No Step On Slime

Epilogue: A Burning Van on the Side of the Road

Hector could hear the explosion from down the street. It rattled the windows of his gun shop for just a moment, as a blinding flash of light shone through the glass.

"Goddamnit, another one of those..." 

Mere moments later, an alert blared on his cell phone, warning of local extremist activity. Annoyed, the man flicked his phone off. If they were trying to warn anyone, they had been a few moments too late.

Admittedly, it had been some time since the last home-grown improvised explosive device had been detonated within this town. Last time was... eight months ago? If he remembered correctly, it killed the sheriff.

Poor bastard had just been elected, too.

Hector turned away from the box of lower recievers that Hunter had just sold him, and opened up the door of his store to peer at the carnage. At the nearby intersection, the one that cornered the plaza, the man could see fire coming from what looked like a vehicle. Even though only seconds had passed since the explosion, the vehicle was already engulfed in flames.

Wait a second... that vehicle. Hector peered at it, as his eyes adjusted to the glaring bright fire. It looked familiar, and considering that Hunter had just left...

Oh shit.

Hector grabbed the fire extinguisher he kept behind the front door, and immediately began running out. The fire was large, covering the intersection that the van had been stopped at... And just as he had managed to get to the sidewalk, red and white flashing lights appeared only a block away, accompanied by the screeching of a fire siren.

Regardless, Hector kept on running towards Hunter's burning car.

Please let me get there on time, please let me get there on time...

The firetruck skidded to a stop next to the ruined van, the crew of the vehicle swiftly dismounting to attent to the unfolding disaster before them. Hector, however, continued his way to the fire with his measly extinguisher in hand.

"Hey! Stop!"

Someone from the truck was calling out to him, but he wasn't listening.

"We've got this under control, don't go rushing into trouble! Hey there!"

A firefighter woman grabbed Hector by the arm, almost tripping him in the process. The fire extinguisher flew out of his hands, hitting the asphalt with a cloud clunk.

"Aye, get your hands off me!" the man yelled, struggling against the firefighter. She was strong and continued yelling at Hector, trying to convince the man that running into the inferno was not a good idea.

He wasn't convinced, though, and his struggling hastened.

"Hunter! Hunter, hang in there!"

The firefighting gal's attempts at pulling him back paused right there. The woman's ironclad grip remained in place, but it seemed his yelling had given her pause.

"...Hunter?"

Huh?

"You said Hunter, right? As in, Hunter Revin?"

Without thinking much of it, the young man turned to look at the woman who repeated what he said.

"Yeah, Hunter's in there! You know him?"

The forlorn expression on her face was one that could only be described as shock. Her brown eyes, glistening from the flames, flickered towards Hector for a moment before returning to the burning wreck.

"That's... that's the name of my younger brother."

Hector was struck speechless in that moment. His eyes focused on the woman now, to examine her features. Her dull brown hair, combined with the shape of her eyes that gave her a tired apperance... she indeed did have a notable resemblance to Hunter.

Hector recalled his friend mentioning that one of his siblings was an EMT too...

The firefighter — the one who claimed to be Hunter's sibling, had ceased her struggles against him. But he no longer had the will to run into the flames.

The two could only stare at the wreck of the burning van. Sirens wailed all around them, as the flashing lights from emergency vehicles washed their surroundings in flickering red and blue.