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"I think you're my mother."

The storm continues. The cottage goes completely still. And…

I have no advice to give.

2

RHETT

OCTOBER 19 ~ 12 DAYS UNTIL HALLOWEEN

The first thing I notice is the heat. Not the flames. The heat comes first.

It pushes through the walls of the abandoned factory before we even breach the entrance, radiating through the brick and steel like the building itself is warning us away.

"Command to Engine Three. Confirm your position."

I press the radio clipped to my vest.

"Engine Three entering from the east access point. Visibility is zero beyond ten feet."

Static crackles.

"Copy that."

The voice on the other end is calm. Mine is too. That is the trick. People think emergency response is about bravery. It isn't. Bravery is emotional. Training is controlled.

When a building is burning, and people are trapped inside, there isn't room for fear. There isn't room for hesitation. There is only information.

The structure. The conditions. The risks. The next decision.

I adjust the thermal imaging camera in my hand, scanning through the smoke.

The screen paints the world in shades of heat.

Walls. Machinery. Collapsed beams. Three firefighters moving through the darkness. Two civilians near the back office. One heat signature that doesn't make sense.

I narrow my eyes.

"Command, I've got something unusual."

My second-in-command, Derek, turns toward me.

"What kind of unusual?"

I don't answer immediately. Because I have no idea. The heat signature is there. Then it isn't. Like something moved faster than it should have.

"Possible equipment malfunction," I finally say.

Derek raises an eyebrow. He knows me well enough to know I don't call something a malfunction unless I have already ruled out everything else.

"Copy."

I scan again. Nothing. The building groans. A warning sound. The kind that makes everyone instinctively look upward.

"Everyone move."

My voice cuts through the radio. The team responds immediately. We pull back seconds before part of the ceiling collapses into the area where we had been standing.