House fire. One in the suburbs, one involving a family.
This was a bad one supposedly. The station had gotten a call at two in the morning, reporting a house fire not even that far out of town. The squad had been in the engines in less than three minutes, screeching out of the station.
Fires in the suburbs were never good. The station had seen at least twelve this year, and it was December. When there was a fire in the suburbs, there was less of a chance of death, but there tended to be children involved.
When the engine pulled up outside the house, sirens blaring, the men leapt out, already jumping into action. The blaze had already consumed the left half of the house, yellow and orange flames kissing the night sky, embers mixing in with the stars. Even across the street, the heat from the fire could be felt.
There was a crowd of neighbors across the street, held back by the two police cars that had arrived before the fire truck. As the man stopped at the side of the truck, yanking open the doors holding the equipment, he heard the lieutenant yelling something. The second after he'd handed an axe to another man, the lieutenant was at his side, gripping his shoulder.
"Forget what I said earlier," the older man breathed, his face half illuminated by the flames. "I need you to go in, Carlson. Neighbor just said there's a child."
Cursing under his breath, the man nodded, grabbing an oxygen tank and emergency mask from the truck. They hadn't thought there was a kid involved in this one. It was supposedly just a young couple, alone in their house. A neighbor had called 911, not them. No one said anything about a kid earlier.
"Where are they at?" He asked, pulling on the tank over his fire suit and taking of his helmet to pull on the mask.
The lieutenant shook his head. "We don't know, a neighbor just told us there was one, a boy, about five."
He nodded, pulling an axe from the truck. "Name?"
"Jeongguk."
With a final nod, he pulled on his helmet and ran around the lieutenant, joining up with the rescue team preparing to enter the house.
"We've got a two adults and a child," the captain was saying as he ran up. "Keiths and Ramirez, head for the back. Holt and I will search the front. Carlson." The captain looked at the man directly. "Just find that boy."
"Yes, sir," he said sharply, voice muffled through the mask.
With confirmation from each man, the captain turned, running across the front lawn, towards the blaze.
Five year old boy. He's young, maybe he likes superheroes? Dinosaurs, cars? Have to make him feel safe.
The captain swung an axe at the dark mahogany front door, and a moment later, kicked it in. When he entered, the man had to squint to see, even with the mask. There was smoke everywhere. Trying not to breathe too heavily, he looked around as the rest of the team rushed forward into the house. The front room was the living room. Through the stifling smoke, he could see a couch, two chairs, and a wide television. Typical living room. There was nowhere for a kid to hide in here.
Moving forward, he passed the living room, rounding a corner, only to be met by fiercely bright flames.
Stumbling backwards, he gritted his teeth, looking sideways. The kitchen was to his left, and he could see a glowing on the far wall from where he stood, meaning there were already flames in there. Looking forwards, he could see Ramirez, kicking in a door halfway down the hall. At the end of the hallway he could see another door, completely decimated by the flickering blaze that consumed the hallway.
Turning around, he ran the other way, into a different room. More smoke hid everything under a dingy, dark haze, but he could still see a stairwell leading to the second floor of the house.
From somewhere in the house, he heard an awful crunching noise, followed by cracking and a loud fwoom. He winced. The beams were starting to crumble on the side that was burning.
Sweat was pouring down his face as he ran up the stairs. The inside of the fire suit as sweltering, the heat only enhanced by the blaze. He ached for a breath of cool air, but that was nowhere to be found. He had one job at that moment, find the kid.
"Jeongguk!" He yelled, reaching the landing at the top of the stairs. It was wrap around, with a large open study off to the left and more closed doors to the right. Even through the smoke, he could see the violent flickering yellow light coming from under one of the doors.
"Jeongguk! Are you up here, buddy?"
He knew his voice had to be muddled. The kid probably couldn't hear him if he was up here.
Swinging around the banister, he headed towards the doors, passing the one that held flames within. Children liked to decorate their bedroom doors. Maybe this one did too. He continued calling the kid's name as he carefully opened the other closed doors, checking inside. One was a bathroom, another was a guest room, a separate one was a closet.
Then he saw it; the last door to his left, decorated with a big Ironman poster.
His heart leapt to his throat. There was smoke pouring from under the door.
He tried pushing it open. It was locked from the inside. Clenching his jaw, he hefted his axe. It took a moment before the lock gave in, broken and ripped off. He kicked it open.
Yellow flames licked the walls of the room, cream colored wallpaper curling and turning dark as it burned. A small bed with a superhero bedspread was consumed, the pillow already nearly disintegrated. A toybox in the corner was ablaze, orange cracking and destroying everything in it. Smoke filled the room as it burned, the heat absolutely stifling. The air shimmered with it, and the man had to will himself to not breathe heavily and use any more oxygen than he needed.
And sitting amid the destruction and cracking flames was a boy, a small, dark haired boy.
He looked up at the fireman, big doe eyes shining with the light from the flames.
He did not look shaken. He did not look upset.
He wasn't hurt at all.
But the man's heart dropped to his toes, despite the wave of relief he felt seeing that the kid was okay.
The boy was holding a lighter.
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Fanfiction"some people live just to watch the world burn. i'm one of them." --- [ jeon jeongguk fanfiction by @taesync ] [ unscheduled updates ]