"I thought I told you to shut up. Huh? They deserve this! Its all because of them that these people are dying! Everyone will know".
"Everyone will- everyone will know what?" TK asks, choking on the smoke as it gets thicker.
They're heading towards the fire now. The air is hot and sweat begins to form along his back. His cheeks feel hotter and hotter, but theres no way for it to escape.
They stop in a random hallway and the man throws TK to the floor and kneels down. He's still holding the bomb and now starts messing around with the wires, mumbling incoherently to himself.
TK looks around but the hallway is empty and his brain is only telling him to worry about the towel around his face. It isn't enough to stop the smoke and his lungs are screaming.
Unfortunately, life and death situations are his speciality. Which actually works out well now. So, he gets himself under control and starts trying to understand.
"Did you set one off on the third floor too?"
The man shakes his head and mumbles louder before speaking up, avoiding eye contact.
"It wasn't meant to go like this. It wasn't meant to happen this way! But it can still be fixed", he whispers. "It'll still work out".
The man's shoulders begin to shake and the hands fiddling with the wires keep letting them go before he picks them back up again.
TK notices and tries to calm himself, making his eyes notice every small movement of the man. All so he can really try and understand him.
"You're shaking, are you hurt?" He asks.
"No! But they will be. They will be", he murmurs quieter.
"I can help you".
"Its too late. You're tricking me".
The paramedic doesn't know what he means by it being too late and he doesn't have enough time to figure it out, so he moves on to the other part of his sentence.
"I'm not tricking you. If you need help, I can give it. It's what I do, I help people".
The man doesn't say anything, but he also doesn't shout something TK can't understand, so he tries again.
"My name's TK. What's yours?"
"No", he whimpers and stands up to pace around some more.
He's away from the bomb and TK wonders if he should try and jump forward. Put himself between it and the man. But he decides against it. What would he do then?
He'd have to wrestle the man so he stayed away. And if he lost, he would definitely be blown to bits.
After getting hit in the head his reaction skills probably aren't that good and the smoke would make him pass out after a few deep breaths. If only the man didn't have the smoke mask on.
Looks like he'll have to resort to basic talking.
"What's your name?" He asked as gently as his burnt throat would let him.
The man gave a wary glance so TK carried on.
"My name is TK. My father is called Owen, he's a firefighter. I was born in New York and worked there as a firefighter until I had to leave and come to Austin".
He wasn't sure if it was helping. The man hadn't looked at him but Carlos had told him all about touching the humanity left in people by telling them about you.
Oh god, he really hopes he can get out of here before Carlos knows he's missing and starts freaking out.
"I'm an addict".
That gets the mans attention.
"Opioids. Its why I had to leave New York. I nearly died and my dad had to save me".
There was a silence for a moment. TK sensed he shouldn't talk, and eventually, it worked.
"Michael. My name's Michael", he answered.
"Michael", TK nodded. "Why are you doing this?"
Some of the fight left the man as his shoulders sagged and he shook his head.
"Because of my father. These people, this hotel, they threw him out when he couldn't pay for a room. It was snowing. The coldest night that winter. He died in the snow. All they had to do was let him stay, but he died when he didn't have to!"
Tears start falling down michaels face and he got angrier as he recounted it.
"I understand", TK whispered. "I would do anything for my dad... but these people, they aren't the ones that hurt your father. These children and their families didn't hurt him. Many of them would have helped if they had been here. I'm really sorry and it should never have happened, but you're punishing the wrong people".
That might have been the wrong thing to say. The man stops and crouches down in front of the device.
"If they have to die for people to notice what happened, then that's fine with me".
His finger reaches down to press a button.
TK barely notices the small beep before he's throwing himself through the closest door and the whole building shakes once more.
YOU ARE READING
911 lonestar - short stories
Fanfiction1) The team get a call for a fire at the giant Notingham hotel. With countless people outside, scared and injured, and many more unaccounted for, they must work with other fire houses to get everything under control. Only, this isn't an ordinary fir...
