Firehouse Child

7

Maya

Overheated by the flames, the fire was catching up to us as we approached a door. The end of the stairwell. A basement. Wait.

We missed our exit.

"Montgomery. Travis!!" I exclaimed.

"What? What?!" he said.

I opened the door and rushed them both inside to avoid the fire.

"This is the basement. We missed the lobby."

"Oh darn."

"Yeah. We need to get out of here. I'll radio Andy and you- you get Gerry relaxed."

I walked to the door and felt the handle. Warm. As I inspected the state of the walls and the beam strength, Andy radioed.

"Hey, Bishop. Where are you? We need all hands on deck up here. A lot of casualties."

"Yeah well we might be one of them soon. We're trapped in the basement."

"What?! How on earth did- you know what, never mind. I'll send down a team."

"No! No. There isn't a way down here but there is a window in the corner. If we can all get through that space then we're good."

"Alright. I'll get a blue print and make a plan."

"Andy?"

"Yeah?" she said.

"Be quick."

Whilst Andy was busy making a plan, I surveyed the room for any faults that could cost us our lives. The beams were definitely a big issue if they were to catch fire.

Travis was having a bit of a panic whilst also trying to calm Gerry at the same time.

"Montgomery, Herrera is drawing up a plan to get us out of here. I need you to stay calm for the sake of both of us."

He nodded, but hesitantly.

"There's a broom over there," he said, "I'll use it to test the roof."

I nod in approval and wondered how long I was going to be down here. Carina was going to get worried. Oh, and Astrid! It was my day make dinner with her. A sharp pain from guilt shot me in the spine so I had to sit down.

The radio buzzed.

"Bishop, I've got the blueprints. Do you see a window just ahead of the door?"

"Yeah but it's probably too high for any of us to get to and too small to fit a man with a broom securing his leg."

The window was elevated slightly from the height of the basement ceiling so it could reach the pavement above us. It was battered with webs and rust and overall, very unstable.

"We can break it easily but we need you to make it bigger for us before the roof caves."

"Yes we can do that. Hold on."

I heard her making commands and running to the window.

I could see her now. With little force, she broke the window.

"Can you get through?" asked Andy.

"No."

"Well try!"

I took her order and grabbed a stool. The window frame couldn't hold the weight of me and my suit so I collapsed to the ground.

"Bishop? You good?"

"Yep! I'll try again.'

Travis interrupted.

"Why are we wasting time on this? We need to get more room!"

A single bead of sweat broke from his forehead as he said this. The heat was clearly getting under his skin.

Andy nodded and made Gibson get the hammer.

"Everyone get back!"

Because of the heat, the walls were weakened, but hopefully not so flimsy that the whole building was to be be put at risk.

Jack smashed the hammer into the area just above the window and it broke with ease. The building shook above me.

"Keep going!" shouted Andy.

And he did. On and on he struck the hammer against the wall and on and on the building became weaker.

Eventually the hole looked big enough to get through. I capped Gerry over to get him to open air. He fit easily because he was very skinny and he had no gear on. Us firefighters however, that would be a challenge.

"Montgomery, go first," I demanded.

"No, you have a wife and..." he began.

"I am your lieutenant and I said Montgomery, go first."

He obeyed and I helped him through the hole.

Now it was my turn. The building was shaking and I knew it was going to collapse whether I was there or not. I dragged a bigger stool over and got on it, reaching my hands up to my team. They started pulling me up and I tried to heave most of the weight of the suit for them.

"Come on!" said Andy.

They managed to get me up just as the building started creaking.

"Alright let's get out of here," and Andy led the team away.

***

Chief Ross gave all of us the day off. I'm not entirely sure why but we went back to station anyway.

Andy and the rest of 19 were sweating like pigs in the heat if the situation and yet I didn't feel anything. I was just relieved to be alive and on the way back to Carina and Ati.

I found them talking to a woman who was about to leave. I waited until they waved goodbye to her to approach them.

"Maya!" Ati said when she saw me.

Carina looked relieved.

I ran over to them and we closed in an embrace.

"That took a while," said Ati while wiping hair from her face.

"Yeah... There was an incident. I'll tell you later."

"Maya. Can I talk to you alone?"

Her voice was stern so naturally I went along. We separated ourselves from the crowd and stepped outside with Ati inside with Jack.

"Maya, Missy Lawrence called while you were gone. Said that there was another family for Ati?"

My cheeks turn red.

"Did you know about this?"

I nod.

"You really want her gone that bad? What has she done?!"

Carina was shouting now.

"I was going to tell you! But everything happened so quick! And I don't want her gone! Missy just said that she thought the other family were more permanent. I want that for Ati but I want her to be happy too."

Carina didn't say anything.

"I think we should talk to Astrid about this and ask her what she thinks."

"Yeah," Carina said.

I kissed her and left.