Page 11 of Merrick
Chapter 7
JEMMA
We’ve barely drifted off to sleep in the early morning hours when both mine and Merrick’s cell phones go off at the same time. The sudden loud noises that seemed to be surrounding us jolts us both awake and we look around, trying to find out what is happening.
Merrick is getting a call from the station to come in, and I have a message from Ember. We both look at one another in horror when we realize why he's being called in—there's a fire at Aaron and Ember's apartment building.
"I have to get to the station now. Wait here, and I will let you know what is going on as soon as I can."
“You’re dreaming if you think I’m just going to stay here when my son is in a burning building.”
Merrick opens his mouth like he wants to argue with me but knows that it will waste precious time for both of us.
He grabs his clothes and runs for his truck. He’s already long gone before I’m able to get dressed haphazardly and run for my SUV.
Rules of the road don't apply to me right now as I race across town. It's late, so hardly anyone is on the road anyway. I pull to a stop on the side of the road when I see the apartment building. Flames and smoke billowing out the windows on the third floor.
It takes my brain a moment to catch up and remember that Aaron and Ember live on the second floor. I jump out and run towards the crowd of people dressed in pajamas, standing around and watching the fire.
Merrick is already there with the rest of the Knight’s Ridge Fire Department volunteers.
I search frantically in the crowd for Mattie. But it's dark, and there is so much chaos on the scene that I can’t find him. Panic fills me and tightens around my throat.
“Mom!” I hear Mattie call out.
He pushes his way through the crowd with Ember closely behind him. He flings himself into my arms and holds me tight, the way he did when he was little, and he was scared of a thunderstorm.
“Sweetheart,” I hold him close to me. “Are you okay?”
He doesn't answer me. I know that he's overwhelmed by what is happening. I stand up, picking him up with me, and he doesn't fight me like he usually would, saying that he was too old to be carried like a baby.
“Aaron got us out of there quickly, as soon as the alarms went off,” Ember assures me.
“Do they know what happened yet?”
She shakes her head. “Some people are saying that it was an unattended candle; others are saying someone fell asleep in bed with a cigarette."
We both turn back to the building. The fire is getting bigger by the moment. One of the firefighters is climbing a ladder up to one of the windows not engulfed with flames. I realize it's Merrick when he turns and calls down to one of the guys on the ground. The panic that filled me before is back, and once again, it feels like it's constricting my throat, so I can't breathe.
Suddenly one of the apartment windows next to him explodes, and we can feel the blast from where we are standing. Merrick pauses for a moment but then continues up the ladder and climbs in the window.
MERRICK
I have to work quickly if I’m going to get everyone out in time. I step into the smoky apartment and look around for the woman people claim is still in here.
I see an older woman on the floor with her black lab next to her. She waves her arm frantically at me, worried that I can’t see her. I move quickly to grab her, but she pushes my hands away. She points at her dog. I tell her no and try and reach for her, but once again, she refuses. I was never going to leave the dog, but it's the protocol to get her out first. I scoop up the dog and walk him back to the window. Rhodes is there, ready to assist, and I hand off the animal to him. He starts down the ladder, and I return for the woman. She's much more willing to go now.
Suddenly there is another explosion, and part of the shared wall between this apartment and the burning one next door is crumbling. I move quickly and grab the woman and carry her over to the window. I know it’s once again against protocol, but I pull off my mask and place it over the woman, allowing her fresh oxygen to breathe. The heat in the smoke burns my lungs as I pass her out the window to Rhodes. We get the woman down the ladder halfway, just as another explosion bursts over our heads. I shield the woman in Rhodes’s arms as best I can from falling glass and debris.
We make it down, and the crew starts working to put out the fire. I'm handed an oxygen mask, and I take in a breath of pure oxygen and walk over to the ambulance to check on the woman. She’s laid out on the stretcher.
When she sees me, she reaches out for me. I take her hand in mine.
“Thank you for saving Jack," she’s barely able to gasp for air to speak.
“Is he okay?” I ask.
She nods. “My friend down the hall said she’d watch him while I go get checked out.”
