Same Day.
In an armory.
Lusty wore olive-drab pants, an olive-drab short-sleeve shirt, size seven combat boots, and dark green cotton fingerless gloves.
The armorer gave Lusty an X16/w 11.8-inch heavy extended barrel, and a .357 Magnum revolver with a 7.8-inch chrome-lined barrel.
Can’t believe I’m doing this, Lusty thought, Well, I did ask more or less almost begged Dave to tag along, and can’t back out of it now.
Then Lusty boarded a UH-1-styled helicopter.
“Have you ever been on a chopper before Lusty?” asked Dave.
Lusty replied, “Nope. First time.”
“Ah, it’ll be interesting. I wouldn’t sit too close to the edge if they got to take evasive maneuvers,” said Dave.
Lusty replied nervously, “Evasive maneuvers?”
“Oh if we get shot at by an RPG or whatnot,” said Dave, “Different day, but not being a firefighter. You asked, and you can’t back out now.”
Lusty replied, “Yeah, too late to back out now.”
Lusty saw that on the helicopter she was on and on the other one, everyone was wearing either standard olive-drab uniforms or tiger-stripe camouflage uniforms.
You asked to partake in this Lusty, Lusty thought, Can’t cry about it and can’t act like a child. They think that when the shooting starts, I will just bail and run… Oh well, I should’ve just kept my mouth shut, but no, I had to say something, and now I’m here dressed as a soldier. Well, my dad was a Marine fightin’ VC & NVA, and my Granddad and a few Granduncles were soldiers long ago fightin’ the Axis powers. This is the first time I'm going to shoot at someone.
“So when we get onto the ground,” said Lusty, “What’s the mission or objectives?”
Dave replied, “We’re going to sweep and clear floor by floor, building by building. If any tries to run for it, the helios will maintain a perimeter or provide air support with the side-mounted .50 Caliber HMGs on the doors.”
“And to think I could’ve been home either singing,” said Lusty. “Or going over the Fire Department Regulations or Field Manual for different emergencies. But I asked you, well, more or less almost nagged you for you to get someone to get the paperwork started for me to be here. Just not going to complain. I asked to be here, and here I am.”
Dave replied, “What do you think that one of our daughters is going to join the Little Bird Armed Forces as a regular Soldier or Army, or Rangers, or Marines, or Airborne or Mountaineers or Special Forces?”
“It depends if they sign up for the SSA (Selective Service Administration) or voluntarily join,” said Lusty. “But I guess that it’s one in a million that one of them would join the armed forces, but I would just offer support not to act like a hippie. My father punched a hippie once when he returned from Vietnam on a leave. My mom told a hippie to more or less fuck off because the hippie told my mom that it was ‘Wrong and immortal to date a baby killer,’ my mom told that hippie that whoever she dates, it didn’t matter to anyone else. If anyone else tried to convince her to leave my dad, but nope, she stuck by my dad the entire war, got married when he officially returned, and had me in ‘79.”
Dave replied, “What did your dad do during the war?”
“He just told me that his job was being an Artillery Radioman and that he just listens to a radio,” said Lusty. “And when a marine unit required artillery, he would’ve written it down on a piece of paper and given it to an officer of the grid coordinates and what kind of round to use. He only told me once that he regretted one fire mission he received, which he gave to the officer only ten minutes later over the radio; he was told, ‘cease fire, cease fire, you’re shelling marines.’ and when he told the officer he was quick to yell ‘Cease fire! Cease Goddamn fucking fire!’ and well I know it haunted my dad until his death.
“Some nights as a kid and a teenager, when I would get up at night, I would see my dad staring out a window, and when I would ask if he was okay. He always told me he just couldn’t sleep and wanted to look out the window until he could be tired enough to go back to sleep. As a teenager, I could sense something was wrong, but I never pressed him on it.”
Dave replied, “My father and Uncle Clark wanted to go to Vietnam but didn’t because they were 4F for their medical emergencies of being cross eyed and shaky hands. Some of my uncles who fought in World War Two and the Korean War were officers in Vietnam who say ‘I could sit behind a desk, but I’m not a pussy’ and the others were regular grunts or marines who were in-country as automatic riflemen, snipers or machine gunners with one being a member in MACVSOG for the US. One of my family members said, ‘Vietnam was nothing but one big shooting gallery,’ but the rest were fifty/fifty.”
“Oh, you mean the ones who were officers weren’t cowards,” said Lusty. “At first, I thought you meant they were either a cat or female genitalia, but at least I caught myself before saying the other two weren't cowards. Your family sounds like they’re total badasses, though.”
The pilot told them that they were one minute out.
Lusty was nervous because it would be her first time in a firefight, but it wouldn’t be her first fight, just her first that would be a life-or-death fight. Before the helicopter they were on landed, Lusty did a quick brass check on her assault rifle and pistol. When the helicopter did land, she hopped out but crouched down while aiming down the iron sight.
Lusty saw that Dave wasn’t joking that the people he was working with and who were his “friends” didn’t hesitate to shoot, and they moved like battle hardened and seasoned soldiers moving to secure an area.
Not going to say it, if I even say it or even think it well, I’ll jinx us all. Lusty went inside of a building where someone jumped out, trying to stab Lusty, only for Lusty to disarm the man, grab his head, and slam his face into her right knee very hard.
“Damn, that hurts!” said Lusty, “Guess I should cut back on slamming someone’s face into my knee. But it’s fun, though.”
As Lusty was securing the building, someone else jumped out, trying to get a surprise on her, only for her to kick the guy in the nuts, grab her pistol, and shoot him in the head.
Lusty held her rifle tight but kept her finger on the trigger guard. Still, she relied on the training she was given of doing tactical reloads instead of firing all twenty bullets in her assault rifle, but she would fire nineteen, then reload.
Lusty, when someone would try to fight her fist to fist, she would either grab their head and slam it into either or one of her knees, or she would take her combat knife and take it to stab the person in the throat or where the central artery is.
“There’s the central building,” said Dave, “Cover me.”
Lusty replied, “Wait, give it to me.”
Dave gave Lusty the beacon thing, and she threw it. Soon, a jet flew overhead and fired a missile and the target building blew up.
“That’s worth paying taxes for,” said Lusty, “Are our rides supposed to leave?”
Dave replied, “No they’re not.”
It wasn’t long until Lusty heard someone say:
“This is ODA Foxtrot!” said a male, “They are disengaging! We’ve got them on their heels!”
“Come on, Lusty,” said Dave, “We did our jobs, let's go home.”
Lusty replied, “I felt like I pissed off the guy who called my mother a whore. He probably got a trick up his sleeve or whatnot. Either way, I don’t regret telling him to fuck off.”
After half an hour, some vehicles came, got on, and left.
“Well, that was exciting,” said Lusty, “Probably nearly broke my knees from hitting people against it very hard.”
***
Later at night.
Lusty made a few well-done Ribeye steaks, which she ate peacefully while humming a lovely tune. While eating, there was a knock on the door, so Lusty opened it.
It was Nathanial and Zofia whom Lusty closed the door before they could open their mouths.
Nathaniel tried kicking the door in but only hurt his foot. Zofia decided to leave because she went to find something to force the door open until his foot started to hurt enough that’s when he decided to leave.
Lusty finished her dinner, went to bed, and got ready for the next day.
***
Tomorrow morning.
“So what did you do yesterday?” James asked while he and Lusty walked toward the firehouse.
Lusty lied, “Just spend the entire day with my babies, teaching them how to speak to pass the time,”
James bought Lusty’s lie and didn’t question it because he didn’t want to hound her with questions.
“My ex called me from prison yesterday,” said James.
Lusty replied, “Did you tell her to go to Hell and to fuck off and that she can suck Satan’s dick?”
“Besides telling her that she failed as a mother,” said James, “I told her what you told her, and that is that she should get her area tied. She told me that I’m an asshole. At least while I do hard and physical work, she mostly takes it while laying down and doing drugs.”
Lusty replied, “We’ve been working together since July 1st, ‘96, and you’re a nice guy to me. Your ex is… The type shouldn’t have children,”
“That’s an understatement,” said James, “What the? Did everyone else on Squad 141 go on a leave or did you reassign them to other companies?”
Lusty replied, “I didn’t approve any leave for A shift even though I don’t have the command to request any other firefighters on B, C, or D shifts. Only Battalion Chiefs have that approval, as do Divisional Chiefs, not Captains or Lieutenants.”
She went to find out what happened, and she quickly found out that Nathanial, who works in IAD, had a lengthy conversation with a Deputy District Chief and got all members of A shift for Squad 141 transferred to other firehouses. Lusty decided starting a war with a higher-ranking officer wouldn't be best but she thought about it.
Lusty didn’t and wasn’t going to go to IAD to tell them how Nathaniel is and what kind of man he is because where she’s from, snitching and being a narc is like a cardinal sin and can either be vilified and either attacked or everyone would ignore ‘em and prevent them from entering buildings and whatnot.
“Alright, whoever the five of you are,” said Lusty, “Grab your turnout gear and meet me outside in two!”
James replied, “What kind of coffee do you have?”
“A large Americano it’s a cold, windy day,” said Lusty, “Just wanted something warm and hot to drink because I forgot to get some coffee mix at the store. I’ll get some when we run to the store later or another day.”
Lusty then used a ladder and put a dummy onto the roof of the firehouse.
“Got a victim in cardiac arrest,” said Lusty, “Go up there and get the person, No, none of you can take the easy way of using the stairs. Get a ladder up there.”
I swear I will have a few choice words to Nathaniel, Lusty thought, And my foot in a steel-toed boot to his nuts!
Soon, a red car came up, and it’s Marcus doing his once-a-week visit to every firehouse within the Nineteenth Battalion response area.
“I think they need to go a little faster,” said Marcus, “If they’re probies who just got out well they need to go back and do some more training.”
Lusty replied, “They’re not Probies. They are the ranks of firefighters but floaters or those who just go from one firehouse to another.”
“Well, they need to go back to the academy,” said Marcus.
Lusty told them to get a second ladder next to the first one.
Soon, there was a hardened plastic against concrete sound.
“Sorry, Captain,” said a firefighter.
Lusty replied, “Don’t ‘Sorry, Captain’ me! If that were an actual person, we’d face a lawsuit for untimely death, and you would all face an involuntary manslaughter charge or second-degree murder. The Probies I had under my command could at least follow simple instructions… With Lt Autumn and the ones who died in the warehouse, they didn’t need to be told they just either jumped at what they had to do and they made sure to prepare for the unexpected.”
“Well, you did say it,” said Marcus, “I think it was Zofia, but I remember you saying, and I quote, ‘We are a highly trained bunch that are always understaffed, exhausted, and working in one of the most dangerous professions in the world.’ That is true, but I think this city would be better off without those five.”
Lusty replied, “Yeah, that’s true. If these five are going to make me wish I signed up for the military instead of the ones who are stupid in the military, at least they have people with brains to point them in the right direction or just slap them.”
“If you were in the military,” said Marcus, “I could see you as a grease monkey or a grenadier, maybe a pilot.”
There was soon a metallic dropping sound. It was a ladder.
“I swear to if there is a God,” said Lusty, “I’m going to kill Nathaniel, the Deputy District Chief and these five before the week is out! And that is if they don’t get James and me killed in a fire or other incident!”
Marcus replied, “Yeah, but we do a dangerous job. For a while, when I was a probie, the death thing was on my mind, but soon I got over it because if I didn't do well I was told that it would be better if I put my papers in because letting the whole death thing wouldn’t make me help anyone.”
Lusty had the five do some practice, and when one of them dropped a saw, denting the blade.
“You know that a saw blade costs 1200 bucks easily,” said Marcus.
Lusty replied with an annoyed tone of voice, “Fuck this shit! I’m going to tear them a new one! When this shift is over. You broke it then you get to fix it!”
“Well, since today is the Eighteenth of August,” said Marcus, “I know you’re not going through your cycle. Just don’t shoot or kill them or do anything that’ll reflect badly on you!”
Lusty replied, “Don’t you have other houses to stop by and inspect?”
“Nope, I saved this one for last,” said Marcus. “But I’ll talk to the Deputy District Chief and tell him that he made a mistake. I remember when I was told we were going to get assigned a female firefighter. Well, none of us thought you would have made it because this is a male-dominated job, but this job is demanding. I'm glad you proved us wrong, though. Well, I bet I should go before you tear them a new one.”
Lusty replied, “If the candidates I had were with me, well, I didn’t need to tell them what to do because they would’ve already been doing it even when Lt Autumn and you were here, at least they knew what to do. If they don’t get James and I killed, I get to do it for them!”
“Well everything happens for a reason,” said Marcus.
Lusty replied, “And my granduncle told me how they fought the Japanese war by firing rifled grenades into tunnels, throwing Molotov Cocktails, throwing Chemical or Gas canisters or by shooting fire down into them. He even told me that we didn’t need to go on the offensive against the Japanese. We could've just stayed here and just bombard the islands they had under their control with our long range bombers.”
“I guess the rest of your family in the 1940s fought the Germans and the Italians and maybe the Vincy French?” asked Marcus.
Lusty replied, “Yup.”
“Oh on my way over here,” said Marcus, “Looks like you got a crackhouse a few blocks from here. When I was a probie we used to handle drug dens differently.”
Lusty replied, “My gut is saying that back then it was of throwing a match but keep the hoses dry?”
“Yup but nowadays that’s wrong,” said Marcus, “But hey, the option is still there.”
Lusty replied, “So is using a combat drone with a guided missile.”
Marcus chuckled, but at the same time, he had no idea what a combat drone was because when he left the military sometime after the Vietnam War, the military started experimenting with drones.
“One time in middle school,” said Lusty, “I refused to stand and do the pledge of allegiance, and my parents went ballistic. My dad dragged me down to a Legion Building. It had men and women who fought in World War 2, Korean War, and Vietnam. Some of them had prosthetic legs, others had prosthetic arms or prosthetic hands. Some didn’t have standard or prosthetic body parts. Imagine how I felt when I was a thirteen-year-old gal and saw men and women with either wooden or hardened plastic prosthetics.
“My father told me that the ones who fought in World War 2 that if it wasn’t for them and if the Germans won, then well, the world and a high chance that Lusty would be forced into the Lebensborn program. Hell, one soldier I talked to who fought in WW2 told me that, and I quote, ‘The SS were free targets, so if someone from the SS surrendered, we just shot them because they were worse than the regular Wehrmacht.’ Of course, the guy who told me that he joined the army in ‘42 and fought from North Africa to the last battle in Europe. I thanked a few veterans there and didn’t think they did anything besides kill others. My father told me that day that, and I quote, ‘It’s hard to be a good person, but the harder it gets, the more important it is at least to try because it’s easy to fall into vices of the world like crime’ and everyday I do my best to be a good person.”
Marcus replied, “Yeah, okay then. But being a good person is challenging when many people test your patience. There have been people who tested me when I felt like I wanted to ram a tomahawk into the side of their throat. And this job… I’ve met people who think this job is glamorous and that we’re miracle workers! With children, I let slide, but with adults, no, this job ain’t glamorous, but people say, ‘Oh, it’s such a glamorous job to help others.’ Sometimes I want to punch them. Just hope today isn’t that word.”
“What word?” asked Lusty.
Marcus replied, “You know the Q word.”
“Yeah, I hope not,” said Lusty, “But never know because each day is different. It could be a busy day or a peaceful day.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Marcus replied, “Well, we do a job and signed on for this theory. It could be a peaceful or busy day, but we won’t know until the day is out. I think you or someone else said it, but…”
“That we signed on for this job and responsibility,” said Lusty. “When we go to any emergency, it could throw a curveball, and even if we have all of the experienced members at a complex emergency, we won't know what to do. But as I said, we did sign up for it and don’t know what today will bring. It could be a peaceful day, or all Hell could break loose. I can see these five getting worse from what happened to the firefighter on Seventeen Truck when they were at an auto body shop fire when the roof became unstable in a second.”
Marcus decided to leave but told Lusty not to kill the five who somehow managed to knock down the first ladder.
“Just don’t kill them,” said Marcus.
Lusty replied, “If they don’t kill me, James, or anyone else.”
She told James that she doesn’t trust the five and that he’ll be acting Chauffeur/Engineer until she can get the rest of the crew back. He won’t have any problems with that, and it would be the first time since ‘92 he drove a fire engine. Lusty told him he would get some practice because she wanted to stop by Fleet Maintenance to get some spark plugs.
While driving around to the maintenance shop, they were called to a construction worker trapped underground.
***
At the scene.
“Alright, Smith, stay here to read the gas readings and make sure the rope for us is secure,” said Lusty, “You five have to stay with me and bring manual tools.”
They did even though one brought an oxy-acetylene torch, which Lusty didn’t see.
When they started to remove the rubble, the one with the oxy-acetylene torch lit it to cut through rebar, but when Lusty heard it, she was about to say something when an explosion happened.
The gas exploded when truck company eighty-two came. In a heartbeat, James radioed in a mayday alarm and six 10-66 alarms (missing members). James wanted to go down and help, but he just stayed off to the side because he knew he couldn’t do it alone.
Rescue Company Eighteen was originally going to respond to it. Still, they were currently busy at a multiple-vehicle accident on the elevated freeway that begins in Riverside and ends in the Ports and means of faster travel without going through the actual city with narrow streets.
They couldn’t get into the tunnel immediately due to the fire, so they used water and foam from Squad 141 apparatus. The explosion made some part of the underground tunnel cave in, so they had to wait for Squad 525 and Rescue 17 for their expertise and gear for trench and collapse rescues.
When the other two Special Operations Command companies arrived, firehouses 82, 16, 52, 56, 14, 19, and 71 could remove rubble.
***
Thirty-five minutes later.
9:23 AM.
The first five were discovered, but they were having some trouble finding Claire even when her PASS alarm went off in the distance. They had trouble finding her because their turnout gear was with yellow and white reflective striping.
Marcus, being protective of Lusty, radioed in a few more companies and radioed that it would be an all-hands emergency, meaning everyone would be working and no one would be standing off to the side. Only he and James were on the surface because Marcus ordered everyone to be searching for them and more or less made every company there be a FAST/Firefighter Assist and Search Team. Marcus then went over to James who was sitting on the bumper of Squad 141.
“What happened?” said Marcus, “Tell me every detail no matter how small or insignificant it could be.”
James replied, “Someone named Nathaniel and suggested to the Riverview district Deputy District Chief to replace Wallace, Lincoln, Alipil, Rogers, and Engineer Rodriguize. We were at the firehouse when Lusty said she wanted to stop by Fleet Maintenance to grab some Spark plugs for the rig so it couldn’t cause a misfire to damage the engine or the cylinder walls. While going we were called to here for a person trapped. Lusty ordered me to stay here and to stay by the entrance with the gas meter and to keep what the LEL was, but Lusty ordered for them to grab manual tools so they wouldn’t have to use any tools that would throw a spark or to cause an explosion.
“I saw one of the five idiots grab the Oxy-acetylene torch. I thought about telling Lusty, but to me, I thought it would’ve been just in case if manual tools didn’t work, even though she just ordered for them to bring the Halligan bars, Kelly tools, Pike poles, Pry bars, Axes, and other manual tools to be used without throwing a spark. She even ordered them to turn off their radios because she didn’t want to take a chance with static electricity causing an explosion. I guess you and Lieutenant Autumn taught her well. Either way, when I had to sneeze, the meter said that the LEL was 3.2%.
“Sorry Chief, I'm just still shaken up after the explosion. But what happened down there in the tunnel well only six knows but five of them.”
The two looked over to the five who had white sheets over their bodies.
“It’s alright, James,” said Marcus, “But you have to explain that to the commissioner when he arrives, and you are the sole survivor of it, and people at HQ could try to blame you for it, and some will blame Lusty for it due to her gender. You’re the only one who can walk others through what happened. If they can find Lusty and if she is still alive, she can walk us through what happened in the tunnel. I’m just thinking of what the hell happened underground. But you’ll need to write up your statement, though.”
James understood and would in detail as he did, even if others wanted to blame him for being outside when it happened. It’s not his fault because he was doing what he was ordered to do and did nothing wrong even if the white shirts at HQ would blame him for the incident for him being outside.
It took a while, but they were able to find Lusty, who was some distance away from the rubble. They don’t know how she was a few hundred feet from the incident. The only way they could think if it was happening was that she tried to run when the explosion came. They could see that her air mask was partially broken, her face was red, and she had burns on her neck. They could see her breathing by her torso expanding, and they could tell she was breathing.
They were able to bring her out, but they had to cut the straps off of her air mask. They had to remove her mask, and some part of the mask was stuck to her face. When they did remove it, some small pieces of her skin came off.
When they put her into an ambulance, Dave’s girlfriend Linda got on to be with Lusty. When they started to go to the hospital, the paramedic, after cutting part of Lusty’s shift and opening up the jacket, there was some sizzling sound. Linda jumped back in horror to see that half of Lusty’s upper chest was covered in second- and third-degree burns.
Even though she was nearly killed, her vitals are still strong, which shows she’s fighting the pain while unconscious. James sat in the waiting room, just lost in his thoughts.
As Marcus said, someone from HQ came and talked to James to get what happened, and he talked about what happened but couldn’t provide any insight into what happened inside.
After ten hours, James was told that visiting hours were over and he could return tomorrow. But when James asks what will happen to Claire, he is told that due to the severe danger and pain she’s in they’re going to put her out of her misery, and only people who can overrule the hospital's decision are her parents or family members.
James told the doctor that her infant daughters are the only family members alive, but they don’t have a say due to being almost a year old. He didn’t know if she had other family besides her old neighbors, but they had no say either because they were not hers.
James even went to ask Lusty’s old neighbors if they ever met any of Lusty’s other relatives. They all told him they knew her parents, who were hard-working saints, but they never met any other relatives. When they asked him why he was asking them well, James told them that the hospital is more or less going to euthanize Lusty by putting her out of her misery, and only one who can override the hospital's decision no one else can. Even when asked further, the doctor even told James that if Lusty’s kids were under seventeen, then they don’t have a say, but if they were eighteen or older, they would stop it. but no, the first two are twenty-five months old, and the other five are thirteen months old.
Lusty’s old neighbors know that if they just rioted about how a hospital is willing to do Non-voluntary euthanasia on a twenty-two almost twenty-three-year-old female without trying to find another family member, it would bring attention. They also know that the cops would also put down the riot using their mid-century tactics of batons, mounted police, dogs, tear gas, and water cannons/fire hoses and 1980s/90s tactics of using military vehicles.
Even though it was nighttime James went to firehouse sixteen to talk to Dave to see if he knows any one from Lusty’s family besides her parents which he doesn’t. Still, he can have some people find any relatives from Lusty’s family who could override the hospital’s decision. But the window was closing fast and when James overheard Dave on the phone he heard Dave tell someone, “Look I gave you a name and I’m paying you to chase or find someone down so don’t give me any of that bullshit. Yeah get it done”.
When James asked who he talked to Dave told him he talked to someone from the IA aka Intelligence Agency.
***
August 19th, 8:35 AM.
“Hey doctor there’s a man here to see you,” said a nurse, “The man says that he’s Ms. Johnson Uncle.”
The doctor told him that he would need proof that he is related to Claire/Lusty and need DNA proof as well and surprisingly, the guy agreed to do both a Blood and DNA test but the doctor put a rush order on it.
After a few hours when the rush order did come back it said that both the man and Lusty are related.
Lusty didn’t even know she had an uncle alive because her mother thought her brother would’ve been a bad influence. After all, her brother also fought in the Vietnam War as a Dog handler in the Military Police, and well her mother told her husband that her brother has “Very quick to anger and a very itchy trigger finger.” He only saw Lusty once, and that was when she was four months old, and that was it because she thought that he would be a bad influence on Claire.
When it proved that the two were related, he overrode the hospital’s decision and told them to save his niece no matter what because she has a dangerous job and some kids of her own. She’s only in her early twenties and hasn’t fully experienced life yet, though she’s almost 24.
He even though his sister told him that she doesn’t want him around because she thought he would’ve been a bad influence to Claire and never spoke of her brother to Claire because he’s dead to her, he doesn’t know that his sister and brother-in-law is dead and think they just went on a vacation and couldn’t get a hold of them.
He spent most of his time sitting by Lusty’s hospital bed, just holding her right hand, hoping she gets better soon.
***
Squad 141 Firehouse.
James looked at the plaques on the wall next to the C02 unit, and the golden plaques said:
Firefighter Edward James, LODD: May 9th, 1899, Engine 47, Industrial accident
Firefighter Philip Johnson, LODD: January 1st, 1900, Engine 47, Train fire
Firefighter John Darrin, LODD: July 28th, 1914, Ladder 47, Commercial fire
Firefighter Manny Travers, LODD: October 26th, 1919, Ladder 47, Gas station fire
Firefighter Joesphive Giacchino, LODD: November 19th, 1933, Ladder 47, Hotel fire
Firefighter Boyd Johnson, LODD: December 12th, 1942, Engine 47, High rise hotel fire
Firefighter Erich Fischer, LODD: July 5th, 1945, Engine 141, Munition warehouse fire
Firefighter Otto Müller, LODD: July 14th, 1956, Squad 141, Industrial accident
Firefighter Jack Bromley LODD: August 12th, 1962, Squad 141, Factory fire
Firefighter Jack Richter, LODD: October 3rd, 1982, Squad 141, House fire
Firefighter Eddie Hall, LODD: March 1, 2000, Warehouse fire
Firefighter Michael Sullivan, LODD: March 1, 2000, Warehouse fire
Firefighter David Nygumn, LODD: March 1, 2000, Warehouse fire
Captain Thomas Gaines, LODD: July 7th, 1972, Subterranean fire
Captain Francis Edson, LODD: October 31st, 1980, House fire
Lieutenant Edmund McAfee, LODD: February 15th, 1984, Building collapse
Lieutenant Joseph Lauton, LODD: December 24th, 1985, Electrocution during a house fire
James didn’t know that both Claire and Jack Richter were related until she more or less told him that he was her Uncle.
There’s a wall at HQ, James thought, Where the badges of the fallen are placed with their Line on Duty Death dates under their badges. We try to honor their deeds even as their faces fade from our memory. Those memories are all left, but we have to go on. It takes a special breed of people to do this job and not do it for a paycheck.
***
Months later.
It’s December 22nd.
Although Lusty still has some burns on her, they’re healing up, but the ones on her face have fully healed because Lusty’s a quick healer. Even though the rest of Squad 141 was back, Lusty saw that James wasn’t feeling the same since the minute before the explosion and had just acted like he wanted to be left alone. He didn’t realize how close they were to losing their first female officer, and he nearly lost a close friend.
He thought about it since the accident/incident. He thought about putting in his resignation papers and finding another job, a safer job. But he has been working as a firefighter for almost twenty-one years.
Even though she was released from the hospital, she was told that she would have to either stay home or, if she does come to work, she would have to do light duty of sitting at a desk for eight hours doing paperwork.
While Lusty wasn’t entirely thrilled with sitting at a desk doing paperwork, she considers it work and isn’t home being stir-crazy. But whenever the bell went off, she could jump out of the chair wanting to race over to put on her new turnout gear, but she had to stop herself and remind herself that she was a desk jockey doing paperwork. She couldn’t wait to return to do her job as she was trained.
Lusty didn’t use the computer because she doesn’t fully know computer literacy. She calls it “fancy.” Not adding that computers aren’t widespread on Little Bird, only in Government buildings, Military buildings, and Universities/Colleges. But she does know how to type because she used a typewriter before not adding her father originally was supposed to be a Marine Typist typing one hundred words a minute and was supposed to type up after-action reports on a company level before that he was going to be trained to be a switchboard operator until he was changed last minute to be an artillery company of giving fire mission coordinates to an artillery company.
Lusty also couldn’t stop thinking about what happened because it was and still is playing in her mind repeatedly. The only reason Lusty survived was because she ducked down a side tunnel the moment the explosion happened, but the shockwave moved her farther away from where it happened. Also Lusty remembered how her granduncles or her father’s uncles didn’t like him because her granduncles fought in both World War 2 and the Korean war, with the latter fighting in Vietnam. His uncles more or less saw that the generation fighting in Vietnam were a bunch of spoiled brats because they were raised with what was considered luxury items while they didn’t and they had to deal with more difficult hardships.
Lusty remembered when she was fourteen when she asked one of her granduncles why they hated their nephew/her father. He told her that because her father had instant entertainment (TV), could get a ride anywhere (due to vehicles becoming popular in the Post World War 2 era), instant juice instead of making fresh apple or orange juices, instant communication (telephone), instant transportation, and could get vaccines for diseases that they didn’t have when they were kids in the 1920s and 1930s—not adding some of her grand uncles or their classmates either got diphtheria, scarlet fever, polio or whooping cough and didn’t see neighbors stand in long lines hoping to get one day work.
Also, some of Lusty’s granduncles only had a middle school education before dropping out to get a job to help their parents. In contrast, Lusty’s dad and Lusty herself got a high school education, and Lusty’s mom had a college education. And one final reason why Lusty’s granduncles hated their nephew who was Lusty’s dad was because of the Anti-War movement. Not Additionally, they fought against a country whose leader had between 17-19 million people killed and tried to make a so-called “master race.”
So they saw Lusty’s dad and the rest of the Baby boomer generation as spoiled for having stuff that, when they were kids, they called “luxury” items. Even when they entered the Post-World War 2 era, they refused to get anything called “luxury.” Of course, they did help other veterans to create the Empire Emergency Control Center, which helps the city emergency services for any disasters and civil disturbances. Some had kids, others didn’t, but Lusty never met her cousins because she thinks they’re either dead or more or less went off the grid, not to add that she and her family are too far and few between.
“They would’ve told me to walk off if they were still here. the pain,” said Lusty. “I remember asking my grand uncle's how they thought about women being in the military, but the ones I asked were NCOs and Squad leaders they always said, ‘Claire, we had orders to rally any man with two arms, two legs, and a gun. We didn’t care if they were male or female if they could shoot, then they would’ve led them into battle’. They were nice guys, though.”
They weren’t entirely interested in hearing about Lusty’s granduncles. Still, they were somewhat interested, knowing that her granduncles didn’t show any biases in a world with racism and sexism because it was the norm at the time, even though they are still problems of the modern world. Of course, they usually fought on the front, they couldn’t be picky when getting either reinforcements or having to take or get soldiers from other units.
None of them asked if she would look for her cousins, but she told them no, and if they wanted to meet her, they could find her, and she wouldn’t find them or find them. Lusty also couldn’t believe that it’s another election year and felt like 1996 was yesterday which was also a presidential election year in Little Bird of course while she isn’t political she hopes that David “Dave” Waterson’s uncle Bill gets reelected for the ninth time (he been president since 1968) because he’s popular with poor people and puts the country of Little Bird first of making sure everything is fine at home and focus on other countries later.
Not adding he’s the first non-born Little Birden to be president, being born and raised in the United States. The only reason why he was elected is because he made promises that he fulfilled. Also, he fought with the United States 5th Infantry Division from 1964 to 1967 before suffering from a knee injury from a Bouncing Betty mine in Vietnam. But he’s different from his predecessors that he doesn’t flee and has survived more than two dozen attempted assassination attempts from up close to snipers, even from other groups with different ideologies than him.
Of course, Lusty was slightly afraid between late 1988/early 1989-1990 when the Deputy Mayor turned Mayor disbanded both the Empire Police Department and Island Patrol barracks of Empire (think about it as both National Police or State Police). who President Bill Waterson who mobilized both the Third Marine Division and Twenty-First Airborne Division to more or less “police” the city with the use of deadly force to stop crimes. Of course, Lusty, like everyone else, got used to seeing armed Marines, Paratroopers, tanks, APCs, IFVs, and trucks with Paratroopers and Marines patrolling the streets in Jeeps. But that’s a memory she doesn’t want to relive. To her, when she sees armed soldiers/marines patrol the streets again, it would be too soon.
When Lusty didn’t do any paperwork at the firehouse, she would read history books about her home country. But she remembered one conversation she had with another one of her granduncles who was a pilot for the Little Bird Naval Aviation from 1939 to 1945 he would tell Lusty that they didn’t have the luxury of lock-on missiles, but the Little Bird LB-05 fighter planes had a kill ratio of 100:1 over their Japanese, Italian and German land counterpart like the Zero, MC 200 "Saetta," Bf109, and MC 205 Veltro.
Someone did come from HQ to talk to her about what happened in the tunnel.
***
August 18th.
Lusty entered the tunnel by putting her Halligan bar between her right arm and torso and climbing down a ladder. Before she did enter the tunnel, she turned on the flashlight on her helmet and her lantern flashlight. Even though she thinks that the static electricity could cause the gas to explode, even though that’s rare.
She also put on her air mask beforehand, but when she got into the tunnel, she led the five but looked around. Some small yellow lamps with steel bars cover them, and those lamps are forty feet apart.
They could see that the walking path was made of concrete and brick walls.
As they were walking. Lusty was having a flashback of how her mother scolded her for cheating on both a math test and a history test in middle school and how her mother nearly spanked her as a form of capital punishment but had Lusty clean the entire apartment from top to bottom every inch as a punishment. Her mother then later father told her that taking shortcuts to success is wrong. Her mother always taught her to see the beauty she has now rather than let the pain and suffering be released.
Her father told her in the seventh grade that no true hero is born from lies, nor is there any shame in failure and he even admitted that while the US, South Vietnam, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Laos, Cambodia (1967-1970), Thailand, Khmer Republic (1970-75), and Little Bird lost the Vietnam war with Little Bird taking their experience from the war and learned from their mistakes even though Vietnam and Little Bird has identical terrain of jungles, rivers, and mountainous which made their infantry feel like they’re fighting on home ground. Of course, she remembers her dad telling her that while the last US combat troopers were removed from Vietnam in 1973, the last Little Bird combat troops weren’t removed until April 30, 1976, a year after the fall of Saigon.
She misses the history lessons from her father. She remembers how her father told her how while their soldiers and marines used the terrain and foliage against the NVA and VC, unlike the United States that Little Bird, their politicians did advise their air force on what to attack. Still, their politicians fought in World War 2 or the Korean War. Still, they listened to their officers and grunts in the field instead of trying to avoid starting World War Three by enraging the Soviets, North Koreans, and the Chinese.
Walking through the tunnel, they reached the worker who needed help due to being trapped. That’s when Lusty noticed that one of them had an oxy-acetylene torch, which she went ballistic.
“I ORDERED THAT ONLY MANUAL TOOLS TO BE BROUGHT IN!” snapped Lusty, “IF THAT TORCH STARTS A FIRE OR A EXPLOSION THEN I’LL KILL YOU BEFORE THE EXPLOSION DOES! I SWEAR WHOEVER BROUGHT YOU HAVE TO REPLACE MY FIVE CANDIDATES THE ONES WHO REPLACED THEM WITH YOU FIVE DON’T HAVE A DAMN BRAIN OR NO BRAIN CELLS!”
They started to move the bricks and other rubble, but soon they ran into a steel rebar in which the one who had the Oxy-Acetylene torch, after being told not to use it, tried to ignite it, which made Lusty run and after thirty seconds, there was an explosion.
***
Present day.
Lusty left out the part where she went ballistic and snapped because she didn’t want to make it look like she was a nutcase or has a hair-trigger personality. But she slightly gets a hair-trigger personality when she’s on her period. Besides that, Lusty is a calm, friendly, and pleasant woman with thick skin and doesn’t get offended. She has been told every derogatory term for someone biracial (half Caucasian and half Native Little Birden) and only punched half of the people who told her that with one of them, she kicked in the nuts without a second thought.
Lusty also learned that the five didn’t even finish the academy and that they jumped to the finish line and got assigned to a SOC company without taking one specialized course. Still, someone replaced the “Probie” slab on their helmets with the rank of “Firefighter” to make them seem like they have at least one year of experience, but they were just probes sent to a company needing specialized ones.
Lusty also could see that James was beating himself over that, but she told James, and I quote, “I know it’s easy to put self-blame and self-guilt, but there’s nothing you could’ve done, but it’s not your fault.”
Even when Lusty hugged him as a friend, one day while reading the run sheets that Squad 141 went on while she was in the hospital, she was in a warehouse full of alkali metals like lithium and potassium, alkaline earth metals such as magnesium, and group 4 elements such as titanium and zirconium. There was a fire in it, which Lusty missed because of being in a medically induced coma that’s her specialty in fighting metallic fires, and she missed one that she would’ve loved to fight.
She knows how rare Class D fires are and how they are dangerous. Still, while she was stuck to desk duty for some time, she also decided to brush up on research and keep up her knowledge so she doesn’t feel like she doesn’t forget what her job was as a company officer. Still, she didn’t miss doing the paperwork while in the medically induced coma. She at first thought would be evicted from her apartment, but she was lucky to have some friends willing to pay her rent while she was in the coma so she would have a place to go to when she got out.
She hated how every day she had to go back to the hospital for a follow-up exam but knew that when the burns on her chest fully healed, she would have to go back a few times as a precaution. Besides that, she couldn’t wait until it was over.
But she didn’t think about what happened to Zofia and Nathanial because she didn’t care and wouldn’t care. But she found out that Nathanial was busted in a police raid at a motel in which he was meeting up with some underground radicals, which led to a two-hour shootout between the Empire Police Department Ninth and Tenth Precincts, Empire Island Patrol Northern and Southern Barracks, and both Special Weapons And Emergency Service Unit teams from the Ninth and Tenth precincts.
Lusty heard a little bit of it on the news in the hospital but didn’t pay much attention because she was eating a Caesar salad. The only thing she remembered about hearing it on the news was that the group raided a military depot, killed dozens of soldiers (y'know, treason), destroyed several military vehicles with a hijacked UAV, stole a bunch of equipment (including a 15,000 lb bomb), and destroyed some helicopters. During the police raid, the police recovered 1200 X16s, 1500 Semiautomat Service Garands, 1100 Automat Service Garand, M/66, four break-action grenade launchers, and a 7.62mm GPMG and enough ammo to supply three and a half regiments or 19250 soldiers or almost a Little Bird Army or Marine division. Besides that, she didn’t pay attention.
“How did you survive?” asked James.
Lusty replied, “I don’t know, to be honest. Maybe it was the ghost of my parents being my Guardian angel and telling the Grim Reaper that it wasn’t my time yet. To be honest, I don’t, and I thought I was going to die, but while I’m not a betting woman, I want to bet it was the ghost of my parents that shielded me from dying Or that the Grim Reaper didn’t want to make my lil seven infants motherless. I don’t know, to be honest. It would be plot armor if this were a book or a movie. But your guess is as good as mine,”