911 lonestar - short stories

- chapter 8

Running over, the team notice the worry and join him.

"Tommy, whats going on?"

"Its TK. He ran inside saying someone was in there. We couldn't stop him in time".

"In there?" Judd points to the flaming entrance. "That's where the last explosion went off".

Carlos stops fighting against people for the first time and turns to face them.

"What?" He says in a broken voice. "No. No you have to go in there. You have to save him. Please", he pleads.

Owen is stuck. This is a perfect example of what they teach in the academy. They shouldn't go in, but its his own son.

They all know what the decision will be as they start putting their equipment back on.

"What's the plan, Cap?" Mateo asks.

"Fire 130, dampen the entrance flames", he says into the radio before turning to the team. "We go in with extinguishers again. Paul bring an extra mask, Mateo bring the board".

None of them have second thoughts as they get to the sweltering building. The flames still there but leaving a small path and they go inside.

"I can't see anything!"

"More lights!" They shout to each other.

Paul looks around at the broken walls and notices a pattern.

"Follow the worst of it!"

"What?"

"Follow the damage. This wasn't accidental".

They notice it too and start climbing over the brick.

"TK! TK CAN YOU HEAR US?"

They spray the small flames they come across and heave giant pieces of plaster out the way.

"Are we sure TK is in here?" Marjan asks. "Why would he be this far in?"

Judd flips a big piece and under it lays the remnants of a body.

"Oh god", someone whispers.

The body is burnt and the clothes are black. It's impossible to recognise but Owen doesn't believe it's his son.

"TK!" He starts screaming around. "TK! ANSWER ME! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

He flips pieces of rubble, anything in his reach to try and find another sign of life. There has to be something else.

Everyone else joins him. They dig through stone and get on their knees to push metal bars away.

"TK!"

"TK".

"OVER HERE! It's a shoe!!"

They sprint over to Paul who's picking up stone and throwing it in the other direction.

"Tk!" Owen shouts as dark hair sticks out from the dust.

They pull it all away to see TK with his eyes closed and no mask. A trickle of blood runs from his hairline and Owen instantly puts a cloth to it as someone reaches forward with the spare mask.

"What's his pulse?"

The wall behind them crashes down, setting the room into darkness from the dust and a static voice speaks through the radio.

"Stand back! Evacuate the building, structure is falling!"

"No time, just grab him!" Owen shouts as four of them grab his clothes and haul TK out the building.

Just as they get outside the ground shakes and a ball of fire erupts from seemingly every window. Glass shatters and falls over them as they keep running to a waiting stretcher.

Carlos is there immediately trying to find out whats going on.

"Wound on the head. Other wounds unknown, vitals unknown", Owen tells the paramedics as they whisk him away.

"TK!" Carlos shouts. "Is he okay? Is he alive?!" He tries asking the team, but they don't know either.

They take their masks off and rub over their faces. The adrenaline has started to leave and they're left full of worry. Hundreds of people in the carpark are in shock and they don't yet know how many have lost loves ones.

"You lot go", another fire captain tells them. "Theres to be no more people going inside from now. We can keep it under control here".

Owen nods at him and they throw their equipment away before heading to the hospital.