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He’d followed him?
“Dude, I’m not playing.” Gabriel stepped close and pointed up the street. “Get out of here.”
Hunter didn’t move. “You want to go in, don’t you?”
Yes.
Gabriel sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Go home, Hunter.”
“Did you hear them? The firemen have been ordered out.
There’s still someone inside, but there was something called a flashover. Do you know what that means?”
A flashover meant the fire had gotten too hot, and with nowhere else for that heat to go, the interior of the house was being consumed. The heat would be enough to kill anyone before the fire even got to them. No wonder they weren’t hitting the house with hose trucks nothing to do now but let it burn to the ground.
Someone inside.
Gabriel bit the inside of his cheek. “Yeah. It’s bad.”
From the front yard, that woman screamed again. His heart kicked.
“What if they’re still alive?” said Hunter. His breathing sounded quick.
“What if they are?” Gabriel snapped. “You think thirty firemen are just going to let me walk in the front door? Do you have any idea how hot it must be inside that house?”
“Look.” Hunter pointed at an ambulance parked on the grass along the side of the house.
Gabriel looked. A fireman was on a stretcher, not moving.
Someone held one of those breathing bags over his face. Other people were doing . . . something. Fast and rapid and almost panicked. He had no idea.
Hunter grabbed his arm and shook him. “No, there. His gear is lying in the grass.” He started untying one of the twine brace-lets at his wrist. “Take this. Tie it against your skin ”
“Dude, I don’t know what you think I’m going to ”
Hunter jerked his head up. “Don’t you want to help?”
Gabriel stared back at him. He gritted his teeth and didn’t say anything.
He hadn’t been able to help his parents.
That thought tightened his throat, and it took him three tries to speak. “They might be dead already.”
Hunter shook his head. “I don’t think so. I’d feel it.”
“What? How do you ”
“Because he’s dead.” Hunter pointed at the fireman on the stretcher. His voice was strong, but his breath shook. “And I feel that.”
Gabriel stared back at him. His breath was shaking, too.
“All right. Give me the stupid rock.”
Getting the gear wasn’t hard. Gabriel slipped through the darkness and grabbed the coat and helmet, pulling into the shadows under the back porch to slide his arms into the sleeves.
He’d left the oxygen tanks it was going to be hard enough to move in this coat. It had to weigh twenty-five pounds. The helmet felt damp with sweat. Gabriel tried not to think about the fact that the last guy to wear this stuff had just died.
Hunter’s rock was tied to his wrist.
