Smoke & Fire || Evan Buckley

Chapter 8

A L E X I S _ P A R R I S H

THE BLARING OF  fire engines and aid cars fill the air as the team pulls up to the scene. The smell of salt water fills my nose and seaps through my pores.

Everyone has aid kits in their hands and I clench my hand around them tightly, breathing in deeply, preparing for the worst.

The sea of water is set aflame with a piece of a plane buried in the middle of it. It looks terrifying as hell.

"You guys ever seen something like this before?" Buck breathes out besides me. Bobby and Hen are too focused on the scene to form words.

The sound of screaming and helicopters are deafeningly scary.

Anxiety bubbles up in my belly and I force myself not to focus on all the screaming.

We all bolt our way towards the the body of water, stopping at an aid car. It's red light flashes in the darkness, creating some light. I tread carefully on the sand.

"You guys, get that strap" Bobby orders as we remove the rescue boat from the truck.

"Captain Nash, who's got incident command?"

"You do now, Captain. It looks like the plane split in two on impact" Bobby imforms making a chill run down my spine at his words.

"All right I'm gonna need you to be my point man on the beach" The captain orders over the sound of helicopters overhead.

"Alright, Hen, I need you to check on the Coast Gaurd chopper... Buck I need you and Parrish to check with the dive team alright?" Bobby commands as we reach the sea, each carrying the weight of the rescue boat.

"We got atleast 20"

"Hey Parrish, just keep moving" Bobby says as my eyes linger on the deceased passenger who washed up on shore. She's just laying there in the open as the tiny waves crash against her lifeless body.

I gulp as we all get onto the boat with the coast guard. The salty air hits my face as we drive towards the plane.

The screaming doesn't stop, people panicking about their loved ones.

"The water's on fire" Buck notes as we near the crash. The boat moves along the water and I feel the nausea rising in the back of my throat.

"That's jet fuel" Bobby answers.

"I count 12 to 15 victims on the wing, at least 30 in the water. How long before that thing sinks?" Hen exclaims over the noise.

Bobby checks his watch with a frown on his face. Hen moves to help up one of the victims into the boat.

"Based on the timing of the swells, I don't think that plan can take more than 4 or 5 sets before going down"

I look to the side to see people jumping from the top of the plane, into the water. The helicopter shine its light onto the plane and the sound of live wire is still heard.

"where the hell are we gonna evacuate all these people to?" Buck asks.

"We have to get these people out of here and to the beach"

"Cap, we have less than 4 minutes to do this!" I speak up, urgency laced in my voice as I step into the plane.

"Swim to the raft, swim to the raft!" Hen activates the emergency raft on the plane as I walk further in to assess the damage.

"We've got somebody here" I announce as I pull off the dibris

"I can't get my seatbelt off" The passenger wheezes through labored breathing. His abdomen is bloody and his shirt torn along the line of the seatbelt as he holds his arms to his chest. The water pools around us, open wires spark all over.