Waverly looked up and saw Nicole with the small boy with dirty blonde hair in her lap. The boy tugged at her uniform name tag. She looked up and caught eyes with Waverly. Waverly felt a longing burn in her chest that she'd never felt before. Seeing Nicole with that child brought up feelings, so so many feelings. She literally shook her own head to clear her thoughts.
"It's ok." Waverly said to the woman as she tried to calm her.
"My babies!" the woman cried.
"It's ok ma'am we have your son right here. He's fine." Wynonna said calmly. She patted Nicole on the shoulder in a congratulating manner.
"No!" the woman yelled. "Where's Grace? Where's my daughter?"
A small explosion blew out part of the roof on the home which was burning steadily now.
Wynonna cocked her head momentarily then her eyes got wide. The child was still inside. Without thinking the Earp heir took off running towards the house.
"Wynonna!" a chorus of voices screamed.
Nicole watched as the woman pushed into he front of the house and disappeared up the stairs. She felt a familiar rush of adrenaline. Instantaneously she was back on that highway, the Jack of Knives taking Wynonna because she was too weak to stop him. She remembered the look on Waverly's face as she admitted her failure to protect her sister as she lay in her hospital bed. She couldn't let it happen again.
Without thinking she shoved the boy into Waverly's arms and took off at a dead run for the front door. Waverly stood and yelled,
"No!" She was held back by Deputy Marshall Dolls.
The smoke and heat were intense. Nicole low crawled up the stair towards the second floor. Sweat and soot burned her eyes. She began to cough.
"Wynonna!" she yelled. She pushed open a door to find a bathroom. Empty. She continued crawling. Coughing. She could barely breathe. She heard Wynona's voice just ahead of her. She couldn't see anything.
"Grace!" Wynona's voice yelled.
Nicole picked up her pace, knowing she only had minutes before they all ended up suffocating from the smoke. They pushed open another door and found a child's room.
"Grace!" they yelled in unison.
Nicole remembered her training. Kids liked to hide. She checked the closet, no Grace. Under the bed. No grace. She turned and pushed Wynonna's hip towards the window. She saw, behind a large wooden doll house a small pink shoe.
"Here!" she called. She pulled the foot and out slid Grace.
Unconscious. Nicole felt a pulse under her fingers. But alive.
"We gotta move!" Wynonna screamed as the ceiling engulfed in flames. They pushed out of the room, trying to orient themselves in the thick smoke. They crawled, and coughed, and gagged, and crawled more.
Nicole held the five year old's back to her chest as she awkwardly tried to crawl with her legs and one arm. Wynonna collapsed just in front of her.
She slid next to the eldest Earp and grabbed the back of her jacket. "Move your top shelf ass now!" Nicole yelled.
Wynonna felt the stairs just in front of her. Both women half slid half fell down the stairs. With a screeching and crackling both looked up and felt a rush of air. They saw the walls bow with an unnatural force.
"Shit." they whispered simultaneously.
With a strength they did not know they possessed they dragged themselves to their feet. Wynonna grabbed Haught's belt to try and help her towards the door as the officer carried the limp child. They ran as fast as they could towards the light they saw through the open doorway. It was only a few feet but it felt like miles.
They ran...until the world exploded in a flash of white.