Noncandescent

The Ring of Fire

Later that day, a call comes in, so the 188 immediately jumps into action.

As soon as they’re in the car, they hear on the radio, “Structure fire, residence. Time out, 15:32.”

Bobby calls back, “Copy that, Eddie?”

Eddie quickly responds, “Copy that.”

As they move, they hear, “Be advised, we’ve received several calls regarding the same structure fire.”

Bobby tells the rest of the team, “That means something’s up with this fire. Be ready for anything.”

Once they reach the address, Bobby radios in, “Engine 2 is 0-23. Single story brick building. 40 percent involved. We’re using a 1 inch and ¾ for rescue. Engine 1, we need a line. Be advised, there’s a hydrant right next to Engine 2.”

Quickly, they get the response, “Unit 1 is clear. One supply line.”

That done, Bobby calls out, “Eddie, with me.”, and walks over to some bystanders nearby.

“Do you live here? Is everyone safely outside?”

The woman points next door, “My son’s right next door, but you need to listen! This is our home, please, I need you to put the fire out.”

Bobby assures her, “We will, ma’am. Right now we need you to stay clear.”

But then, a young kid runs up screaming, “No no no!”

The woman asks, “Mikey, where’s Logan?”

Mikey exclaims, scared, “He already went home!”

At that, the man right by the tearful woman shouts, “You mean he’s not at your house?!”

Mikey frantically shakes his head, “No, I was just talking to him on the phone!”

At that, the woman starts shrieking, “LOGAN!”, right as the man tries running inside.

Thankfully Eddie’s faster, tackling him to the ground, trying to get through to him, “Sir, I can’t let you go in there.”

The man tries to fight him off, “Let me go! My son is in there!”

Eddie holds firm, calling to the rest of the team, “Let’s go!”

Quickly, they all get their smoke masks firmly on their faces, while Bobby takes over so Eddie can slip on his own mask and use the axe to force the door open.

It flies open in one hit, so Eddie ducks down, in case of a backdraft, and once he’s clear, he heads inside, crawling on his hands and knees, calling out as he goes.

“Logan! Logan!”

There’s no reply as he moves from room to room, but he knows the kid has to be somewhere in here, and sure enough, when he pushes another door open, there he is, passed out from the smoke.

Carefully, Eddie gathers up the kid in his arms, and tries to quickly make his way back out.

Unfortunately, he’s not quick enough, as once he’s standing upright, part of the burning roof falls, cutting off his exit route, and hitting one of his teammates right on the back, leaving them unable to assist.

Eddie quickly kicks the door back shut, sets the kid back down for the briefest of seconds, and after checking for a pulse that’s thankfully still there, uses the axe to bash the window open, and make as much noise as he can as he calls out,

“Hey! I’m here! Over here!”

But he knows the kid doesn’t have a lot of time left, so he takes off his fire helmet, pulls off his mask, and gets it over the still unconscious boy’s face.

“Breathe, Logan. Breathe!” Eddie looks around for a second, slightly panicked, but knowing he can’t move.

Outside, Bobby tries to get through to Eddie on the walkie talkie, “Eddie, you need to get out of there. The roof’s about to collapse completely.”

Unfortunately, Eddie’s walkie talkie is still on the fire truck, so Bobby’s, “Eddie, can you hear me? I said you need to get out! ”, goes unheard.

Eddie starts coughing heavily, but he can’t focus on that, so he says out loud, “Get us out of here. Please just let us get out of here.”, as he feels around the floor, until he finds the axe again.

The second it’s in his hands, he starts hitting the floorboards with it, listening for any hollowness that would indicate a crawlspace.

The second he hears it, he starts swinging the axe down on the floor like a madman, which is a lot easier than usual, what with all the practice he’s been getting with the baseball bat and the trash can.

Finally, he’s hacked away enough to make a decent sized hole, big enough for Logan to fit through, so he quickly pushes his equipment aside, and carefully drops Logan into it, before dropping in himself.

The second he’s in the crawlspace, he sees a little window as his exit, and starts moving towards it.

Only, as he does, some of the burning wood follows him down through the hole, but he keeps moving, one arm wrapped around Logan, the other pulling him towards the small opening.

A few times he almost gets hit, but he pushes on, and once he’s at the opening, he kicks with all his might to kick out the grating, until it finally gives.

But there’s no time to breathe a sigh of relief, as Eddie pushes Logan out first, and it can’t even be a few seconds later when he hears someone shout, “There! They’re over there!”

Upon seeing Bobby move over to where they are, Eddie urges Bobby, “Take the kid. Take the kid!”

Bobby quickly pulls Logan out of Eddie’s hold, right as another firefighter shows up to pull Eddie out and drag him out of the crawlspace.

The second he hears the news, Buck makes his way over to the room Eddie’s being looked at by Ethan and a nurse.

Buck’s not going to pretend he’s not upset to see Eddie covered in dirt and burnt skin. But he still manages to say, “You look like crap.”

Eddie doesn’t take offense, just says with a smile, “Well, I feel like crap.”

Buck keeps his arms crossed, as he asks, “You going to be okay?”

The nurse tells Buck, as she dresses Eddie’s arm, “Just some first degree burns, but otherwise, he should be fine. This is your husband?”

At that, Ethan turns to see Buck’s response, and after looking once in his direction, Buck has no choice but to admit, “Yes, he is.”

The shocked look on Ethan’s face is priceless, as the nurse goes on, oblivious, “Your husband is a damn hero. Sir, I need you to keep your arm elevated for the next 24 hours, let the swelling go down, then come back in two more days so we can check you out.”

At that, Buck excuses himself, “Well then, don’t let me keep you.”, and turns to go.

The nurse objects, “Oh you’re not keeping me. You can stick around.”

That only makes Buck pause for a second, but he just says, “No, it’s fine. Your job’s too important.”, and walks away.

Eddie follows Buck’s retreating back until he disappears, as he hears the nurse tell him, “Sir, I’m going to grab some more gauze to take home, and fill out a prescription for pain medication.”, and leave Eddie and Ethan by themselves.

Eddie looks to make sure he nurse is gone, then tries to discretely reach for his wedding ring and St. Christopher medallion and slip them both back on.

Only he wasn’t discrete enough, as Ethan tries to stop him, “I wouldn’t recommend doing that, at least not until your almost healed.”

Eddie only pauses for a second, before informing Ethan, “My hand’s just gonna have to heal with my ring on my finger, and my medallion on my chest."

With that, Eddie slides his ring all the way back on, and slips his medallion over his head.