"Trav, I don't feel so good," said Vic to her best friend.
Travis stepped back and held a mask over his mouth.
"Ok, well that's not something you just say in the middle of a pandemic and expect to be taken lightly."
"I'm fine I think."
"Yeah, and I'm a chicken," he said sarcastically.
"It's fine. I'll be -" she paused to see if she needed to throw up, " - fine."
Hand over stomach, she walked away feeling green.
"Ok 19! Line-up!" ordered Captain Bishop.
As usual, the line-up took place in between the engines an hour or so into shift. Vic stood on the parallel tram lines, along with the rest of her team and a couple from B-shift.
"We have to close the memorial clinic for now because of - well, you know," she pointed to her mask, "so, we are opening a test station today."
The team groaned and threw their heads back.
"You know, as much as I want to poke sticks up strangers' noses, I'd much rather be on aid car today," said Vic. At this, she paused, obviously about to throw up.
"Hughes, you good?" asked Bishop.
Vic nodded and reluctantly stood up again, as if she had a rope from her foot to her head.
"No, no. You're not. Desk duty today."
"Nooooo," Vic moaned. "I need some action!"
"Ok, so Hughes is on desk duty. Warren, Montgomery. Aid car. And the rest of you are here, ready for anything... And poking sticks up strangers' noses. Test center starts at twelve. Ok, now go."
19 dispersed throughout the station, leaving Maya and Andy.
"Everything ok with you and Sullivan?" asked Maya, concerned for her friend.
Andy had been best friends with her since Fire School. There wasn't anything the other didn't know.
"Yeah. We chose to separate and now with COVID and all - it's just complicated," she replied.
Maya smiled sympathetically and placed her hand on her shoulder.
"Okay. Well if there's anything I can do, let me know," Maya reassured.
Andy smiled and went to get cleaning supplies. The engines weren't going to clean themselves!
ENGINE 19. AID CAR 19. 2850 BROAD STREET.
The siren sounded and an organised chaos filled the station. The fire fighters jumped into uniform, got in the engine and took off.
"What we got, Captain?" asked Herrera.
"House fire. Two floors. Four residents. Only two have made it out," replied Bishop.
When they arrived, Bishop gave out orders for Warren and Montgomery to set up triage. Gibson and Herrera were to find the other two residents. Miller would hose it from the outside.
"Ok, so I've spoken to the family and they have no idea where the fire started, but their kids are still in there. Probably in their rooms, second floor," said Herrera on their way up to the house.
Once inside, smoke clouded their vision. There was no way they would be able to navigate through this.
"Gibson. Thoughts?" asked Herrera.
"Um, we use the hose as a guideline and listen out for any movement," he replied.
"Sounds good. Bishop, what are the names on the remaining residents?" she asked her over the radio.
"Two kids, Milo and Tessa," she replied.
"Copy that, Bishop."
"Milo! Tessa!" Gibson began calling out their names. "Milo! Tes-"
"Wait! Be quiet I hear something."
Everything was silent. Just the fire roaring from behind them. Then, a tiny person cough could be heard from their left.
"Ok, I think there's a doorway here?" she said whilst feeling her way through the house.
"Found the kid!" shouted Gibson from her right.
"Ok, can you hear anyone else?"
"Nope, just her."
"Ok, then let's get her back to triage."
"Bishop, we've got one of the kids, too much smoke to see the other. We are on our way out. We definitely need to vent that roof."
"Copy that, Herrera."
Through the smoke, they used the hose as a guideline whilst hitting whatever fire they could see.
"Gibson, you still there?"
"Yep."
Once they had clear vision again, they brough the girl Gibson had in his arms to triage.
"Severe smoke inhalation, burns aswell," said Herrera.
They put an oxygen mask on her and Andy bent down so Tessa could hear her.
"Tessa? Sweetheart can you hear me?"
She nodded. They were relieved that she was conscious.
"My name is Andy. Can you tell me where your brother is?"
They all waited a moment more whilst she caught her breath. Slowly, she took her mask off and told Andy where he was.
"Ok, Gibson, first floor," she said as she stood up to join him.
"Copy that."
As they went off into the fire again, Miller was beating the fire with the water, but not actually defeating it.
"Miller," shouted Bishop over the sound of the water spraying, "go hit it from the inside!"
He nodded and raced to the fire.
"Bishop, we've got eyes on Milo. He's trapped under a bed. Call another AID car," said Herrera.
"Copy that, getting one now."
"Ok, Milo, can you hear us?" asked Gibson. "I'm Jack and this is Andy. We're gonna get you out, alright?"
The bed was on top of him and was positioned in an angle that was hard to get him out of. With debris surrounding him, Milo couldn't move and it was probable that he had broken a bone or two.
Gibson and Herrera hoisted a dozen bricks off of the bed and attempted to lift the bed.
"Ow!" screamed Milo.
His leg seemed to be wedged in the end of the bed frame so it they were to move it off of him, they would need a saw.
"Here! I got a hammer!" said Herrera.
"Ok Milo, this is going to hurt a bit but after we've finished, we can get you out, ok? I need you to cover your eyes, alright?"
"Ok," whimpered Milo.
With a great force, Andy hit the bed frame so it broke and Jack moved his leg. By now the smoke had cleared a bit and black smoke was coming from the roof.
"Gibson," said Andy, pointing to the ceiling.
He started working faster to make room for him and the little boy.
"Bishop, this house isn't going to last much longer, the roof's gonna cave," Andy reported to her senior supervisor.
"Ok, retreat right now."
"Copy that, on our way down now."
Andy went in front of Jack to make room for him and Milo. With debris everywhere it was hard to find the exits and doorways.
When they had reached the ground floor, they could hear the roof crumbling.
"Hurry Jack!"
Light could be seen as they approached the door. Andy made a run for it and Gibson took the kid to triage.
They took off their head sets and panted for fresh air. Bishop came and rubbed Andy on the back and led her to get more oxygen.
"Good job today Herrera."
Andy gave her a grateful nod and put her mask back on.
"Bishop," said Warren, "we're gonna get these kids to Grey Sloan to get checked out. Can you alert the parents?"
"Sure thing, Warren."
As they loaded the kids into the AID cars, the roof caved in and created a ripple of dust. Gibson reached to cover Milo, and Warren shut the door of the AID car with him and Tessa in it. CRASH! The building had collapsed. The parents broke down into tears and so did the kids.
"Ma'am, it's ok, we're going to get you all to the hospital to get checked out, ok?" said Montgomery.
The AID cars took off and eventually so did the engine.
"That was quite the call to start the shift off with, huh?" said Bishop.
The team murmured in agreement.
***
Back at the station, Vic had been quite productive. A girl had stopped in asking her about pest control. She had washed the other engine and kept herself from puking.
Carina had stopped by and helped set up the testing center, expecting to see Maya.
"She's on a call right now, but they're on their way back now," said Vic.
"Are you ok? You don't look too great," inquired Carina.
"Yeah, I don't feel too great either. I don't know what it is," said Vic.
"Well, there is a testing station right out there so maybe you should use a test?" she said in her Italian accent.
"No," said Vic, "they're for the public."
"Ok, well if you change your mind, I'll be in there," she walked into the hall.
Stalls were set two meters apart with the tests, gloves, masks and plastic sheets at each station. Three doctors had come in to volunteer as help. Slowly, they started getting people in.
Fifteen minutes later, the team arrived and parked the engine outside.
"Ah, Maya!" said Carina.
"Carina? What are you doing here?" said Maya, surprised to see her at her workplace.
"I'm a volunteer," she replied with a little curtsey.
"Well thank you for that," said Maya, "I've got to go do an- an incident report, but I'll see you later, ok?"
"Alright. Oh! And also keep an eye on Vic, she doesn't seem quite right."
"Yeah, I noticed that," said Maya, "thanks, I will."
The rest of 19 went to the beanery for breakfast.
"Wow, it's only nine!" said Andy, glancing at the clock. "What's everyone want for breakfast?"
"Eggs, tomatoes, sausages, waffles, donuts, toast. The list goes on," said Jack.
"Haha, very funny, we've got toast though."
"Sure, that works too."
Andy prepared a butt load of toast and let people take.
"Thanks," said Jack, mouth full with toast.
Suddenly, there was a call from downstairs, through desperate sobs.
"Help! Help! My daughter! Someone please help!"
_____________________________________
Author's note:
Sorry if there are any spelling, grammar or punctuation mistakes 🙈 Let me know if you have any ideas!