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“We’re happy to be able to help, sir,” Tripp said.
They were sitting in a conference room at the station, meeting with Chief Harding before they got sent out into the mess. It was still raining heavily, and so many streets were flooded. They had a hard time getting to the station. The hurricane ended up being stronger than they had anticipated, and a lot of people failed to evacuate; they were spending a lot of time rescuing people from their roofs.
After a brief rundown of what they were going to be doing, he dismissed them and told them who to meet up with out in the field. They got their orders from the Lieutenant at the rescue base camp. Tripp and Jayme were to head out on a boat looking for people stranded on their roofs or other high structures. Brendan and Will were their support if they needed backup. Matt and Phil were to stay at base camp and assist with the people being brought in from the boats.
Tripp and Jayme went out with a local cop who knew the area. The water was fairly deep, coming up to the second floor on some houses; and they had to be careful of debris in the water. The local guy, Todd, sat in the back steering the boat. They moved slow and listened for anyone calling out for help.
After about twenty minutes, they did finally hear someone calling for help. Todd steered the boat in the direction that it sounded like it was coming from. They came to a two-story house with a front porch. The water was just touching the roof of the porch, where a woman sat holding a small plastic animal carrier.
“Oh, thank the Lord,” she cried when she saw them.
That’s when Tripp heard the meows coming from the crate. At least she was smart enough to put the cats in the crate. They brought the boat up to the porch roof, and Jayme stepped out. He helped the lady to her feet and walked her over to the edge of the roof. Jayme took the cats from her and passed the carrier over to him; before helping the lady carefully step into the boat. Once they were all situated, Todd headed in the direction of dry land.
They handed her and her cats off to Matt and Phil, who immediately wrapped a blanket around her shoulders; and ushered her toward the mobile station that was set up. They would get her dry and figure out a place for her and her cats to go.
They found more and more people as they day went on. They also found some dogs, and one cat. The poor cat was drenched and shivering. Tripp was afraid they’d spook it and it’d run off, but it was just the opposite. Poor guy was in a tree, and when they got close enough; he jumped into the boat and climbed on Tripp’s lap. Tripp tucked him inside his raincoat and held him until they got back to dry land. Jayme called him the cat whisperer.
The first day seemed to be never ending. They worked well into the night, and maybe rescued about thirty people. They got back to the hotel at around five am. They were taking a two-hour nap, then heading back into the fray.
Tripp dropped heavily to the end of the bed and started unlacing his boots. They were wet, cold, and exhausted. Jayme sat beside Tripp and started doing the same. They kicked off their boots, then peeled off their wet clothing; and hung it in the bathroom. Without saying one word to each other, they climbed naked into the bed; and burrowed under the covers. Tripp shivered.
“Still cold?” Jayme asked.
“Yeah, it’s in my bones.”
“Hold on.”
Jayme got out of bed and went to the heater/air conditioner under the window; and cranked up the heat. It was the middle of summer but being wet all day made a guy cold; even on the hottest day. He dove back under the covers and plastered himself against Tripp’s back; wrapping his arm around his waist.
“It’ll be warm in here in no time,” Jayme murmured against the back of his neck.
Tripp hummed, feeling warmer already. He snuggled back against his fiancé, and let his body relax. He was tired and needed to get some sleep, they would be back out in a couple of hours to do it all over again.
~~~
Jayme
A couple of hours later, they were dragging themselves out of bed; and putting on their second set of uniforms that they brought. The other ones were still soaking wet. They met up with the guys and went to the hotel restaurant to grab a bite to eat. Once they were all fed, they headed back to the base camp to see what else needed to be done. At least the rain had stopped.
