Into the Fire (gxg)

Chapter 1

The loud sirens filled the Californian night sky, as an intense inferno starts to consume a whole set of apartments, men, women and children scurried out of the building in panic, all gasping for air as soon as the fresh air hits their face. Paramedics guided people to the set up triage outside, as the police restricted access only allowing authorities entrance. People surrounded the barricades in terror of the situation, hoping that everyone is safe. News reporters came closing in to capture first hand shots of the scene like vultures.

~~~~~

We were at the fire department doing our routine jobs and sweeps, it was a quiet night, with inspection the following day we had to make sure the station was up to standards, nothing we haven't been ready for before. We were always prepared for anything that could possibly happen. Our crew is our family, we spend day in and day out with each other and I wouldn't swap them for the world. Running into danger is a part of our lives and we do it together, it's getting out that's the hard part.

All of a sudden red and blue lights filled the ceiling as a three-stroke alarm went off. Although we have done this dozens of times the adrenaline rush never changes. Within a split second of the alarm going off we all rushed to our engines, putting our gear on in the process.

I yelled before she got into the truck, "Taylor! You're gonna need this...you good?" She nodded.

The sirens roared through the streets as two other engines followed. Cars pulled over allowing us to speed past heading to the site, I look back at my team and notice that Taylor is uneasy.

"Hey, Taylor look at me, . I wouldn't allow you to come with us if I didn't think you were ready for this. I have every faith in you, I know this is your first job out on the field but we've got your back, we're family now" she smiled.

"as for the rest of you guys, you know the drill, stay safe guys and stick to what we've trained for!"

~~~~~~

We finally arrived to the site along with paramedics as the police officers were barricading the streets guiding civilians to safety. We all got to work, as the crew were readying the trucks into position I shouted over to the chief police officer.

"Is everyone out of there?!"

He parted his lips only to be interrupted by the screams coming from the building. I went to grab the oxygen tanks for the crew, only to see that Taylor was already on it, we all geared up with the rest of the equipment before running into formation into the building.

There were still people running down the stairs as we passed them, making sure that they were safe. The halls were filled with smoke, we had to get above the fire to rescue those that were trapped, I signalled for some of the fighters to check the floors that we passed above the fire.

I finally made it up to the last floor with Taylor and two other fighters, we pressed on through the halls yelling for the people we saw from outside.

We barged into the door only to be stopped by a hole separating us from the family, below us was where the fire had started, their room was engulfed in flames, I reached my arms for the kids first as they threw them across, I passed them over to the other two fighters, I stepped back allowing the mother and father to jump across as they reached out.

We started to rush back down to the stairwell, I look back and a beam comes crashing down, suddenly I managed to see a child crying and hovering over her mother, no less than 3 years old. I rush back over and try to get the mother up, but she has been crushed and trapped.

I had to make the decision of leaving her.