Aside from the sound of trees turning to ash and nature being destroyed all around them, the ride up the mountain was silent. Monroe didn't speak to her the entire drive and Mariana certainly wasn't going to make an effort. So much for southern hospitality.
"I only count seven kids! IC said there was supposed to be eight," Eddie shouted over the roar of the ATV engines. Mariana didn't even give Monroe a chance to stop before she was hopping out with her gear bag and heading for the kids.
"Yep, and a counselor. Hey!" Judd yelled. "Back up. We're here now. We're gonna get you all down, the mountain, okay? Mariana and Eddie's gonna check everybody out, make sure they're okay."
Everyone started talking again as Mariana threw Eddie his stethoscope and wrapped her own over her neck.
"Hey, hey, hey. Who's missing?" Judd asked as Mariana grabbed one of the kids to check him over.
"Mr. Gomez," another kid answered. "He left last night looking for JJ and he never came back."
She tilted the kid's chin up, inspecting the small laceration on his jaw and the dilation of his pupils. Pretty reactive so no concussion but it looked like he had hit his head on something.
"JJ run away?" Paul theorized.
"No, man. He was out doing his solo."
"Solo?"
"Yeah, it's two nights mandatory alone in the woods. It builds character and self-respect, but it's usually well-monitored," Judd replied.
Mariana gave the kid the go ahead and motioned over the next one.
"You know that how?" Paul asked.
"Mr Gomez have a cell phone?" Judd ignored him.
"He's the only one that does. We're not allowed!"
"No call in eight hours, it could just be bad reception," Marjan pointed out.
"Or something else," Eddie said.
Mari raised her head to follow his line of sight to the man wrapped in a blanket and stumbling towards them. Marjan and Eddie caught him first as he fell and Paul leaned over the man.
"Hey, where's JJ?"
"Couldn't find him," the counselor gasped out before his eyes shut. Eddie leaned down and listened for a beat before raising his head to lock eyes with Mariana.
"He's not breathing."
"Get him on that table," Mariana ordered as she sprinted over to grab her medic pack. She carried it back over to where Eddie and Marjan were checking over the guy and handed it to him. Judd had the kids move back to give them some room.
"IV. We need to run a line." His order was easily understood by her and she grabbed the kit and set it up. She passed the saline bag to Paul and quickly tied the tourniquet on Gomez's upper arm so she could find the vein. Eddie flipped the man's arm over to give her access and he tapped the vein a few times.
"Good," she announced and he pulled his hand away so she could easily slide the catheter needle into the vein with practiced ease. Eddie taped down the needle and Mariana released her hold on it, snapping off the tourniquet as she moved.
"Marjan, bag him," Mari instructed as she pressed two fingers against his neck.
"I'm not hearing any air escaping. Lungs are intact," Eddie muttered.
"Then why isn't his chest rising?" Paul asked.
Mariana backed up so Eddie could open the man's shirt. He cursed under his breath and she winced at the sight of the heavy burns across the counselor's chest.
"We need to do an escharotomy," he finally said.
"What the hell's that?" Marjan glanced between the two medics.
"Burn tissue is called eschar," Mariana started.
"It's constricting his chest like a rope," Eddie finished. "It's preventing his lungs from expanding."
"He can't draw a breath. We need to cut it," the latina added. "I don't know about you but my experience is limited to non-surgical procedures."
"Looks like I finally get to teach you something for once."
Mariana grabbed the disinfectant and poured it on the man's chest before grabbing a scalpel and passing it to Eddie. He looked at her for a brief second and she nodded in reassurance. He could do this.
"Hope you're not squeamish," he told Marjan as he made the incision. Mariana watched as he steadily and carefully worked and she was suddenly struck with the realization that she rarely saw him use his medic skills in the field. It usually fell to her or Hen or Chimney, but watching him now showed how capable he was.
"Rescue breaths." Marjan started bagging Mr Gomez again and his chest rose and fell normally. Suddenly, his eyes shot open and he gasped a ragged breath.
"Hey, hey, let's calm down," Mariana soothed as she held up the oxygen mask. "We're aware of the missing kid."
"Just nice and slow breaths for us, okay?" Eddie requested.
"Nicely done, you two," Marjan praised.
"You too, Firefox."
Mariana snorted at his comment and kicked his shoe. "I think we make a pretty good team. Now pass me the morphine. He's gonna need it."
As Mariana finished up with the counselor, Judd divided the kids up to go with the other teams back to base camp, leaving the 126 and 118 members.
"Bad news is with the missing kid we need to split up," Judd announced. "I brought Shelby along specifically for the ranger and I need a medic to go with her."
"I can," Mariana voiced. "Eddie, you need to stay here with him until medivac comes."
"Woah, no. C'mon, I have experience with stuff like this."
"Respectfully, you have experience with warfare and I have experience with wildfires. We are both equal in this front. Rule number one," she warned. He relented with a sigh but tapped his radio to remind her and she nodded.
"Let's go!" the blonde shouted from the ATV, looking not at all too pleased to be paired with Mariana again. The Angeleno let out a frustrated huff as she grabbed her medic bag and rushed back to the vehicle. Climbing into the passenger seat, Mariana barely had time to sit down before Shelby was peeling out and towards where the ranch was supposed to be.
"So, what's the game plan?" the brunette yelled over the rumble of the engine. Monroe appeared surprised that she was talking to her but shrugged it off.
"Locate the ranger and get the horses out of the corral, I'm guessing. Won't know till we get there. I'm guessin' since he ain't left yet that one of the horses is hurt or trapped."
"I'll handle the human, you handle the horses?"
Shelby smirked at that. "What, scared of an animal?"
"I'm born and raised in LA. The most I deal with is the neighborhood dog and the occasional cat in a tree."
They neared the ranch and Mariana could have sworn she came to Texas in 2020, not Texas in the late 1800s. But this ranch looked exactly like that. Shelby pulled up next to the barn and swore a blue streak when they saw the fire creeping towards the fence line.
"Jake!" she shouted. "Call out!"
"Here!" a man weakly called back.
Shelby led the way into the fence, finding a man leaning against the door. Pain marred his face and sweat beaded against his dark skin, both from the fire and from attempting to not overexert himself. He clutched his arm to his body and Mariana could tell already just by looking at him that it was fractured.
"Was tryna get the lock open and slipped. Fell right on my arm," he explained.
"Ramirez, you got him?" Shelby asked as she moved to check the lock. "Fuck, it's broke. They probably saw it and just left. Assholes."
"Will bolt cutters work? We don't have saws or jaws," Mariana said as she stabilized Jake's arm. She had a collapsible splint in her pack and used that to make sure it was properly in place before she bandaged it up to ensure the bone wouldn't shift anymore.
"No, it's a padlock embedded in the wood. Might work on the wire..." Shelby grabbed onto the gate and launched herself over it and into the pen without a second thought. Mariana gaped at where the blonde was previously standing and threw her hands up in exasperation.
"Yeah, okay, now I understand why Bobby gives me so many citations!" she shouted. Sprinting to the ATV, she furiously blinked past the rising smoke and ash that burned her eyes as she searched for the bolt cutters in the back. Grabbing them, she ran back and backed up against the other side of the barn. Bolting forward, the brunette grabbed onto the top of the fence and hopped over.
The three horses were tied up in the back of the pen by their bridles and they were frantically trying to pull away but the knot was too tight. Shelby evaded their hooves and whipped a boxcutter out of her belt, sawing at the leather.
"What the hell is your problem? Ever heard of a plan?" Mariana exclaimed.
"Fire's climbing up quickly, we ain't got much time. Figured you'd follow. Either way, I'd still get them out."
"How?"
Shelby ignored her question and instead grabbed a lariat off the wall, throwing it over her shoulder so it hung across her body. Mariana groaned in frustration before giving in.
"Just tell me what to do."
"Thought you'd never ask. Go out and start cutting the fence. Make as big of a gap as you can as fast as you can. They're gonna run like a bat outta hell and I don't want you trampled. Fire's moving quick so we gotta hurry this along."
"Oh, Eddie is in so much trouble," Mariana muttered as she made her way to the barbed wire. "Talking out of his ass as if he's a real Texan. He'd be complaining if he was out here."
Yanking on her gloves, she was able to cut through the wire and pull it to the side easily, but the wind was blowing the fire towards them. It had gained nine feet since they had touched down and was approaching the barn quickly. Jake was maneuvering the ATV carefully towards them and Mariana was secretly grateful he ignored her warning to not do anything to exert his arm.
Just as she pulled the wire back and exposed about ten feet of free space, a sharp whistle echoed through the air and the horses bolted out into the corral. Shelby sprinted alongside one of the mustangs and grabbed its mane, swinging herself up onto the horse. The blonde yanked the lariat up and over her head, the rope sliding down and effortlessly swinging in her hand. She tossed it over the head of the second horse and pulled the lasso to tighten it. Shelby let out a holler before she clicked her tongue and the third horse fell in line with the other two.
"Move!" she shouted and Mariana dove out of her way as she charged towards the opening they made. As soon as the horses cleared the fence and headed for the woods, Shelby slowed the lead horse down and loosened the lasso so she could pull it off the other horse. She leaned forward and held her hips up. Counting down, the blonde easily dismounted the horse and planted her feet on the ground just as they galloped into the forest.
"What the fuck was that?" Mariana groaned as she picked herself up out of the dirt. Her radio hung from her shoulder, the cover popping off and the batteries falling into the mud. She swore under her breath and shoved the batteries in her pocket. She could grab new ones at base.
Shelby walked back to offer her hand and helped the brunette up, a blinding grin spread across her lips. "Welcome to Texas, Ramirez. You did good."
///
"Maybe we should go out and help them search," Marjan said nervously. "Have you checked in with Shelby and Mariana?"
"Judd told us to stay here and I'm giving Mari ten more minutes before I call," Eddie sighed. He was itching to check in with her but he knew she would yell at him if there was any hint of worry in his voice.
"How can you be so calm under literal fire?" Marjan exclaimed.
"Well, at least no one's shooting at us. Besides, working with Mari you learn to stay calm when she's most likely doing something that will end up with her in the hospital."
He swiped open his phone, a small smile playing on his lips at the sight of his background photo. Christopher had swiped his phone one day and snatched a photo with Mariana and Diego. The second he saw it, he knew he wanted it as his lock and home screen.
Payback, Buck, he thought triumphantly as he found Firefox on Instagram and requested a follow.
"Seriously? You wanna follow me on Insta?" she asked incredulously.
"Heard you put a lotta effort into it. Was curious."
"I'll show you mine if you show me yours."
"I haven't been on social media in a while. The last post is, like, nine months old. Super boring." Truthfully, he just wanted to piss off Buck a little, not get eviscerated by the love of his life when their relationship became known to the 126.
"I'll be the judge of that," she scoffed. A challenge, his weak spot.
"Fine. Deal." He accepted her request before looking at her profile. "Is that a Prius...in the air?"
"Tornado dropped it between two buildings," she replied, her tone casual and light as if that was a daily occurrence.
"Huh." Eddie should be used to crazy stunts. After all, he worked with the two highest citation earners of the 118.
"Is this your kid?" Marjan asked, flipping her phone around to reveal a photo of him and Christopher.
"Yeah, that's Christopher. He's my world. My girlfriend loved that photo so much, I had to post it."
"You did not build him a skateboard!"
"Yeah, well, Buck helped."
"Wait, is that the creepy guy who was staring at me before?"
"He's harmless...mostly. He was trying to figure out where he had seen you before."
"I don't see a girlfriend on here," Marjan commented dryly. He huffed out a laugh and shrugged.
"Either she's behind the camera or she's in the photo but don't worry, she's there."
Marjan tapped on his tagged photos and nearly dropped her phone. No wonder Mariana and Eddie made such a good team. The most recent photo was the two of them sitting on the edge of a fire truck with two boys standing in front of them, one she now recognized as his son.
"You and Ramirez?" she asked. He grinned and nodded.
"Other kid is her nephew. We've been together almost two years now."
"Hey, congrats man. You two work well on the field, I'm sure you're great off it too."
Before he could respond, the radio buzzed with an incoming transmission. "Great Oaks search team, give us your current location. We're sending air support."
"Air support?" Eddie repeated. "Who's crazy enough to go up in something like this?"
He checked his watch and threw caution to the wind, radioing on Mari's line. "Ramirez, did you hear that?"
She never responded. He tried again and all he got in response was dead air.
Mariana Ramirez, I'm going to wrap you in pack wrap and tie you to a chair.
///
Mariana sighed and fell back against her seat, watching the road as Shelby drove back towards the others. Jake had fallen asleep in the back thanks to the nice morphine shot she had given him. She looked over at the blonde and raised an inquisitive eyebrow.
"So are we gonna talk about it?" the brunette asked.
"Talk about what?" Shelby shot back.
"How you hate me for no reason."
Shelby snorted out a laugh and sighed. "I don't hate you. I just got a call I wasn't expectin' right before we ran into each other. I was in a piss poor mood, that's on me. Sorry."
"No harm, no foul. I mean, if you kept it up I probably would have rocked your shit but that's apparently wrong and against the law."
"Oh, I think I could take you. Scrappy little city kid."
"Uh, speaking of city kid, what kind of country bumpkin shit was that back there? Are you some kind of horse whisperer?"
"No, no. I grew up on a farm helping out on my neighbors farm, all that fun stuff. Vet school's expensive as hell though so I'm fine with just occasionally riding horses here and there. Before you ask, they'll be fine. They're wild animals. Instinct will guide them away from the fire."
Shelby slowed down as they got closer to where they had left the others. The sound of helicopter rotors caught Mari's attention and she leaned her head out, looking up to find a helicopter above them.
But smoke was streaming out of it and it was falling fast. Shelby slammed on the brakes and the two women watched as it fell towards the earth. Mariana hopped out of the ATV, her eyes never leaving the sky until she heard her name being shouted.
"What the hell happened to your radio?" Eddie demanded as he grabbed her shoulders, checking her over for injuries.
"I fell and landed on it but I'm fine. Since when was air support coming and why does it look like it's falling out of the sky?" she asked, her hands coming up to rest on his shoulders.
"Because it is," he said quietly. "Hen is up there."
She faltered, her eyes searching his face as he avoided her gaze. She could see the reflection of his nightmares in the furrow of his brow and she reached up, brushing some of his hair back. A helicopter crash. He witnessed a helicopter crash with his friend inside.
"If anyone can survive that, it's Hen," she assured him but even her own words sounded flat to her. "We'll go look for them right now."
"IC is ordering us to come in," Marjan explained, frustration lacing her tone.
"Well tell Owen to eat my foot. We're going," Shelby snorted.
"Shelby...Owen was in the helicopter too."
A/N: introducing Shelby Monroe, member of the 126 and star of the new 911: Lone Star book I hope to start writing soon once college calms down
also,,,,next chapter is a doozy