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Chapter Thirty-Two
XAN
There’s a lot of clapson the back and welcome backs from the guys on my crew. My gut spins and turns with nervous energy, that nagging voice in the back of my mind that reminds me of the mistakes I’ve made. Until I see Katrina, it’s all a tangled mess. But her warm smile and knowing eyes put me right at ease. An anomaly of a woman that Katrina. Quiet, reserved, small, but strong, sure, and has no problem telling the crew when they get a little too ‘dude bro’ she calls it.
“I’m glad you’re back, Xan,” she says as she’s suiting up. “You always were a stubborn ass.”
My hand hovers above the gear still hanging in my locker. I push a short laugh from my chest and moment I touch the rough fabric I feel home.
Shouts from crew leaders echo through the room and it’s the world shifting into realignment.
Mixed in with the old faces are a crew of new guys, young and strong. They’re eager to get out there. The green guys are always the grunt labor like digging ditches and clearing firebreaks. That’s where I started eight years ago.
One of them catches me staring and nods as we pile into the trucks. It’s a cocky nod common of young guys who feel powerful and invincible, a kid who hasn’t yet had his ass whooped by nature. I nod back because that was me. I’d been through so much in my short life, I’d overcome so many things, yet I didn’t know what hard work was until this job.
Once we’re on the site that calm energy pools in my chest as all the familiar sensations come back to me. The roar of the flame, the heat of the air, the smell of smoke, the orders and how men and women move and worked together in unison. The steady drum of my heart keeps me focused and alert. The command leader Greg claps me on the shoulder and yells my orders, I move as part of the team. Everyone has a job, command is clear and rigid, the lines that connect us through this emergency are strong.
This job can take lives.
But it can also save them.
It saved mine.
