July 14th, 2000.
Downtown Empire.
While walking out of a restaurant.
“Hey, excuse me,” asked someone, “Is it okay if I get a photo?”
Lusty replied, “Sure.”
They stood next to Squad 141 and let the tourist take a couple of photographs.
After the third photograph, a loud explosion knocked them down, and it was soon raining ash.
“What the fuck was that?” said Lusty, “Sounded like a Goddamn atom bomb going off.”
Lusty put her right hand on her face because she felt something wet on her, and when she removed her hand, she saw it was blood, her blood.
“Is this a biblical apocalypse,” asked Lusty, “What the fuck is going on?!”
***
Reality.
“What the fuck kinda nightmare was that?” asked Lusty.
Lusty looked around her office. The only thing that was on was the computer screen. Lusty rubbed her eyes but checked the clock, which said it was only 11:59 PM.
Lusty left her office and slid down a firepole, and she went into the kitchen to get something to drink.. She decided to make jiffy pop-style popcorn, and she watched some late-night horror movies that were playing on the TV.
“Yeah, typical trope or cliche in horror films that the car never starts,” said Lusty. “Yeah, run into the killer’s house because the killer won’t find you there. Where do they find these people?”
Lusty just kept eating the popcorn, but to her, she just called the movie stupid because the first horror movie she watched was stupid.
12:30 AM.
The fire bell went off.
“What’s going on?” asked Lincoln.
Lusty replied, “Suspicious package. Don’t know what’s in it, but who knows, probably something radiological or whatnot, or someone left a delivery outside. But PD wants us on standby, though.”
Before they got there, they were canceled, and they returned to the firehouse. Everyone but Lusty went to sleep, while Lusty just went back to watching horror movies.
I don’t like people in this city, Lusty thought, I consider them made of plastic, which is selfish, Corporate worker, and some kind of executive in a company. A lot of people in this city are just selfish, overgrown children. Feels like I tossed out my back last night.
Lusty made another bowl of popcorn and watched some poorly made horror movies.
***
Two hours later.
“Last time there was a fire here, I was still a probie,” said Lusty. “But they changed it up in ‘97.”
Probationary firefighter Alpial replied, “When was that during either World War or the Interwar period? Or when dinosaurs roamed the world?”
“Okay, asshole, I’m only twenty-two, not in my forties,” said Lusty.
Before Lusty could finish her sentence, some parts of the fourth floor came down with wood on fire.
“See Probie,” said Lusty, “This is why we don’t leave a scene after doing an overhaul unless a higher-up tells us that a SOC unit can go and that other units can take over. When you get to a few years on this job soon, you’ll soon realize that there’s a chance you’ll probably think or, well you’ll see pretty horrific stuff, and like everyone else on this job, you’ll see something you wish you won’t want to see. I have, which I didn’t but we don’t get to choose what calls we want to go on or ignore.”
Alpial was about to say something.
“Listen, you have a long way before you earn my respect,” said Lusty, “When I joined, I was looked down upon because I’m a female in a male-dominated career, but I earned the respect of my company and a few others. In time you’ll earn my respect. No, you don’t have my respect because respect is earned, not given. Like how you and your religion don’t allow anyone to eat pork because of your religion, we respect your religious belief, but at least you respect us for eating it because we want to and whatnot. At least we make you something different so you don’t have to violate your religious belief.”
They put the fire out that was hidden before it collapsed down from the lumber that’s between the floors and within the walls.
***
Back at the firehouse.
Lusty went back to watch the horror films. Lusty longed for stability and someone who could offer her security and safety in a world that often felt cruel and indifferent. One minute she longed for solitude, craving peace away from the world's noise; the next, she ached for human connection, yearning to feel understood and appreciated by someone else.
Lusty thought, I would get another special somebody, But not betrayed twice. The first time my date called me a freak for being bi, the second was Zofia, and not in the mood to deal with her.
“Oh my God,” said Lusty, “These horror film actors are terrible. Yeah, pick up a gun that won’t work unless the killer has it. Give me a damn break. Bet I could survive throughout the movie length. The killer has a fuckin’ shotgun, and you pick up a knife? You are asking to die.”
Lusty was correct as one of the horror movie characters with a knife decided to ambush the killer, only for the killer to dodge the ambush and shoot the shotgun killing the survivor with the knife.
“Damn, I feel like I could survive a horror film,” said Lusty. “I’ve seen so many horror films I know to avoid vehicles. But a lot of these people are just stupid. If I had a working gun, I would use it, but I would run and reload while the killer is chasing me, not throw it off when it runs dry… Seen that in a Zombie movie. A dumbass woman did that when her shotgun ran out of ammo, and the zombies bit her because she didn’t keep the weapon on her even though she still had blank shotgun shells on her.”
A voice replied, “Why would someone have blank shotgun shells on them during a zombie apocalypse?”
“Damn James, you nearly scared me,” said Lusty, “Oh, in a movie I watched, once a woman ran out of shotgun shells for her shotgun so she got rid of it. Not ten minutes later, she found more shotgun shells but no shotgun to use, but the zombies got to her before she could get another shotgun. Honestly, I see that happening to Zofia. At least I’m not that stupid.“
James joined Lusty in watching the horror movie.
“One night when I was in high school,” said James, “I would stay up all night when school wasn’t the next day, but usually during Spring, Summer, and Winter breaks, I would stay up all night watching horror films. But one night, I stayed up all night watching old horror films. My dad busted my ass for staying up all night and not getting any sleep. He and my mom made me go to school without getting any sleep, and in the tenth grade, music was my first class of the day, and it didn't help that my music teacher played Mozart and Beethoven music.”
Lusty returned to her office, and she tried to get some more sleep. but she couldn’t just toss and turn, so she spent most of the night awake. She soon returned to the common room and just watched more movies with Firefighter James Smith.
It was only fourteen minutes after getting back up that the fire bell went off again, but this time they were heading into the city of Port Sernia but were canceled and the sun started to rise.
Lusty thought Getting a massive cup of coffee, And getting some rest tonight or sleep. She also thought What kind of dream did I have? A tourist came and took out a picture three times, then boom, explosion with ash raining down. Was it a volcano?
***
After shift 8:09 AM.
Lusty’s apartment.
“Nice place you got here,” said Firefighter James Smith, “Lot better than my place.”
Lusty showed James around and even showed him the room she made as an armory. Each weapon was in a weapon’s locker, and they required keys which Lusty had hidden, and she only knew about them.
James left after a few minutes. At 11:40 PM, Lusty yawned and went to bed.
***
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
12:45 PM.
In the 19th Battalion Car.
“Use extreme caution,” said a male’s voice over the radio, “The use of automatic weapons and deadly force is authorized.”
Another voice said over the radio, “All Fire, Police, EMS units. Code Red. Multiple explosions around the city. Be on the lookout for any suspicious packages across the city.”
Then Lusty saw a four-door sedan come at her before making a left turn (a right turn for her) with a 1060s police car with its single rotary light on. A cop on the passenger side of the vehicle fired an X16 (M16A1 but rechambered in 7.62x51mm NATO).
“Windshield wipers are going as fast as they can,” said Lusty, “Can’t make them go any faster but the ash is raining down too fast.”
***
Lusty woke up from the same dream from last night. “What the fuck kinda nightmares are that? Gonna try to get some sleep.”
She laid back down, and tried to get some sleep. She mostly tossed and turned, not getting a lot of sleep.
It felt like four minutes went by when she could get some sleep again.
***
Next day at 1:23 PM.
Lusty and the rest of Squad Company 141 came out of a restaurant after getting some lunch.
“You tired, Captain?” asked James.
Lusty replied, “Only got four and a half hours of sleep last night. Probably going to get a new mattress tomorrow… Oh fuck.”
“What is it, Captain?” asked James.
Lusty replied, “Had a dream the night before last in which we were coming out of a restaurant. A tourist asks if she could get a couple of pictures which we allow. But after the third photo, there was an explosion.”
Before Firefighter James Smith could say anything, a tourist did come up and asked if she could take their picture. Lusty allowed the tourists to take their photo while they stood on the right side of Squad Company 141 apparatus.
After the third photo, an explosion knocked them all down, and soon ash started to rain.
Lusty put her right hand on her head, and there was blood.
“Come on, let’s gear up,” said Lusty, “Ah fuck… Was that a Goddamn bomb? Wait, this ain’t the fifties, but what was that, a damn Atomic bomb?”
James Smith replied, “I think if it was, we would either be dead from the blast or the nuclear radiation fallout. Or the heat and the nuclear fireball… Got two cousins who one works at a nuclear launch facility whose job it is to turn a key when it’s DEFCON 1, and got another cousin who works as a Marine who specializes in CBRN defense and is part of the military NERB or Nuclear Emergency Response Bureau.”
They got onto their apparatus.
Headache is killing me, Lusty thought, Must’ve hit my head against the footstep or whatever it’s called that helps you to get up in these things.
It wasn’t long, not even a full sixty seconds passed that over the fire engine radio, they heard a male’s voice from police dispatch say, "Use extreme caution, the use of automatic weapons and deadly force is authorized.”
It’s like what Lusty dreamt was coming true, but she felt like she was having a nightmare that she wouldn’t or couldn’t wake up from.
It wasn’t long until they heard a police siren and gunfire. As it was in Lusty’s dream, it was a police car chasing a four-door sedan with the cop in the passenger seat shooting at the sedan with an X16 rifle.
“What the hell is going on?” asked Lusty, “Ash raining down? Is it a volcano? Is Mother Nature striking us? Is it one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse? Is it Horseman Death? Horseman Famine, Horseman War, or Horseman Conquest? What a world we live in, and it’s probably the Comintern.”
Noone knows what’s going on, and they can hear both fire and police dispatch don’t know what to do. But the only thing they’re saying is multiple explosions in the district of Downtown and that it’s either a possible act of war or an act of God going on.
“Is this an act of God?” asked Lusty, “Goddamn it.”
They soon stopped. They weren’t going to get any water because the nearby hydrants were destroyed and the water mains were destroyed as well.
What the Hell is going on, Lusty thought. Is this another dream? Don’t think so because I can feel pain as if someone slammed my head into a piece of steel. Oh wait it did hit steel. Need some painkillers.
They had to use water in their tank without an indefinite water supply. They also didn’t know if the ash was toxic or not, but they followed basic HAZMAT protocol of being fully dressed up and not to breath in the air. To them, it felt like something out of a post-apocalypse movie and like the end of the world.
In the distance, there was gunfire. and they knew that it was the police fighting rioters and whatnot. Lusty knew it won’t be long until the military gets called out. Lusty patted the ashes off of them because they could even feel the heat from the ashes through their turnout gear.
They had to stretch hoses for blocks to hook them up to either other fire hydrants or use standpipes in high rises. But for blocks, they could see that high rises, skyscrapers, and other buildings have their windows blown out and spread around. They had never seen anything like it before and they never thought they would’ve been hit on their homeland.
The glass would be heard breaking more when they walked or drove around. It didn’t take long either for the police to fully mobilize but armed with X16s, Semiautomat Service Garands (M14 Battle Rifle), Automat Service Garand (M14E2 Automatic Battle Rifle) and in their riot armor. It didn’t take long for the police to fight back.
Was this an act of war? Was this an act of terror, Lusty thought, Was this an act of Mother Nature? Was this an act of God? It won’t be for a long time until this gets fixed.
Lusty just didn’t know what to do. She tried her walkie-talkie but only got static. She knew that they were alone now. But she didn’t let it fear her judge-ability and her Tactical and Operational Decisions. But she still doesn’t know if this is reality or a nightmare she can’t escape.
They helped who they could, and those they couldn’t, they didn’t. There was another explosion that scared them.
“Goddang, it!” exclaimed Lusty, “Getting sick and tired of hearing these damn explosions!”
There were some crushing sounds. A few tanks from the Little Bird Third Marine Division, Eleventh Regiment, Fourth Battalion, Second Company were crushing any cars or pick trucks in their way. There were a few APCs that were following the tanks.
An APC stopped near them the back hatch opened, a squad of Marines got out with gas masks on and armed with X16s, Semiautomat Service Garands, Automat Service Garands, X16 Commandos (GAU-5A/A with a flat receiver), and M1963 Assault Rifle/LMG (Stoner 63).
“Hey, do all of you need help?” asked Lusty.
Utility Support Firefighter replied, “Nah, we got this. We’re just shutting down power at this substation to the Downtown district so that electricity can stop and won’t cause any more fires.”
Lusty then walked away.
I've never heard of Utility Support, Lusty thought, My guess is they respond to emergencies that fall under utility emergencies, like electric power, natural gas, steam supply, and water supply emergencies.
Lusty ignored it because she wanted to keep her mind focused on the task at hand. She still couldn’t shake off how she got promoted from the rank of Firefighter to the position of Captain, and it wasn’t how she wanted to be promoted, and that night still haunts her.
The day was slow, but it was all dazy it felt like something out of an apocalyptic movie, and the ash was never ending as it continued to rain down. They just operated using their training but didn’t have support and could help others when they could.
One emergency they were flagged to help was that a bank manager and a bank employee were stuck and without power; the timelock was deactivated but locked. Lusty ordered Smith and Apili to get the Oxy/Acetylene torch and a Rescue saw to cut the hinges because it’s an old-fashioned bank vault with external hinges.
This is one I’m going to tell my daughters when they’re older, Lusty thought, Bank manager and bank employee trapped in a bank vault.
It took a few minutes, but they could cut the hinges off and open the bank vault to get the bank manager and worker out.
Unlike the rest, Lusty was tired of hearing gunfire in the distance. The gunfire from a distance was from revolvers, high caliber revolvers, semi-automatic pistols, semi automatic battle rifles, automatic rifles, shotguns, general-purpose machine guns, and heavy machine guns.
By the time the sunset. There was a clap of thunder, and soon, it started to rain, which washed the dust and ash away. They nor anybody else knew what happened and it would remain a mystery for some time.
***
At a car fire.
“Remind me to say ‘thanks’ to this person for getting a full gas tank!” said Probationary Firefighter Alpial.
Lusty replied, “Just keep putting the water onto the fire. It’s the only thing we can do while the storm helps us to fight fires.”
They could see down the street that every third or fourth bullet was either orange, green, or red tracer rounds. But Lusty didn’t know if they were from the police, military, or both.
My gut is telling me that it was an underground volcano; Lusty thought, Okay, to me, that sounds fake, but this ash, I don’t think it’s a volcano. I know submarine and subaqueous volcanoes exist, but I don’t know, probably from something toxic, radioactive, or whatnot.
They heard over a military radio that the country of Little Bird is now under Emergency Contingency- One hundred and seventeen, and all military and militia units are mobilized and ready to be rapidly deployed anywhere within one hundred and eighty minutes or sooner. In other terms, more or less like Martial law.
“This should be fun,” sarcastically said Lusty.
The rest of her company ignored her because they focused on doing their job while Lusty supervised them. Lusty also couldn’t stop thinking of how her bunker coat has “CAPTAIN JOHNSON” on the lower back, not “CAPTAIN LUSTY,” but she also told herself that not everyone knew the meaning of her nickname and a lot of people would take it the wrong way thinking she’s hypersexual or a Nymphomania, not a person who loves music and loves to sing in her free time.
When they went somewhere else downtown, there was a loud pop sound. They got off and found the source of the pop, which was that their front right tire blew out because of wear and tear on it and hadn’t been changed in a few months. They were not adding that Engineer/Chauffeur John Rodrigeuize likes to drive fast and stop fast, which wears the tires out more than it should.
Lusty radioed for Fleet Services to come and either give them a new tire or a spare apparatus to use, but until someone came out, they stayed where they were. They had to learn what to do once they got a new tire or a spare rig. To them, it was like they were going through a blackout because all of the lights in Downtown were out.
They got a new tire but to prevent the others from getting blown out, the other three were replaced as well. But they were by the water as well.
There was a massive explosion. They could see the fireball rising in the sky.
“What the Hell was that?!” asked Probationary Firefighter Wallace.
“Do you think those Russky or communist sons of bitches have dropped the H-bomb on us?” asked Firefighter James Smith.
Lusty replied, “Come on, mount up. We’re not waiting for a formal invitation.”
They did go to where the explosion was. It’s at the Little Bird Marine Corps Air Station- Empire.
Squad Company 141 assisted the Military firefighters in putting out the fire. Still, it was complicated due to it was both one part of the fuel storage and one hanger that was full of laser-guided bombs, precision munitions, unguided bombs, Napalm canisters, cluster munitions, rockets, bunker-buster munitions, and bullets for the rotary cannons on the jets and ammunition for the miniguns on the helicopters.
They used the water from their tank to keep the nearby jets, hangers, and other military vehicles cooled down so they didn’t catch fire and blow up.
What the Hell is going on today? Lusty thought, Not an ordinary day.
How Lusty felt well about how the day was. Not even a rocket scientist could tell what happened. But it would be one of those few nights that they wouldn’t get any sleep.
***
The next day.
They and every other shift member were ordered to go home and rest.
When Lusty got home, she tied some rope around the doorknob and the triple-braided rope around her because her apartment was so high that the air pressure would’ve pulled her out. Her furniture is heavy, so that’s why none of it got sucked out.
Lusty also walked around some parts of Downtown. It felt like something out of a war or disaster movie to her. What hurt Lusty the most was seeing what the rest of the world would call vintage cars being destroyed and most buildings being labeled as “unsafe” to enter, so many people can’t go to work.
Some parts of the streets were inaccessible due to the water pipes making them cave in. The great thing is that while most of the water pipes in the district of Downtown were down, the city also has several underground cisterns, each holding fifty thousand gallons of water.
When Lusty visited her old neighbors, they were still happy to watch her daughters free of charge. Still, they told her that her daughters reminded them of her when she was a baby, and that’s because Lusty didn’t cry a lot as a baby, but that’s because her mother always told her, ‘You better have a good reason for crying so stop crying, or I’ll give you a reason to cry!’ so Lusty didn’t cry a lot as a baby.
Lusty also decided not to stay in her apartment but returned to Eastside, where she stayed in the tenement building she was raised in. She never thought she would come back to live there until the heat-strengthened glass is put back in, but her neighbors in the apartment building she lives in they’re not staying in their apartments until the windows are back in.
***
The night after was a quiet night at the firehouse.
Lusty was wide awake, looking at the ceiling. I wonder if I’m going to be misquoted. I had an interview earlier in which a journalist wanted to know what it’s like for me being a female in the Fire Department SOC company. Yeah, I told her that it’s rare, but it’s an exciting job and challenging, but there’s no job like it in the world. I even told the reporter that things changed in the past decade.
I told the reporter that while fire-related emergencies are down, fires are getting harder to fight because of the burning materials and materials used to build furniture. The police will give me a ticket if I’m an inch off of three feet close to the hydrant. Still, nobody in the Government is providing any oversight of what furniture is made of, so most fires are getting hotter and harder to fight.
When Lusty got comfortable in bed and closed her eyes to get some sleep, the fire bell went off.
Like usual, Lusty thought, by the time of getting comfortable, have to get up again. Like always never fails.
Before they could reach the fire alarm that was telling them to go they were canceled because the first arriving company found out it was the automatic fire alarm malfunctioned.
An envelope was still on her desk, but it was addressed to Lieutenant Autumn. Lusty opened it, and it was for Lusty the day after the warehouse fire that killed most of Squad Co 141. Well, Lusty was supposed to go to Foam Company 23 in Downtown, and it’s quartered with Heavy Rescue Squad 18 and Collapse Rescue 18. Of course, she would’ve been with Foam Engine 23-3, a Type 2 fire engine, where Foam Engine 23 is a Type 1 fire engine, and Foam Engine 23-2 is a mix of Type 3, Type 4, and a Crew carrier.
Lusty felt different because she heard that when a firefighter gets promoted from the rank of Firefighter to Captain in the city of Empire, they’ll have to go to another fire company. It’s a roll of the dice if it’ll be a random company and a slight chance of the firefighter being assigned to another company within the same fire station.
She wished she picked up another job. But to her, she also knows she loves the job she has, and it’s never the same day in and day out to her, having a white collared job would be boring of typing on a computer or typewriter for eight hours a day