Hell Released (Hell Happened Book 3) (31 page)

Russ was in the passenger door and sliding across to the driver. Steam was gushing from under the dashboard.

Russ put two fingers on the man’s neck. He checked once, then checked again. He was glad the driver’s door wouldn’t open for Lisa and DeeDee. Russ remembered meeting the man behind the wheel, but could bring his name to mind.

He picked up his radio. “Don’t hurry, doc. And we won’t need an ambulance.” The driver had not been wearing his seat belt and probably snapped his neck when he hit the tree. There was blood on the windshield and dripping down the man face. Teeth were embedded in the steering wheel and looking down, Russ suspected there were massive internal injuries. Even if the man was still breathing, he doubted he would have lived long.

Russ reached up and closed the man’s eyes before climbing back out of the cab of the truck. Lisa and DeeDee were waiting for him, hearing that the man was already dead. Both hugged him once he was back on the ground. “Stupid, stupid, stupid mistake,” Russ said. “I should have been in the lead and kept us at a reasonable pace. I should have told them to slow down. We didn’t have to hurry so fast as to cost a good man his life.”

Russ was beating himself up and doing a good job of it. Lisa let him vent. She didn’t say anything; just let him speak his peace. When he finished, she took his hand in hers and told him he could not have guessed or foreseen anything like this. There was still a fire that had to be dealt with.

Russ nodded, hearing her, but not listening. It was one of the worst habits he had, that he beat himself up over perceived mistakes he made.

The doctor arrived in his Lexus, followed by one of his students in the ambulance. Russ asked DeeDee, who was both younger stronger than Lisa, to stay with them and help where she could. The sailor nodded and gave Lisa a hug before she and Russ returned to the reason they were called out this evening.

Back in his truck, Russ drove. There was really nothing to say. Russ drove by Finch Drive, where the trucks had gone. Lisa didn’t know if it was because he was still at the accident, or had just not been paying attention.

He hit the brakes and backed up, turned down the road and saw the enormity of the fire. “Base, this is Hammond. Get the reserve force out here and anyone else who can hold a hose.”

“Roger, sir,” was the quick response, but Russ didn’t hear it. He was already out of the truck. Eldred had formed a good fire line with his trucks and hoses and the nine trucks were fighting a line more than 2,000 feet long in the forest. A house to the far left of the line was already fully engulfed. Houses on the right were also catching fire even as the deluge of water was pouring in.

The tanker trucks had pumps that could empty the truck in minutes, but Eldred had already seen water was being wasted and started pulling his men back off places which weren’t as important.

“Captain!” Russ hollered at him over the sirens that were still blaring for some reason. “Get those sirens off, then move four trucks to the other side of that row of houses!” he ordered, pointing to the far east end of the fire. “We can’t defeat it, so let’s redirect it.”

Myles immediately saw what the colonel was saying. He had intended to break the fire into smaller sizes, but it was a battle they couldn’t win with the limited number of people they had.

Picking up his radio again, Russ continued to give orders. “Truck Two! Knock down that fire to the pond over there. We’re going to run out of water soon and we’ll need to suck water from there. Truck Three, give him some support.

“Is there anyone running out of water?” he asked, hoping the men and women on the hoses could hear their radios over the rushing water. The operator of Truck One said she was out.  “You’re now our Class A Pumper. Get over to that pond and switch your hoses over to filling up the other tankers as I send them.” That put the driver of the truck at risk of not being able to defend herself from the fire, but the woman didn’t hesitate. Instead, she threw the hose she’d been holding back on the truck and drove through the water the other trucks were spraying and nearly drove into the pond. She jumped out and started attaching hoses like every one had practiced. As soon as she was ready, she told Russ to start sending trucks. While she was waiting, she sprayed the fires her hoses could reach.

Within minutes, six or eight more cars and trucks were pulling up to the fire with the reserves. Russ had Lisa gather them in one spot while he directed overall effort. When she had them grouped, Russ ran over and pointed to two people at a time. “Go help him with the hose,” he would say and point to one of the firefighters on the line, then point to the next two people. The last four people he ordered to go after bottled water and make sure the firefighters on the line were drinking at least a bottle every half hour.

Russ could see the fire was trying to jump the gap in the trees that Eldred had already put down. He ordered Truck Five to keep that gap open at all costs or the fire would rage south to 63rd St. and probably jump the road and race toward the community they had worked so hard to build.

Russ heard Myles call for more water and Russ sent him the newly refilled Truck Two through the gap that was still being held open by the other trucks. It was hard to see, but Russ saw that the fire Myles was fighting had jumped to the houses in the cul-de-sac. He ordered Trucks Five and Six to refill as fast as they could and run the gap to help the captain whose trucks were running out of water.

The fire was winning and Russ was using every man he had keep his line from collapsing and forcing a retreat.

A new sound came from behind him and Russ turned around to see Deputy Doug in the cab of one of Robert’s bulldozers. Behind him was Robert on another and they were followed by two Michigan Loaders, a backhoe and the food truck that delivered food, water, soft drinks and snacks to the crews during the day.

Russ hadn’t heard Lisa call them on channel three of the radio, but he was glad to see them. He pointed both dozers through the gap to go help Eldred who was about to lose. “Truck Five, cover the dozers with your stream!” he hollered over the radio.

He directed the Michigan Loaders to start widening the gap and the backhoe to begin creating a clear area west of the current fire to keep it from encircling the firefighters. Six men from a truck that pulled up, pulled out chainsaws they’d gotten from somewhere and began cutting down trees so the backhoe could operate more effectively.

He watched the people work and heard the dozers taking down houses and pushing them away from the fire, giving Myles the breathing room his firefighters needed to knock down the conflagration that had almost over taken that side of the fire line.

Lisa came up behind him as he finished directing two of the trucks to begin moving the fire further to the west. There was no way they were going to be able to put the fire out completely, but he was feeling confident the community was no longer in danger. She handed him a hotdog and a Poweraid. He hadn’t realized how hungry he’d gotten and looked at his watch. They’d been on scene for seven hours already.

Capt. Eldred and his team finally put down the east side blaze and were re-assigning personnel to Russ’ group. Realizing some of the men hadn’t taken a break in more than seven hours, he began relieving crews for a half hour to eat, sleep if they could and recover from the night. Even though every one of them stopped to eat and drink, he didn’t see any of them sleep.

By late in the morning, the men and women had fought the fire to the east side of Lee Rd. and away from the community. Four trucks stayed on scene to make sure it didn’t turn back, but with the winds now changing direction, Russ was confident enough to leave the scene.

He and Eldred were both exhausted as was everyone else who had spent the night fighting the fire. He figured he’d go home and get a few hours of sleep before returning to the fire, but the heavens opened up and cold rain began falling as they were driving back to their homes. Lisa had gone home earlier and Russ gave Myles a ride in his personal truck.

They drove by the scene where Myles had decided to start fighting the fire and saw the blackened trees and houses. Russ thought about getting out of his truck, but the rain turned to an icy sleet.

Russ was telling Myles of his good decisions and pointing out where he could have done better, but the younger man wasn’t really paying attention. Russ thought he must have been really tired until Myles finally spoke up. Without asking, Russ knew Myles was referring to the man who died the night before when his tanker had crashed. “His name was Max. He wanted to be a carpenter.”

Myles had been friends with Max, one of the young Navy men who had come from Illinois with DeeDee. He was now suffering recriminations and he would for days and weeks and months.

Russ called for a three-day break following the funeral for Max. Because of the lingering fear of the mutant zombies, a funeral pyre was raised in the parking lot of the fire station for him. His body was cremated and nearly everyone in the community showed up for the memorial. He was buried with full military and firefighter honors in front of the station, beneath the flagpole.

Snow began falling as people returned to their homes.

Later, Russ would make sure everyone knew how much effort everyone who participated in fighting the fire had made in making sure the community survived, but this day was reserved to remember Max.

An early winter,” Russ said to Lisa as she slipped her gloved hand into his on the walk back home from the fire station. “If it’s snowing this early in September, we’re really going to have a long one.”

“We’ve got enough food stored and enough fuel to keep us warm,” she said as the wind started picking up. “It’s going to be cold, and it’s going to be long, but I think we’ll make it.”

There was a brief respite from the winter weather in early October. The Indian Summer was a pleasant surprise for everyone. The final softball and football games of the year were played. Russ finished the tennis round robin tournament in a respectable third place, but he pointed out that he’d won his age group.

Eldred took the time to stage fuel for the winter and figured a 500% safety margin because he could and Lisa made sure every house was fully stocked with foodstuffs.

The final block party before the winter was one to remember. Zach James played a set with six other people. He played everything from metal to classic rock, country and, just for his girlfriend Chrystal, a young lady from southern Illinois, the wedding march. He walked down the aisle with his guitar playing the music and the minister, the first ordained in their community, performed the ceremony in front of a cheering crowd of 300-plus people. It was the first wedding for the community.

The only thing that marred the block party was the cold wind that moved across the crowds just after the sun went down. The temperatures dropped quickly and the party, which during the summer would go until the wee hours of the morning, broke up not long after dark.

Lisa and Russ said good night to their closest friends and retired to their own home. It had been a difficult few days for both of them. “I always was a sucker for weddings,” Lisa said when they were in their bedroom. “They look like they were looking forward to their wedding night, didn’t they?” Russ said as he turned on the television and turned it to the radar station Bare had gotten working.

“I remember when I was that young,” she called from the bathroom. He could hear water running. The weather channel was a public access channel before the fall of the world. Bare and her electronic gurus were able to fix it so they could broadcast local programming. When local information wasn’t being broadcast, the channel broadcast the radar picture from the mobile unit on top of the armory.

“Neither of us were ever that young, my dear,” Russ told her. “We were born this age and in a hundred years, we’ll die this age.”

She came out of the bathroom and sat down on his lap, wrapping her legs behind him. They had slept together since their second night in the house, but it was more than three months before she finally made it plain she was ready to move forward with their relationship.  It was a slow and gradual process for both of them. Both were well past their prime, but Russ found her attractive in more than just body, but in mind and heart. Lisa found Russ to be both a gentle and passionate lover when motivated and while it took some time to find out what worked for them, both found a way to share of themselves with the other and their relationship grew into one of love, even if the words were seldom spoken.

She kissed him and he returned the kiss with a quick peck. She pulled her head back, wondering what it was that was distracting him. He pointed to the television. On the screen was a weather front moving toward the base from Lake Michigan and it looked massive. “Damn,” Lisa said. “I’m glad I have something warm to hold tonight.”

Russ got the point she was trying to make and responded by turning off the television. He was just getting ready to lay her over onto the bed when he heard his command radio calling him.

“Come in, Colonel, we’ve found another military base! Colonel, are you there?” It was Myles and the captain was decidedly excited.

“This is Hammond, captain. Say again,” Russ said into the radio as Lisa’s fingers did their best to distract him.

“Colonel, I’m glad I caught you before you went to bed,” the captain said and Lisa called him a cock-blocker. Russ shushed her with a playful swat. “Erica...I mean Sgt. Bare said she’s made contact with a settlement in Kentucky. Some kid named Keith was calling for the Saunders Farm when Erica picked up his call.