2
Caleb
“Hey, pretty boy!” Brian, one of my colleagues, called me, and I rolled my eyes, bored of hearing that stupid nickname again and again.
That was Brian’s old joke. I was blonde and I had a muscular frame, so the guys from the firehouse were always telling me I’d chosen the wrong career. They thought I was better as a model. Yeah, right, like that would ever happen.
“What, Brian?”
He entered the room and laid down on the bench next to mine, picking up the weight above his head. We were in the small firehouse gym that was equipped with several exercise machines, which helped us stay in shape and kill some time as we waited for our next assignment.
“You still owe me that bet. She didn’t sleep with you.”
I rolled my eyes again and raised my weight high above my head, my arms slightly shaking. We’d made a bet last week about a chick from the bar we’d visited. She was busty and looked like she was up for some fun. We’d drank too much, and for some stupid reason we decided to place bets. I’d claimed I would have her in my bed by the end of the night. I failed.
She called me the next day, though, having changed her mind, and asked to see me that same night. Needless to say, I didn’t refuse.
“Maybe not that night, but she was all mine the next one.”
He lowered his weight and brought it back up again. “Nope. That doesn’t count. You didn’t manage to get her that night, so you owe me.”
“Fine. As soon as we finish here, I’ll give you the cash.”
“Was she good, bro?” Roy, another of my colleagues, asked.
I smiled, remembering her blowjob, and my cock throbbed in response. “Yeah, she was good. She was so good that I don’t regret those few bucks I’ll give you.”
“Man, you’re one lucky son of a bitch,” my best friend, Trent, told me, who was running on a treadmill across the room.
Just like me, he looked like he belonged on the cover page of the glossy magazines more than in Firehouse 149 in downtown Seattle, where we currently worked at. He was extremely muscular and popular with women. Maybe even more than I was, though I’d never admit that to him.
Trent came here before me, having joined the brigade after high school. I became a firefighter after saving a woman from a burning car seven years ago, and that was when I met Trent. We’d become friends almost instantly, and we were inseparable ever since.
This job was stressful, and it took a lot of courage and energy on a daily basis, but everything was easier with Trent next to me. We worked together perfectly, always assisting each other when needed, and he was the best friend a person could have.
“Lucky? Why?”
“The last chick I slept with was dry as a desert.”
We erupted into laughter.
“Similar to Roxanne,” Roy said and huffed, picking up his weight again.
Roxanne, Roy’s current ex-girlfriend. They were one of those couples who kept breaking up and coming back together, so I’d heard a lot about her manipulative and selfish ways. Apparently, she was bad in bed, so I had no idea why he always returned to her.
“Seriously, man.” Trent increased his tempo on the machine. “She’s bad news. You know it, we know it, and even your grandma’s cousin knows it. Everyone knows what a bitch she is, but you keep putting up with her.”
Roy put the weight back to its place above the bench. “Well, I won’t anymore. Here. I swear I’ll stay away from her for good now.”
“Yeah, right,” I said, giving him a half-smile. “You said that a million times already. You even lost a bet twice, and you think we’ll believe you now?”
Roy looked slightly offended, but he decided to drop the topic. “How about you, Brian? Any new meat you can brag about?”
Brian opened his mouth to answer him, but he never got the chance since the alarm went off. The atmosphere in the room changed immediately, all our joking immediately forgotten as we stopped working out to rush to get our gear.
My heart pounded faster in my chest, fueled by adrenaline that coursed through my veins. We rushed out of the gym, all of us wearing deep frowns on our faces, and went to the lockers to change into our personal protective equipment or as we called it, our PPE. Other guys who were in the same shift joined us, and nobody uttered a word until we got the address and went to the trucks. According to the report, this apartment building fire managed to spread through the whole building, so it was highly possible that there would be victims.
I tightened my jaw, noticing out of the corner of my eye how Trent clenched his hands around the steering wheel. He navigated through heavy traffic, switching lanes quickly and taking sharp turns, and we barely even spoke a word. This would be a long night, and I tapped my fingers on my lap as I hoped there wouldn’t be anyone hurt.
It wasn’t uncommon for one of us to get injured or burned during emergencies. Since our dispatchers knew only what the callers had told them—which was most of the time incomplete—we were always heading into unknown, which could cost us lives. Our lives. And the lives of the people inside the structure.
We reached the building in ten minutes, and my adrenaline spiked, leading my body as we jumped out of the truck and put on our face masks. We quickly assessed the situation, agreeing with others about our positions, and went to work. The bystanders had already gathered around, some of them even filming the fire. We could hear the screams of the people from the inside, which prompted us to move faster.
My breathing quickened and senses became sharper, and all my focus now was on entering the building and finding out if there was anyone that was trapped inside. Others were already grabbing the fire hoses, approaching the building from different sides, and I gave Trent a final nod before I stepped in between the furious flames and entered the long hallway.
The cracking sound of the fire all around me made me almost deaf to anything else, and I strained to hear any voices or screams on my way up the stairs. The smoke was thick and I had difficulty seeing anything as I went through random doors of the seemingly vacant apartments.
“Help!” I heard someone scream, and my pace quickened as I made my way to the person calling from the apartment nearby. It was so damn hot, and I reminded myself to stay focused on the task instead of thinking about all the negative probabilities.
“I’m here! Don’t worry! I’ll come and get you out now!” I shouted to the person calling for help so they would know that help was on their way. “Get low towards better air!”
I kicked the door open and rushed inside, covering my head when I passed next to a hallway closet that had caught fire. The flames licked up the furniture, reaching the ceiling that was growing black, and I had trouble seeing anything through smoke and orange glow.
“Help! I’m in the bedroom!”
I had no idea where the fucking bedroom was, since there were three closed doors in the next hallway, but I tried my luck with the first door.
“I’m coming inside, so step away from the door!” I warned them before I kicked the door and darted inside.
I found an old man in his pajamas kneeling next to his single bed, his trembling form almost frozen on his spot.
“Sir! I’m here! I’ll help you get out of here.”
I approached him slowly, taking care not to come in contact with the flames that were dancing dangerously around the small room. It was almost impossible to see anything, since most of the space was completely swallowed by fire and smoke, and I had difficulty helping the poor man out of the room. He was crying, clutching onto my arm too tightly, and I willed myself to calm down my breathing.
“It’s going to be alright. Please, be careful when taking your next steps.”
“My home,” he cried out, letting me pull him out of his apartment and down the hallway of his floor. “My things... Everything is ruined.” He sobbed loudly, but his cries were almost completely drowned out by the cracking and popping sounds everywhere around us. It was so hot.
“It’s going to be alright,” I repeated. All that mattered now was getting this man out alive. “Come on. Careful. We’re close to the exit.”
Several minutes later we were out of the building, passing next to the guys who were working quickly to douse the fire, and an intense feeling of accomplishment for managing to save this man’s life washed over me for a few moments. There were more people outside now, some of them this building’s residents, and their shocked and terrified faces created a heavy weight in my chest. Hopefully, I would be able to reach all the residents inside, if there were any.
I rushed back inside, going up the stairs and through the apartments in my search for any remaining residents. I passed next to the apartments were the fire had already been put out, relieved that we managed to fight against the flames quickly. I came to the top floor, where the raging fire had devoured the most of its apartments, and concentrated on the sounds.
I entered the third apartment on my left. I covered my head and halted abruptly when the ceiling started falling right in front of me, and my heartbeat skyrocketed once more.
“Is anybody here?!”
I trudged through the place, trying to listen for anyone. The fire had already spread through most of the rooms, and I had to bend forward as I walked further inside.
“Is anybody here?!”
My heart hammered against my rib cage, because I was sure I’d heard screams coming from this place, but now I couldn’t find anyone at all. Had something happened to them?
Was I too late?
“Help me! Please! I’m stuck here! I can’t open the door!”
I heard someone hitting against the door next to me, and I stopped, more than relieved that they were alive.
“Please, move away from the door. I’m going to kick it in.”
I waited a few seconds until I was sure that the person on the other side of the door heard my instruction. I kicked it and stepped inside, and my eyes immediately found a teenage girl in the middle of a bathroom.
“Thank God!” She exclaimed and rushed toward me, pulling me into hug. “I thought I was going to die,” she coughed out, taking deep breaths, which just brought on more coughs. She needed oxygen, but I didn’t have the time.
I wrapped my arms around her shoulders reassuringly, leading her out the confined space. “It’s going to be alright. Just be careful where you step, okay? I’m going to get you out of here.”
Suddenly, a part of the ceiling fell down, missing us by inches. Shit. If we stayed here even a minute longer, we would be roasted.
“No!” She screamed, digging her nails into my waist, and her anxiety seeped into me. I brushed it off, refusing to succumb to it.
“Calm down. Are you hurt?” I inspected her body for any injuries, extremely tense because we couldn’t get out quickly enough and fire was everywhere around us.
“No,” she cried out, looking at me through her tears. She was so young, yet she had to experience this extreme horror.
“Good. Look. We’re going to continue and we won’t stop. Okay? Just a little bit more.”
I picked her up, knowing I wouldn’t do any damage, it would be faster this way.
I spoke calmly to her all the way down the stairs, looking all around us in extreme caution. Trent and Brian were on the floor below, having successfully extinguished the fire. I carried the girl outside and dropped her off at the EMT.
“She needs oxygen!” I yelled to them before running back inside to check for more people.
An hour later we finally managed to put the fire out, and there were no residents who remained in the building. Trent and I got outside, both breathing heavily from exhaustion, and I took off my mask, the smells of burned wood, walls, and furniture immediately hitting my nostrils. I was completely covered with sweat, and my adrenaline began dissipating slowly.
“We did it, man,” I told Trent, more than grateful that no one got injured.
I glanced at the ruined building, and an overwhelming peace and satisfaction filled my body, because despite the seriousness of this situation, everyone managed to come outside in one piece. The worst had passed.
“It feels good, bro,” he told me, slapping my shoulder lightly.
“Damn, right.” I smiled back at him. “Good job, Trent.”
“You, too. Good job.”