Chapter 10

10

JOSEPHINE

“ Y ou’re leaving?!” Doctor Gale sputtered. “Why?! You just got here! Did somebody at the hospital offend you?!”

“No.” Josephine tried to placate the man before he fired an innocent health worker. “It’s not the hospital, I promise.”

“We’ve been careful not to overwhelm you with work. You didn’t take that to mean we were underestimating you, did you?”

“Again, no.” She shook her head. This was an obstacle she hadn’t foreseen when she decided to leave Phoenix Ridge.

“It’s not the hospital. My time here has been some of the best times of my life.”

“So why are you leaving?”

The old man sounded almost whiny when he asked that question.

“It’s complicated. I need to leave for personal reasons.”

Her father hadn’t objected or even tried to dissuade her when she’d given him the news. He merely asked where she wanted to go. Josephine had no idea; her things were still in a storage unit in New York, so she resolved to start from there. Her father offered to take her on his jet.

All that was left was to quit her new employment at the Phoenix Ridge Hospital. She didn’t realize that was going to be one of the hardest parts of her decision. Hospital admin was insistent on keeping her at the hospital, far more than they had been in New York.

She couldn’t stay, though. The itch had grown unbearable in the last few days. It was constant, ever present. It urged her to move or something terrible was going to happen soon. That foreboding feeling never left her. It receded somewhat when she finally decided that it was time to leave Phoenix Ridge, but it was replaced by grief. A hollow feeling tugged at her on the drive to the airport.

“Are you okay?” her father enquired.

The entire interaction with Doctor Gale had left a bitter taste in her mouth. It wasn’t like when she was saying goodbye to her former colleagues in New York. That had been exciting. This was just…sad.

“I’m okay,” Josephine lied.

“Really? Is that why you look like a young pup being separated from its mother?”

Josephine turned to look outside. She didn’t feel like continuing the conversation. She noticed black smoke in the distance.

“What is that?” Already dreading the answer.

Her father glanced up briefly before turning back to his tablet.

“A wildfire, looks like.”

He didn’t look particularly worried.

“But isn’t that a little too close to town?” The fire looked like it was burning within the city limits.

“Looks closer than it actually is. Don’t worry, it shouldn’t interrupt our flight.”

Josephine wasn’t worried about their flight. Ember is going to be out there. Josephine was incredibly worried, and given the young firefighter’s tendencies, a knot was already beginning to form in her stomach.

“Should we be leaving?”

“I’m sure their firefighters are capable of taking care of it.”

But who would be looking out for the firefighters?

With disasters like these, there were bound to be injuries. Even if the fire didn’t get to them, accidents were prone to happen when people panicked in the face of such a terrifying phenomenon. She thought about Ember again, imagining her sprinting into the inferno, a blank look on her face even as the fire consumed her.

She managed to restrain herself. They eventually got on the jet and were soon in the air. From above, Josephine got an aerial view of the disaster. Her breath hitched. The fire was massive, spanning from the shoreline where the dried grass provided ample fuel, all the way over the rolling hills and down into the river that eventually fed into the ocean. To her, it looked like a giant spreading rot, reaching its infernal fingers toward the city. She could see some homes on the outskirts had already succumbed to the flames. No doubt, there would be injuries. The firefighters were on the front lines, they needed support.

“I have to go back,” Josephine whispered.

Her father glanced at her. “What?”

“I can’t leave. I have to go back,” she repeated, louder this time, going into a frenzy. What the hell was she thinking leaving at a time like this?! Phoenix Ridge had been kind to her, why would she abandon the city at the first sign of danger? Why would she leave Ember to face all that by herself?

“We have to turn around.”

Thankfully, her father didn’t get annoyed with her. He merely nodded and rose to go speak with the pilot in the cockpit. When he came back to take his seat, she felt the plane begin to circle back to the airport.

“So, you decided to stay?” her father asked.

“I don’t know yet,” Josephine confessed. “But I want to help right now.”

Their plane landed and she was out the door in a blink. She found a car to take her back into the city. Her mustang was supposed to be shipped back to her in New York later. The hospital was busier than normal when she walked in. Doctor Gale found her immediately. His blue eyes lit up with glee he saw her entering.

“Welcome back.” He smiled triumphantly. “I knew you wouldn’t leave us at a time like this.”

“I’m not back permanently.” She didn’t want to get his hopes up. “How can I help?”

“Right now, we’re put together teams to go along with our EMTs to provide aid to the?—”

“Put me on the next one,” she said without hesitation.

Doctor Gale hesitated. “It’s closer to the fire. There’s a lot going on. It is going to be risky.”

“I know. This city has done much for me. This is my way of giving back.”

“I don’t know about that. You’ve been a blessing since the day you walked through those doors.”

He didn’t need further convincing. Josephine changed into her trauma medic jumpsuit and was on the next ambulance headed in the direction of the fire.

“Wildfire this close the city is almost unheard of,” the driver of the ambulance said. She was a tall woman with both of her forearms heavily tattooed. She smelled great, Josephine mused.

“How do you think the firefighters are faring?” Josephine asked.

The driver shrugged. “Looks like they’ve been doing good so far. No casualties that we’ve heard off. Just some homes that were lost. While that is heartbreaking, houses can be rebuilt.”

Josephine agreed with the sentiment. Her profession had taught her to value human life above all else. Almost everything else could be reacquired, but not life. It was fragile, but that quality made it beautiful.

Getting through traffic presented a major obstacle. Becky was on the scene in her fire chief coat and helmet—the only white helmet while all the others wore yellow—with a big clipboard, directing the various teams when they arrived. She took one look at them and immediately had them stationed nearby.

“The other EMTs have everything under control for now. Stay here, if anyone is brought in, you’ll handle it.”

Josephine would have liked to stand by her friend, but she obviously had her hands full. She grabbed one of the firefighters passing by.

“Where’s Ember Thompson?” she asked.

The firefighter had to pause to get her bearing before she answered Josephine.

“Ember was suspended; I don’t know if they called her back in.”

That brought her a sense of relief. Perhaps Ember was not embroiled in all this chaos. As soon as the thought came, she immediately pushed it aside. Ember would never sit on her ass while something this big was happening. Josephine finally summoned the courage to approach Becky.

“Is Ember here?”

Becky glanced at her and indicated with her hand. “Ember is over in that area. They’re working on backfiring to keep the fires from reaching the homes in the suburban areas. It shouldn’t be too risky if all goes to plan.”

Josephine felt a swell of relief. Maybe Ember wouldn’t get into any trouble today for once.

Josephine had resigned herself to watching while everything unfolded, but soon a firefighter rushed up to them, carrying someone bundled up in a blanket.

“Medic!”

Josephine was already beside her. There was a little boy wrapped up. His eyes looked unfocused and drowsy. Side-effects of smoke inhalation.

“Place him there!” Josephine directed. She turned to the other medic. “We need to put him on oxygen right away!”

Josephine made sure the boy’s airways were not obstructed, peeling back the blankets to observe his torso. His breathing was weak. She put a stethoscope to his chest and listened. There was a high-pitched whistling sound in his lungs each time he took a breath. The smoke had probably exacerbated the boy’s allergies, leading to bronchospasms.

They needed to relieve his airways as quickly as possible.

“Do you have albuterol on hand?”

The medic nodded and added the medicine to the nebulizer before he placed the placed the oxygen mask on the patient. Josephine checked once again to make sure the boy was breathing properly before letting the others on the team take care of him. Her mind wandered back to Ember.

I hope she’s okay

More injured people came. The fire raged. The fight went on and Josephine did the best she could to help out. But there was no sign of Ember. She was starting to get worried. She heard some commotion outside the ambulance, prompting her to step out and see what was happening.

She found some firefighters crowded around Becky who was frowning at the radio in her hands with a hint of fear in her voice. Josephine knew something was horribly wrong. The chief had been stoic in her operations until now. Only something happening to Ember could put a chink in her armor.

Josephine pushed her way through the people gathered round.

“What happened?”

Becky looked at her. The desperation in her friend’s eyes told her too much.

“Ember’s radio just cut off while she was in the middle of requesting backup,” Becky told her. “It’s probably nothing.”

Josephine’s mouth worked but no words came. Her mind had gone completely blank with fear for her lover. She started hyperventilating. The world spun around her, she started to lose her footing, but strong hands grabbed her under the arm, steadying her.

“Stay with me, Josephine,” Becky’s voice cut through the haze. “I need you. Ember needs you.”

Her voice centered Josephine. Her vision reasserted itself. She took slow, deep breaths. She nodded gratefully at her friend.

“What do we do?”

“You sit tight,” Becky replied. “I’ll coordinate the search.”

She turned to her radio, talking rapidly. “Engine two, can you read me?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” came a response.

“Where was Firefighter Thompson headed before her radio cut out?”

“She wanted to make sure old man Farcy had moved out. She went up over the hill in the direction of his property.”

“On foot?” Becky asked, sounding like she already knew the answer to that.

“On foot,” the voice confirmed.

Becky sighed deeply. “Get me in touch with the helicopter. Engine four, head westward.”

“We’re already making our way there. We have a problem. The backroad leading to the Farcy home is currently inaccessible. There’s flaming trees blocking the way. It’ll be nearly impossible to go through.”

Josephine saw Becky’s fingers tighten over the radio.

“Copy that. Hold on, don’t force your way in.”

Josephine could never fathom the amount of self-control she had to halt the rescue of her own daughter due to safety reasons. She wanted to wrench the radio out of her hand and order the firefighters to go in on foot to rescue Ember. The logical part of her mind won out eventually. Rushing in with no clue wouldn’t save anybody.

Josephine looked into the distance. The fire was growing. Watching the smoke rise high up into the sky inspired a certain level of hopelessness within her. How were they supposed to win against a force of nature? It seemed like a battle they were bound to lose eventually. Would Ember be one of the casualties it claimed?

“Please be okay.” she whispered. “I love you.”

The winds were starting to pick up speed. Josephine looked up, beyond the thick smoke, clouds were gathering in the sky.