by Dakota Rebel
****
“You can’t get any closer,” Daniel said, walking up to my truck.
He had the Rescue truck blocking the road the mill to keep people from trying to get there.
“I’m not here to gawk,” I insisted. “I’ve got a truck full of supplies for the guys. Let me through. Or at least drive it down for me.”
He looked at me, then glanced in the bed as if he hadn’t believed me.
“Okay, but stay back. It’s dangerous. And Todd would have my ass if I let you get hurt.” He slapped the side of my truck and I pulled around his, headed up the road into billowing smoke.
I drove as far as I dared, then parked in a field, opening the bed of the truck then walking toward the police cruiser I could see flashing through the smog.
“Kyle!” I called, coughing heavily.
“What the hell are you doing here!” Todd roared, coming out of the ash and soot, an axe in his hand, his fire suit covered in black film.
“I brought you guys food and water,” I said, my tone defiant. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” he promised. “We’re all fine. But it’s not safe for you here. Go home.”
“I can’t!” I insisted. “I can’t go sit there and wait to hear…anything. I want to help.”
He pushed his visor up and glared at me, but he must have seen the resilience on my face, because his expression softened.
“Thank you,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of guys out there who will appreciate the gesture.” He looked over my shoulder with a groan. “What the hell are all of them doing here?”
I looked back and smiled. A row of cars and trucks were pulling in, fanning out around me.
“The calvary,” I said with a shrug. “Go to work.” I stood on tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “We’ll be here if anyone needs us.”
He smiled, then turned and jogged back into the thick smoke. My heart was in my throat, knowing he was about to go into that burning building. Was going to risk his life. But the pride I felt in him far outweighed any fear. He’d come back to me. And we’d figure this thing out. Because we had to.
Sascha and I started setting up folding tables, and the rest of the women began stacking food, water, blankets, towels and everything else they’d been able to think might be needed out onto them for easy access.
“Thank you all so much!” I said to the group. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this. If you want to go home, don’t feel bad. I think this might get worse before it gets better.”
A few of them waved and took off, but all the Montgomery women stayed put…as I knew they would. This was their family out there. None of us could leave until we had them all back safe and sound.
Chapter Nine
~ Todd ~
The mill was going to be a total loss.
We had seven firetrucks pouring water into this thing, and the blaze was still fighting to stay alive. We’d been battling for hours, but it felt as if we hadn’t made a dent.
“Is everyone on staff accounted for yet?” I screamed at Kyle, praying he could hear me over the sound of water and groaning wood from the building.
“Not yet!” the radio squeaked.
“I’ve gotta get in there!” I yelled.
“Don’t you dare.” Kyle appeared through the smoke at my side. “Even if they’re still in there, there’s no way they’ve survived. The smoke inhalation alone would have killed them by now.”
“You want me to leave people in there?” I shouted.
“I want you to come home alive,” he argued.
I clipped my radio to my belt and picked my axe back up, walking toward the inferno.
Kyle grabbed my arm but I yanked free, jogging toward the building. I’d never forgive myself if there were someone inside I could have saved. I knew what I was doing. He just needed to trust me.
The heat inside the building was almost unbearable. Even in the fireproof suit, I was already sweating and my muscles were bone tired. I tried to see through the smoke, but everything was somehow bright and black at the same time.
A thump from overhead made my heart leap into my throat. I needed to get up there. Waving my arm around, I tried to clear a path through the thick smog, and used my faint memory of the building to locate the staircase.
Slamming my foot onto each step up, to ensure that they were sturdy, I slowly made my way to the second floor. It was a necessary but arduous task to test each individual plank as I moved forward. The heat was actually worse now, and I was dying to at least pull the damn coat off, even though I knew I couldn’t.
I stopped and listened again, praying that whoever had made the sound would make it again. Not that I could even be certain it had been a person.
“Todd!” Kyle yelled.
I pulled up the radio and shouted a response.
“Get the fuck out of there, we got ‘em all.”
“You swear?” I challenged.
“I promise, Bro. They’re all here. Get your ass out of—”
Pain exploded through my eyes and I felt myself falling, heard bones break as I hit the floor. I blinked back tears and tried to push whatever was crushing my chest off of me, but it was no use. One arm didn’t work, and the arm was trapped.
Fuck.
I tried to squeeze the button on the radio, and I screamed Kyle’s name, babbled as I fought to explain where I was, not even sure if he could hear me.
I felt something thicker than sweat rolling down my face behind the mask, and I couldn’t get a hand up to wipe it away. Flames were surrounding me and I started to hyperventilate. The worlds was quickly going from too bright to far, far too dark.
“Kyle!” I screamed, putting the last of my energy into what may have been my last words. “Tell Sarra I’m sorry.”
Chapter Ten
~ Sarra ~
“Kyle!” Todd’s voice screamed into Kyle’s radio as he stood talking with us. “I’m hurt. I was up the north staircase, headed toward the east side of the building. Beam fell.”
“Todd!” I yelled, reaching for Kyle’s radio. “No. No, no, no.”
Kyle pushed me back, trying to reply to Todd but his radio just squealed feedback.
“Kyle!” Todd said, coughing heavily. “Tell Sarra I’m sorry.”
The men who had been standing with us all rushed back toward the building. I tried to follow but Sascha and Daniel caught me around the waist and held me, not letting my feet touch the ground.
“No!” I screamed, tears pouring down my face as I clawed at them. “Let me go. Please, let me go.”
“They can’t be worrying about you, too, right now,” Sascha said sternly.
She was right, I knew she was, but I couldn’t stop fighting against them. I needed to get him. He needed help. He needed me.
“Daniel!” Kyle barked into the radio. “Get over here.”
“You got her?” Daniel asked Sascha.
Sascha nodded and I forced myself to stop struggling. If they needed Daniel, then they probably had Todd. Daniel would go with the ambulance. Todd would be okay.
Daniel ran off and I collapsed to the ground, Sascha coming with me, her arms tight around my shoulders as we silently wept, waiting for news.
I heard the siren of the ambulance fire up and jumped to my feet. When it got close he stopped and Kyle threw open the back door so I could jump inside.
“Don’t touch him,” Kyle warned, slamming the door as we took off again.
I sat next to Kyle while Daniel pulled Todd’s helmet off then began to cut off his jacket while one of the volunteers drove like hell toward the hospital.
Choking back a sob, I leaned into Kyle, who took my hand and rubbed circles on my back. How was it possible that Todd could look so small laying on that gurney? He was larger than life, but his skin was ashen and the more clothes that cut away, the less room he seemed to take up.
Daniel got an IV hooked into Todd’s arm and stuck plastic discs to his chest, flipping on a monitor that beeped in broke
n spikes.
I was desperate to ask if he was okay, but too terrified to hear the answer. I knew that his heart looked arrhythmic, and that couldn’t be good. And his left arm seemed to be bent in a way that it shouldn’t be. But he was breathing, so I clung to that.
When we got to the hospital, four nurses and two doctors met the ambulance. They pulled the gurney down and rushed him inside, I tried to follow but Abby, the trauma nurse, put a hand on my arm to stop me.
“He’s going into surgery,” she explained. “You can’t go into the O.R.” She looked up at Daniel and Kyle. “I’ll let you know as soon as I hear anything. I promise.”
Then she took off after the crew and the guys lead me into the general waiting room for the E.R.
“Is everyone else okay?” I asked Kyle.
“Yeah, don’t worry about anything right now.”
“He’s going to want to know when he wakes up,” I insisted.
“Sarra—”
“He’s going to be fine,” I said firmly. “And you know him. He’ll want to know that everyone else is safe.”
“Everyone is okay,” Kyle promised. He put an arm around my shoulder and hugged me. “And you’re right. Todd will be, too.”
****
We sat there for hours, waiting to hear anything. At one point, Sascha stopped by and brought food, then sat with us for a while. But none of us could eat.
By three in the morning, Kyle and Daniel had both fallen asleep. I wasn’t surprised. The adrenaline they must have felt would have crashed hours ago.
As I sat between them, I couldn’t help thinking about the last things Todd and I had said to each other. If I’d have known it might be the last time I ever talked to him…
No. I couldn’t think like that.
“Sarra?”
I looked up to see Abby standing in front of me. I eased out of my seat, careful not to wake the guys.
“Todd’s out of surgery,” she said. “We’ve moved him to a private room upstairs. He’ll be unconscious for a while, but you can stay with him if you want.”
“Is he going to be okay?” I asked.
“It’s early,” she said, her tone cautious. “He had some internal bleeding, he’s got two cracked ribs and a broken arm. We don’t know if he hit his head, or what the extent of any other damage might be. We won’t know anything more until he wakes up. But he’s breathing and his heart rate is steady. At this point, we’re cautiously optimistic.”
I let out a breath that it felt as if I’d been holding for hours. I thanked her and turned to wake up Kyle and Daniel.
“Hey, chuckleheads,” I said softly, shaking each of their shoulders. “Wake up.”
“How is he?” Kyle asked, jumping to his feet and taking my hand.
I told him what Abby had said and he too sagged with apparent relief.
“You guys should go home,” I said. “Clean up. Get some actual sleep. I’ll call you if anything changes.”
“You shouldn’t be alone,” Daniel argued.
“I’ll be with Todd,” I reminded them both with a small smile. “Go. Thank you. For everything.”
They each gave me a hug and left, and I followed Abby upstairs.
“Don’t be scared by the monitors,” she warned as she opened the door.
I walked inside and couldn’t hold in the gasp when I saw him.
He was a mess of wires and cords and IVs. Bags and tubes hung all over the bed. His arm was in a cast and his torso was in some kind of traction.
“We need to make sure he stays still,” Abby explained. “The ribs are cracked really badly, and if he moves the wrong way they could break.”
I nodded as I walked around the bed and sat next to Todd, taking his hand in mine and gripping it softly.
“Can I get you anything?” she asked.
“I’m fine,” I promised. “Thank you, Abby. For everything.”
“I’ll stop by later and check on you,” she said, smiling before walking out and leaving us alone.
“You stupid, selfish bastard,” I hissed as a tear slid down my cheek. “You’re lucky everyone in this town knows you’re mine. If you were laying here and they weren’t treating me like your wife… If they wouldn’t have let me be here with you…” I let out a shaky sigh. “I’d kick your ass if that building hadn’t already done it for me.”
Chapter Eleven
~ Sarra ~
Around nine a.m. the next morning, the Montgomerys started coming in and out to see for themselves how Todd was doing. He hadn’t woken up yet, but the doctors had assured all of us that it wasn’t cause for worry. His body was healing, and it was using a lot of energy. Him being unconscious wasn’t to be taken as a bad sign.
Kyle came up around noon, handing me a bag from the coffee shop and an iced macchiato.
“How’s Viv?” I teased, taking the treats from him with a smile.
“Don’t you start in on me, too,” he warned.
“Sorry,” I said, holding my hands up in a defensive motion. “Just a question.”
“No, I should apologize,” he blew out a sigh and sat next to me. “I’m a little defensive about her.”
“It’s fine,” I said, patting his arm. “You’re right. I shouldn’t tease you right now.”
“How are you holding up?” he asked, his face twisting with concern.
“Oh, I’m fine,” I said with a shrug. And I was. I’d tried to close my eyes a few times, but I just couldn’t rest. I didn’t think I’d be able to until I knew for sure that Todd was going to pull through.
“Have you slept?”
“Are you my mother?” I raised an eyebrow at him. Though I figured I probably looked like hell.
“You need to take care of yourself,” he insisted, not backing down. “Todd’s going to be pissed if he wakes up and finds you’ve worried yourself into a coma over him.”
“I’m fine,” I repeated firmly. “When he wakes, he can be pissed about something else.”
“Have they said anything about his progress?” Kyle asked, looking over at his brother.
“Not really.” I sighed heavily. “Just that I shouldn’t worry that he hasn’t woken up yet. Abby’s been in and out a lot. I think she switched with a floor nurse to stay up here for the family.”
“She’s a good one,” Kyle agreed, nodding. “If you want to gang up on someone, you should get after Daniel about her.”
“No way am I opening that can of worms,” I said with a laugh. “You Montgomery boys are all dumb as posts. But honestly, I can only deal with one of you at a time.”
I looked over at my Montgomery and blinked back tears again. Damn it. Taking a steadying breath, I glanced back at Kyle.
“Any word on what started the fire?”
He nodded, staring down at his hands clasped between his knee. I knew from his posture that it was the arsonist again.
“Any leads?” I whispered.
“Nothing,” he said, his tone irritated. “I’m at my wits end with this. People could have died.” He shook his head. “We may have to call in outside help.”
“You don’t think it’s going to stop?” I asked.
“Not if he gets away with this.” Kyle looked at me sadly. “And he will get away with it if I don’t have my fire chief available to go over the evidence. I’m good with criminals, but no one understands bugs like Todd.”
“He’s going to wake up,” I insisted.
“I’m not worried about him waking up,” Kyle said. “I’m worrying about him coming back.”
“Please,” I scoffed. “That job means everything to him.”
“No, it doesn’t.” Kyle took my hand and squeezed. “It might have once. Hell, it might have two days ago. But I think he learned something very important yesterday. At least, I hope he did.”
I wasn’t about to let Kyle give me false hope at this point. Hell, it didn’t even matter. All I needed anyone worried about was getting Todd better. The bullshit between him and I could wait a lifetime.
It already had.
“Do you need anything?” Kyle asked, getting to his feet.
“I’m good,” I promised, pointing at the coffee. “Thank you for that.”
“Call me if you change your mind,” he said. “I’m just down the road and can be here quick.”
“I will.”
He left and I went back to staring at Todd. How long was it going to be like this? Me sitting here, exhausted, angry, helpless. It killed me that there was nothing I could do for him.
I moved my chair closer to the bed and took his hand in mine, laying my forehead against it and breathing out a sigh.
“Just wake up,” I pleaded.
Chapter Twelve
~ Todd ~
“Well good morning, handsome,” Abby whispered, looking down at me with a smile.
“Don’t let Daniel hear you say that,” I said, my voice coming out as a hoarse croak. “Where am I?”
“At the hospital,” she said, her voice still low. “Do you remember what happened?”
“The mill,” I said, closing my eyes and licking my chapped lips.
“Do you want some water?” Abby asked, the glass already in her hand as she pressed a straw to my parched mouth.
My throat burned as I drank, and she took it away quickly.
“Not too much,” she warned. “I don’t want you getting sick and popping stitches, or a rib.”
“How bad is it?” I asked, trying to sit up and finding that I couldn’t.
“It’s not great,” she admitted, placing a firm hand on my shoulder. “But you’re awake and talking, so that’s a really great sign.”
“Why are we whispering?” I asked her.
She motioned with her head to my right and I looked over to see Sarra curled up in a chair, her head on her arm, fast asleep.
“I think this is the first time she’s slept in two days,” Abby said sadly. “I have to call the doctor in to see you,” she continued. “And I promised to call Kyle the minute you woke up. Do you need anything right now?”