okies everyone. Here's the next installment of my firefighting epic. *gryn* yup. it's official, it's an epic now. *sigh* This chapter was SUPPOSED to have had some lovely citrus in it near the end, but it was going to be way too long if I did that, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to make y'all wait just a wee bit longer. This is another chapter of character interaction and gratuitous firefighter stuff. Sorry, I can't resist, and it IS my fic after all. *gryn* anyway.... here ya go. Enjoy.
Title: Inferno's Touch ~ Chapter 4
Author: Ravynfyre
Archive: GW Addiction
Category: Humor/Action
Pairings: none yet (give it time! Be patient!)
Standard Disclaimer: Not mine. Theirs. Too bad, but otherwise, I guess I'd never get anything done >nice hentai thought<. Anyway, not makin' any money offa this so dun sue me. You'd only get some college debt, a few dogs, and a pair of fuzzy bunny slippers anyway.
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Tried not to be too graphic... but there is some blood and some more fireman humor here.
Spoiler: none
Notes: as always... any firefighting/EMS terminology will be explained at the bottom in the footnotes. If I forget something or don't make it clear enough, e-mail me and I'll explain to the best of my pitiful ability. This chapter is HEAVILY inundated with terms and stuff... I recommend skipping to the end and reading through the terms real quick before you start reading the chapter, if only to slightly familiarize yourself with all the stuff... it makes understanding what's going on a little bit easier.
Feedback: Yes, please. All comments welcome (although flames may be fed to my dogs, who, since they have notoriously gassy intestinal tracts, will be spending the night with the flamer afterwards)
A cardiac arrest, two accidents, one asthma attack, two automatic alarms[1], and one gasoline spill later, the two crews inhabiting Station 8 were seated around the dinner table happily munching their way through a late evening dinner of Duo's Famous Spaghetti and Meatballs.
"I still find it hard to believe that, not only can you cook, you can do it well, Duo," Quatre said with a grin.
"Hey... Just 'cause your family never took the time to teach you how to boil water doesn't mean everyone's like that, Mr. Winner," Duo retorted sarcastically.
"I think he just insulted your honor, Quatre. What are you going to do about it Trowa?" Zechs asked with what could only be called a mischievous smile.
Heero watched the exchange curiously, particularly interested in the sudden flush creeping up Quatre's cheeks, and the calm, dignified silence of Trowa.
"He can take care of himself. He's a big boy."
Duo started choking on a mouthful of garlic bread.
"Gee, Tro... I wouldn't know about that... After all, you've never offered to share," Duo leered.
Heero frowned. What the hell had he gotten himself into? Everyone here had been tossing innuendo around all day. Heero knew that firemen liked to joke around, and tended to be very close to their crewmates, but that close? It was getting a little thick in here!
Quatre, for his part, turned beet red and spluttered, choking on his milk.
"You've never shut up for a long enough stretch of time for us to offer, Duo."
Duo, struck speechless by Trowa's deadpanned reply, sat there, fork hovering over his plate, and mouth opening and closing over the words he couldn't speak.
Zechs couldn't prevent the soft chuckle from escaping him.
Heero was too much of a soldier to see the opening and not go for it.
"Besides... It's not their fault you don't pay attention in the shower. Obviously you're not that interested."
Silence descended over the kitchen. Everyone turned to stare, stunned, at Heero, who was still methodically plowing through his supper.
Heero glanced up to meet Trowa's eyes. He read the reply in the one, delicately arched eyebrow.
:Good one. Very good. Although surprising, coming from you.:
Heero, being able to speak fluent silence himself, replied with his own eye quirk and quick glance at Duo.
:Hey, I didn't put up with that maniac all day without getting a little of my own back, here.:
Trowa's eyes narrowed and he suppressed a small smile.
:True. Too true.:
Quatre's laughter interrupted their silent conversation. Soon Quatre was joined by Zechs, and then, almost reluctantly, Trowa. Heero, unphased by their response, continued with his dinner, glancing up at the others with an almost innocent expression.
"Somebody get the HeartStart[2]. I think I'm going to have an MI[3] here... Heero Yuy, did you just crack a joke?" Duo gasped.
Heero was spared the requirement of a response, as if he even would have made one, by the squawking of the speaker."Engine 8, Medic 6, Respond to the corner of Washington and Veteran's Parkway for a one-vehicle 10-50. Two victi[4]ms reported. Engine 12 and Medic 5 will also be responding."
Everyone had hopped to their feet as soon as the tones had gone off, and were halfway to the bay by the time they got their complete instructions.
"Damnit Duo! Every time you fix that spaghetti of yours, dinner gets interrupted. That's it. You can't cook anymore!" Zechs called as he started pulling his bunker gear on.
"Yeah, like it's MY fault. What about your notorious chili? I have yet to finish an uninterrupted bowl!"
"SUNOFABITCH!" Heero found himself exclaiming as he hopped into his gear.
Duo broke into merry laughter, and Zechs simply shook his head.
"Told you to check your boots, Heero," Zechs called, a small smile playing over his features as Heero stared down into his boots with disgust for a second.
"I'm gonna kill you, Duo," he muttered, shaking his feet as he finished pulling up his pants and trying desperately to ignore the cold slosh of the ankle deep water bathing his feet.
Quatre and Trowa, not having any cumbersome gear to hop into, missed the whole exchange, since they were already pulling away from the station with lights and sirens running hot. By the time they were half a block away, Duo was pulling Engine 8 out of the bay, and flipping on his own lights and sirens. The wail of the air-horn sang out into the darkness mournfully. The strobe lights washed the night from the street in awkward flashes; Heero found his stomach getting queasy as he watched the landscape speed past. Especially with Duo trying to break another land-speed record. He closed his eyes and leaned back into his seat, mentally reviewing all the equipment they would probably need.
Hurst tool[5] for sure, and cribbing[6]. Backboard, but Medic 6 would take care of that. Blankets, Sawzall, window punch, and maybe even a teddy bear[7]. Depended on how old the victims were.
Guess they'd see when they got there. Heero debated pulling on a pair of latex gloves under his heavy fire gloves, but decided against it. They would be too hot, and would hamper his dexterity too much. He compromised by shoving a pair into the hip pocket of his bunker pants; if he needed them, they would take only a second or two to pull on.
Half a mile away, Medic 6 had pulled up to the scene and staged themselves close to the wreck, but not in the way of where Engine 8 would be parking. Within a few seconds, Duo had maneuvered Engine 8 into that vacant spot, leaving Heero and Zechs to spring out.
Before them, the dark bulk of what could only be some sort of SUV had smashed head first into one of those heavy-duty concrete abutments that anchored huge over-highway road signs. It looked like the passenger compartment was sitting right in front of the fourteen inch diameter pole, with very little of the whole engine compartment pinched around the concrete mound. That could only mean that most of the engine compartment, and the engine itself, was sitting in the vehicle's occupants' laps. If they had any laps left to speak of. From that kind of damage, Heero guessed that they were probably going at least 75 MPH when they hit the abutment. This was going to be messy.
"Hurst tool, Heero."
Already heading for the proper compartment, Heero merely grunted. Duo paused beside him , toggling on the floodlights and illuminating the scene.
Heero dragged the heavy Hurst generator over towards what was left of what had apparently been a bright yellow, late model Lincoln Navigator. Bright Yellow? They didn't even come in that color... which meant only one thing. Big Money. Heero shook his head as he headed back for the spreaders and the shears. By the time he had both the spreaders and shears hooked up and the generator running, Duo had pulled their front bumper booster line[8] off and charged it. Zechs grabbed the shears and had Heero grab the spreaders.
In the background, Heero heard Engine 12 pull up and stage behind 8.
"Two patients. One male, driver, late twenties. Looks like bilateral femur fractures[9] at lea#st. Plus he took the steering column in the chest. Second victim, female, passenger, mid twenties, claims to be six months pregnant, Altered mental Status[10], no seatbelt. Duo has the wheels chocked, Quatre is in the vehicle holding C-spine[11] on the female, we can't get to the male yet. I'll cut the A post[12] on the driver's side, you see if you can pop the hinges on that door."
Heero grunted an affirmative and waited for Zechs to get the post cut and step out of the way. A few seconds later, the spreaders had a firm bite in the gap between the front of the driver's door and the front quarter panel of the SUV and were inexorably spreading apart. A loud POP heralded the breaking of the top hinge. Heero closed the spreaders and shoved them into the gap below the bottom hinge. Zechs leaned his weight against the car door to keep it from springing back at them and hurting them when the last hinge gave. Heero jerked back as the spreaders lost their bite and bucked back against his leg fiercely. He growled in frustration as a sharp stab of pain raced up his leg, and then reset the spreaders. This time, he threw his weight into the tool, and was rewarded by another loud POP. The door fell away from the front of the vehicle.
Dropping the spreaders, Heero helped Zechs pry the door away from the SUV, stumbling a little awkwardly as it suddenly gave way. Heero turned and dropped the door over to the side out of their way.
Trowa took that moment to dive in and quickly assess the damage to the driver.
"Blunt chest trauma. Bilateral femur fractures, pelvis crepitous[13]. I got a C-collar on him."
"Looks like we need to yank out the steering wheel... Heero, go grab the Come-along[14]," Zechs instructed.
Heero returned, tossing one end of the chain to Zechs while he laid a few boards across what was left of the hood of the car to take the strain about to be put on it. Then he hooked the other end of the chain to the winch, and chained the winch to the remains of the front axel. Zechs had wrapped his end of the chain around the steering wheel and had covered the driver with a blanket to protect him from flying debris. With a nod from Zechs, Heero started pumping the winch handle, watching his captain carefully as the steering wheel slowly started to lever upwards, and then, with a loud SNAP, popped off at the joint. Zechs pushed it away and leaned in to examine the driver's legs.
"Looks like we have him free... We need a backboard."
Trowa immediately complied, handing Zechs the narrower end of the board. Zechs carefully wedged the board under the driver's thighs, pushing it as far as it would go without harming the victim. Trowa balanced the other end of the board across his hip, holding it steady and firm. Heero came around and helped Zechs slowly maneuver the driver's head and shoulders out of the car and into a lying position on the board. As Zechs held the man's head steady, Heero reached into the vehicle and slowly pulled the distressingly floppy legs of the driver out from the wreckage of the dashboard and carefully laid them down the length of the board balanced on the driver's seat.
Zechs moved out of the way as Trowa and Heero picked up the board and carried it, driver and all, to the waiting gurney a few feet away. Quatre materialized beside them.
"Medic 5 has the woman. They could use some help getting her out," he said to Heero and Zechs.
"We've got the guy. As soon as we get this gurney in the rig, we're outta here for the hospital," he continued.
Zechs nodded, backing off to let Trowa and Quatre do their job, and motioning for Heero to follow him over to the other side of the vehicle where Duo was fighting with the door.
"Heero... could you grab the shears and cut this damn hinge for me? I can't get it to pop," Duo asked.
Heero snatched the tool up from the roadway and complied, shearing through the metal in a few seconds. The door gave in to their efforts with a sudden BANG, dropping to the pavement and teetering on its side until someone from Engine 12 kicked it out of the way.
Examining the wreck for a moment, Heero quickly went to work cutting away the crimped remains of the front quarter panel. Meanwhile, Duo was using the spreaders to push as much of the dash away from the trapped and screaming woman as possible. When Heero had cut enough of the quarter panel away that he could see all of the woman's feet and legs, he went to work on the A post. Someone form Engine 12 had gotten out the Sawzall and was cutting the windshield, while Zechs kept the woman covered with a blanket to shield her from the flying glass and sparks.
The A post separated sharply; Heero scooted over and quickly cut the B post. Duo dodged out of his way as he went to the rear of the SUV and crimped the C post in a few spots, and then handed the Shears over to someone from Engine 12 to finish cutting the posts on the driver's side.
Less than a minute later, they had peeled back the entire roof, laying the vehicle open to the world, and freeing up a little more space.
Now that they could get to her, it was easy to carefully spin the woman around and lay her down on a backboard. Heero helped carry that backboard to another gurney, and then watched as the crew from Medic 5 loaded the gurney up into their rig and quickly sped away, light and sirens running hot.
The person from Engine 12 who'd taken the shears from him wandered over and handed them back.
"Thanks man. That was a big help," she said.
Heero nodded in response and looked around for his captain and his driver.
Duo had gone over and was bleeding the pressure off of the shears and spreaders, preparing to shut down the Hurst tool. Zechs was surveying the remains of the vehicle, making sure the battery cables were all cut and that there were no fluids leaking that weren't being dealt with by some hastily applied Oil Dry compound.
Heero wandered over to help Duo pack up the Hurst tool. The woman from 12 followed.
"Hey, Hotstuff. Long time no see," she called to Duo with a grin.
"Hilde! Whassup?"
Duo stood, leaving Heero to finish packing the tool up and get it loaded back onto Engine 8.
"Nada. New guy?" Hilde asked, jerking a thumb over at Heero.
"Yeah. Hilde, meet Heero. Heero, meet Hilde. She was in my class at the Academy."
"Hn."
"Charming," she replied sardonically.
"Ya, well, he's had to put up with me all day, right Heero?" Duo quipped with a grin.
"That's enough to drive a saint to murder," Hilde laughed.
Heero tossed an almost long-suffering sigh at her. Hilde laughed.
Heero stood and finished stowing the Hurst tool away, and then went back to the remains of the SUV to look for any other tools they'd used. He was amazed that anyone had lived through that wreck so far. There was nothing left of the dash. It had exploded into the passenger compartment with such force that the driver had been sitting ON the radio, and the contents of the glove box were strewn all over the extreme rear floor. The front seats were sitting back almost where the back seats would normally be, because the engine block was sitting where the front seats should have been. Blood liberally coated the expensive leather interior, almost hiding the contents of the vehicle.
A few papers lay scattered about the interior wreckage, spattered here and there with blood, water, and other fluids. An empty soda can peeked out from under what would have been the passenger's seat. A briefcase lay in the back seat, covered in shattered glass. The neck of some sort of bottle poked its head out from between the two front seats.
The neck of a bottle? Heero leaned in and peered at it. He didn't touch it, for fear of what it might be, but, rather, took a long sniff. The pungent aroma of whiskey assailed his nose.
Damn.
He backed out of the car and wandered up to where his captain was talking to the ranking police officer on the
scene.Zechs glanced at him and then stopped mid sentence.
"What is it? Find something?" he asked, noting the expression on Heero's face.
"I think you should pay close attention to between the front seats," he replied.
With a nod, the cop walked over and peered into the wreck. He backed out a moment later, lips pursed and an angry scowl alighting his features.
Zechs peered at Heero curiously.
"Alcohol."
"Damn. Fools."
Heero didn't respond to that.
"Thanks for the tip, man. I'll make sure the hospital gets some blood tests," the police officer said to Heero as he walked back.
"Hn. I'll get the booster reloaded, if that's all right, sir?" Heero asked, glancing at Zechs.
His captain nodded and watched as Heero walked away, heading towards the front of their rig. This had been a very busy first day for his rookie. He hoped the young man was doing okay.
Heero wandered up to Engine 8 and cycled down the big pump, listening as the engine slowly revved down. Disengaging the flow of water to their booster hose, Heero shut down the pump, and then took the whole rig out of pump gear. Then he walked to the end of the hose and opened it up to bleed off the pressure. Once the water quit flowing, he uncoupled the nozzle and carried it back to the front bumper. He was careful to set the nozzle on the bumper in plain sight, where no one could miss it and drive away without reconnecting it, just in case Duo wandered up and distracted him from his self-appointed task.
Duo and distraction seemed to be redundant expressions. His eyes unerringly sought out Engine 8's driver where he stood talking to Hilde. For some reason, Heero found himself taking an instant dislike to the woman from Engine 12. Why? It should have been the other way around. Duo was the annoying one. All he had to do was wiggle his undoubtedly pruney toes to prove that. Damned bastard. He hated working in wet boots.
With a scowl, Heero walked out the length of the bumper hose, draining it of water before her started carefully loading it back into its cradle, one precise fold at a time. Duo managed to stay out of his way long enough for Heero to finish loading the hose, reattach the nozzle, and buckle the whole assembly in securely. The his luck ran out.
With a laugh that Heero was quickly realizing was trademark Duo, read annoying, loud, brash, and attention-grabbing, the driver sauntered over towards Heero, Hilde by his side, with their arms thrown over each other's shoulders. Heero throttled down the sharp stab of anger that seeing her so shamelessly fawning over him caused. What the hell did he care. They were classmates together.
:So. None of YOUR classmates are like that with you,: a cold voice in his head informed him testily.
:Yeah, but that's because you're an arrogant, cold-hearted bastard,: was the acerbic retort.
His mental debate was cut short when Duo's hand descended upon his shoulder with a hearty clap and a deep chuckle.
"And it turns out that I guess Captain Zechs even warned him! What a riot, ne Heero? How's the feet?" Duo leered.
Heero curbed the instant reflex to punch his driver only by dint of being a rookie. Eight more months. Only eight more months of this torture, then he could beat the living snot out of that braided idiot without fear of reprisal. Or at least without getting fired outright. He settled for gritting his teeth and glaring. That only served to set Duo off into a freshet of howls of laughter. While Duo was preoccupied learning how to breathe again, Hilde leaned in real close to Heero.
"He has a weakness for food. Hit him there, and you'll have him. There's a place across town, by the way, that sells novelty chocolates... Like in bug shapes and such," she whispered with a conspiratorial wink.
"Acknowledged," Heero murmured.
"Inhale, Duo. In with the good air. Out with the bad," Hilde cried, reaching down to help the collapsed heap of Duo on the ground. Heero shook his head and walked away, another idea forming in his head. He'd have to wait and see what kind of sleeper Duo was before he could implement it. And he'd need some... items to pull it off.
Zechs wandered up while he was preparing his mental checklist, and apparently read Heero's intent in the young man's expression.
"Just don't kill each other. That's all I ask," Zechs said with a sigh as he wandered past.
Heero's gaze darted up, eyes narrowing dangerously as he replied, "Mission accepted."
"Okay boys. If the toys are all put away, it's time to go home," Zechs called.
"I guess that means 12 stays here to baby-sit the wreck until the tow truck gets here?" Hilde asked, helping to pull Duo to his feet.
"Yes. Enjoy."
"Cool! Now we can go finish dinner!" Duo crowed.
Zechs groaned.
"Maxwell, only you could want to eat spaghetti after seeing a wreck like that."
Hilde's face scrunched up distastefully.
"The Famous Maxwell Spaghetti? Gross, Duo. Doesn't anything get to you?"
He tossed her a haughty glance as he climbed into the driver's seat and closed the door.
"When it comes to food, not much."
Duo missed the significant stare Hilde speared Heero with. Heero nodded slightly in answer as Engine 8 pulled away.
"Duo, I almost pity you. Almost," Hilde muttered, remembering her own station days with the notorious Duo Maxwell.
~TBC~
Notes
[1] Automatic Alarm -- All commercial businesses and apartment complexes are required by law to have some sort of fire alarm. Some places simply have something that goes off in a building warning everyone to get out. Other places pay to have their systems monitored by an outside agency, like Per Mar, AEC, George Alarm, Simplex, or any one of thousands of companies. These agencies will notify the appropriate authorities if any alarm goes off in a building they monitor. Nine times out of ten, when an automatic alarm comes in, it's simply somebody smoking a cigarette or burning food too close to a smoke detector. It could even be a malfunction of the alarm, or a child pulling one of those nifty little fire alarm pull stations... It's that tenth time out of ten that you have to be careful of. Back
[2] HeartStart -- Any of you who have recently taken a CPR course should be familiar with an AED or an Automated External Defibulator. You hook this machine to anyone suspected of having heart difficulties, and it will tell you if you need to give the person a shock (as in "CLEAR! ZAP) or not, and if so, how big of one to do. They are pretty idiot proof, and are being put in places as innocuous as shopping malls and banks these days. HeartStart is simply one brand of AED. (The kind my rig carries, hence why I use it here. gryn) Back
[3] MI -- Myocardial Infarction. It's a big, medical way of saying Heart Attack. Back
[4] 10-50 -- Vehicular accident. Somewhere a car goed boom and bad things happened. Back
[5] Hurst Tool -- Jaws of life and all that jazz. Hurst is actually just a brand of extrication tool. The ‘Jaws of Life' are actually only ONE part of the whole extrication (read Hurst) tool. They are also known as the ‘spreaders'. There are also shears and the ram included in that whole Hurst tool thing. Spreaders, of course spread things apart. Shears cut things... with a 15,000 PSI force... so cutting through doors is usually no problem. Ram is a longer distance version of the spreaders. It's kinda like a hydraulic piston... well, it actually IS a hydraulic piston. It can spread things up to three feet or so on it's own. If you add in cribbing, the distances can be much greater. Back
[6] Cribbing -- big blocks o wood. Used to help stabilize cars, houses, tools... hell, anything that isn't secure and could be made secure by wedging big chunks o wood under or beside it. Yes, firetrucks carry big chunks o wood. Gryn Back
[7] Teddy Bear -- yes. It's exactly what it sounds like. A stuffed bear. They are carried on all the firetrucks in my town to give to hysterical children to get their minds off of either their own injuries, or the injuries of their parents/friends/siblings/guardians. Back
[8] Booster line -- typically, engines have a smaller line on a reel on either the front or rear bumper of the rig. This hose resembles a larger version of a garden hose and normally puts out no more than 50-75 GPM. Engine 8 has a front mounted Fire Booster, which resembles a smaller version of a standard fire hose and can put out about 100 GPM. It's easier to use and put away when finished with it, plus there is a shorter length to deal with to prevent cluttering up the wreck scene. Back
[9] Bilateral Femur Fractures -- both legs are broken in the same spot, right across the femurs, or the big bone in the upper leg. This is bad. Very bad.(yes, that IS a technical term gryn) Heavy blood loss can result, as well as a host of other complications. Back
[10] Altered Mental Status -- Is not conscious, alert, and oriented times three... which means, the person isn't awake, doesn't know what's going on, and cannot correctly answer who they are, where they are, and when they are. This is usually indicative of severe head trauma, or mental disability (either medical or psychological) Back
[11] C-spine -- Cervical spine. When you get into a wreck, the first thing most people will be concerned with (once they establish that you have an airway, can breath, and your heart is still beating) is that you don't move your head and neck too much. This is to prevent spinal injuries. Physically holding someone's head so they cannot move it and hurt themselves is normally referred to as 'holding c-spine'. Back
#[12] A Post -- The post between the car body and the roof on most vehicles that is closest to the front of the car. The one right behind the front doors is the "B" post. The one in the back that makes up the frame for the rear window and annoyingly gets in your way when you are driving and trying to figure out if there is enough room in that lane beside you to switch over there or not is the "C" post. When removing the roof of a car, typically you cut the A and B post, crimp the C post, cut the windshield, and then fold the whole roof over the trunk of that car like a sardine lid. It's fun. You should try it sometime. gryn Back
[13] crepitous -- bones grating against each other cos they're broke. It's really icky... Back
[14] Come-Along -- a chain and winch system. Hook one end of the chain to what you want to move, and the other to the winch, pull winch handle a few times, and POP... what you want to move... moves. Back
~RavynFyre~