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The smoke is billowing in the sky, and a crowd is forming in front of the house. A man is approaching the house. I don’t waste any time when we come to a stop, to jump out, and stop him.
“You can’t go in there, sir.”
“The family never came out. They must still be in there!”
Tristan nods to me and rushes inside. They always tell us not to be a hero, but we can’t stand around and do nothing. The structure hasn’t begun crumbling yet, so there is still time to get everyone out safely. I yell to Damon that we are going inside to make sure it’s clear while he and the others prepare the hoses. You never let a fellow man go in alone. That’s our rule.
The door is already open, and the smoke is thick, without my mask I wouldn’t be able to see a thing. If there are, in fact, people in here, they may not be conscious.
“Tristan?” I yell, maneuvering from the living room to the hallway. “Where are you?”
A muffled voice comes from somewhere, but I can’t pinpoint the location because of the low rumbling from the fire. So, I open each door going down the hallway, until I get to the last room. Tristan is trapped underneath a part of the falling debris, and the man is trying to get it off him, but not having any luck. There is a woman and two children huddled up on the bed with blankets covering their noses. This will help them from breathing in the smoke directly.
The piece of debris is heavy, and with the two of us we are barely able to adjust it off him. We need to get out of here before it starts falling apart.
“We have to get out of here now!” I yell.
“I can’t walk. My leg is broken,” Tristan replies.
The man helps me carry him, and the mother and children follow us closely. The fire is out of control, and if they don’t get it put out soon, the whole structure will be compromised. I don’t want this family to lose everything.
We move slowly through the hallway, and I keep my eye on the roof for any buckling, and we come close to getting hit a couple of times. The roof has started falling in the living room, and has taken off most of the area, so there is no route to get out of the front door safely.
“Do you have another exit?” I scream to the man.
He nods, and turns us down another hallway that leads to a side door. We make it out, and around the house to the EMT’s. If we hadn't gone inside, this family could have been killed.
“Thank you so much. You saved my family,” he says to Tristan.
We set him on a gurney in front of the ambulance, and he is cursing from the pain. Our job is dangerous, but this is what we signed up for. To protect our community. We are aware what our job entails.
Damon and the other guys have two hoses, spraying down the structure, and he instructs me to go with him. They have it handled. I’ve never rode in the back of an ambulance before, and never really cared to you, but if Tristan wants me to go, then I’ll do it.
“Come on, sir. We have to get him to the hospital.”
I climb up in the back and sit on the ledge on the side of the cab. They attempt to put his leg in a splint or something like it to keep it straight, and take his vitals.
“Are you sure you didn’t do this just to get out of being my assistant coach?” I ask, only kidding.
“Damnit, you caught me.”
At least he is still able to joke around with me even when he is in pain. I am just trying to keep his mind on something else. If it is broken, he will be on leave for a while.
“Looks like I’ll be coaching solo. Now I don’t have to fight you over Vanessa,” I say.
“We both know that you aren’t one to break rules. So, I have nothing to worry about. Good try, though.”
It’s hard to joke around with a guy that has known me for two almost three decades. He’s right. I’m not the type to break rules, and sometimes I wish I could be more like him. Tristan was always the one that wanted to bend certain rules a little bit. Nothing illegal, but when he was a teenager, he was very rebellious.
“You never know. Hell, you might come back and we will be married with kids.”
His eyes go wide, and for a minute he thinks I’m serious.
“Dude, I’m just kidding. Chill.”
When we get to the hospital, he is taken straight to a room where a nurse checks him out, and it doesn’t take long for them to determine its broken. His tibia to be exact. The amount of pressure pushing down on his shin, it makes sense. They set the break which causes him to scream like a little girl and then cast it. Reminder to never break mine. Screw that.
“Can I have some pain medication? This thing is on fire and making my jaw hurt.”
