Page 14 of Five Alarm Love
Another whoosh of flame burst into the night with a strange engine-like rumble as he raced into the building.
Tuli was in there.
Now Hunter as well.
Lou could only watch and wait, along with everyone else.
Off to her side in the back of their rig, Hilda and Amberlyn gave medications to sedate the agitated Wayne Sr.and then medically paralyze him.Hilda quickly secured his airway.
Natalie and Wayne clung to each other as their house burned.Another siren pierced the night as a second fire truck trundled up the dirt road in the distance.
Hurry.
What if Tuli was hurt?Trapped inside the building?His leg hadn’t healed.She had seen the limp and shuffle that he tried to hide.His shoulders had broadened over the past several months.Mav had mentioned the long hours he spent in the fire hall, working out in their makeshift gym, trying to overcome his injury.Even not functioning at full capacity, Tuli was still risking his life to save someone.
Damn it.Lou had avoided him for the past several days, going so far as refusing Mav’s offer of Three Bears’ coffee.She couldn’t face Tuli and his open, welcoming smile.She couldn’t face that hopeful expression that he gave only her.She couldn’t face him with the knowledge that her life and her future were taking her down a path that didn’t involve him.
Sure, they were great friends.Always had been.
Right about now, friendship felt like a consolation prize.
She blinked back tears from the smoke-filled air.A consolation prize that included a live, healthy Tuli would be better than the alternative.
Hurry.
Someone shouted again.
A figure appeared from the smoke with a child in his arms.Bright-yellow helmet.Hunter.
Her heart stuttered.
Where was Tuli?
Mav and Moose raced over with their gurney to receive the girl.Immediately, they began treating her.Wayne and Natalie met them as they dragged the gurney and patient to the back of the ambulance.
Hilda and Amberlyn shut the doors on their rig and peeled off into the night, lights flashing and siren blaring, headed to the hospital with Wayne Sr.
Where was Tuli?
Chapter Six
Get her outof here.
Tuli gripped the back of the unconscious girl’s pajama shirt, prepared to drag her out while he crawled.Next to him, she rested, unmoving.His leg quivered, but he shoved it under him and pushed against the knee to make it work.
It held, but not when he added the child’s weight.
Damn it.Tuli bunched his arms and legs underneath him.Time to crawl, then.
Appearing from the smoke at the front door, Hunter swept his flashlight beam through the haze.He knelt down with ease.“I’ll take her.Can you get out on your own?”His expression was unreadable behind his respirator mask and helmet visor.
“Yes.Go.”Tuli waved.
Hunter ran out with the girl.Over the roaring inferno, Tuli made out shouts of bystanders and medics.He fisted his hands on the floor.Please Lord, don’t let that child die because of my pride.
More ominous creaks sounded above him.
Please don’t letmedie because of my pride.
