Page 36 of Scorched Hearts

She got up from her chair, and Elle swiftly followed.

“But now we need to get back to work, kid,” she said in a gentler tone. “We all need to get back to work.”

Out of the office, Elle passed by Haley without a word. Soon, a meeting would be called to establish a new plan of action regarding the structures still affected by the earthquake. Sitting through a meeting was the last thing Elle felt she’d want to do. She was restless, her bones itching for movement, for action. Her hazy four-hours-of-sleep mind called for fresh air. They were all going insane with the effort, and adding to that grief, Elle could see their strength waning. But there was no one else to put the city back together. No one else could do their job, even though departments from all neighboring cities were being driven to Phoenix Ridge day by day. They’d need to establish a system of cooperation.

During the meeting, her thoughts briefly jumped to the night spent with Maya. She barely remembered it, as if through fog. The sounds of the washing machine tumbling her clothes about, the scent of chamomile tea with a generous portion of milk, Maya’s steady heartbeat against her face. She felt lucky that Maya still cared about her that much. Or perhaps not still. Maybe they’d begun caring for each other anew?

“Rodriguez, focus.” Captain Hunter called her back to the meeting. Her gaze was kind, however. Their shared part in the tragedy had quietly brought them closer to each other, a thread of understanding tying them together.

Elle nodded and remained attentive throughout the remainder of the meeting. There was a team to be dispatched to secure a cluster of buildings on the verge of crumbling and help safely evacuate the inhabitants.

She knew the task was simple, yet Elle couldn’t stop her fear. She knew she had to choke down the feeling, eat it up and never bring it back, but when her hands trembled, it felt difficult. Even while driving, she felt wrong. Her body was refusing to perform its usual tasks, making it difficult to focus on the road, but she had to do it. They were very close. Everything felt like an effort for Elle, but she knew herself to be strong. She trusted herself to handle it.

The three buildings had been built according to the old safety standards and were now incredibly unstable due to cracking caused by the earthquake and the vibrations that followed. They still cropped up here and there throughout the city. Not even twenty hours had passed since the accident. Elle kept thinking, kept counting the time. What for? She couldn’t say.

Huge arms of machines were put in place to help hold the buildings, their imposing size eclipsing all the fire trucks around. These machines would be of some help, though they couldn’t hold the buildings together from the inside, which was now the main concern.

The rescue teams received information that the staircase in one building was damaged, trapping some residents inside. The firefighters were preparing to go in, including Elle, when a large chunk of the wall fell down right next to them.

“Fuck.” Elle stood frozen, looking at the wall fragment lying dangerously close to her. There was a huge commotion, captains ordering the firefighters back.

“This is too dangerous.” Captain Hunter shook her head. “You’re not going in.”

The team was stopped, and everyone went back to a safe distance from the collapsing building. It was a race against time once more.

“We’re going to evacuate them out the windows.” Captain Ramirez nodded. “We need to prepare the truck ladders. All the drivers, get inside the trucks.”

Elle listened, going into the truck. She would have to spend a long time maneuvering to get to the perfect position. The people would have to walk down the ladder. She was hoping everyone could.

Ramirez was giving her instructions, which window to target, what distance. Elle strained her eyes, looking back and to the sides with an intensity she had not had to employ before. Her understanding of the car from all the years driving had to come through. But she managed. Hhe stopped the truck. The ladder began reaching out to the third floor window.

A young woman with a child tethered to her back began walking down. The child was crying loudly, and the sound echoed from the building nearby, creating an even more nervous atmosphere. But the woman finally safely reached the pavement. She was quickly taken care of by the medics, not because she was injured but because of the shock all inhabitants had suffered. Elle kept the ladder stretched out until all the third floor residents were safely down on the ground. They huddled in blankets given out by medics and watched as their house cracked, held together by mechanic claws. What would happen once the machines were removed?

The second floor went just as successfully, and the first floor was reached by a normal ladder leaning against the building. Everyone was successfully evacuated, and the question of what would happen to the building would find its resolution.

“It will have to be destroyed,” one of the engineers began explaining to the terror-stricken crowd. “We have to do it before it falls apart and causes more damage.”

Elle’s crew was moving to help the next one out of the three, but she couldn’t help listening in. These people had thought they were lucky having escaped the earthquake’s first wave, and now they were learning that their home must be destroyed.

What a time. She shook her head, joining the rest of the crew.

The next buildings were rescued similarly. Elle twisted and turned her head to maneuver the truck around, the people went down on ladders, and the day was neared evening. As the sun began to set, and Elle sat behind the wheel waiting for the victims to descend the ladder, she thought about Maria’s family. Maria would get the full honors funeral, with trucks, apparatus, orchestra, and everything. Some family members from abroad would come, kids who probably had never even known her and would not feel the grief that her parents would have to endure throughout the entire ceremony.

“RODRIGUEZ!” Hunter was suddenly at her window, startling Elle.

“What, Captain?”

“We’ve been trying to reach you for the past five minutes. This is unacceptable. Get a hold of yourself and get out of the truck!”

“Yes, Captain.” Elle got out of the truck.

Her face was on fire. She had never failed something as simple as hearing instructions, and the taste of shame on her tongue was as new to her as it was infuriating. O’Malley replaced her as the driver. The whole way back, Elle felt her heartbeat in her throat. She couldn’t understand what was happening to her, why this weakness wouldn’t go away.

“You need to get a grip on this, Rodriguez.” Hunter touched Elle’s back in a gesture Elle guessed was supposed to show understanding, even if it mainly came off as pity. “It’s difficult for everyone who was there, but we still have work to do.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Captain,” Elle said coldly. She was fed up with this situation and Hunter’s pitiful looks.

“I think you do.”

---