Extinguished

~18~ Scorched

Taylor's POV

A couple weeks have gone by since the sonogram. I still can't get it out of my head. Seeing my baby on the screen—My baby. It's so surreal.

Things are starting to get intense at the station. Moss is starting to become obsessive. If she's not staring at me, she's glaring at Ellie. It's causing tension in the entire house and everybody is getting uncomfortable. I think it might be time to talk to Chief about getting her reassigned to a new house. The atmosphere is becoming toxic.

Ellie is a trooper with it. She still smiles at her, and tries to make the best of the situation.

Unfortunately, that makes Moss even more hostile. Do I think she's dangerous? No. But I'm seeing some red flags. I decide to give her one more week to change her tune, before I push for her to be transferred.

I'm about to head to the restroom when...

DING
Engine 20, Truck 80, Squad 10, Ambulance 20, house fire, 192 Willow Park

I'm gonna have to wait to pee until later.

I rush to get on my turn-out gear, and out of the corner of my eye I see Moss just standing there, watching me.

"Let's hustle!" I say as I turn around to look at her. I never give her any attention, but this is different. Somebody is waiting for us. It could be life or death.

We get to the scene and the smoke is pouring from the home, flames surrounding it. We don't have a lot of time to get people out.

My unit, along with Greene's unit, all follow our lead as we head into the home. As soon as we enter, I lead my team to do a sweep of the front half of the home, while Greene does the back half. Thankfully it's a ranch house, so there's much less ground to cover. My guys immediately find a woman, huddled in the kitchen, with flames surrounding her.

Diego grabs her and drags her out. "Are you alone in the house?" I ask loudly, trying to make sure she can hear me.

"Just my husband. I don't know where he is," she screams as Diego leads her out.

"Don't worry ma'am, we'll find him," I reassure her, hoping she'll leave without a fight.

I get on the intercom and report. "Chief, Diego is bringing out a victim, and we're looking for the husband. Greene, just one more victim is in the house."

"Copy that, Preston," Greene responds.

The next room I go into, I find the husband. He's unconscious and lying face down on the ground. I lift up the man and start dragging him out.

"Greene, I've got the husband. Get out!" I say, hoping he leaves quickly. This beast is ready to strike.

I get the victim out, and put him on the gurney for Freeman and Fields.

"Chief!" It's Greene in a frantic voice.

"Chief, the fire jumped. Moss and I are surrounded."

Dead silence for .2 seconds

"Chief, we can get em'," I say, pleading for him to let me go back in there. Greene is my best friend.

Chief thinks for a moment, knowing that sending us back in could kill us.

"Diego, Mack...on a hose line," Chief says as he looks at me. "Let's go!"

Leave it to Chief. Instead of risking another guy's life, he goes in himself.

I follow quickly, praying we aren't too late.

Suddenly, there's an explosion. The front half of the house is blown out.

"NO!!!" I scream, falling to my knees from the force of the blast.

"Greene! The front entrance is blocked. We're coming around to the back," I scream as I run to the back to find a way to get to them.

"Copy," he says with stress in his voice. "It's heating up pretty fast in here."

I rush to the back and see a window. It's not big, but I may be able to make it work. I use my irons to break the window, and I know that I can shimmy in.

"Diego, get some water on this side of the fire," I say quickly into my radio.

"Copy Lieutenant."

"Greene," I say, speaking into the radio again. "We're coming in with water on the east side. Brace yourselves."

This is the last resort. If the water gets on them, it's going to scorch them. Possibly to death.

"Copy," was all Greene replies back.

Diego has his hose in the window and is starting to spray the fire. I don't hear screaming yet, so I'm going to hold out hope they were able to cover themselves somehow.

The fiery wall lessens just enough that I shimmy through the window and jump over the remaining flames. I see Greene, protectively over Moss, blocking her from being burned.

"Let's go!" I scream, motioning for them to hurry up.

Somehow, we all manage to get over the wall of fire and out the window before the fire takes back over. We watch as it starts to devour the window we just went through not moments before. We all just lay on the ground for a moment. That was a close call. Too close.

~*~

We get back to the house and go do our own thing; Rough calls wear us out.

Greene comes into my office silently and puts his hand on my shoulder. "Thanks man," he says, smiling at me.

I knock his hand off my shoulder playfully, smiling at him. I'm so relieved my best friend is still here. What would I have done without him?

A little while later, I go to grab some lunch and sit down. Jessica sits next to me.

"Thanks," she says with a smile. "I knew you would come for me."

I don't even look at her as I get up to sit next to Megan and Ellie.

We're all eating, talking about random things, when suddenly Ellie gasps. She starts to look past me with a horrified expression on her face.

"Oh no!" She whispers as she gets up quickly.

I look over my shoulder as I see Jake marching through the doors, looking furious, dragging Liam by the arm.