I sidestepped him, ducked and took another shot at his ribs before swinging with my left hand, contacting his jaw.
He buckled to his knees. “Fuck you,” he slurred.
The crowbar fell from his hands.
I kicked it away.
“I’ve been waiting for more than a year to fuck you up,” I growled, swinging at his face. I missed by inches as he pulled away, stumbling backward.
Again, he screamed and charged me, wrapping me up in a bear hug. I managed to free my arms and brought down both elbows in the middle of his back, collapsing him to the floor. For good measure, I kicked him in the ribs like I was punting a football.
The gurgling sound that came out of his mouth was music to my ears.
“Pathetic son of a bitch,” I yelled as he scooted away from me. My lungs burned from the smoke, but I couldn’t focus on that right then.
“You killed my brother!” he screamed like the crazy piece of shit he was. “You all laughed at him!” He yelled and began coughing from the smoke in the room.
“We weren’t even at Rescue Four when your brother died. No one laughed at him.” I knew how the death of someone impacted firefighters. We all did.
The flames around us crackled and burned furiously, making sweat run down the sides of my face. The heat of the fire, though, paled in comparison to the burning blaze of my anger. This lowlife had caused Corey to lose his leg. He’d threatened my squad. My family.
I stalked closer, noting the fear in his eyes as he backed away.
“I’ll watch you take your last breath in this inferno today,” I said, meaning it.
I took another step towards him, and that was when the floorboard beneath him gave out.
“Help!” Benjamin yelled when the ground below his body gave way. He hung onto the edge of one of the boards by his fingertips.
I kneeled and grabbed him by the wrists.
“Help me,” he pleaded.
Staring him in the eyes, I tightened my hold around his wrists. The expression on his face morphed from alarm and terror to relief.
I laid on the floorboards, getting closer. “You killed children. You cost my best friend his leg and career. You tried to kill the love of my life. And you used fire to do it.”
His eyes widened. “Y-you’re supposed to save me.”
This fucker really was deranged.
“I’ll meet you in hell.” I let go of his wrists and plucked each of his fingers, one by one, away from the board. Letting him die meant saving others. I would learn to live with that. If I survived.
Benjamin fell into the fiery blaze. The sound of his screams soothed something inside me that had burned since the night of Corey’s injury. Yet, when I attempted to rise from the floor, a piece of the roof above me collapsed, narrowly missing me.
Crouching low, I tucked and rolled to my left, barely missing being smashed by more falling wood and plaster. The popping and crackling of the flames around me intensified.
I knew what would come next. Sure enough, seconds later, there was the loud booming sound of windows exploding rang out.
I was unprotected in a sea of fire. The burning in my lungs continued even from my location on the floor. This was it. I could barely get to the door as debris fell all around me.
Sweat dripped down my face and my back as my options of making it out of the building narrowed. Without my protective gear, I wasn’t going to make it much longer.
I started to feel myself pass out from the smoke inhalation. The one relief I had in my final moments was knowing that Jocelyn wasn’t inside. That she’d made it out.
As the edges of my sight turned fuzzy and then black, I gave up any hope.
Then, a strong force from behind me helped me to my feet. “Let’s get the fuck outta here.”
