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This was already the fifth time, in half an hour, that Buck had yawned. He was polishing the engine, even though he was more or less half-asleep the whole time.
The cloth always slipped away and his eyelids slit close.
Suddenly a shout got him back into reality, “Buckley! Stop being lazy and get your ass in the kitchen!”, his new captain ordered.
Right, he was next with cleaning the dishes, which he didn’t even dirty. He hadn’t eaten right in days. Gerrard always forgot, purposefully, to tell him that the food was ready.
And when he noticed himself it was already empty.
The others always apologized, and Buck couldn't even be mad. He knew they just tried to survive too.
At least that’s what he told himself.
He slowly shuffled up the stairs and went right to his task.
Luckily for him the bell rang not even ten minutes later. Five alarm fire. Gerrard had to take him with the others.
So he sprinted down the stairs, suddenly wide awake again with the adrenaline running through his veins.
The ride wasn’t even long until they arrived and the team jumped into action immediately.
Gerrard ordered Buck and Eddie into the building to get the remaining victims out. That was pretty much the only thing Buck thought was a good choice from that expired gremlin.
Buck went into professional mode once his mask was on, running right into the smoke filled hallway.
It wasn’t long until he couldn’t see Eddie anymore but he knew he was close by.
They worked from the highest floor, floor 6, down to the lowest. On floor 5 they found a woman and a child.
Everything went smooth until floor 3.
The exhaustion had sneaked up on Buck and was now enveloping him like a heavy, gloomy shadow.
His heart was beating quickly, almost like it wanted to break free from his chest.
His lungs weren’t fully filling up with oxygen from his tank.
His legs were heavy like lead.
His arms were numb.
And he was tired. So very tired.
“This is Captain Metha to Captain Gerrard, the building is getting unstable, get your men out of there”, that was the Cap from the 133.
Buck was already flooding with hope to be called out, however the message never came.
So they kept going. Finding one more victim before finally existing the building.
Unfortunatly Buck’s sight blurred and he missed a step. Before Eddie could grab him from behind he was already rolling down the stairs.
His head crashing against the stone stairs, which maybe didn’t turn into coal but instead cracked Buck’s head open.
“Buck!”, Eddie screamed behind him, walking faster.
As he reached him, he fell down on his knees beside Buck. He gently turned his best friend around to get a better overview.
His face was all bloody and his eyes only slightly open. Foggy and glazed.
“Hey, Buck, stay awake”, he shined a pen light into his eyes just to recognize the non responsive pupils.
“Mayday, mayday. Firefighter down. We are on the first floor, almost at the entrance door. Get a stretcher ready”.
Because of the fire around them he couldn’t risk others getting in here too.
So he shoved his arms under Buck’s and pulled him outside. He did it as slow as he could but he still had to have a specific type of speed.
Finally Eddie felt the air hit his body and the others surrounded him and Buck. Hen got to work right away, laying Buck onto the stretcher they had brought. “Hey, Buckeroo, can you tell me your name and the date?”, she started while looking at his head.
He was bleeding quite a lot from his nose and it looked weirdly crooked too. His lip was split, same with his right eyebrow where a nasty cut decorated Buck’s face. She also felt a big lump at the back of his head, luckily no bleeding.
“His pupils weren’t responding correctly”, Eddie informed.
Betneath him Buck mumbled under his breath, “Ev’n Buckley… uhm..it’s April, 2024”.
The fact that he kind of slurred his words was worse than him not remembering the exact day.
“Okay, just stay with us, we will get you to the hospital”, she smiled at him as they loaded him in the ambulance.
Just before they closed the door Eddie heard Chimney say, “Blood sugar is way too low”, and an almost inaudible, “’m hungry..”, from Buck.
Eddie saw red.
He knew why Buck had fallen down.
He turned to his new captain and strutted towards him, hands balled into fists.
Out of nowhere Gerrard’s trashbag of a face flew sideways and a agonizing pain spread over it.
The others around them ran between him and pulled Eddie away before the latter was able to land another punch.
“You fucker! He almost died, because of you!”, okay, maybe Eddie was being a little overdramatic with the whole dying thing, but for him, no, this was his truth.
Captain Metha stood beside him and looked very confused, “What’s this all about?”, he asked.
Eddie scrunched up his nose in disgust of the old man in front of him, “He is the reason my partner fainted inside the building, it wasn’t an accident. Gerrard doesn’t let him eat and puts him in shifts without him having enough time off in-between them. And he bullies him just because he doesn’t fit is ideal”.
Metha looks at Gerrard, horrified of what he had just heard. He turned around quickly and called for a cop, “Arrest him”, he points at the other captain, unfazed.
The cop nodded and did as he was told.
Fortunatly Gerrard didn’t do anything, just stared into Eddie’s soul.
Good, at least now he could see his true hate.