@mere-lullaby // eli x sirena
It's not until you're outside when you fully grasp the size of a fire, its towering flames consuming all inside it and contaminating all around it with smoke and ash. When you're outside you might feel that panic set in; that fear that the fire will eat everything and leave nothing behind. But while you're in the throes of it, the size of it doesn't matter much to you—if at all. All you can think of—and all Eli could think of—is how to get in, how to get out, and how to save as many lives as possible in the in-between.
As Eli escorted the remaining survivors (an amalgam of doctors in lab coats, assistants, regular civilians) out of the basement level of the large corporation, he focused on that. Counting how many passed through and out of the building out loud, one by one. Listening closely to the radio in case there were any reports of other survivors on other floors of the humongous lab.
You can't ever save them all, his old fire chief once told him. You can only save who you see or hear. And so all of his years doing this, Eli trained his eyes and ears to the best of their ability, because if he could save them all, he very well would.
"That's the last of 'em, captain," called his second-in-command, Ramirez, as he walked past him, leveraging a survivor on his shoulder. The woman was covered in soot and coughing, barely conscious.
"Alright, bring her out to the paramedics!" Eli exclaimed. He surveyed the basement—at least, what he could see of it—one more time. Broken glass was all over the floor. He followed the trail of it with its eyes, waiting for a glint. A shift. Any sign of life.
There was nothing.
-
After almost seven hours ablaze, all that was left of the laboratory was a skeleton. And that was being generous. The fire crew was disbanding, tens of thousands of gallons of water having been used to put out the fire. Somehow, they did it. It always felt impossible until it was done.
"Alright. Good work, Patterson. Ndumu. Santiago. Taylor, go home to your wife and baby safe, you hear me?"
Eli sat on the hood of his truck, which he'd driven out here a little bit ago once the fire was mostly put out. He knew he would have to stay back and wait for the FBI to come through and do further investigation. Catching a ride with the fire engine and other trucks meant making everybody else wait up when they, too, were tired. So he stayed back with Ramirez, who would help him file some of the paperwork.
Ramirez was in his own car, taking a nap.
Eli looked out at the lab, its sign dangling from the top floor. He looked at the whole scene, taking a deep breath. It was quiet now; everyone had gone home. What filled him and the space around him was dread. When the FBI came, there was a chance they could find survivors. Lives unsaved. And he hated that feeling.
Far away, he noticed something. A reflection on the broken glass he'd seen earlier. Then, the tips of someone's fingers. Someone had passed out in the distance. Brows furrowed, he checked for Ramirez one more time, contemplating briefly whether or not he should wake the other up. Deciding against it, Eli hopped off of his truck and walked toward the flesh he'd seen, a fire blanket in hand.
After a few minutes of treading through debris, he found... a girl. Laying in a bed of broken glass, seemingly unconscious, but breathing. Where were her clothes? He crouched down, feeling for a pulse. Maybe she would wake up.
