Intense heat. That is what I remember. My body still spasms uncontrollably at the memory. I don't know how to explain it, really. Its like trying to explain the taste of chicken to someone who has never had meat before. It was hot.
I don't remember why I was even in the building. A delivery of some kind - doesn't matter, I was there. I remember the smoke first. It filled my head, making the world appear as if I were watching some sort of optical illusion. Things were out of place. I felt lost and alone in a foreign land.
Then came the heat. The little heat at first. It was warm. I remember pulling my tie off, loosening around my neck to let my skin breathe.Then it grew worse, like I was being smothered in a blanket. I could survive the oppressing sensation from the outside. I wasn't worried until it felt as if my organs were going to burst. All I wanted was fresh air - I just wanted my insides to cool off.
Then he was there. I don't know how he got there or where he came from. One second I remember thinking that the flames looked as if they had faces in them, the next, arms like tree trunks are grabbing me from behind. I thought maybe I had backed into a beam that had broken and fallen around me.
At first, I tried to fight against it. I used what strength I had left to struggle, as if these were the last moments of my life and I had no choice but to escape the burly arm around my waist. But he was too strong. No, strong doesn't properly describe it. He carried me through the air as if I were a crumpled paper towel to be tossed in the waste bin. I'm not sure he ever used his full strength, not even as he crashed through the walls, still alight with unnaturally bright flames.
I'm not even sure he was human.
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Arson. I'd only been on site for a few minutes, but I'd been certain even as we drove up. After fifteen years as a firefighter, I knew the signs even at a glance. These flames burned brighter than an accidental fire. They licked at the sky, desperately hungry for the oxygen that fueled it. In some places, it looked as if even the bricks had somehow began to burn. It wasn't an accident.
These are my least favorite kind of fires, even above forest fires. A flame burning through a forest is uncontrollable, deadly, and unbelievably destructive - but it is still predictable, in a way. Plans can be made, people can be warned, and, eventually, the fire will die out. They are exhausting, but in the end, the flames will be extinguished.
I'm never so certain with arson. They're unnatural, burning hotter than any typical fire. Most of the time, we're told to stay away from them. We don't know what kind of fuel could be hidden away, ready to ignite the flame's hunger. We try to set up a perimeter and hope - hope - that the flames will rush through it's dinner without inflicting too much harm.
This fire was one of those fires I wasn't sure of. People were inside. We were set to go in, but nobody was really prepared. Something was wrong with those flames. Water didn't help and we had no way of cutting off its oxygen. People were inside, but we were too afraid to rescue them.
But someone else wasn't. He must have been inside to begin with, before the flames started, because he came out before we ever saw him go in. There were three people in his massive arms, and he burst through the wall as if it were nothing. His skin was dark, as if covered in soot, and his face looked as if it may have been burned. But he just dropped the people on the ground, turned, and went straight back into the flames.
When the shock passed, that was enough for my fellow fireman to brave the heat. We went through the path that the massive man had just created, trying to follow after him. It was difficult to see through the smoke, but he seemed to kick aside flaming debris without a second thought, having no care for what it might do to his exposed skin. Some of my fellow workers tried to yell for him to leave, to find safety, but he ignored us. He just kept dredging on, and we followed.
I knew something was unnatural about him as sure as I knew that something was wrong with the fire. We made it to the second floor, and he picked up another three people and tucked them under his arm as if they were dolls. I offered to help, but he just shook his head and kept right on walking - right through the wall of the second floor.
I turned to my fellow firefighters, only to find myself alone. They had scattered, searching through the first floor to see if the stranger had missed anyone. Alone, I thought I was seeing things - that the smoke was getting to my mind. Then, a few seconds later, the brute was suddenly in the hole he had created, ripping himself upwards as if he were climbing a mountain. He moved past me, heading up to the third floor. I followed, and the process repeated. He rescued, jumped, climbed. All the way through the six floor building. He found what survivors he could, then jumped through the wall, regardless of height, and dropped them outside. When they were safe, he climbed right back in. I couldn't help but follow him, watching.
By the sixth floor, I knew I'd made a mistake. I hadn't been much help, but the heat and smoke were starting to get to me. I couldn't climb down six floors. I was too tired. I couldn't jump out, either. I was suddenly worried that I might die - but he came back for me.
I've never felt so tiny, so utterly useless, as when he picked me up and placed me on his shoulder. I felt like a boy again, dreaming of the cartoons I had hoped to be real. The man gave me a crooked smile. His face was scarred with fresh burn marks, but he seemed unaware of the burned flesh. He simply turned and jumped right off the roof. The weight of his landing cracked the Earth, sending shudders through my body. He set me down, patted me on the head as if I were a faithful dog, and walked off down an alleyway. I tried to call out, to get him medical attention, but my voice cracked in my throat. I stood, watching him go, unsure about everything I had just experienced.
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An old one, saved about a month ago, and never finished. WELL IT IS FINISHED NOW. Could be better, but it isn't bad. Which is alright.
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