“You said the Chief headed to 15,” Luna insisted. “He wouldn’t abandon us.”
His next words were harsh. “Don’t lie to yourself, girlie. The Chief will absolutely abandon us if the risk is too great. He has to because it’s his job. Why do you have faith in that since he’s already left you for dead once?”
“Left behind in an actively collapsing building is different than a simple snow search and rescue. He’s at 15, guaranteeing he’ll personally know we are missing. And unlike you, the team likes me, and they will come for me.”
“Maybe,” he said. “But there’s nothing we can do. We can go to sleep and die painlessly as we freeze to death, or we can go to sleep and wake up when rescue finds us. Can you please let me die—or not—in silence?”
Luna grimaced. That was his plan. To do nothing. Just lay there. “Shouldn’t we… we could…”
“There’s nothing to do, girl. We’ve got no equipment, we can’t open the doors. You want to build a bomb out of breath mints?”
“I’m sure MacGyver could do it… you’re right.”
“I’m right? A miracle. Shut up go to sleep. Consider it conserving your energy.” He closed his eyes again and rested his head on the seat back.
Luna tried to wait. She ate a breath mint and wondered what time it was. The clock was gone, and her watch was on her left wrist under her turnouts. Had it been five minutes? Twenty? Two hours?
“Captain, I can’t be quiet,” she said.
“Yes, you can.”
“I don’t really want to freeze to death. I definitely don’t want to do it alone. Dying in silence is almost the same as being alone,” she admitted, not wanting to concede they might die. She’d always thought it would be fast—a broken beam landing on her, running out of air in a fire.
“I can tell you, it is not. Leave me alone.”
“This is why no one likes you. If you were nicer—”
“My job isn’t to be nice. My job is maximize your potential as firefighters. Do you think I care that I didn’t get invited to your pie eating contest?”
“You knew?” she sputtered.
“I’m not deaf. The firehouse isn’t a big place. Nothing stays secret very long.”
“You do have serial killer quiet footsteps,” Luna begrudged him.
“You are the worst listener I’ve ever met. You do what you want, ignoring the consequences if it doesn’t match your plan. Honestly, I find your ongoing attempts to undermine me laughable. Do you think sneaking in some pies behind my back will end the white sugar and flour embargo?”
“Joke’s on you. Because of you, Kevin tossed his stash of crackers and candies. We might freeze to death that much faster because you wanted to die over the healthiest food choices.”
He started to cough. Luna sat up and realized he was laughing. “Good lord, you are going to carry that to the grave, aren’t you. ‘My Captain took my candy bars away! Send him to Hell!’”
“Es un maldito bastardo,” she called him a bastard without thinking.
“La vida es una perra, niñita,” he responded that life was a bitch.
“Vete a la mierda, capitán,” she told him to fuck off. “How do you even know Spanish?”
“College. Now shut up?”
“No. Can’t you share something? Anything? We might die.”
“And put me out of my misery.” Williams shut his eyes again.
“That’s it. You are making me take drastic action. You have no idea how miserable I can make you before you die. I’m going to sing.”
“Scary.” The bastard didn’t even bother to open his eyes.
“I’m going to the mattresses, fullGodfatherstyle. Since you hear everything in the firehouse, you know I have the worst voice. Uncle says it’s an injured cat and a horny bagpipe. I can sing in English, Spanish, and Greek. My rendition ofOne Hundred and One Bottles of Beer on the Wallcould be used in terrorist interrogations. And I promise, the second verse is the same as the first, but a whole lot louder and a whole lot worse.”
