A/N: What?!? I'm updating again so soon? This is madness. Actually…no, not madness. My muse struck me pretty hard last week and I cranked this out faster than even I thought was possible. I hope you enjoy it.
Thanks to my wonderful beta LittleLea05
The Rookie Stopped
Stopped on a stair, breath arrested;
Straining to hear,
Through crackling fire;
Staring to see,
Through face mask and smoke;
Searching for one missing,
Short of air.
Fear clutching legs and heart,
Fear all around,
Freezing action,
Freezing thoughts.
Advance below,
Retreat above.
Risk one's own life?
Breathe -
Decide.
Step down . . .
To courage.
- Wayne Ayling
Disclaimer: Plot mine, everything else, Stephenie Meyer
Fire and/or Medical scenes are present in this chapter. Please read at your own discretion.
Chapter 16 – Never Forget Me?
Bella POV
I stood there in the kitchen looking back at Edward blankly. Move in? Did he really just ask me to move in with him? I didn't know if I wanted to shout "finally!" or turn and run. Was I really ready to take that leap? Up until recently I had been afraid of commitment and what that would mean for me. So far Edward has done nothing but prove to me that he is in this for the long haul, however long I wanted that to be.
"Edward…I think…" My voice was immediately cut off. Nearly perfect timing yet again because I still didn't know exactly what I was going to say to him.
Bing- Bing- Bing. "Engine 19, Engine 17, Ladder 17, Engine 13, Engine 12, Ladder 12, Engine 11, Engine 4, Ladder 4, Engine 2, Battalion 11, Battalion 12, Medic 12, 13 and 17 please respond to a report of a structure fire on 16th avenue on Harbor Island. Structure is reportedly the multi-level empty industrial warehouse; reported warehouse use to be a paint and wall covering supply factory. All units respond with extreme caution. "
My eyes grew wide as I looked back over at Edward. "Um…"
"Yeah, why does it sound like they called everything they've got?" He asked.
"Come on!" I heard Jacob yell from the living room and mine and Edwards trance was broken. Holy shit, this is going to be such a huge fire. I turned the corner and barely reached the stairs when I heard a god awful yell…
"Jacob!" I stopped at the top of the stairs looking down to the ground below to find Jacob sprawled across the floor gripping his leg which was oddly distorted. I hurried down the stairs carefully as Carlisle came up to him from over by the engine. "Jacob, did you seriously just fall down the stairs?"
"Somebody call one of the medics not responding to this huge ass fire we're going to be late for." Carlisle snapped. He's probably just as pissed as the rest of us. I bolted back up the stairs to Carlisle's office and grab the phone. I called Alice directly at the dispatch center.
"Helloooo."
"Alice, its Bella."
"Bella? What the? What are you doing? I just dispatched you."
"Yeah, well Jacob, the blundering fool, just fell down the mother fucking stairs here at the station. Will you call one of the medics over here?"
"You've got to be kidding me?" I could hear the sound of her clicking away on a keyboard in the background. "Okay, done. But you better get a move on."
"I know. Thanks." I hung up the phone and flung it unceremoniously back on the desk and took off back downstairs.
I skidded to a halt at the bottom of the stairs. "Where's Jacob?"
"We put him on your bed Bella, did you call the medic?" Carlisle said as he climbed into the cab of the engine. I just nodded my head as I dodged over to my stall to grab my turnouts…that ended up not being there.
"I grabbed them babe, let's go!" I turned to see Edward leaning out the back of the engine. All the guys were loaded up and ready to go. Within minutes I was pulling out of the station. I could see this fire really not going well. First, Jacob had to go and get himself injured. Now we are rolling out with two probies, one of which is a fire virgin. Great.
Even driving code three with all my lights and sirens blasting, the drive was long. In all honesty, it wasn't all that many miles from our station to Harbor Island, but because of the how big of an emergency this is and how many of us were dispatched, the cars on the road were all idiots. Pull to the right you morons! I was screaming in my head and starting to get road rage from the absolutely idiocy I was witnessing on the road.
Ten minutes later we were pulling up on a disastrous scene. There were engines parked everywhere starting to set up, hook up to hydrants and get their crews ready to send in. It looked like they had a harbor fire boat on the side of the warehouse building that was facing the channel spraying water in through one of the windows already. It looked like a scene straight out of the movies.
One of the battalions, though I couldn't see which, was using a flashlight to wave us down a stretch and over to the right to park. I slowed to a stop by one of the unused hydrants and saw Edward jump out the back. I watched in my rearview as he grabbed the hydrant wrench and the start of one of the two inch lines off the back. He gave me the signal to drive on and I pulled forth. I pulled to a stop on the very far right hand side of the massive building. I quickly jumped out of the engine and looked down. Damn! I still didn't have my turnouts on. I scrambled up into the backseat to pull my yellows out and quickly threw them on.
"Bella." I turned to see Jasper standing at my pump on the side of the engine waving towards Edward to crank open the valve. "I got the pump started for you while you got your turnouts on."
"Thanks Jazz, you're a life saver." I walked up to the pump and surveyed the amount of water pressure I was getting from the hydrant and quickly calculated how often I'd have to switch on the other pump to fill the engine to compensate. That was one thing I did hate about my job as an engineer – the math.
"Okay listen up." I heard Carlisle at the end of the engine. I walked over so I could hear what orders we had gotten from the battalion. "Okay, without Jacob here we have to move around a little. Emmett, Edward you guys are going to work together. I want you to grab a two inch line; you guys are going to go through that far door over there…" He pointed off to his left towards the center of the building. "…With some of the other engine crews. You are to extinguish what fire you can find. Be wary of the floors and ceilings. This is an old abandoned building. Highest risk will be the decay and the supplies that might have been left here. I'm talking paints, paint thinner, and wallpaper adhesive and no doubt, many rolls of papers. You learned this in the academy, this is one of a firefighters worst nightmare so be on alert."
I heard a foreboding sound of something caving in on the far side of the building. We all stopped talking and turned to look. Down on the far left side of the building, furthest from us, you could see the fresh bright flames lick their way out of a window. Carlisle wasn't kidding, this was bad.
"And Jasper, you're going to take the probie and do search and rescue. Go in through the door closest to us here. Take a one inch line and keep a look out. I know this building is supposedly empty but we anticipate their being quite a few drifters in there." Jasper and Edward quickly turned to the engine and started pulling row after row of hose off the hose bed. I turned to Carlisle and looked for orders. "Charge the two inch line to 300 PSI and the one inch line to 150 PSI, work for you?"
"Yes Captain." I turned and quickly moved over to the side of the engine. I watched as Edward and Emmett ran over to the door towards the center of the building. I turned in time to see Seth and Jasper at the entrance of the other door waving the signal for me to charge the hose. I flipped a couple switches and turned the dial watching as the water rushed through the hose, bringing it to life.
I felt totally in my element as I watched the pressure dial on the side of the engine fluctuate. I could hear the whirling of the pump engine pumping the water to the guys, the sound of the fire crackling in the background and the distant shouting of various captains to their firefighters. These were the moments I lived for, the saving of property and life. Knowing I was doing something good, worthwhile, with my life. I couldn't give life, but I could save it. It was definitely a god like complex. Not that all firefighters felt superior or cocky, but this was why risking our life was worth it.
What seemed like hours later, which I'm sure were only minutes later; Jasper and Seth stumbled out the far right hand door carrying two people draped across their backs. Carlisle, who had been running around talking to the other captains, hadn't noticed them. I quickly grabbed my mic in the engine and radioed him.
"Engineer Swan to Captain Cullen, come in."
"Cullen to Swan, go ahead."
"We need a medic over here. Two survivors, over."
"Copy that, on the way. Over and out."
The engine made a suddenly lurching sound I scrambled over to see why. With the amount of water being pulled from the city's water reserves, the pressure coming for the hydrant was hardly enough to keep up with the demand for it at the end of the nozzle on Edward and Emmett's end. I quickly switch the pump over from the hydrant to the reserve tank and brought the PSI back up to 300. I needed to pay better attention now.
As soon as Jasper and Seth dropped the survivors off with the medic, they turned and high tailed it back inside. I could only imagine the number of homeless people leaving inside that building. Seattle was hit hard with this recession and I know many people lost their homes and jobs. This factory was one of the ones shut down right at the beginning. I suddenly heard a loud explosion and I felt my heart sink. I glanced around the engine to look fully at the building as I heard the torrent of frantic voices cut across the radio and in the shouting now taking place.
"Masen to Captain Cullen."
"Captain Cullen, go ahead."
"Small explosion on the south west side of the building. Zero dead, one injured. Found the paint can stock, sir. Over." I heard Edwards voice carry over the radio. His voice didn't sound as frantic and scared as I did in that moment but it was good to hear his voice. I felt the little twist of anxiousness in my stomach unwind a little.
"Who is injured? Over."
"Firefighter Pine, Engine 4. Over"
"Medic on the way, over and out." Another voice cut in. I didn't recognize who it was, but probably one of the many paramedics running around right now. All the radios were connected so separate engines could talk to each other on fires as big as this one, so it wasn't uncommon for another party to interrupt. It was like an unspoken rule that nobody talked unless need be. That's what the pal device was for. If someone went down, that sounded to alert everyone. The radio frequency was for the call of extra needed support.
"Bella!" I looked over to my right to see Jasper and Seth making their way towards me dragging a guy with them. The guy almost didn't look injured; in fact, he looked like he was trying to run back into the building.
"Jasper?" I mumbled as I heard his voice cut across the radio as he yanked his BA mask and helmet off. "Medic needed, Engine 17, North west side of the building." No introduction or anything, Jasper cut straight to the point. "Bella, suit up, I need your help." I spun around and grabbed my helmet and SCBA mask out of the compartment next to me.
"Explain." I said quickly as I started to right my gear, latch up my jacket and grab a BA bottle. Seth had grabbed the man around the waist and pulled him to the side of the engine trying to hold on to him.
"Found that guy up on the second floor. There was a small cave in he was trying to dig through. He is messed up pretty bad, breathing that smoke in like it was nothing. His leg is also broken." I glanced at the man and sure enough his dirty jeans were thoroughly soaked with blood. Jasper's voice lowered to a near whisper as he continued. "He isn't right upstairs, I'm thinking a 5150. He's babbling and not making any sense. But I do know, that behind that rubble he was trying to dig through is a little child. Maybe five or six years old if not younger. Neither Seth nor I will be able to fit through what little crawl space we could clear. We need you."
I nodded my head as I turned the valve on the BA tank and opened it up. I quickly donned it and was about to put my mask on when a medic pulled up. I watched as they pulled the guy into the back of their bus for treatment. He kept yelling something about "53 is not enough" and "Don't coat it with wine, coat it with cheese." Jasper was right, he didn't make any sense. Seth walked up next to me and tapped me on the shoulder. I noticed he had grabbed the sawsall tool and slung it across his back. I nodded at him and turned back to Jasper.
"You've got the pump. Keep our hose at 150 and Edward and Em's to 300. Let Carlisle know I'm going in." I pulled the mask over my head and tightened down. The surrounding ambient sounds immediately faded away into a dull roar. My heart beating loudly and my shallow breathing was all that was standing out to me anymore. I tapped on Seth's shoulder, handed him the nozzle and point to the door in a way that I hoped said "let's go."
I had just got inside the door when I heard Jasper's voice carry over the radio. "Whitlock to Captain Cullen, come in."
"Captain Cullen, go ahead."
"Change of plans. Engineer Swan is now in with firefighter Clearwater. Small confinement search and rescue. I have the engine. Over."
"Thanks for the update Whitlock. Swan – keep a level head."
"Yes, Captain. Over and out." I responded as I followed behind Seth up the stairs. We were crawling up the stairs in a slow methodical way. I could smell the burning stench of paint and paint thinner. The chemicals were thick in the air. The fire cast an eerie glow across the ceiling as we reached the landing. It looked like offices off to our left and storage rooms off to the right. I followed Seth as he turned down the right and around the corner. Sure enough, right in front of us was a pile of concrete and rebar.
We carefully got to work. Together we slowly pulled the heavy pieces of concrete over and out of the way, trying to make sure we didn't cause anymore of the wall and ceiling to come down. We still had to make sure it was somewhat structurally sound even if it was coming down. Just needed to get it to hold long enough to get in, grab the kid and get out. Soon enough we had a hole that was roughly two feet in diameter and I could see into the storage room that held the child. Seth grabbed the sawsall and started it up. He meticulously started to cut away at the rebar that was criss-crossing over the little hole we had made.
As soon as he was done he motioned for me to check it out, see if it would work. I bent my head forward to see if my head would clear it with my helmet still attached. I was elated when I discovered it would. I slipped my BA pack off my back turned to face Seth, handing him the pack to hold and help me as I crawled in. I got down on my hands and knees and slowly started to ease backwards, feet first through the hole. The only hold up I had while slowly slipping through the hole was my turnouts bunching up. I made a mental note to get my equipment resized this week. If I was going to go into more fires, I needed my gear to fit correctly and not be so big.
Once I got through the hole, I signaled for Seth to slip my BA tank through the hole. I quickly slung it back onto my back and turned to crawl in further. In the corner furthest from me was a little boy. He was filthy, covered in dirt and soot with a tiny little ragged looking stuffed monkey in his arms. Five was guessing old; he was probably more along the lines of three, maybe four years old at most. He was so little.
I had just crawled over to the little boy when I hear the crack. It was deafening. It sound like the whole building had split in two. I looked over my shoulder in time to see Seth's face through the hole go sheet white like he saw a ghost. The concrete that was still barely being held up by the rebar started to give. I quickly flung myself over the little boy to protect him from the impending disaster. The room started falling apart around us. I curled myself up and around the boy, pulling him to my side and out of the way the best I could as the room continued to shake, but it wasn't enough. I felt a heavy weight slam down of my right foot. I screamed out as the blinding pain shot up my leg. The room gave one more lurch and stopped shaking.
"Bella!"
"Bella?"
"Bells?"
"Babe?"
I could hear so many voices streaming over the radio as I opened my eyes and looked around the darkened room. I carefully moved a little to try and sit up, but the sting of pain was killing me. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a couple glow sticks, snapping them and letting the orange glow bathe the room. I could barely see through the haze of the room, the dust from the concrete crumbling and the smoke from the fire was making it seem as black as night in the room.
"Captain Cullen to Engineer Swan, report."
"Swan to Captain, I'm alive."
There was a moment of silence and no answer from Carlisle. His voice came through the radio again, this time sounding frantic. "Captain Cullen to Engineer Swan, report now."
"Carlisle?!?"
No response. Shit. The radio was out. I pulled my helmet off my head and my BA mask followed directly after. I turned to see the frightened little boy crying into my side. "Sweetie, sweetie?" I pulled him into my lap as I leaned up against the wall. "Are you okay?" I started checking him over but all I was finding was superficial wounds. "Can you tell me your name sweetie?" I ask as soothingly as possible.
"Tyler." He squeaked out and buried his head in my jacket. He coughed a few times and I knew this was bad. The room was heavy and thick with smoke. I grabbed my BA mask and held it towards him.
"Can you put this to your face and take a huge gulp of air for me?" He nodded his head and moved his face closer. I tried not to cringe in pain from the weight of him on my obviously broken ankle and leg, still pinned under a slab of concrete. "Deep breath."
"BELLA?" I could barely hear Seth's voice filter through the concrete wall of rubble between us. I didn't know for sure if he could hear me if I yelled back.
"Tyler sweetie, I have to yell back at him but don't be frightened, okay?" He just nodded his head but I didn't really know how much he might have actually understood. "SETH? CAN YOU HEAR ME?"
"BELLA? IS THAT YOU? ARE YOU OKAY? I CAN'T REALLY HEAR YOU."
"SETH, I'M PINNED IN. GET HELP!" I pulled the pal device off my shoulder and tossed the little box across the room. It needed to sit without movement for thirty seconds in order for it to go off. That would alert everyone here that I was down without assistance.
"WHAT?"
"HELP!"
"Clearwater to Captain Cullen, come in?" I heard Seth's voice crackle over the radio in my helmet.
"Captain Cullen, go ahead."
"Bella is pinned sir. Collapse on the North West side of the building. I think she is still alive, sir. I can barely hear a muffled yell through the concrete. I assume her radio is not working."
"Help is on the way. Stay put, over and out."
I looked around the room trying to take in my full surroundings while I waited for the pal device to go off. We were stuck in a little tiny spit of a room now, if you could even still call it a room. The only source of light I had was the several glow sticks I broke from my pocket littering the floor.
BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP
The pal device went off like clockwork. "BELLA!" That time it was Edward's voice I heard, bellowing through the barely working radio in my helmet. "Bella, can you hear me? Use your radio please!" His voice sounded so worried and scared and all I wanted was nothing more than to be able to answer him.
I could taste the soot from the smoke on my tongue. It weighed heavily in the air. My heart was pounding so violently against my chest I thought for sure it was going to give out. I spent my whole life training to keep myself out of situations like this. To save the people who found themselves here. Never did I think I would find myself here praying that the men on the other side of the debris would find a way in. I could hear the crackle of the fire over head, to the sides and all around me. The sound of people shouting muffled by the thick concrete broken to bits on the floor, soft sirens in the distance and the sobbing of the little boy in my arms. "Deep breath" I shouted to him as I held the SCBA mask to his face to get him some fresh oxygen. I pulled it away and quickly brought it back to my face inhaling the fresh crisp air. I knew I had maybe thirty minutes left of clean air in the tank. Whether we would make it that long was the question.
It all happened so fast that there was no way out. Now I was trapped in this tiny crawl space with this little boy who was about four years old. It was stifling hot and the air was thick with smoke. We would die of inhalation before we'd burn to death – at least that was what I could hope for. I put the mask back to the boys face and immediately started opening up my turnouts. He was small enough, maybe I could get him into my turnout pants and jacket and protect him the best I could. I turned to him and saw the fright in his eyes. No child, no adult, should ever have that look in their eyes. "Deep breath and I am going to help you into my jacket to protect you, okay?" He nodded his head and took a deep breath. I quickly pulled his little body to mine and put his legs on top of mine in the spacious pants. I clipped them back together and quickly pulled the jacket closed over our two bodies and locking the latches. I left the top one open so he could still have his head out for the SCBA mask. Now all I could do was sit here and pray the debris to my right gets cleared in enough time to get out of here alive.
There must have been more concrete than I thought separating myself and the crew. I could hear them working on the other side of it all, but their voices were muffled. The radio in my helmet was only crackling sound now and I had to wonder how many firefighters had abandoned the rest of their search and rescue to come save us instead. It made my heart ache to know that there could be others in the place that have a higher statistical probability of being saved than us, yet they were here trying to dig us out.
The air ran out in my BA tank soon enough and I tried to do the math in my head as quick as possible to figure out how long we had until we passed out from the amount of smoke in the air. Smoke inhalation would be our killer in this situation, this I was sure of. Not too long after, the bell dinged on my tank to alert me that it was empty, and Tyler passed out in my lap. I knew, without a doubt that I would pass out soon after.
A/N: Don't kill me for leaving it there….trust….
Oh and the ramblings by the 5150 guy – the "53 is not enough" and "Don't coat it with wine, coat it with cheese." When I had to do my ER time for my EMT, we had a 5150 guy come into the ER. He kept repeating those same things over and over for the 6 hours that he was there…