Chapter 3

"Engine 51...Truck 81...Ambulance 61...Squad 3. Structure fire, 1140 N. Laramie..."

The team threw on their gear and was rolling out the door in less than a minute.

Kelly couldn't help but think...this was a residential neighborhood, not terribly far from his own. He hated these jobs...it always reminded him of the time things hit a little too close to home.

Hopefully they would get there before some poor SOB lost everything.

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He jumped down from the Squad and quickly took everything in.

A little house...burning out of control. Flames were shooting a dozen feet from the building...black smoke was pouring out the windows that had already shattered in the intense heat.

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He heard a commotion to his right.

There was a man about fifty-ish ,wearing a white undershirt and blue pajama bottoms...no shoes...straining and struggling against two cops and two civilians who tried to hold him back.

"He's still in there! He's just a little kid, damn it! Somebody help him!"

Severide ran over to the man.

"Who's inside?!" he demanded. "Where is he?!"

"A little kid...Mason...six years old! He's in an upstairs bedroom!" the man cried.

"Which room?!" Kelly needed to know specifically. He didn't have much time to search.

"I don't know! It's my neighbor's house!"

"Fuck!"

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Kelly turned to his men.

"We got a kid in an upstairs bedroom!" He told them. "Mills...with me. Clarke and Capp team up! Let's find him!"

They pulled their hoods and masks into place and charged into the house.

Severide hugged the wall with Mills on his six as he made his way up the stairs.

This was bad. Bad...bad...bad.

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At the top of the stairs he motioned Capp and Clarke to go right and he and Mills went left.

They entered the first room they came to...it looked like it might be a nursery. Nothing. They came up empty.

The next room appeared to be the master bedroom...and they struck out there too.

Still hugging the walls, they made their way back into the hall and prepared to help Capp and Clarke search the remaining rooms.

The two firefighters came out of the first room on the right...and they approached the only closed door in the hall. Kelly could feel the heat through his glove. This was the seat of the fire.

And it had to be where the boy was.

He said a quick prayer...then kicked in the door. He barely had time to dive out of the way when a ten foot flame shot out into the hallway.

Crouching down as low as he could, he entered the room. It was an inferno...everything was burning. He crawled toward the structure in the middle of the room...it was once a bed. And beside it on the floor...was a small form.

Severide grabbed it and got the hell out...his men right behind him.

But he knew he was too late.

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Kelly ran from the burning house and straight for Ambulance 61. He deposited his load on the waiting gurney and quickly stripped off his mask and hood.

Shay and Dawson were already working on the little boy...his face blackened with soot and his pajamas nearly burned off.

Shay looked up and caught his eyes. She shook her head.

The little boy was beyond saving.

"Fuck!" he cursed again.

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He scanned the crowd...looking for the neighbor.

But instead his eyes landed on a woman.

She was about thirty...maybe thirty five. Her blonde hair was gathered back in a pony tail...and she wore a long, beige, down coat. She was standing beside a silver Camry...and in her arms she held a baby, wrapped in a pink fleece blanket to protect it from the March wind.

The woman seemed calm...too calm...as she bounced the baby in her arms...and watched the house go up in flames.