Miranda hacked at the door in front of her with her axe, she'd checked it for heat already but it was locked and there was smoke coming out from under it. Kevin was behind her, keeping an eye on the flames just down the hall, making sure they still had an acceptable margin of safety.
The building was an industrial office unit, maybe 50 years old, just 3 stories tall and they had cleared the rest of it already. This was the last office on the top floor and then they'd be able to get out of it and let the crews on the hoses contain the fire until it burnt itself out.
A final swing of her axe broke the door asunder and a plume of smoke came towards her. She calmly breathed through her respirator and waited for it to clear. Once it did she could see that inside the room was a desk and several tables. The desk was ordinary, a computer and some papers on the top of it, but the tables had what looked like some kind of lab equipment on them.
"Kevin, I've got someone down here, how are we doing on time?"
"We're good Miranda, the guys are doing a good job of knocking down the flames."
She stepped in and advanced towards the tables, a body in a white lab coat lay prone on the floor. As she approached she heard a faint whistling noise just before something on the table exploded, sending the contents of several of the vials sailing in every direction.
She dropped to the floor as quickly as she could to avoid the glass and whatever else was heading her way, covering the body with her own. She felt several impacts on her heavy jacket but nothing that seemed to penetrate. A fine mist of liquid descended without her notice, making contact with her skin where it was exposed around her neck and face.
Pulling herself up, she grabbed the limp body from under herself, throwing him over her shoulder and moving quickly out of the room before anything else could decide to ruin her day.
"Everything alright Miranda?"
"Ya Kevin, no problems, let's get out of here."
"I'm with you on that one."
******
Miranda watched the paramedics work on the man she had brought down but it didn't look promising. There was no pulse and they had started CPR as soon as he was on the cart. They loaded him up, gave Miranda a quick head shake and rushed off to the hospital, likely to get an official time of death more than anything. She watched the ambulance pull away, its lights and sirens fading as they faded from view around a corner.
She turned to the burning building as the pump trucks continued to pour water in to it. Now that everyone was safely out they had doubled their efforts and the roof soon collapsed under the weight of the water from above and the fire from below.
"Bad luck on your rescue there." Kevin said.
"Ya, harder for him though."
Kevin nodded knowingly, it was never a good day when you had arrived too late to save someone. It was part of the job though and she knew it would happen again, probably sooner rather than later.
They walked over to Captain Jones to check in for their next assignment, when on site the work was never done until everyone was back at the station.
"Hey Cap, we're clear, what's next?"
"We've got an issue over on pumper 5, go see if you can lend a hand."
"You got it."
Just as they turned to go the Captain continued, "Oh... good work on the carry, any problems in the building?"
"Nothing out of the usual Cap, thanks."
"Alright get going."
******
Truck number three pulled in to the station house, Miranda was in the back seat, tired and sore from the long day. The sirens were quiet as they pulled in and started to unload the truck. While their work at the site was done, now it was time to get ready for the next call. Cleaning the equipment, restocking the trucks, drying the hoses and all the other jobs required to ensure they were ready at a moment's notice.
Three hours later, Miranda approached her cot, it was dark outside now but she still had another 5 hours on her shift. She shared the bunk room with two other women who worked at the station, though they were not on here at the moment, the room still felt small. The men's room held twenty cots and facilities for them, the women's room had just four and a single bathroom.
She pulled her t-shirt over her head, ruffling her short brunette hair that was still slightly damp from sweat. She tossed it in to the laundry bin before taking off her sports bra which she barely needed but found her b cups were sore after a hard day of running and swinging the axe if she didn't wear it.
She walked in to the bathroom as she removed the rest of her clothing, the shower would feel good. She'd been working full time now for 4 years but she still found herself trying to go above and beyond to prove to the men of the station that she belonged there.
It was silly, none of them complained and they all treated her like any of the men, but somewhere deep down a small sliver of doubt still remained in her mind. She wasn't as tall as the men, many of who were over six feet, but she wasn't short either at 5' 10" she did stand above several of the other guys.
Even so, just like during the day, she tended to try an compensate at the gym, keeping fit and developing the muscles she needed to make sure no one questioned her place at the station. It's why she had worked so hard to get on the clearing team, it was the most dangerous work and one of the most respected roles on in the house.
She turned on the shower and let it warm up, as it did so she rubbed the back of her neck. She felt a slight sticky substance on it and pulled her hand in front of herself to take a look. It was mixed with black soot making hit hard to tell what it might have been. She placed her hand under the water and worked it off. Stepping in she felt her whole body relax as the water poured over her head and down her body.
She cleaned every nook and cranny that the smoke and soot had worked their way in to and then relaxed on the built in bench of the shower stall. The warm water rolling down her body and between her legs. It was pleasant and soon she found herself thinking of how long it had been since her last boyfriend.
