Page 2 of Knox

The farther I went, the heavier the smoke. Right up until I descended half the flight of stairs on my hands and knees. Coughing, I stood and hurried as fast as I could. With the receding smoke, it was easier to breathe. To move.

“Mom!”

“Luke?” I sobbed in relief as I recognized my son’s voice.

“There she is, Luke!” Aneshya sounded strong. Not like she’d been hurt or couldn’t breathe.

Then I was in the arms of my son, my daughter clinging tightly to me as they moved me out of the apartment building. I barely made it out into the grass before I collapsed, my legs finally giving out. I clutched Aneshya to me as tightly as I could. Luke had his arms around me but was still trying to get me to move farther away from the building.

“It’s not safe here, Mom. We need to get farther back.”

“Mr. Knoxville.” Panic filled me. Did the older man get out? “He was right behind me. Where is he?”

“The fireman said he’d make sure you both got out.” Aneshya tugged at me, following her brother’s lead as usual. “Come on, Mom. Let’s go.”

Each breath seemed to bring on more coughing, but I sucked in a deep breath of clean air and managed to get the coughing mostly under control. “Where are the other firemen?” I looked around, not seeing anyone other than a few bystanders. I could hear sirens off in the distance getting closer, but no one was here yet.

“Not sure,” Luke said with a frown. “But he said he would get you and Mr. Knoxville out and for us to go on.”

“We were waiting for you.” Aneshya’s voice broke and tears made tracks through the streaks of soot on her face. “I thought you’d gotten lost.”

It was then Mr. Knoxville stumbled through the same exit we’d managed to escape through. The fireman was right behind him.

“Mr. Knoxville! Oh, my God! Are you all right?” I hurried in his direction, trying to put the man’s arm around my shoulders so he could lean on me if necessary. I should have known better. My knees were weak already. There was no way I could hold the older man’s weight. Instead, I found him holding me up with an arm around my waist as he urged us farther away from the building which was engulfed in flames.

The guy coming up behind Mr. Knoxville was huge. He towered over all of us and was solidly built. He still had on a full-face mask with SCBA gear but I could see his face through the clear plate. The man looked familiar, but I couldn’t quite place him.

“Please! My boyfriend, Danny! He’s still in there somewhere!”

Instead of going back inside immediately, he turned to Mr. Knoxville.

“Up to you.” Mr. Knoxville had leaned over with his hands braced on his knees while he coughed, same as the rest of us. “Fuckin’ prick left his children in a burnin’ fuckin’ buildin’.”

“What?” I gasped in surprise, looking up at Mr. Knoxville. Not only had I never heard the other man swear like that, but he was accusing Danny -- his own son -- of deserting us in a crisis. “No! Danny and I have had our problems, but he’d never leave his kids. We got separated. He’s still in there. Probably looking for us! You have to find him!”

The firefighter took off the mask, and it was like I was looking at a slightly older, bigger, much scarier version of Danny. I sucked in a breath…

… then immediately started coughing. Luke was at my side when I collapsed on the ground on my knees. I fell forward onto my hands in the grass, coughing uncontrollably.

“We need to get Mom to the hospital.” Luke handed me a bottle of water. I had no idea where that came from, but I took a gulp before promptly coughing again. I glanced over at Aneshya. She had a worried expression on her face but wasn’t coughing anymore. Luke looked like he wasn’t hurt either, but I had to be sure. Both of them were streaked with soot.

“Are… you…” I gasped. “Are you… hurt?”

“No, Mom.” Luke was quick to reassure me. “Aneshya’s fine too. Drink some more.”

The next thing I knew an oxygen mask was placed over my face and the Danny look-alike was in front of me, holding my gaze with a steady one of his own.

“Take deep breaths, honey.” He put what looked like an inhaler in the hole at the side of the mask and squeezed it. I felt the mist from the spray enter my lungs as I inhaled. I still coughed, but after a few seconds, the pressure in my chest relaxed a little. After another lungful of air and more coughing, he did it again. After that, it wasn’t long until the pressure in my chest eased almost entirely. I still coughed, but it felt different. Like the coughing was actually helping to clear my lungs instead of being a futile effort.

“Mom?” Aneshya looked up at me with worry in her expression. She’d wiped her face with something, washing some of the soot off, but smearing it over her face.

“I’m okay, sweetie.”

“Fire and EMS are on the way.” The man kneeling in front of me moved the mask long enough to urge me to drink some more water before replacing the mask. “Just take some slow, deep breaths. I gave you an inhaler. Got something to help with the spasms in your lungs. Might make your heart race a bit, but nothing too bad.”

“Who are you?”

He glanced over at Mr. Knoxville who was looking at him with a combination of pride and relief. If there were tears in the gruff old man’s eyes, I was sure it was from the smoke. “Denver. Boy…”

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