They weren't told anything about a gun, or the gang standoff that was taking place right outside the house.
No, when the call from dispatch first came in, all it mentioned was that some little girl had called 911 after her grandmother fell down in the kitchen and couldn't get up. Apparently there were no other adults in the house to help or speak to.
It should have been a simple call. According to what the girl had told the 911 operator, her grandmother was still awake, just in pain and couldn't get up.
So yes, it should have been a simple call. Go to the house, go inside, maybe break the door open if the girl couldn't open it herself, put the grandmother on a stretcher, and take them to the closest hospital.
Really, they didn't need to send the entire team and fire truck out there to respond. But it had been one of their odd and rare slow days, so the entire team, Buck included, went out.
So Buck could only wonder how he had ended up alone in the alleyway behind the house, with two armed men pointing guns at his chest.
Maybe he should have asked Eddie or Chimney to come out with him when Bobby asked if he could go grab the wench from the truck so they could get the gurney around an awkward corner in the house. They were both just standing around inside anyway. But then they probably would have looked at him weirdly if he had asked for help getting the wench from the truck. It only required one person to carry it.
Although with a man now pointing a gun at him, Buck would have taken that weird look from them instead right now.
He slowly raised his hands above his shoulders, trying to indicate he was unarmed and not a threat to them. They knew firefighters didn't carry weapons, right?
"Look guys," he said, trying to get the men to relax. Their stiff and tense postures weren't doing anyone any good here. "I don't know who you think I am, but I'm a firefighter. See what I'm wearing. I don't have any business with you guys."
"We didn't call no firefighters," one of the men said, shifting his grip on the gun in his hands.
"You're right," Buck put a shaky smile on his face. "You didn't call, but the young girl who lives there," he pointed with one of his thumbs at the house behind him. "Did. She called about her grandmother that fell in their kitchen. That's all we're here to do, is to help the two of them, so can you -"
"What? You think we're just gonna let you go so you can go call the cops?!" the other guy yelled out.
Okay, so maybe that didn't work…
Buck just had to think. They were all made to take that one conflict de-escalation class last month. Hadn't the instructor taught them steps to calm situations exactly like the one Buck now found himself in?
Now, what were the steps again?
Distract and direct? No, that's for when you see two people about to start a fight.
Listen and empathize? Maybe that would work, if Buck could get these guys to start talking.
"So…" Buck started. "What are you-"
"Does it look like we want to talk to you?!" the man holding the gun yelled out, cutting off Buck's question.
Well then, there goes that strategy. And they were still at a standstill. All Buck could think of doing now was to wait until one of his teammates came out of the house to catch him in this… predicament.
He could only hope that happened sooner rather than later. They had to be coming out soon though, right?
Oh wait. They wouldn't be because they were still waiting for Buck to get back with the wench.
"Hey Buck," he heard a voice call for him over the radio on his shoulder. "What's taking you so long with that wench?"
"Are they talking to you?" the guy not holding the gun yelled out, asking Buck.
"Yeah," Buck said. "They're trying to see what's taking me so long to get back to them. As I was saying, all I need to do is grab something from that ambulance that will help us get this grandmother to the hospital…"
The two men then shared a look, as Buck slowly inched his hand to his radio, wanting to answer Bobby's question.
"Hey! We never said you could answer them!" the guy holding the gun yelled out when he saw Buck's movement. He then took a step closer to Buck, pointing the gun directly at his chest.
Every inch Buck got closer to these two, he felt as if he was getting closer and closer to his death. It was by far not a good feeling.
He only had to ask himself for probably the millionth time now, how the fuck does he keep getting himself into these impossible situations? Seriously, when was the last time you heard this happening to anyone on this job?
"Hey, Buck! What's taking you so long out here?" Buck heard the sound of the house door opening followed by Eddie calling out for him.
"Dude, they got more of them than us now!" guy without a gun said. "Come on, let's just forget about this and get out of here!"
Man holding the gun hesitated for a second longer, the gun still trained directly on Buck's chest, before he nodded to himself, and took off running with his friend.
Buck watched them run off as he dropped his arms, his whole body nearly dropping to the ground as well as Eddie joined him and held him up. "What was that?" Eddie asked.
"I- I don't know," Buck said.
"Did- Did they have a gun?" Eddie asked.
"Yeah," Buck nodded. "They did… and they were pointing it at me the entire time."