by Amy DeMeritt
“Okay, you’re going to have to basically let yourself fall into the hole and trust me. I won’t let you fall. If your hands slip at all, catch the handle of my axe laying across the hole – it’s strong enough to hold you. Just pretend you’re falling into a swimming pool. It will make it easier.”
Skylar takes a deep breath and imagines the first time her dad taught her how to dive. He had her squat on the side of the pool just like this, then lean forward till she went head first into the water. But she’s not going head first into water. She’s going feet first into blackness with a concreate bottom with only the hope that Ashton catches her before she hits that very hard, unforgiving floor.
A nearby wall crumbles, and Skylar releases a whimpering yelp as she pushes herself forward. Ashton easily catches her weight and bends down to lower her to the floor.
“I can see the floor. It’s only a few feet. I’m going to let go.” Skylar drops. “Okay, I’m out of the way.” She picks up the flashlight and shines it on the spot Ashton needs to land. “Can you see?”
“Yes, I’m coming down.”
Ashton uses the curved underside of her axe like a grappling hook on the broken ledge of the floor, then carefully shimmies down into the hole and lowers herself down to the floor. She jerks the axe free and lands with a grunt and stumbles from the awkward landing.
She takes a few deep breaths and takes the offered flashlight from Skylar to look around the basement. She shines the light towards the front of the building and sees a staircase, which is leading straight up into the worst of the fire.”
“That better not be the only exit. Do you know if there’s another way out of here?”
“No, I’ve never been down here.”
“Can you walk?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, we need to go this way towards the back of the building to get away from the fire and see if there’s another exit.”
“What if there’s not?”
“Then I’ll make one.”
Ashton keeps an arm around Skylar’s shoulders while she awkwardly holds her axe and flashlight in her other hand to light their way. They maneuver around boxes, rolls of carpet, kitchen cabinets, and other miscellaneous tools and items. Ashton searches the entire back side of the basement but doesn’t find another exit.
“This building is full of fire code violations.” She exhales hard and motions to a five-gallon paint bucket. “Take a seat and rest. I need to think.”
Skylar sits on the bucket with her legs bouncing and her heart racing. Through her breathing mask, she asks, “What did you say your name is?”
Ashton turns to face her in a bit of a daze. “Lieutenant Ashton Hyland. You can call me Ash or Ashton.”
“Okay.” Skylar runs her hands over the sleeves of Ashton’s jacket that she’s wearing. “Thank you for coming in for me. Ashton, or uh, Ash, do you think we’re really going to get out of here?”
“Yes.” Ashton takes one knee in front of Skylar and takes one of her hands. “I made you a promise and I never break my promises. I’m going to get you out of here.”
No sooner than the words leave her mouth they hear a loud crash and a faint orange glow fills the front half of the basement, casting a yellow pallor on them and throwing wicked shadows all around them.
“Okay, it’s time to get the hell out of here.”
Ashton quickly stands up and walks away from Skylar to inspect the basement walls and ceiling around them. She finds a ladder laying against the wall behind more paint supplies and uses it to reach up to feel the wooden ceiling. It’s cool to the touch. She inspects for a pattern in the screws poking through the wood to determine where the above walls are, then bangs her axe up against the plywood to try to determine if anything is sitting on the floor. She moves the ladder a few times, then finds a spot that sounds and feels like it could be a good bet.
Before breaking through, she looks over at Skylar to make sure she’s still okay. The young woman is watching Ashton with an expression bordering on hope and panic. She takes a deep breath, and as she lowers her heat shield to protect her face from falling debris, she turns back towards the ceiling and swings her axe upwards. The impact causes the ladder to rock a bit, but she quickly finds balance and repeats the strike.
Her shoulders are getting tired. Her neck feels like it’s going to break from looking up, and her thighs and ass are like rocks trying to keep the ladder balanced. Her breathing is becoming labored and sweat is pouring down every inch of her body.
“I don’t know about you, but the first thing I want to do when we get out of here is drink a gallon of water and take a shower.”
She hears a cute quiet laugh behind her just before she strikes the ceiling again. She breaks and rips bits of wood out of the way, then climbs up the ladder to test the size of the hole and to inspect the room above. She scans the space with her flashlight and smiles.
“Fantastic. Okay, Skylar, we’re…” She looks down and smiles again. Skylar is already standing next to the ladder. Ashton climbs down and grabs a hold of the side. “I’ll hold it steady while you climb up. Be careful of the jagged wood. Here. Take the flashlight. You’re going to come up into a living room.”
Skylar nods as she accepts the flashlight and begins climbing the ladder. Immediately after her foot leaves the top bracket, Ashton ascends and climbs up into the room next to her. She takes a deep breath, then points towards a window with her axe.
“And there’s our exit. You stay right here. I have to break the glass and the bars off of the window.”
Ashton pulls the curtain rod down and tosses it aside. She rips the blinds up, then punches her axe through the glass with a crash, followed by a bone shuddering clink of metal on metal when her axe meets one of the iron bars. She breaks all of the glass out of the frame, then punches the head of the axe hard against the base of the bars, breaking one corner loose. Her fatigue weakens her next thrust and she releases a grunt of frustration and strikes again even harder. She contracts her body and throws all of her weight into the next four strikes, sending the bars tumbling away from the window with a loud clank.
She smiles as she looks back at Skylar with a gloved hand extended towards her. “Ready to see the sun again?”
Skylar immediately jogs the fifteen feet between them with an obscured smile under her air mask to take Ashton’s hand.
Chapter Eight
As soon as Skylar is on the ground, they quickly walk up the grassy side alley towards the front of the building.
“Hey, Lieutenant!”
She pulls her air respirator off and smiles and waves up at two firefighters at the top of a ladder spraying water into a second-floor window. She watches the building for possible falling debris and carefully ushers Skylar under the ladder. As soon as they come around the side of the building, news crews, first responders, and residents begin to loudly scream and cheer in celebration of their safety.
“Lieutenant!” Perez and Fields run over and Perez is first to get her in a tight hug. “It’s so fucking good to see you again. The whole place started coming down in there. We just couldn’t get to you.”
“I know. I ordered you to evacuate, but my radio wasn’t working.”
“Skylar! Skylar! That’s my daughter!”
They look to the sidelines where a man and woman are trying to push through the police barricade.
Skylar pulls her air mask off, and screams, “Mom! Dad!” She starts to run towards her parents but stops and faces Ashton. “Oh, uh, Ash…” Her eyes tear up and she leaps forward, throwing her arms around Ashton. “Thank you for saving my life.”
“You’re welcome. Perez, please escort Skylar’s parents through the barricade.” As Skylar starts to release her, Ashton lightly squeezes her thin shoulder and jerks a thumb towards the paramedics. “After your reunion, you’ll need to go to the hospital to be checked out for possible injuries and smoke inhalation.”
“Okay. Oh, uh, here.” She pulls Ashton’s jacket off.
“I guess you’ll need this back.” Ashton smiles as she accepts the jacket from her. “I just don’t know how to say thank you for what you did. You were really amazing. You’re really…”
“Skylar! Oh, my baby.” Her mother pulls her into her arms, sobbing and trembling. “We couldn’t find you anywhere. Then we heard them say a firefighter and a girl were trapped inside. I felt like my heart and stomach fell right out of my body. Are you okay?” She pulls away holding Skylar’s shoulders to look her over, head to toe. “Are you hurt?”
“I don’t think so, but Ash, or I mean, Lieutenant Ashton Hyland says I need to go to the hospital to get checked out. Will you ride with me?”
“Yes, of course. I’m not leaving your side.” She looks at Ashton and rips her into her arms, squeezing Ashton very tightly. “Thank you for saving my baby.”
“It was my honor.”
She rubs her back in a comforting way before the woman pulls away wiping her eyes. She and her husband offer a few more emotional gratuitous comments before they follow an EMT who has been patiently waiting nearby to collect Skylar.
After they walk away, Perez says, “Lieutenant, Captain Hunt is asking for you.”
She nods as she quickly walks across the parking lot with her crew. Coming in at equal height at five-foot-eleven-inches, Ashton extends her hand, respectfully saying, “Captain Hunt.” He turns to grip her hand with his large, dark hand giving her a firm squeeze, then he points up at the building, where three trucks have their ladders extended to the sixth floor and one is extended to the roof.
“Well done, Lieutenant. We have fully evacuated the building. We just broke into the stairwell from the roof. They’re going to make sure no one was trapped inside, then we’re all clear. The girl you brought out was the last resident unaccounted for, so we should be good.”
“That’s great news, Sir. How many injuries? Did we have any fatalities?”
“Some injuries and they’ve been treated or brought to the hospital. No fatalities that we know of. After we get the fire put out, we’ll have to check the units we couldn’t get to. Tell me what happened after we lost radio contact with you.”
She spends the next ten minutes explaining what happened after she was first separated from Fields and Perez. While he listens, he watches the crews working around him and maintains a small closed lip smile of pride.
When she finishes, he turns to fully face her and firmly shakes her hand, saying, “Excellent work, Lieutenant. Go get some water and rest.”
“Yes, Sir. Thank you.”
Ashton turns and squeezes Perez and Fields on the shoulders momentarily, saying, “Great work today. Make sure you get hydrated.”
“Yes, Lieutenant.”
As she’s walking away, Erin leaps forward and throws her arms around the back of Ashton’s neck. She pulls her down to kiss her sweaty lips, then pulls back to look her over.
“Are you hurt? Captain Hunt lost contact with you and Perez said you were trapped.”
“No, I’m not injured. I do need to get some water though. Join me?”
“Yes. Tell me what happened in there.”
“Before I do that, I need to know – are you still all in with me?”
“Yes, god, Ashton, yes.” She throws her arms around Ashton again and pulls her into a kiss. She runs her fingers through Ashton’s sweaty hair and caresses her ears and cheeks. “I love you. I was so scared, but I don’t want any other woman getting to call you hers and be as terrified as I am to lose you. Well, I guess besides Gloria. That woman is always going to be a pain in my ass, but she loves you.”
Ashton laughs a little and bends down to pick Erin up and spins her around for a moment. “Come on, babe. I need to get out of this jacket and get some water.”
They walk over to a makeshift medical care command center, where about a dozen people are being given oxygen, snacks, and bottles of water. Anyone who was actually injured has already been brought to the hospital for treatment. As Erin helps her out of her air tank harness, a young male EMT offers her a bottle of water.
“Thank you.”
As she twists the cap off, she and Erin take a seat on a nearby curb and he follows with a bit of intrigue and admiration twinkling in his young brown eyes.
“Thank you for making our job easier today. This could have been a lot worse if you didn’t get that second floor evacuated at the same time you went into the first floor. The second floor started to collapse before they even finished lifting the ladders to the third floor. It was a scary race against the clock. But I guess you know that – you were in the worst of it. What was that like? Did you just have fire all around you? Was the ceiling falling in around you?”
A senior EMT screams out, “James, leave the lieutenant alone!”
“I’m sorry. I know I’m talking too much. I do that. People just tell me to shut up when I’m getting on their nerves.” Ashton laughs a little and takes a gulp of water. “You can tell me to shut up. This is just my second week on the job and this is probably the most exciting thing I’ve been involved with. I mean, exciting is probably the wrong word. It was probably terrifying. Was it terrifying?”
“How old are you?”
“Nineteen.”
“I’ll tell you what – if you really want to know what it was like in there, come to Station 10 tomorrow at 9am. I’m running a training course for the firefighting academy. I’ll let you sign a waiver and participate.”
“Seriously? Wait, I have to work.”
“Well, the job comes first. After all, you’re saving lives just like we are.”
“I don’t know about that. The most I’ve done is give IVs and splint a fractured ankle.”
Ashton shakes her head as she takes a gulp of water. “Do you think I deal with four-alarm fire situations everyday? No. Sometimes, we’re called out for a weird smell in the walls that someone thinks might be an electrical fire and it just ends up being a dead rotting squirrel. Sometimes, we’re called out because someone burnt something in their microwave and an extra sensitive smoke alarm spooks the resident, even though they don’t see any fire. And believe it or not, I have been called to rescue more than a handful of cats out of trees.” He laughs a little as his young pale cheeks blush. “The job isn’t always life-threatening and thrilling. That’s not why we do these jobs. Yes, the job of a first responder is about saving lives, but it’s mainly about making the community feel safe. Count the boring days as good days. The days that give you a thrill – those days can turn into nightmares very quickly. Remember – your thrill is another person’s pain and fear. It’s their life in your hands. Respect that.”
“Yes, right, uh, I didn’t mean any disrespect, Lieutenant. Thank you.”
He quickly walks away looking embarrassed and properly scolded. Erin caresses Ashton’s cheek and gives her a kiss on the lips.
“You’re a wonderful leader, Ash. You should know that everyone was very stressed and worried about you when we lost radio contact with you. Now, tell me what happened.”
Between gulps of water, Ashton tells her every detail. She doesn’t normally go into such graphic detail when she explains a situation, but her career as a firefighter is the biggest reason Erin is a flight risk. She needs to know that Erin is really serious about wanting to stick around. Erin listens with her brow pinched and her hand tightens on Ashton’s several times, but she never once interrupts or asks her to stop.
When Ashton finishes, Erin gives her a kiss on the lips, and says, “And to think, if you didn’t notice something was weird about that guy’s behavior, you might not have known that girl was in there. There wouldn’t have been a good enough reason to risk going in there. There’s no doubt about it, baby, you’re a top-notch firefighter. It scares the hell out of me, but it also really makes me proud.”
“Thanks, babe. I guess I should call Gloria to let her know I’m safe.”
She pulls her cellphone out of the inside pocket of her pants and dials Gloria’s number. She doesn’t a
nswer, so she leaves her a voicemail.
“I’m guessing you had to cancel that surgery you had scheduled for today?”
“I did. I was on the way into the clinic when Marge sent me a message that you upgraded the fire to a four-alarm. I turned right around and jumped on the first truck I could. Captain Hunt had enough people on hoses, so I helped people get off of the ladders. My thighs and ass are so sore from climbing up and down that ladder so many times.” She laughs a little and lays her head on Ashton’s shoulder. “When we get to leave here, I want to take a shower with you and snuggle for the rest of the day. You think we can do that?”
“Sure. And if you’re interested, I might even have enough energy left in me to massage those sore thighs and ass.”
Erin hums in Ashton’s ear as she lifts her head to kiss her sweaty and soot smudged cheek. “Sounds great. That fire is really stubborn.”
“It’s a big apartment building with a shit ton of flammables in each unit. The sprinklers weren’t working in the hallway or in the units on the first level, so that’s yet another thing the chief will need to investigate. There are so many fire code violations in this building that it’s a miracle the injuries weren’t worse.”
“Now that you mention it, no one that came down the ladders were wet, so I don’t think they were working on any of the other floors either.”
“They’re probably controlled by the same system that locked the fucking doors. This investigation could lead to a major lawsuit with the security system company. The chief hates these digital fire security systems – he’s not going to let this drop easily.”
“Ash?” She looks away from the burning building and Erin gives her a small smile that looks forced and sad as she caresses her cheek and brushes her thumb over her bottom lip. After she gives Ashton several light kisses on her lips, she says, “I love you,” with a bit of heaviness in her voice.
“I love you too, babe. You want to get away with me for a few days sometime soon?”
