The sidewalk and road was filled with onlookers, watching on in horror. Closest to the building were the few people who had managed to get out in time. They were poorly dressed, covered in soot, and clutching on to their loved ones. The men and women who had no one just stood there, looking at the building like some terrible monster rearing its ugly head.
“There are people still in there,” an old woman screamed. “There are kids…they’ll die.”
“Calm down, ma’am,” I told her. “We’re going to do our best to get everyone out.”
“Those poor children,” she screamed as though they were already gone.
Gritting my teeth with determination, I looked over at Ryan. “Let’s read this fire quickly; we need to get in there.”
“Why aren’t you doing anything?” a younger woman screamed. “My children are inside! I went to get milk… my children are inside…”
I felt her scream to the core of my being, but I knew that I couldn’t just run in there without thinking. That was a good way of killing myself—along with her children.
“Okay,” Kendrick said, running up to us. “The fire started on the west side of the building. We need to proceed carefully.”
We locked eyes for a moment in an unspoken understanding of the risk we were about to take. Then we headed into the building. Nearly two hours later, the fire had been put out and smoke was radiating around the building in curling clouds that made me shiver. I sat at the back of the truck, covered in soot and coughing occasionally. I had a blanket wrapped around my body and despite the heat that still radiated all around us, I was cold.
The crying was far off now—they had probably walked her away from the truck, but I could still hear her as though she were standing right next to me. I closed my eyes, but that only made it worse.
“Phil.”
I opened my eyes and saw Mel standing in front of me.
“How is she?” I asked immediately.
“Don’t beat yourself up about that,” he said fi
rmly. “You did a fantastic job in there. Everyone did.”
“It wasn’t enough,” I pointed out.
“They were in the thick of the fire—you were too late before you even set foot in that building.”
“Where is she?” I asked, realizing that I could barely hear her crying now.
Mel looked pale. “They… identified her children’s bodies. They were exactly where she said they would be… they had been taking a nap while she went out for milk.”
“Where is she?” I asked again.
“She insisted she wanted to see their bodies.”
I closed my eyes. “And, they’re actually going to let her?”
“She nearly tore one of the paramedics’ eyes out when they refused,” Mel said.
“The sight of them will haunt her for the rest of her life,” I said, distraught.
“It’s her decision.”
“She’s is no frame of mind to make decisions in the first place,” I said, rising to my feet. “Someone needs to go over there and—”
“Stop,” Mel said, pushing me back into a sitting position. “That is not your place.”
I had seen their bodies. They weren’t even recognizable as human bodies. They were just shapeless mannequins covered in black dust and the smoky smell of burning meat. That was probably the hardest part of it all. Not the way they looked, but the way they smelled. I felt tears sting my eyes and pushed them back fiercely.
“We should have moved faster,” I said, through gritted teeth.
“We responded as soon as we got the call,” Mel pointed out. “We got here within eleven minutes of the call. There’s nothing more we could have done, Phil.”