Page 83 of From the Ashes
“I can’t just leave him!” I grab for the extension ladder. I’lldo it my fucking self if I have to. In full gear, managing the ladder is a bit challenging, but I make it. As my feet hit the first rung, I hear my captain’s voice. It’s easy to distinguish because she’s the only female out here tonight.
“Phoenix! Go in the window to the left. You have less than ninety seconds to locate him and get him out before that fire is up your ass. Nowgo!”
I nod and race up the ladder, immediately feeling it vibrate as another pair of boots starts climbing after me.
Knoxy.
The windows have already busted out due to the pressure so I slip in easily, but that’s the only easy part. The smoke is so thick I can’t see shit, and even breathing through my regulator is difficult. I tap my thigh making sure my can of Flame Away—original name, I know—is attached to my side. Langley will be in full gear, but anyone else we encounter won’t be.
Once we’re through the window, Knox is pressed up against my back so we don’t lose each other as I start screaming Langley’s name. Suddenly, a spray of water rushes past Knox and I, and I know they’ve brought the hose up the ladder to buy us a few more seconds.
Finally, I find a doorway and turn right toward the room Langley entered.
“LANG!”
I hear nothing but the roar of the fire in my ears. The heat is oppressive in a way that makes me want to succumb and just sit down. My body is exhausted. My mind is exhausted. But I must press on.
My boot kicks something on the floor and I drop to my knees expecting to find a body, but it’s just a beam from the falling ceiling…until I grope a little further. Langley’s thigh gives whereas the solid beam didn’t.
“Fuck. Knox, he’s trapped.” And based on the lack of crying out for help, he’s also either dead or unconscious.
Our clock is ticking as Knox and I try to hoist the beam off our comrade. My vision’s starting to get blurry at the edges, which isn’t good. It means I’ve either got a leak in my respirator, or my equipment can’t keep up with the amount of smoke around me. Either way, I’m going to pass out in about sixty seconds if I don’t get out of here. I signal to Knox that I’m in trouble.
He motions for me to go, but I know he can’t move this beam by himself and I know he won’t leave Langley now that we’ve found him. At this point, I’m afraid Knox is looking for a reason to stay behind and I refuse,refuse, to let him go.
I shake my head and motion for him to help me slide the beam. There’s a chance we’ll crush Langley’s leg, but it’s either that or we all die.
The amount of effort it takes to push the beam off of him takes every ounce of strength I have left, and I fall to the floor in a coughing fit. I feel hands shoving me, telling me to get my ass in gear. Knox drops to the floor next to me, takes my hand, and wraps my fingers around Langley’s pack strap.
“CRAWL!” Knox shouts, briefly pulling his respirator away from his mouth, leading the way. At some point, he’d managed to turn Langley around so we could pull him along the hallway back toward the room we entered. We’re going to have to throw him out the window because there’s no way we can manage the stairs.
It’s slow and we’re most certainly on borrowed time, but if Knox isn’t giving up, neither am I.
By some miracle, we make it to the window.
“NET!” I hear Knox yell. Jumping nets became pretty obsolete in the eighties, but our station chief requires our trucksto carry them. They don’t take up a ton of space and are quick to put together. Today, it might just save a life.
Knox and I manage to get Langley out the window, dangling him as low as we can before dropping him onto the net below. He falls like a ragdoll and it doesn’t look good, but the team manages to catch him. Knox forces me out the window next, gripping my jacket tightly while still yelling.
“Phoe’s hypoxic! Keep the net ready!”
I don’t remember getting down the ladder or being put into the ambulance, but once my O2 sats have been restored and the brain fog clears slightly, my first thought is Walker.
I pull the cannula out of my nose and sit up, wanting to find Knox and ask about Langley’s fate, but my captain is there pushing me back down.
“Whoa there, Harding. Lay your ass back down.” She reaches for the plastic tube and starts putting it back on my face. “You don’t fucking touch this again, am I clear?” Her words mean business, but her tone is soft.
I nod because I know talking is going to hurt like a bitch, but I finally manage to ask what I need to know.
“Knox? Lang?”
“Knox is fine. He’s joined the team on one of the hoses. They took Langley on to the hospital. He was still unresponsive when they left,” she says in a somber tone. “The two guys who went in before you and Lang made it out with a six-year-old. One elderly woman didn’t make it. The fire’s been contained on the right side of the first three floors. Should be out within the hour.” She turns to go and then looks back over her shoulder. “Whatever happens to Langley, you did good, Phoenix.”
I doubt his wife will feel that way if he doesn’t make it.
As soon as my captain’s gone, I lay my head back down and succumb to sleep with Walker’s face the last thing I see in my mind’s eye before it all goes black.
Just like last time.
