Nebulous || Evan Buckley [1]

chapter seventeen

"Paulson, Marcus and Riley responding."

"Chimney responding."

"Hen, do you copy? Hen?" Josephine, Eddie, and Buck halted sharing bewildering expressions. They assumed Hen would be with Chimney and Bobby. "This is Captain Nash for Henrietta Wilson. Do you copy?"

Ali noticed their expression, asking. "Is that a friend of yours?"

Josephine diverted from her gaze as Eddie pressed his lips together. "Let's keep moving." He ordered, gesturing to their long journey on the staircase once again.

"Here you go." Buck motioned Ali escaping the doorway of the staircase and into the hallway. He carefully observed as they moved forward then situate against the wall. "There you go. Easy."

Josephine and Eddie threw themselves from the doorway to the wall. She blew through her lips, growing tiresome while Eddie scanned around. "Miss, there's this egress on the north stairwell of this floor." He mentioned.

"What if it's blocked, too? Can't you guys get a ladder into one of the windows." Ali pondered as Buck unstrapped themselves.

"It's too risky. Building shifted too much." Josephine said, passing the duo. She popped up next to Eddie and examining the blockage to maneuver for a clear pathway.

He casted his eyes on the brunette merely strategizing. "How are you feeling? You've been quiet since-"

"I almost ended up like that old man back there?" She finished, flickering up at him. He shortly nodded in response as she licked her lips still shaken up. "Um, my focus is remotely getting us out of here instead of dwelling about it. Because I'm still here thanks to you, again." She spared her gratitude once more.

"Also, you did the best you could back there." She added, seeing guilt washed over his face at the mention of the man.

He nodded, crouched to grasped on the heavy piece of wall after she pointed it out. "Like you said, we should steer our focus to find a way out."

"Uh, she's in Europe. She's traveling. For the first time, I'm glad she's not around. I don't need the worry." Buck's voice echoed as he approached the duo.

Ali leaned her back against the wall, snatching up one of the small alcoholic beverages from the maid's cart. "Having someone to worry about sounds...nice, actually. All I do is work." She carelessly twisted one open and took a swig.

The three firefighters shared amusing expressions at the sight of the blond haired woman. Eventually, she noticed their stares. "What? It's after 5:00. It's not like it slowed us down."

Josephine let out a faint laugh, "A drink sounds nice after this."

"Hey, hey, hey, hey. Hey." Buck perked at a muffled sound nearby.

A small voice winced through the door. "Is anyone there?"

"You guys hear that?"

The four remained silent to hear the wincing sound of the small voice. "Help! Is anyone there?"

Buck, Josephine, and Eddie quickly moved to the door as Buck used a tool to burst the door open. Josephine grasped onto Eddie's hand before he thrusted inside to attend to the injured man. She followed with Buck's assistance to push out the rolling chair, unveiling the man.

"I knew help would come." The man cried out.

Eddie crawled to the end of his feet, "That's right. We're here, we got you, buddy."

"All right, don't move. Just relax, okay? I need you to stay as still as possible." Buck instructed the man as Josephine cautiously pinned his arm back.