Page 36 of Dueling Flames

“Whe—”

“AHHHH. MY LEG,” someone yelled from the bay.

We looked at each other, then left the room. Trevor was at the bottom of the stairs clutching his leg. Three others were surrounding him, one on his radio calling the EMTs over.

“I fell down the stairs,” Trevor moaned.

“Why aren’t you wearing shoes?” Marcus “Dark” Darkowski, one of the lieutenants asked. He sighed and made a call on his radio. “EMTs are on the way.”

I looked down to see him only in socks. Lissa and I gave each other a look. Maybe we could get through this.

Jake Lawson, an EMT, arrived and took over Trevor’s care. Dark pulled Lissa over to the side, and I followed.

“Alright Lissa,” Dark said, “I’m going to check the schedule and bring in whoever is on call to work with you.”

Lissa nodded. “I’ll come with you. I might need to mentally prepare myself for whoever it is.”

Lissa followed Dark, and I followed Lissa up to the office. Dark made the call while Lissa checked the name and nodded her approval. She would probably nod her approval at anyone after working with Trevor the last four weeks.

CLANG – CLANG – CLANG

We all stood up, even Dark who was still on the phone.

“We got a call. I’ll send you the address, meet us there.” Dark hung up the phone.

“Thorne, go with Lissa. Manage the pressure on the engine. Don’t do anything else but drive, manage the pressure, and hand out equipment. Stand down as soon as Donovon arrives.”

I nod, excited to be back in action, even if just minimal. Once on the truck, I raced to the scene with Lissa in the passenger seat. Just like old times.

Chapter 14

Lissa

Adrenaline flushed through my system as I jumped out of the fire truck in front of the burning building. The two-story building looked abandoned, and it already looked engulfed in flames. As the first truck on the scene, Thorne and I got to work.

I connected a hose from the truck, then connected another one to the fire hydrant conveniently next to the burning structure. Thorne stayed next to the truck as instructed. He was ready to turn on the system as soon as I gave the signal. The second truck pulled up right after I cracked open the hydrant. Once I ran out of water on the truck, I could easily pick up the hose connected to the hydrant and keep going.

I grabbed the end of the hose connected to the truck and nodded at Thorne.

BANG.

A flash of light expanded from the building, pushing me away. I lay on my back, squinting up at the bright sky. A solid high-pitched tone rang in my ears. I lay still, trying to control my breathing and wondering why I felt so hot until a face appeared in my field of view, mouthing something to me.

“What?” I asked.

“Melissa, can you hear me?” The voice sounded far away even though the face was mere inches from my own.

“Yes. Why are you whispering?”

“Do you know who I am?”

I stared at the face. “Yes. My partner.”

He put his hand on my face. “What’s my name?”

I stared up at him. What was his name? I just knew he was my partner. That he was mine. Why was he asking stupid questions?”

Someone pushed him aside. A new face appeared.