Before Us (Kelly Severide Love Story)

Your Day Is Coming

"SOME DAYS, THINGS JUST TAKE WAY TOO MUCH OF MY ENERGY"

"Okay, let's not waste any time," the instructor calls out, "we have a controlled fire over there," he points to the training building. "You each have 3-minute oxygen supply," he informs us, "let's see who can locate and evacuate the victim the quickest in those 3 minutes," he tells us our task.

"And if you can't, then do the fire department a favour and quit now!" He states, "you are not cut out to be a firefighter!" He sneers.

"Now pair up!" He orders.

Great. 

No one is going to want to pair up with me.

I'm bandage.

Even though the I no longer need bandages on my palms, the bandage on my wrist is still very visible. Especially to the instructor who mentions it every other minute.

"Hey I'm Brad" one of the guys walks up to me, "Olivia" I shake his hand that he held out. "You want to be partners?" He offers, "yeah sounds good" I accept, relieved I wasn't going to have to beg for a partner.

"There are 2 dummies in there, one for each of you so don't get greedy" the Instructor yells.

A few pairs go first, so far everyone completes the task in a reasonable time.

The instructor places the dummies back in the burning building before signalling that it's mine and Brad's turn.

We turn on our oxygen and run into the house, the excessive heat immediately slowing me down, the oxygen works to fight the thick smoke we are engulfed in.

We don't see the dummies downstairs so we rush upstairs.

Each of us collecting our dummy.

I throw my dummy over my shoulder and start racing down the stairs, knowing the oxygen will run out any second now.

Suddenly, the wind is knocked out of me and my body flies forwards, rolling down the rest of the stairs, landing harshly against the banister.

"Touch luck bandage!" Brad's feet dig into my side as he jumps over me, his menacing laugh echoing over the fire crackling.

This damn bastard really pushed me down the stairs.

Trying to stand up but the pain in my abdomen keeps overpowering my movements, the pain getting worse the harder I breathe.

A loud beeping sound comes from my tank; the oxygen is starting to run out.

This can't be how it ends for me, I won't let him get away with that.

Using the wall to push myself up, gentle hand resting on the side that I landed on, definitely going to be bruised.

Picking up my decapitated dummy, head discarded in the fall, throwing the body over my uninjured side, completing the task by making my way out of the building.

"2 minutes 57 seconds bandage!" The instructor calls out my time, all the guys start laughing, clearly knowing that Brad had tripped me up but not saying anything about it.