Page 35 of Hearts on Fire

Though Naomi tried to hide it, there was a sad twist to her face.

“Not you, Scotti,” the captain said. “You know better. Sit this one out.”

Naomi looked as though she brightened up at that.

“Doctor Crane, there are casualties. We'll need you on site.”

“No problem.” Naomi responded, suddenly all business.

Scotti walked back to her desk, unsure how to feel.

The first emergency alarm barely ended when the second one began to cry. Scotti sat up, surprised.

Two calls at the same time? There was no way she could sit this out.

She hurried to the pole to slide down into the big appliance room where the Fire Trucks lived. The speakers began to blare instructions. She recognized the captain's voice immediately.

“Alright guys, listen up. We've just gotten two emergency calls and almost not enough staff due to yesterday's ordeal. Fire Truck 1 and 2 will go to the house fire uptown and Truck 3 and 4 will go to the collapsing building at East Avenue.”

Scotti didn't wait to find out if she could be on any of the missions. She went down to the locker room and got dressed. She winced as she put on her gloves and putting on her fire pants and boots was a struggle.

By the time she was ready and done, there were four trucks ready to leave, two per location.

Scotti's eyes scanned the groups for Naomi and for her captain.

“Scotti,” her captain called from behind her.

She spun around. His eyes immediately went to her gloved hands.

“You'll be of more use at the collapsing building. Join the second troop.”

Scotti nodded and jogged toward Truck 3. As the truck wheeled out of the parking lot, Scotti caught sight of an ambulance following behind. Naomi was in the passenger seat. Scotti winked in the side mirror and hoped Naomi caught sight of it.

They pulled up at the building in minutes. It was an old residential building, part of which was being used for another purpose in a way Scotti assumed ought to be illegal. Scotti marveled at how the place was crumbling, as though it had been shaken from the very foundation. The firetruck had barely come to a halt when they all began to hop out.

A crowd of people stood only a little distance away from the building as blocks fell without pattern.

It was not a safe distance, and Scotti took charge of dispersing the crowd and making way for the fire department to come through to the scene.

The building was going to collapse any moment, yet there were people still running into it to save their loved ones and valuables.

A lady grabbed Scotti and shook her frantically. “My baby is up there! Save my baby, please.”

Scotti gave a short nod and pulled herself away from the woman's grip.

“What do you plan to do?” Naomi asked, coming up behind her.

Scotti looked at a window and saw that there was still someone in there, holding onto the drapes.

The building was too fragile to put a ladder to it. She wasn't sure if the steps could be trusted either.

“Have the crowd sent away. Put out landing pads, a number of people may have to jump,” Scotti said into her walkie talkie.

Once she received a reply, she began to move to the other side of the building to access the place better.

They had only taken a step when someone yelled from a window. “Doctor! Is there a doctor? There's a kid having seizures in here. There's no way we can get her down. The steps are too fragile.”

Naomi looked from Scotti to the window to the firefighter who had called out to her. She swore.

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