Part 6 (2/2)

Deacon continued his scan of the hallway. A woman moved toward them from the charred door. The middle aged Hispanic woman wore a long blue dress. ”Are you hurt ma'am?” Deacon asked as she approached. Most of her hair had been burned off, and the skin on her arms was bubbled and blistered from the heat.

She reached out to deacon, who reached back to take her hands. The moment their hands connected the woman pulled herself close to him, scratching and biting at his face. Unable to make it pa.s.sed the thick gla.s.s of his mask, she began punching violently at his heavily padded chest.

”Ma'am, what the h.e.l.l is wrong with you? We're here to help you,” Deacon pleaded.

”h.e.l.lo, we are with the fire department. We would like to get you out of here. Are your parents still inside?” Kathrine asked. A little boy stood in the hallway at the other end. His Wow Wow Wubzy s.h.i.+rt was covered in blood. ”Are you hurt?”

”Can you help get this b.i.t.c.h off of me? Ma'am, I'm going to knock you out if you don't stop!” Deacon struggled with the woman before finally turning her around and wrapping his arms tightly around her body. ”Be careful Kathrine. Have him come to you. The floor may collapse under your combined weight.”

She nodded her understanding and said, ”Come on buddy. Can you walk to me?”

Without another word the child moved to her. He walked quickly, yet his legs didn't bend well enough to allow him to jog. He must be handicapped, she thought. Kathrine picked him up as he reached her. She estimated him to be about five years old by his size and weight.

”Are you alright little man?” she asked.

The only response he gave was a low guttural moan, and then he began smacking wildly at her mask and neck. The surprise attack caused Kathrine to let go of the boy, who fell to the floor with a thud. He stood up and instantly returned to his attack, biting and clawing at her legs.

”Junkies,” Deacon said, still holding onto the Hispanic woman. ”They must shoot up their children, too. Hook them young to get work and money out of them in return for drugs.”

”Well let's get these two the h.e.l.l out of here. If we need to come back in after that we can.” The boy kicked hard, but it wasn't hard enough to break free of Kathrine's grip on him. Little b.a.s.t.a.r.d is strong, she thought. She couldn't wait until they were back outside where Tommy could take the boy from her.

Tommy was still spraying the ma.s.sive stream of water into the building when Deacon and Kathrine came out with the two residents. Kyle rushed over to help out. He grabbed the kid and took him from Kathrine, but as soon as Kyle's arms were around the boy, the boy dug his teeth into the firefighter's strong arm.

Kyle cursed loudly and dropped the boy. Without any hesitation, the boy charged back at Kyle, punching and scratching at him. Blood poured down Kyle's arm as he tried to defend himself from the small attacker. He couldn't do much along the lines of defending himself as many people stood by watching. Kicking the child across the yard crossed his mind, yet he was stopped by the fear of losing his job.

”Don't let go of the woman!” yelled Kathrine. She took her coat off and tackled the boy, wrapping him up tightly. ”Is anyone coming to help us!”

”No. I can't get anyone to respond,” said Kyle. The pain in his arm was too much. He lay down in the gra.s.s hoping it would pa.s.s so he could get to the med kit in the truck.

”Tommy! Shut it down!” Kathrine ordered.

”Ten-four,” Tommy responded. He twisted the nozzle closed and ran to check on Kyle. ”Let me grab the kit. You stay here.”

The big man hustled to the truck, disappeared through the rear door, and then reemerged with the large orange medical bag. Before he could reach Kyle, however, a man grabbed ahold of his arm. Tommy spun around and looked down into the face of a man who didn't really have much of a face to look into.

Most of his teeth had been busted out, and his nose was broken. The blood from his face gushed all down the front of him. Lunging forward, the man knocked Tommy down and kicked and punched at his face. Tommy swung the medical bag hard at the man, causing him to fall to the side.

”What the h.e.l.l is going on here?” he yelled. Looking around at the city, he finally allowed his senses to pick up on everything else around him. Screams, car horns, sirens, gunshots, and speeding vehicles could be heard from all around them. They had only been fighting the fire for twenty minutes, and all the chaos they saw down the streets had reached them.

”I think we need to get the h.e.l.l out of here. I can't hold this crazy b.i.t.c.h forever,” insisted Deacon. The Hispanic woman continued tirelessly to free herself from his grasp. ”Your buddy's back, Tommy.”

The man tried to lunge for Tommy once more, but Tommy was ready for him this time. A well placed boot to the man's chest put him on the ground for good, or at least that's what Tommy had thought. Instead, the man slowly stood his stiff body back up and made yet another move for the much larger firefighter.

Looking around quickly, Tommy confirmed that none of the gawkers were still watching. Bodies lay in the neighboring yards and parking lots, many of which tried to pick themselves up off the ground. Feeling confident no one was watching, and that what he was about to do was in self-defense, Tommy punched the man in the face, holding nothing back.

His face burst in a spray of blood, yet he continued to move toward Tommy. With self-preservation a top priority, Tommy unleashed a barrage of punches to the man's head. Even as the man lay on the ground, Tommy continued to punch, as the skull cracked and blood poured from the man's eyes and ears, Tommy continued to punch.

Tommy stood over the dead man in the gra.s.s. Blood covered most of his muscular body. ”It's the d.a.m.n drugs, I say.” Deacon's voice snapped him back to reality. Running to aid his friend, Tommy just grabbed the woman from Deacon's hands and kicked her hard in the lower back. The sound caused both men to flinch as her back snapped with enough force to bend the woman backwards. She never showed any signs of pain, and without the use of her legs she still tried to crawl to the men.

”Let's really get the h.e.l.l out of here,” Deacon said receiving no objection from Tommy. ”You grab Kyle, I'll help Kathrine tie this little brat up.”

By the time Deacon and Kathrine tied the boy up in Kathrine's coat, Tommy had carried Kyle to the truck and helped him into the back seat. Blood poured quickly from the wound on his arm. Tommy could see most of the blood had flown from Kyle's radial artery. He applied pressure to his arm in hopes of slowing the flow, but the artery had been ripped open, allowing too much blood lose already.

Chapter 10.

Deacon blasted the sirens as soon as he climbed into the driver's seat of the ma.s.sive truck. He pulled out onto the street with the plan of looping around the block and heading toward the hospital. Most of the street was clear of civilians; however, many abandoned vehicles were scattered about.

”Engine twenty-one to dispatch,” Kathrine said into the radio. ”Do you copy dispatch?” Silence. ”Engine twenty-one to dispatch, can you hear me?” Silence. ”Dispatch! Where the h.e.l.l are you?” She slammed the radio handset into the winds.h.i.+eld, cracking the gla.s.s, and let out a scream.

”I'm sure they are busy with all this chaos,” Deacon a.s.sured her. ”Try your cell; call the hospital and let them know we are coming.”

Kathrine thumbed through the contacts until she reached the number for the emergency room. She pressed the screen above the name and the phone connected the call. Ring... Ring... Ring... Ring... Squeezing the phone tightly in her hand, Kathrine fought hard to not throw the phone into the winds.h.i.+eld as well. ”Just get us there quickly,” she finally said.

None of the three firefighters knew what to think of the gruesome scene all around them as they drove through the city toward the hospital. Blood stained spots on the concrete, people ran for their lives, others lay dead in yards or next to their cars. Many of the bodies were missing arms or legs.

Kyle lay on the seat, sweat beaded up on his pale face and neck. His breathing became very shallow and raspy. Tommy sat on the floor next to him watching out the side window. He didn't want to let go of Kyle's arm in fear of the blood pumping too quickly out of his body.

The closer they made it to the hospital, the more packed the street became with abandoned cars. Deacon slowed down, but only enough to do less damage to the truck as he plowed through the street, shoving cars and trucks out of the way with the b.u.mper. He shut the siren off, as it finally occurred to him that it was still on and none of these cars were going to move out of the way on their own.

Many people wandered around in front of the hospital. They were covered in blood and looked sick. ”This must be the line for the ER?” Deacon asked.

”Hopefully we can at least get what we need to patch Kyle up and go,” said Kathrine. ”I can't believe this. Look at these people. They look like they have been through h.e.l.l.”

As the truck moved through the hospital parking lot, people came up and banged on the doors. The blood on their hands smeared the gla.s.s. Deacon pulled the truck as close as he could to the entrance, jumped out, and ran around to the other side to help Tommy and Kyle.

”Get back please. We have a firefighter injured,” he told the crowd as they closed in. ”Don't worry. We aren't cutting in front of you. We are going to grab what we need and be on our way.”

The b.l.o.o.d.y people moved in closer still and reached for Kyle and Tommy as they climbed down out of the truck. Tommy shoved them back and held on tight to his friend as he tried to rush him to the entrance. He quickly lost Kyle in the mob as the group became too thick to keep away.

”Kyle!” shouted Tommy. He plunged into the crowd to save his friend. ”Get off my friend!” He was followed closely by Deacon and Kathrine, who fought people off as they made their way to Kyle. When the three finally made it through the violent crowd they saw Kyle being ripped apart.

His screams were weak, but they were enough to express the pain he felt as his left knee was stomped on until it bent backwards. Two men pulled on his head while a woman bent his fingers back before biting them off. One of the men shoved two of his fingers into Kyle's right eye and pulled and twisted his head until his neck snapped.

Kyle's body went limp, his pain had ended. Tommy let out a yell like a battle cry and swung his strong arms at anyone close by. Deacon continued struggling to reach Kyle's body when he heard Kathrine's scream erupt from behind him. ”Kathrine!” he yelled before charging back to where she was.

Tommy smashed several of the attackers. He was as sure of what was going on as anyone else, but he intended to fight for the lives of his friends. Moving quickly behind Deacon, he punched and kicked anyone that came within reach.

”Kathrine!” Deacon yelled again as he saw her lying on her stomach. A group of people stood above her, stomping on her back and pulling her hair. She kicked and punched at them, but it was not enough. Blood sprayed the concrete from her broken nose.

”Deacon. Please help me,” she sobbed. ”I want to go home to my little boy. Take me home to my boy.”

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