From Intern to Family | 9-1-1 Fanfic

Chapter 6

Buck led the way through the apartment, which seemed to be empty and not yet on fire. The people must be out, having no clue that their home is being ruined.

We made it into the hallway, quickly ducking back when the smoke reached us. The fire was down the other end of the hall and was reaching the halfway mark of the top floor.

"Okay, you take the left side and I'll take the right. We go door-to-door and any people we see we send down the way we came up okay? The stairwell is blocked by the fire and hopefully we can get some people to safety before backup arrives." Buck ordered and I agreed without any question.

I began banging on the first door, calling out to hear if anybody was in there. The door clicked open and I was met with a sleepy-looking young man. "You need to evacuate now!" I called out, giving him some information of where to go as I went to the next room.

Fortunately, he lived on his own so it was a quick sweep of his apartment before I moved on to next door.

"Cooper, knock the doors down if you can! It'll be quicker." Buck yelled from where he was helping an old lady towards our exit. He'd likely have to help or carry her down, as there was no way she was climbing down herself.

Taking Buck's instructions, I opted for slamming my foot into the door. It took a few tries, but eventually it was knocked through. "Hello? Anyone in here?" I yelled, darting through the rooms to find someone. I could hear yelling, but it wasn't coming from this apartment.

After double-checking the place, I couldn't see a single person in sight. I ran back out into the hall, spotting the fire getting closer.

If we carried on going from door-to-door like this, the people trapped in the fire were never going to get out in time.

Luckily, Buck was busy checking another apartment so he couldn't tell me off for what I was about to do. I ran back into the empty apartment and grabbed a chair, only to throw it against the bedroom window.

The glass smashed into hundreds of tiny pieces and I poked my head through, seeing the bustling street below. Great, so everyone could see me.

"Over here, please!" A voice called out and I saw the same woman from earlier with her head out of the window. Only this time, smoke was billowing out too.

The window ledge stretched out in a line across the whole building, sitting under every single window across this floor. "It's okay! Help is coming!" I yelled, carefully slipping out on to the ledge.

I was just small enough to fit on the ledge, otherwise my feet may have slipped off. As carefully as I could, I shuffled sideways and tried not to think about the possibility of falling.

A noise came from my left and I turned my head in time to see Buck's face emerge from the window. "Cooper what the hell-" He scrambled to climb out of the window, reaching out to pull me back in.

"Buck stop! We have to help them, please Buck!" I begged, trying not to flinch away and stumble. The man paused at this, looking at me with a conflicted expression. It didn't help that we had no time to argue; a decision needed to be made here and now.

Buck continued climbing out of the window, joining me on the ledge. "Alright kid, we're going to help them. I need you to listen to me because I can't let you get hurt." He promised as we resumed our shuffling to the other window.

I looked at Buck properly for a second, thinking hard. I kept my thoughts to myself, but something tells me that he was thinking the same thing.

We made it over to the apartment as the firetruck, ambulance and even police cars began to show up. Help was here, now all we had to do was stall for time so they could help get these people out of here. I climbed in the window, spotting the woman huddled in the corner and covering something with towels.