Image Prompt Stories

Image Prompt 2: The Fire Fighter

A well placed kick splinters the wooden frame door, sending chunks of oak flying. Wearing black gear with high yellow and grey stripes and carrying a red axe, a hulking mass of flesh hacks and slashes the rest of the damaged door away, lumbering his way into the house. His face hidden by the black visor and even thicker black smoke, he continues forward battling the flicking flames and falling debris.

“Is anyone in here?” he yells, over the crackling flames and burning debris.

Nothing.

“Hello.” he says into the roaming dark cloud of smoke.

Nothing.

Spotting a door at the end of the hallway, he makes his way through the dark smoke making carful steps, but with the speed of a seasoned football player. Another well placed kick to the handle of the knocks the door off its hinges. The source of the fire has been found, and is roaring deep within the room. With a quick glance around not much is able to be seen except more black roiling smoke that seems to have a life of its own.

Using his keen senses he see’s a foot halfway under a bed in the room. With a curse on his tongue he grabs the foot and pulls, bringing the body of a man from under the bed. Leaning down he checked the man’s pulse, and to his surprise the man was still alive, and coughing with labored breaths.

“Miss...cough...purdy...cough...cough...cough.”

The man wasn’t making much sense, but the fire fighter couldn’t think about that right now. His first priority was to get the man out to fresh air.

"I’m gettin’ you outta here. Don’t worry you’ll be safe soon." from within the helmet his voice was colder than reassuring.

Hefting the man up and over his shoulder he set off back the way he had come. The front door in front of him was a beacon of light telling him the right way to go.

Bursting outside through the now broken front door the firefighter made his way over to the EMT’s that were taking care of other residents that had been saved by his crew. The whole block was on fire.

The man he’d just saved grabbed him in a death grip and cried.

“Please, you must save Miss Purdy, she is the only good thing I have left in this world. Please, save my cat Miss Purdy.”

Obscured by the helmet on his head the man couldn’t see how he affected the firefighter.

“I’ll save her, don’t worry, we’ll be right back.”

With those last words, the firefighter dislodged the man’s hands, and went back into the raging inferno.

The first thing he noticed is that the smoke had become thicker. He knew the likelihood of him retrieving the cat without injury was small, but he remembered losing his cat in a fire, and how the firefighters wouldn’t go back in to save it.

He began making a noise in his throat to call the cat. When that didn’t work he began calling her by name, “Miss Purdy, come ‘ere darlin’.”

Nothing.

“Come ‘ere Miss Purdy,” he called again.

Nothing.

A voice broke in over his headpiece, “Anderson, get out of there!”

He knew his Captain wouldn’t want him to stay in the building just for a cat, but he couldn’t just leave without trying.

“On my way sir,” he lied.

Anderson decided to go back to the room he found the man in. This time flame crawled over the ceiling threatening to jump down atop him. He ignored this and continued forward.

He remembered the man sprawled under the bed, and thought to give calling Miss Purdy another try.

“Come ‘ere Miss Purdy,” Anderson called again.

He was silent for a while, then made the noise in the back of his throat. It was then he heard something. It was faint, but he thought he heard a soft meow.

Dropping to the floor he looked under the bed, but saw nothing, but smoke. He turned on the light connected to his helmet, and saw the faint outline of a ball of fur. He quickly threw his arm under the bed and grabbed the ball of fur, pulling out a soft long haired cat.

The cat itself felt so light in his hands, and didn’t make a fuss as he cradled her and made his way out. When he exited the room the ceiling that was ablaze fell blocking the way out. Taking a moment to re-evaluate his current predicament Anderson headed back into the room he had been in before. He headed toward a window in there.

"Hold on darlin’ I’m gettin’ us outta here"

Grabbing a nearby lamp that was sitting on a table, he hurled it through the window, then used his gloved hand to knock away more shards of glass. Taking a deep breath, he lunged through the now broken window.

As he lands nimbly just outside the window there are cameras flashing taking pictures of him holding the white cat in his arms while carrying it to safety. Her owner is now sitting up in the back of the EMT truck with an oxygen mask on.

Anderson walks up with Miss Purdy and hands her over with a smile the man can’t see behind the helmet.

“Thank you, Thank you so very much.” the man cries, with tears in his eyes.

Anderson nods his head to the man then heads back to the fire truck where he knew the Chief was going to yell at him. It didn’t matter though, he saved two lives, and for that he would take being yelled at any day.