As Shea got closer to his house, he had to pull to the side to let a police car and fire engine by. He really didn’t think anything of it, they lived in the city, police and fire engines ran rampant at all times of the day. Then an ambulance had him pulling to the side again a few minutes later.
Shea turned onto their block and slammed on the brakes. He stared at the scene in front of him, not fully comprehending what was going on. There were police cars, two fire engines, and a couple of ambulances crammed onto his street, in front of his house. Shea blinked, put his truck in park and looked over at the houses to see which one they were there for. The night his parents and sister died flashed through his mind when he saw the smoke billowing up from his roof.
Horror. Pure, unadulterated horror was all that Shea felt as he shoved open his door and got out of his truck. NO! Shea started forward, taking a few steps before bursting into a full out run. Shea scanned the crowd of people who were out front, milling around, watching everything that was going on. No Christian and no Skylar. Could they possibly still be in the house? Shea almost threw up right then and there.
“CHRISTIAN!” Shea screamed as he sprinted up his front walkway, blowing past the police keeping people at a distance.
Shea heard them shout at him to stop but that was not going to happen. There were firefighters lined up just outside the front door getting ready to go in. Shea wasn’t going to wait; he needed to get to his baby and the love of his life. There was no way he would let the rest of his family die the same way his parents and sister died.
Shea shoved his way past a couple of firefighters who tried to grab him just as they kicked in the door. The black smoke that poured out of the front door momentarily stunned Shea. He stopped long enough that a cop was able to run up and grab him and start pulling him away.
“NO! MY FAMILY IS IN THERE!” he screamed, tearing himself out of their grasp.
Shea barreled past the firefighters and into the smoke and flame filled house. He could barely see past the smoke as he started up the stairs. He pulled the collar of his T-shirt over his nose and mouth, but he still started coughing. He crouched low when he got to the top of the stairs and made his way toward the front bedroom, which was Christian and his room. The smoke filled the hallway almost from ceiling to floor. Oh God! Please, let them be okay! Shea made it to the bedroom door, which was closed. Shea was just about to open it when he heard a whoosh and then a roaring behind him. Shea turned to see that the back room, the one at the top of the stairs, was fully engulfed in flames. That was the room that Christian used as his closet, and now there was no way Shea was going to be able to leave the same way he came in. The fire was too intense and close to the stairs. Fuck! They were all going to die. Shea would rather die with Christian and Skylar than be left to mourn them, though. Shea hacked hard and turned back to the bedroom door.
Shea quickly entered the room, shutting the door behind him. The room was not as smoke filled as the rest of the house, but there was still a lot. Shea rushed over to the bassinette where Skylar was laying. He checked the pulse on her neck, she was still alive, but she didn’t so much as move a muscle when he touched her, which meant that she was most likely unconscious from smoke inhalation. Shea went to the bed next; Christian was sprawled out on his stomach in his underwear. Shea turned him over. He was also unconscious and complete dead weight when Shea flipped him over.
Shea smacked his face hard. “Christian! Chris, wake up!” Shea yelled before checked his pulse. He was still alive, too, thank fucking Christ!
Shea looked around the room, trying to figure out what he should do next. First, he grabbed the comforter off the bed and stuffed it against the bottom of the door to stop some of the smoke from coming into the room. Next, he ran over to the windows. He opened one and pushed out the screen. They had the kind of windows that you could open in toward you for easy cleaning, which also made them easy to remove. Shea removed the bottom pane of glass then removed the top half. The smoke that had settled in the room started to pour out.