Thanks for the reviews and follows - such kind words and not much has happened yet. It's about to get real! Enjoy.
The gun went off signaling the start of the race, both men going at a snail's pace. They decided to take it easy, jogging and talking, although each vowed to cross the finish line just a little ahead of the other. Neither one would get to that line on this day.
They were about three miles in when the first boom was heard. And felt.
"What the hell?" yelled Kelly instinctively dropping to his knees feeling a reverberation in his chest. Casey put a hand on his shoulder steadying them both, almost trying to get his bearings. That sound, it didn't register.
Coming to their senses, they heard screaming about half a mile in front of them. Screaming, yelling...and a rush of people running straight at them. That's when they saw the smoke. As others ran away from the commotion, the two firefighters headed straight for it.
"A damn bomb!" yelled Casey over the masses screaming and running in all directions.
Bodies were strewn on a large stretch of sidewalk with some stunned victims stumbling around blood seeping from wounds. People were jumping in, helping the injured. Several called out that emergency services were on the way.
Kelly called 51 immediately.
"Chief, it's Severide. There's been an explosion at the race! Jesus Christ, bodies everywhere." Kelly watched in a daze as Casey ran to a fire erupting from what used to be a trash can and spreading to a grassy area. It took him a few seconds to act, to get his legs moving.
He started off in his friend's direction but saw someone lying in a nearby bush moaning softly. A young man, dressed in running gear from the waist up, the rest of him mostly gone. His legs literally missing, just a mass of blood in their place.
"Casey!" yelled Kelly taking off his jacket wrapping it tightly around one stump...all that was left of his right leg. He had nothing for the other. He wished he was in his familiar uniform, that belt, the suspenders would've come in handy.
Casey left the fire, running to his friend's side. His jacket was a burned, deteriorating piece of cloth.
"What's your name?" he asked the young man marveling that he wasn't screaming. Shock probably the cause of the calm.
"J-j- Jason W-Wilson," he replied. "I saw h-h-him," he continued.
"Jason, try to relax. You're gonna be okay," said Kelly grabbing at the other partial leg with his bare hands, applying pressure. He knew his T-shirt wouldn't do the trick and prayed an ambo would get there soon. But so many victims.
"I s-saw him. Black cap, b-b-backpack. L-looked at me." The young man began to shake violently.
"Shit!" cursed Kelly starting to take off his shirt.
"That's not gonna do anything," Casey intoned putting a hand on his shoulder stopping him. "Look, EMTs here. Hang on, Jason." Matt pulled Kelly's hands away replacing them with his own, applying more direct pressure. Everyone was busy taking care of victims, none of the emergency responders made a move in their direction. Hard to believe there were runners and bystanders in far worse condition.
A new blast took them by surprise coming from directly behind them. The force of it blowing out the windows of the houses across the street. They were lying flat on top of each other, Severide and Casey both flopping on Jason protectively. They were unhurt except for the incessant ringing in their ears.
They spun around looking at the blast site, a three story with flames shooting out of the windows. Another bomb set off from within, probably third story judging from the blackened hole in the building. Someone was screaming from inside. That scream neither man would forget anytime soon.
Casey had his hands on Jason ebbing the flow of blood. He knew if he left, the young man would surely die. Kelly took off toward the house.
"Shit, Kelly. Wait!" he screamed wondering if his friend could even hear him, the ringing in his own ears leaving him unable to hear much. Just that damn scream of the woman inside. Someone inside. He started yelling for help, anyone to come so he could join Severide. The nearby paramedics busily working on victims who had no one rendering aid.
Kelly felt the front door, not burning hot. He opened it easily, surprised it wasn't locked. Inside there wasn't much smoke on one, confirming his thought that the bomb went off further up. As he made his way to the second floor, things got intense, thicker smoke, some flames licking down from the ceiling. The screaming combined with the ringing in his ears created a pounding in his head. The yelling suddenly stopped and he wondered if he'd gone deaf. No, can still hear the creaking of burning wood upstairs, he thought, picking up the pace rushing from one room to the next.
The woman on two reluctantly jumped realizing she probably wouldn't be killed from a two story fall. A broken ankle seemed a small price to pay. Casey was the one really yelling now. He watched the woman fall and knew Kelly was inside still looking for her. In there with a T-shirt and sweat pants. He started screaming for Kelly, knowing there was no way he could be heard. Jason was fading, the blood loss immense. He was desperate and wanted to be in two places at once. Several times he considered leaving Jason, but he couldn't sentence the young man to death. No, he had to stay.
Sometimes help comes in the most unlikely of forms. Hank Voight was by his side saying something. Casey never thought he'd see the day he was happy to see the sergeant. Today was that day.
Voight took off his belt and tied off Jason's remaining left leg tightly.
"Severide's in there," yelled Casey getting up starting to sprint to the house.
"Get the hell in there!" Voight commanded.
BOOM! Another blast knocked Casey flat on his back a couple of feet. The hot air hit him in the face like a super sonic blow dryer. He'd felt it many times before but always in a burning building, surrounded by flames. Not houses and trash cans in his city blowing up. As he lay on his back immobile, he thought about bombs being deliberately set, about his friend in that house. The house that just blew up.
"Casey! Casey! Talk to me!" Erin Lindsay was on her knees feeling his body for shrapnel, any visible injuries.
"I'm okay," he whispered trying to lift himself up, thankful his back took the brunt of the fall, not his compromised head. She pushed him back down.
"Let them check you out," she commanded in her husky voice.
"No," he said pushing himself up. "Kelly," he said shaking his head trying to focus, get the cobwebs out. Panic and a sense of urgency settling in the clearer his mind got.
"What? Where's Kelly?" asked Erin panic rising in her to new levels. Thoughts of finding a bomber replaced with thoughts of finding her boyfriend, the man she loved.
"Casey!" she yelled in the lieutenant's face.
It did the trick. Casey snapped back and snapped into action.
"Erin," he started, rising to his feet, grabbing the detective's shoulders. "Kelly's in there," he said slowly motioning to the fallen house, "but I'm gettin' him out. I promise you. I'm gettin' him out."
He just hoped it would be alive.
Modeling this one after the Boston bombing. Much more to come in the next chapter - Erin makes an appearance and Casey and Kelly have that conversation I've always wanted them to about Andy Darden.