Disclaimer:  The characters from Emergency! don’t belong to me.  I’m just taking them out for a spin.

OUT OF TIME

(A Double Drabble)

By:  Vanessa Sgroi

Time’s running out.

Flames are licking at the far wall, curling, browning, and finally obliterating a poster of Underdog tacked there.

Incredible heat is pressing in from all sides.  My turnouts offer some protection, but vulnerable spots like my ears and wrists are blistering.

My SCBA’s low-air warning started awhile ago.

Still I won’t leave.

I can’t—I can’t find the little boy.

Maybe his parents were wrong and he wasn’t in his room like they thought.

No.  No, he’s here.  Don’t ask me how, but I feel it.

A wave of dizziness makes the engulfed room spin.  I shake my head to clear it to no avail.

Wait!  There!  Behind that wooden chest in the corner.  Is that a foot?

I crawl forward, feeling with my left hand.

YES!

I toss aside the stuffed animals under which the boy is hiding, pull him into my arms, and race out of the room.

At the bottom of the stairs, the lack of air finally catches up with me and I feel my knees give way.  Relief overrides despair when Roy is suddenly there reaching for the boy.  Other hands grab for me, urging me toward the front door.

Toward safety.

* * The End * *

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