A Love Like No Other: Surrera's Story

Chapter One: Andy's POV

Warren and I were manning a structure fire when Bishop shouted "Warren, Herrera! The structures not stable! Get out before it collapses!"

Suddenly I heard something else, something that no one would ever want to hear. It was a baby crying. Now, I know you think, "Oh that's not a bad sound.. babies cry all the time."
But trust me, when we're in an unsteady building and there's a baby crying- it's bad. Like I usually do, I asked Maya for permission to save the baby. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I just let it die there. Maya gave me the all clear, and I headed in. Sullivan wouldn't have let me do it, hell, he would've gone in to save the baby instead of me. But Maya was new at this captaining. She was trying to get me to forgive her. In a split second everything that could've gone wrong, happened. I heard cracking from above me and boom! I was on the ground.

I could feel like skin burning and all I could manage to do was shout
"Firefighter down!" into the radio, before passing out from pain.

I woke up to voices
"On three, one, tw-"

I shifted in and out of consciousness.
This was the most pain I've been in since.. well since Sullivan. But, this was a different type of pain. This was physical. With Robert, it was emotional. I fell in love with him. Robert.

He was all I could think about in this moment.
"Had Bishop contacted him?"
"Were any of my friends going to contact him?"

These questions ran through my mind. Annoying, I know. But, I guess if you look at it, it was better than paying attention to the smell of burning flesh or, or the immense pain I was in. When I could feel it, that is. It scared me that I couldn't feel the pain at times. Was I blacking out because of a head injury or something else? Did I have internal bleeding? I didn't know the extent of my injuries. I had realized, throughout all of this- I hadn't opened my eyes. I urged myself to open my eyes. It took all of my might, but when I did it, I saw Maya standing over me.

"Oh my god Andy. You scared me." she said, tears in her eyes.

I hadn't seen Maya cry much. It was weird for me. Maya was a fighter. She fought her way to the top, willing to take out any competition. She was an olympian. That was maya. That was my best friend. At least, she was my best friend. After the captain race, and how she'd acted- the fight we got in. I don't like to think of her as my best friend anymore, she almost got me killed! But, It was my request. She did grant it because she thought that was what would be best. She was my best friend. Right now we were on bad terms but, she'll always be my best friend.

My mind went back into reality,
"We've got a 31 year old female, extensive burns, one broken arm, 4 broken ribs, and one deep face laceration. May have internal bleeding or head trauma, as she was hit by a burning pole on the job. Goes by the name Andy Herrera."

"Wow, that persons pretty beat up." I thought to myself. I thought some more. Andy Herrera. that was me. I was the pretty beat up person.