A Bigger Fire to Handle

Chapter 2

Previously on A Bigger Fire To Handle,

As she reached out to grasp the door and shut it, Casey grabbed her arm.

"Gabby, what's going on," he asked.

She turned her head to face him and pulled harshly away from his grasp.

"Don't you dare touch me," she snapped. He just stood there with a blank face. He had never seen her like this before. She took advantage of his reaction and slammed the door shut. As soon as she did, the sirens turned on and Casey watched as they drove away.

"Hey lieutenant," Cruz called out, "you coming?" Casey nodded and turned his head one last time to get another glimpse of the ambulance now taking a turn around the corner. He grabbed his stuff and hopped into the truck. Now he definitely knew he was screwed.

As they arrived on scene, they could see an apartment building engulfed in flames. There was a woman and a child yelling from the top floor for help. This was going to be a fighter.

In a matter of seconds, every person from house 51 was out of the vehicles and ready to work. Casey took a moment to look at the men in front of him then at the burning building in front of him. It was 5 stories high, with the fourth and fifth engulfed in flames and the rest not quite there yet but close. They had to work fast.

As the men gathered around to receive their orders, a frantic man ran up to Casey. "I got everyone out on the first floor... But ... The smoke was too much and... I had to get out." He said in between coughs. "Okay thank you. Go to the ambulance and tell them what happened. They'll help you," Casey replied to the middle aged man.

Before he could call out orders, Severide was already speaking to him. "We got the fourth and fifth floors, you guys got the rest. It will be harder since it's unstable and if anything happens we have more equipment." He and squad 3 sprang into action, leaving Casey with no opportunity to respond.

"Okay guys," Casey began," Cruz raise the ladder up to the fifth floor to get the kid and woman down. Mills, you climb up and get them. Be careful. Hermann ,Otis you got the third floor. Mouch and I will go to the second floor since the first is evacuated."

As if on cue, the men all left at the same exact time. In about a minute, Cruz had the ladder extended all the way, and Mills was already climbing. "Please help us," the woman begged. "Ok ma'm, I will. I need you to calm down and hand me your little girl please. She needs to come out first," Mills replied gently. "Okay, here," she began as she grabbed the 6 year old girl standing next to her. "C'mon honey, this mans going to keep you safe. I'll be down in a second okay sweetie?"

The girl didn't reply, but she nodded her head in understanding and grabbed onto Mills when her mother handed her to him. Mills took her down the ladder a few steps and then stopped. "Ok ma'm, I'm going to need you to climb over the windowsill onto the ladder please. Since I can't help you right now, you need to be very careful but fast. We don't need anything bad to happen to us okay?" The woman nodded in response.

She climbed over as carefully as she could, sweating and shaking in the process. As soon as she had both feet and hands on the ladder, Mills heard the door crashing. "Get down!" He yelled. The woman did what he said, and he held onto the little girl as he tried to lay on top of her, supporting himself of course, so that she wouldn't be hurt by the fire now making an entrance through the window. He lifted his head when he no longer felt the excess heat to check on the child and her mother.

The child was crying now, and Mills could feel her shaking. "Hey, it's okay. We're gonna get you down and everything will be fine." He quickly checked over her to make sure she didn't suffer from any injuries in the slight explosion. When he was done he looked up at the mother. She was still laying low with her head buried in her arms that were in front of her. "Hey," Mills called while tapping her foot, " Hey you okay?"