Chapter 24: A Hell Of A Ride

3.2K 47 5
                                    

"Let me let me ask you something," Herrmann says and he and Otis stand on ladders, fixing a sign up, outside Molly's. "What kind of equipment do you use for your podcast?"

"Oh, the podcast you call 'dummy-vision'?" Otis laughs sarcastically. "Now you're interested."

"All right, listen. The baby's due in a couple of weeks and Cindy, she wants me to set up a video journal or something. You got a video camera I can use?" He asks.

"Herrmann, you got a hi-def camera on your phone. Why don't you just take some footage, I'll edit it for you?" He suggests.

"Aw, thank you, Otis." Herrmann smiles and then they roll down the sign that reads;

MOLLY'S PUB
LADIES NIGHT SPECIAL
EVERY WEEKEND

"Ladies night specials. You're kidding me." Dawson rolls her eyes.

"See? I told you she'd be pissed." Otis looks back to Christopher.

"You know why?" I ask, "because it's sexist."

"Yeah, sexist against men," retorts Herrmann.

"It just feels a little desperate," says Dawson.

We turn around when a few tricks drive past and Herrmann points at the empty lot at the end of the road. "Oh, look at the new shop."

"Great. Great. Now there's gonna be construction traffic that's gonna clog up the block?" Dawson raises her arms annoyed.

"Hey, easy, negative Nancy." Herrmann rests his hands on her shoulders. "This is gonna be good for us. You know, it's probably gonna be a bunch of new condos. Nature food places. I told you guys, the neighborhood, it's up and coming."

"Come on, we have to get to work." I hurry them on and then we all ride there together to start our shift.

The companies start cleaning their engines, including us and I help spray the front windscreen with soapy water and then wash it off with a hose 'accidentally' spraying Dawson in the process but she's too busy looking at Mills on the apparatus floor.

"You and Mills ignoring each other?" I ask.

"Uh, not completely," she shrugs. "I mean, we pass each other in the halls and say 'good morning', 'see you later'."

"You were trying to protect him," I remind her. "It's crazy if he can't forgive you."

"Well, you gotta be able to trust the person you're with, right? And if you can't..." she trails off. "Whereas you and Severide, you fully trust each other and you have the most amazing relationship."

I smile and look up through my lashes, spotting him now having a conversation with Mills, "yeah," I nod. "I really love him. I've never felt like this before."

"Scary," I hear Shay sneak up behind me and we greet her. "Dawson is right though, you're really great together."

"Squad 3, Truck 81, Engine 51, Ambulance 61, Battalion 25. Structure fire. 3015 South California Avenue." We glance at each other and then get into our vehicles beginning to drive.

I hate the calls to this address. They're to a prison.

"Facility director, Rick Esposito." An almost bald man introduces himself. "We've got smoke in pod four, a dorm area we set up for overcrowding."

"Thought you were evacuating?" Boden asks him.

"Well, I pulled most of my staff out. But I think it's best we don't move the inmates. We have vents that'll draw away the smoke." Esposito explains.

I Am MorganWhere stories live. Discover now