I flipped on the radio and turned the dial to the local country station, only to find an announcement playing on repeat instead of music. It was on every channel too. “Damn it,” I cursed under my breath. I might as well hear what the good old town of Camden had to warn us about.
“A dangerous inmate has escaped Main State Prison on foot. This inmate Willard Hopkins is an arsonist. He has burned over two hundred buildings and fifty people. He is a serial arsonist. This is an emergency broadcast. Maine State Prison is only a thirty-minute drive. They believe he is heading to Camden, considering it is close to his hometown of Lincolnville. Consider him armed and dangerous.”
I whistled under my breath and turned the radio off and listened to the hum of the tires instead. Damn, I hoped that guy didn’t come to our town. We weren’t prepared for something like that. We didn’t have the manpower. We’d have to call in other fire stations from all around if fires got out of control like that. We’d never had an arsonist before or a murderer. Camden was a quaint, beautiful fishing town with miles of ocean views and the best seafood in the country.
Who would want to set it on fire?
I wasn’t worried about it. The guy would probably get caught before making it to our town. I decided to put it out of my head and drive down to the Hampton Mansion. I wouldn’t get bothered there. First, I’d stop for a six-pack of something; I didn’t care what, as long as it burned as it went down, I’d be fine.
I was driving down the main road that hugged a cliff that lead out to the ocean. Nothing but sharp rocks and angry waves below. One wrong turn and I’d be a goner.
My eyes felt heavy from the twenty-four-hour shift, and I rubbed them for a split second to bring life back into the heavy bags under them. Only when I blinked, I saw black smoke pouring into the sky, along with the wickedness of orange flames. I glanced in my rearview mirror and saw the fire truck coming up behind me, but I didn’t have anywhere to go. There was nowhere to turn into to let the truck by. The road was too narrow and dangerous. Many accidents happen here, but I wasn’t about to be one of them.
I flipped on the emergency lights Ethan installed in the truck and did the only thing left to do.
The pedal met the floorboard, and the rumble of the diesel amplified in the air as I sped down the road, getting to where the fire was. Shit, this was huge. This was the first fire Ethan would be fighting without me, and while I was mad at him, I couldn’t let him do this alone. The closer we got to the backside of town, the more I recognized the area.
As the cliffs ended, the road opened wider, and that was when I notice cars on the side of the road. People were climbing out of their vehicles to watch the flames get higher and higher. The smoke was getting thicker and started to swirl its way through the trees. The locals had to cover their mouths with their shirts. They pointed to the angry hell piercing the sky, and I knew this was going to be the talk of the town for months, maybe years to come.
Things like this didn’t happen here.
Ash started to fall down on my windshield, and when I turned my wipers on, a smog of white smeared along the glass. I cleared it out of the way with win
dshield wiper fluid, but it was no use. The ash was coming down hard, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d think it was snowing, but I did know better. This ash was someone’s home burning, a piece of their livelihood. The tires skid when I took a sharp left onto the street I was on earlier to rescue Ms. Williams’s cat. The closer I got, the thicker the smoke became.
I could feel the heat already from inside the truck. My forehead started to sweat, and my palms gripped the steering wheel as tight as possible. Pulling off to the side of the street, I jumped out just as the firetruck stopped.
The neighborhood had already been evacuated, but a few people lingered to watch the fire as if it were a show. Without gear, I couldn’t get closer to the house. My heart hammered in my chest when I saw the familiar burnt tree I climbed earlier in the day.
It wasn’t just any house on fire.
It was Ms. Williams’s.
I ran as close as I could to her house. My boots hit the grass, and my eyes watered from the blistering heat pouring off the hungry blaze. “Ms. Williams?” I shouted for her, a part of me knew it was useless because the hiss and crackle of her house burning was too loud for anyone to hear.
A mist of water drifted over my skin, and I turned my head left to see Nickson controlling the hose, aiming it right at the roof of the house. Ethan had on his gear, but I couldn’t let him go in there alone for a body check. I looked from the house to the truck, my eyes watering at the thought of something happening to my brother.
Or maybe it was from the fire.
Either way, no way in hell would anyone else have his six better than me.
“You have to let me go in there with him!” I shouted at Locke, the Chief.
He shook his head. “You’re too tired. You just got off a twenty-four-hour shift. I can’t do it.” He yelled over the fire roaring and the hose pumping water.
“I’m fine. I swear. You have to!”
“You’re going to have to sit this one out.” He slapped my shoulder.
Like hell I was.
I watched in horror as Ethan ran inside the burning home. Panic rode me like a wild horse, bucking and kicking at my soul, watching my flesh and blood risk his life. I always knew this was going to happen, with the entire family being in dangerous fields. One of us was bound to enter a dangerous situation we might not get out of.
Vincent came around the back of the truck, his helmet on, and backed up to the steps. I gripped him by the fire jacket, and slammed him against the back bumper, the dent still there from when I kicked it. “Give me your gear right now.”
“No, fuck off. This is my fire,” he said, shoving me in the chest, his brown eyes raging, daring me to do something.
Yeah, I wasn’t fucking around when I said I’d have my brother’s six. I cocked my hand back and let my fist fly. When his face connected with my knuckles, he crumbled to the ground in an instant. I ripped the gear from him and shrugged everything on, grabbing the axe from his hand.