Chapter 2

"Die?" Cassadee scoffed. "Col is shaking way harder than you, and he isn't crying about dying. I think you're so obsessed with getting credit for yourself that you've completely lost it, Emmett."

Colin took the cue to lean into her and started trembling even harder. But there was an almost undetectable trace of smugness in his voice.

"I know you're highly experienced, Emmett. The captain said you're good at judging where the safe zones are, so you'll definitely survive."

After saying that, he lifted his head from Cassadee's shoulder and flashed me a provocative smile.

Seeing his smug face and Cassadee's unquestioning protection of him, the rage in my chest finally overwhelmed my fear of death.

I lunged forward, trying to grab my oxygen tank off Colin's back.

"Emmett!" Cassadee roared, shoving me away roughly. "Touch him and see what happens! If anything happens to him, I'll make sure you never work in the fire service ever again!"

My back slammed against a piece of broken rebar, and a tearing pain exploded through my abdomen. As I curled up on the ground, I watched the two of them head toward the exit, holding each other.

I grabbed a warped crowbar next to me, using it to prop my swaying body up onto its feet. Then, using every ounce of strength I had left, I swung the crowbar hard into some blue chemical drums stacked right next to them.

With a loud bang, a drum ruptured, and pungent liquid burst out in a spray.

"People like you don't deserve to be firefighters!"

Cassadee pulled Colin out of the way just in time. Chemical foam splashed across her, making her fly into a rage.

"You lunatic!"

Frank Pollock, our lieutenant who'd just arrived on scene, jabbed a finger at me and yelled, "You've gone too far, Emmett! Col isn't feeling well, so what's wrong with the captain looking after him? Yet you tried to attack your own people?"

I opened my mouth, wanting to explain that it wasn't an attack—it was a warning. But thick smoke poured down my throat, and not a single word came out, only a violent fit of coughing.

Colin's eyes reddened as he leaned heavily against Cassadee. The way he was trembling like a leaf made my stomach churn in disgust.

"Don't blame Emmett," he said, sobbing. "Maybe I shouldn't have accepted the captain's help. But she's always said we're a team and that equipment and medical supplies should go first to those who need them most."

With a single sentence, he'd successfully washed his hands of any blame while also smoothly painting me as selfish and self-serving.

As expected, Cassadee's expression softened immediately.

She held him closer, and the way she looked at me was as if I belonged in a psychiatric hospital.

"You did nothing wrong, Col. He's the one making a mountain out of a molehill. He has no mental resilience at all."

"Those who need them most?" I rasped out, finally managing to force the words out. "Taking lifesaving equipment away from a frontline tactical firefighter is called 'prioritizing'?"

Cassadee's face darkened.

"Stop being ridiculous and causing trouble, Emmett! Col is my mentor's son. This is his first time entering such a dangerous fire scene. You're the senior firefighter here. Can't you cut him some slack?"

I froze.

Cassadee and I had been partners for three years. We'd survived death together. Yet, she'd never once mentioned she had such a person in her life who required this level of coddling.

My body grew heavier by the second, and the flames in front of me began to fracture into countless dark spots. My legs buckled, and I could only lean on the blazing-hot storage rack behind me to stay upright.

I raised a trembling hand and pointed at the oxygen tank on Colin's back that was engraved with "For Emergency Use Only", desperately wanting to expose his lie.

But I couldn't utter a sound. Nothing came out of my throat except for a hoarse wheeze.

Frank exaggeratedly mimicked me, pitching his voice mockingly. "Oh, no! Has the smoke damaged our great hero Emmett's brain? Pretending to be all woe-is-me now? If you were going to be this fragile, you shouldn't have become a firefighter in the first place!"

The disgust on Cassadee's face could no longer be hidden.

"That's enough. Stop embarrassing yourself."

She roughly grabbed the strap of my extinguisher harness and forcefully dragged me to a crumbling corner of the wall as if she were dragging a dead carcass.

"Stay here and calm down first. You can come out when the fire dies down."