Bad Seed

“You can’t fucking walk yet,” Chief said, snorting. “Calm the hell down.”

“I can’t just sit on my ass,” I said. “I need to do something useful.”

“You are,” Chief said. “You’re healing. That’s more important than you know.”

“It’s not enough.” I groaned and threw my head back against the couch cushions.

“What you did for that family was a goddamn miracle,” Chief said. “Be grateful you’re alive.”

“It wasn’t a miracle,” I said. “It was the job.”

“Really?” Chief raised his eyebrows and nodded toward the front door.

I turned around to see a familiar face walking through the door. It was the same man from the apartment fire. He was no longer covered in ash, and his face was set in a broad smile instead of a panicked grimace. Behind him, stood his wife and little girl. They glanced around the room, smiling nervously until Greg ran up to greet them.

They all hugged Greg and whispered something to him I couldn’t hear. He glanced at me and led them over. I felt my heart pound in my chest. What would I say to them?

“Caleb!” Greg said. “Someone’s here to see you.”

I smiled and tried to stand up, but the man shook his head and put his hand on my shoulder.

“Don’t stand up,” he said. “We wanted to come by and thank you for everything you did for us.”

“It was nothing,” I mumbled.

“You saved my wife and my daughter,” he said. “It was everything.”

“I’m Grace,” the wife said. “And this is Hannah.”

“Hi Hannah,” I said kindly. The little girl smiled but hid behind her mother’s skirt. “Thank you for coming by.”

“We wanted to tell you that your medical bills are covered,” Grace said. “We’re taking care of everything. It’s our way of saying thank you. Thank you for everything.”

“You don’t need to do that,” I said quickly. “Really, it’s not necessary.”

“We just received a huge inheritance,” Grace said. “We were moving and had almost everything out of the apartment when the fire happened. We barely lost anything at all, and because of you, we’re still alive.”

“It’s the least we can do,” the man said. “Please, let us.”

I nodded and smiled, embarrassed but pleased that they were there. The Chief jumped up to let them sit down. We talked for a few more minutes. They told me all about their new home, and Hannah even warmed up enough to ask about my leg. She was adorable, and by the time they left, I felt better about my situation.

It wasn’t only the medical bills, which had been wearing on my mind. It was everything. Knowing I did a good thing, that I saved a young girl’s life, was more than enough to make me grateful. I knew Chief was right, I couldn’t get back to work anytime soon, but at least my injury wasn’t wasted.

We partied into the evening, laughing and swapping war stories. By the time Chief was six beers in, he was telling everyone who would listen all about his own injury from ten years ago. He insisted he’d damn near broken his back in a six-story fall, but we all knew the building had only been two floors high.

We laughed, and I soon forget all about my injuries. My head was buzzing from the excitement and the powerful painkillers. I hadn’t felt this good in weeks.

CHAPTER EIGHT - TARA

Music and laughter were coming from Caleb’s apartment when I walked up to the front door. I frowned and raised my fist to knock. When I did, the door flew open, and I was face to face with a man I didn’t know. I looked around to see that Caleb’s apartment was full of men and women having a good time. A few wore firemen T-shirts, so I assumed they’d thrown Caleb a welcome home party.

“Wow,” the man in front of me said. “You’re hotter than your picture.”

“My picture?” I asked.

“Caleb!” the guy screamed, turning toward the couch. “The chick from your wallet is here!”

“What?” Caleb asked, frowning. He turned to face me as I stepped inside. The door swung shut behind me. “Oh. Hey!”