Page 37 of Hearts Like Hers

“It’s okay,” she told them. “Walk straighttoward me. Don’t look over there, only at me. See my eyes? Look right here.”

Ren, though tentative, stood and pulled Evaalong with him, staying close to the side of the room free of flames. All thewhile, Kate heard a clock ticking in the recesses of her mind. They didn’t havelong. When he was close enough, Kate took hold of his hand tightly. Evaautomatically reached for Kate’s shoulders and she scooped her up with herother arm.

She had them.

Moving quickly now, Kate turned back the wayshe came only to find that the hallway had been overtaken by flames. She didn’thesitate. She set Eva down temporarily, pulled the blanket from under her otherarm, and turned to them.

“I’m going to wrap this around us. It’s likea shield and it will protect us.”

“Like onWonderWoman?” Eva asked, tears still streaming. She reached for Kate, whoscooped her up once again, holding her tight.

“Exactly like Wonder Woman. We’re going to gofast, okay?” In the distance, she heard the wail of sirens approaching and knewthe cavalry was close. Police, fire, ambulance, and volunteers. The town wouldrally. The only question was would there be enough time? “When I say go, we’regoing to duck our heads and run, staying under the blanket. Just like WonderWoman. Ready?”

Two terrified and hesitant faces nodded,surrendering to her leadership.

She forced a smile and nodded back. “One,two, three, go!”

They moved quickly, the fire now devouringthe walls of the hallway, the smoke making it almost impossible to see. Thiswas their only shot. Eva clung to her, squeezing her arms around Kate’s neck,burying her face. Ren held tightly to her hand, the blanket pulled around themall for protection. The heat slammed them as they walked, hot, oppressive, andoverpowering. The sound of the fire’s roar assaulted Kate’s ears but she pushedon, tasting the acrid smoke along the way. It felt like a million years beforethey neared the top of the stairs, but there they were, just a few feet away.

They were going to make it. They were notgoing to die in this house. At the very least, she was getting these kids outof there if it was the last thing she did with her life.

Six steps away. Now five.

She felt the fire nip at her heels, and thepain flared bright and sharp on her ankles. She shook her pant leg and kickedat it with her other foot to smother the flames.

Four steps. Three.

She coughed, struggling for air. Her lungsrejected the smoke and seized.

Two steps. One more.

That’s when the world shifted on it axis. Thefloor beneath them buckled with a loud, startling crack. They were falling, thethree of them, to the story below amidst burning beams and splintered wood. Sheclutched Eva to her chest, angling as best she could to land on her back, toinsulate the little girl from the impact of the fall. But Kate didn’t rememberlanding or the impact. Just the image of a large beam crushing the coffee tablenext to them on the floor, sending sparks flying into the air. The couch caughtfire and went up like a tinderbox, sending a wash of heat to her face. Sheslammed her eyes shut instinctively and braced against the scorching flash.Kate could make out the clamor of voices as they entered the home. She turned andblinked, doing her best to see what she could in the smoky, fire-laced chaos.Guys in turnout gear. Her guys. They were here. They would help. She tried tomove and winced at the pain that sliced through her back. Eva was gone from herarms. Damnit, no. What had happened to Eva? Ren was next to Kate, moaningquietly. “Help them,” she said, again and again, but her voice was hoarse,barely a whisper. “Please. Help them.”

The next time Kate opened her eyes, she wasin an ambulance in front of the house. Evening had crept steadily to night, andthe sky had lost the sun entirely. Rescue workers streaked past. Someone hadtransported her there, but she must have passed out from the smoke inhalationand had no memory of those details. Attempting to speak, she erupted into acoughing spell, her lungs rebelling against the ash and the soot. Through itall, she studied her surroundings and attempted to push herself into a seatedposition, ignoring the searing pain. Her skin had been burned, her arm and herside and the backs of her ankles, that much she could tell. Not badly though,nothing she couldn’t push through. She ached from the fall, but she could pushthrough that, too. The doors to the ambulance stood open and she could hear thespray from the fire hose from nearby.

“The kids!” she heard herself call out, onlyher voice was raspy and sounded nothing like hers. They had her masked up andsucking on oxygen. She pushed the mask aside. “Are they out? We need to getthem out.”

“They’re with Rescue Five. The medics aretreating them now,” said Luella, a private company paramedic Kate had come toknow and respect from the field. She repositioned the oxygen mask over Kate’smouth and nose. “Thanks to you. Now you need to lie back and let me do my damnjob.”

“I don’t know if the house was clear. Didanyone clear the house?” She sat up, wanting more than anything to go back inthere but knowing that her injuries could put herself and everyone else atgreater risk. It was a helpless feeling.

“Lie back down,” her captain said fromoutside the ambulance. “The whole place fell in on itself and the rest is aboutto go. It’s unstable and I’ve already given the abandon structure call. We’lltalk about why you busted in on your own later. For now, sit there and rest,and don’t fucking move.”

Kate swore quietly, feeling helpless andfrustrated. “How are they?” she asked Luella.

She met Kate’s eyes. “From what I can tell,the little girl got the worst of it, but they’re both holding their own.”

“I should have been faster. Fuck.” Kate shookher head, reliving each moment, critically reviewing what she could have donebetter, more efficiently. It wasn’t until hours later at the hospital when sheheard the news. One deceased in the master bedroom, a male in his thirties. No,no, no. She blinked at the wall as the full meaning of that informationsettled. Eva and Ren had lost their father. It wasn’t her fault. She knew thatunderneath the giant weight that sat on her chest, but that didn’t lessen thedread that descended. She swallowed back the bile that rose in her throat andgripped the metal bars along her hospital bed, looking around for something,anything she could do to take it back.

This had happened on her watch.

A single firefighter on the scene withoutturnout gear could only do so much with a burn already in progress. Still, shefelt lost in that bed, knowing the most important person in those kids’ liveswas gone. Whether or not he’d been a great father didn’t matter, he’d beentheirfather.

“You’re a fucking hero, Carpenter,” one ofthe guys said, from the side of her hospital bed an hour later. His hair wassweaty, and he still had soot on his face from working the scene. It turned herstomach. She’d sustained minor burns, sprained her ankle in the fall, andscored some pretty awful bruising to her lower back. A day or so at most andshe’d be released. Didn’t matter.

“No. Don’t say that,” she’d told himadamantly, rejecting the hero notion outright. In fact, it made her sick. “Ishould have cleared the house.” The thought consumed her, making it difficultto concentrate on anything else. She combed through every detail of thosecritical moments, as if they were on fast-forward in her brain, looking forsome small thing that she could have done differently. She found several, andthey would haunt her forever.

“You are, though,” Charlie said, from theback of the group of guys.

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