The Truth Behind the Badges

Tragedy

Anthony's POV (Dad)

I had gotten a weird call from Kira, but when she said Valerie was hurt I jumped up quickly. I had Truck 62 taken out of commission and my crew gathered in seconds.

With lights flashing and sirens screaming, we made it to the house in time to see someone in a black car throw a bottle out of the car and into my front yard and then take off. The yard was now on fire. I ordered my crew to handle that as I ran quickly into my house. I saw the broken windows and Dylan's head above the kitchen table.

Once inside, I ran straight towards the kitchen. Dylan was trying to keep Valerie from bleeding out while Kira was sitting with her back against the wall, blood seeping through the towel she was holding to her right arm. Dylan looked up at me and I moved to take over for him. I watched as Dylan let out a shaky breath then scooted over to Kira and held pressure on her arm. "Anna is upstairs. I put music on for her and told her not to take her headphones off until one of us came up."

We had called for an ambo before we ever got to the house and it pulled up now. I stepped back and let them do their work. Dylan had grabbed a couple towels and was cleaning Kira's wound. "Dylan, Kira, wash as much blood off you as you can and go be with your sister." I spoke softly to them knowing they were both in shock. I could still see Kira's hands shaking. Dylan had been a Fire Fighter for almost two years. He was solid in this situation but even he was shaken.

Anna's POV

I was working on some homework when I heard glass break. I really didn't think much of it since I figured someone dropped something. It wasn't until I heard gunshots that I got worried. I jumped out of my chair and hid in my closet until they stopped. I waited for a little bit then crawled out and slowly went down the stairs.

When I got to the bottom, I saw glass shattered all over the place. Then my eyes fell to Dylan and Kira kneeling on the floor. I saw blood then Kira turned her head to look at me. Dylan stood up quickly and took me back upstairs. There was blood on his hands. We went back to my room and he grabbed my headphones and plugged them into my phone. He held my shoulders tight as I turned to look out the door, "Hey, look at me, ok? Turn your music on and lock your door behind me."

"What's going on? Why do you have blood on your hands?!" I questioned him. He just held me then pulled me into a hug. "It's ok. Everything is ok." He tried to reassure me but I think he was also trying to reassure himself. He placed the headphones on my head. Reluctantly, I turned my music on and turned back around to my desk. Dylan went to stand but quickly sat back down placing a hand on the back of my chair. After a couple minutes he got up and I watched him leave. I took the headphones off, got up and locked the door, then sat back down staring at my papers.

*a while later*

I don't know how long I sat there unable to do anything. My headphone were on but the volume was low. I heard sirens and yelling then a knock at my door. "Anna it's us open the door!" I quickly took the headphones off , unlocked and opened the door. I watched as Dylan guided Kira into my room and sit on the edge of my bed. I watched Kira's hands shake slightly till Dylan placed his hand on them. "Dylan what is going on? Why did you have me lock myself up here? Why are you covered in blood?"

Dylan pulled me over and I sat beside him on my bed. "There was an incident that may have caused mom to get hurt." He said slowly now holding my hands in his free one. "Dad's downstairs with mom and the Paramedics. Everything will be ok." He said with a shaky breath.

*At the Hospital*

Anthony's POV

I rode in the back of the ambo while my kids rode in the Truck. When we got to the hospital, I was told to stay back as the Paramedics read off her stats and injuries. I was escorted to the waiting room where my whole Fire House and four of my five kids were waiting. Kira had been taken back to get stitches.

Kira soon came back with her arm bandaged. She sat down beside Dylan and he wrapped his arm around her. We were blessed with kids that didn't fight or argue constantly. They truly cared for each other. We had filled in Liam and Carter on what happened and they both sat on either of Kira and Dylan. Anna sat beside me while we waited.

The room was quiet for about half an hour except for the occasional chatter amongst other people. We saw the doors open and Val's doctor came out. He looked at me then to my kids. I locked eyes with him as he stood there silent. I froze until he spoke. "Your wife lost a lot of blood. The second bullet hit a major artery." He stopped, swallowed and looked at us all again, "I'm sorry. There was nothing more we could do."

I wished I was dreaming that this was a lie but I turned to watch my daughters slowly drop to the floor crying with Dylan trying to hold them up as much as possible. Liam and Carter stood there frozen looking at me, the doctor, and their siblings. They both pulled me into a hug and cried.