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Forever After (A Hanover Falls Novel)

By Deborah Raney

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Chapter One

Thursday, November 1

Lucas Vermontez clutched the mask to his face and forced out a measured breath, scrabbling to remember everything he’d learned in training. His air-pack fed a steady line of filtered, compressed air, but the thick bank of smoke in front of him carried him to the brink of claustrophobia.

The concrete beneath his feet shuddered. Next to him, he felt his partner, Zach Morgan, drop down on all fours. Lucas followed suit. Catching a glimpse of Zach, he wondered if his own eyes held the same wild fear.

He sucked in air and exhaled again, fighting panic. This was no training exercise. This was the real thing. Statue-still in the smoky darkness, he strained to discern the voices he was sure he’d heard seconds earlier. But his helmet and hood created their own white noise and no sound pierced them save the roar of the fire overhead.

A split second later, an explosion rocked the building, throwing him flat on his belly and knocking the breath from him. Debris rained down on them, and when he could breathe again, he scrambled for protection.

Zach motioned frantically behind them toward the entrance they’d come in. In the aftershocks of the explosion, the copper pipes overhead trembled and the thick wooden beams bowed beneath the weight of the building.

Lucas forced out a breath and counted, trying to slow his respiration. If the structure collapsed, they didn’t stand a chance. They were in the belly of the beast––the basement of the former hospital that now housed a homeless shelter––with three stories stacked on top of them.

“Go!” He motioned Zach out, his own voice ringing in his ears.

Zach scrambled ahead of him, hunkered low trying to stay in the two-foot clearing beneath the bank of smoke.

Lucas sent up a prayer that they’d gotten everybody out. His father, the station captain, had radioed moments ago that all but one of the shelter’s residents were accounted for. He’d ordered the crews to evacuate and had sent Lucas and Zach in to search for the missing man.

It always filled him with pride to hear Pop’s commanding voice. Manny Vermontez was the best fire captain Hanover Falls—or the state of Missouri, for that matter—had ever had. And that wasn’t just the opinion of a proud son. Pop had worked hard to get where he was, and the whole family rightfully had him on a pedestal, even if it sometimes caused conflict at home. Ma swore her prematurely graying hair came from having a husband, and now a son, who put their lives on the line almost daily.

“Lucas!”

He spun at the sound of Pop’s voice. Not on the two-way like he expected, but inside the building––down here.

“Pop?” He turned back, straining to see through the thick smoke. He saw no one. “Zach?”

His partner must have gone ahead to the entrance. Good. Zach would make it out okay. But what was Pop doing down here?

“Pop? Where are you?”

Nothing. The crew from Station 1 must have arrived. Either that or somebody was still trapped inside the building. Pop would never leave the control engine otherwise.

The smoke banked downward and he had no choice but to crawl on his belly, commando-style. He still had air, but everything in him told him to get out. Now.

But he couldn’t leave. His dad was down here!

The building groaned and shuddered again.

“Lucas!”

There it was again. He rolled over on his back and propped himself on his elbows, trying desperately to figure out which direction the shout had come from. He listened for a full ten seconds but heard only the deep roar of the fire above him.

He started belly-crawling again, but in the orange-black he was confused about which way he’d been headed. He needed to follow the sound of Pop’s voice. His dad would lead him out. But where had they come in? Everything around him looked the same. Panic clawed at his throat again.

Once more, he heard the voice. Weaker this time, but he didn’t think he was imagining it. The old-timers told stories about hearing voices, seeing things––hallucinations––in the frantic moments where a man hung between life and death. But he wasn’t in full panic mode––not yet. And he knew his father’s voice.
He crawled deeper into the blackness, forearm over forearm in the direction of the voice, grateful for the heavy sleeves of his bunker coat. But he heard nothing now. Nothing except the raging fire and the ominous creak of beams somewhere above his head.

He stopped again and listened. He smelled smoke and the unique odor of the air-pack, but there was something else, too. Something had changed.
A new sound filtered through his helmet. The clanging of engines? A crew from Station 1 had been requested. That must be them arriving. But the sound was coming from behind him. He’d been heading deeper into the building.

He reversed his direction. Thank God for those engines. Their clamor would guide him out. The taut thread of fear loosened a bit. Help was on the way.

“Pop?” he shouted. “You there?” He waited for a reply before moving forward. His air supply seemed thinner than before. Smoke choked him. He couldn’t stay down here much longer. He would have sold his soul for a two-way radio right now. He prayed Zach had gotten out...that his buddy would let them know he was still down here.

At that moment, a faint glimmer caught his eye. The voices of his fellow firefighters drifted to him. He crawled faster, heading toward the light.
“Hey! It’s Vermontez!” Molly Edmonds shouted. “Lucas is out! Tell the chief!”
Lucas collapsed on the damp concrete outside and felt strong arms pull him out, then help him to his feet.

He stripped off his mask and hood, gulping in the sooty air. “Where’s Pop? Where’s my dad?”

“He went in after you!” Molly yelled over the roar of the blaze. “Didn’t you see him down there? What about Zach?” She jogged back toward the building.
“Anybody seen the captain?” someone yelled. “Where’s Manny?”

“Morgan’s still in there, too!”

Yanking his headgear back on, Lucas stumbled to his feet and jogged after Molly.
He heard the men shout for them to retreat, but he didn’t care. His father was in that inferno looking for him.

Molly disappeared into the mouth of the building. He followed. A split second later another explosion rocked the earth, knocking him to his knees. Oh, dear God! No! God, help me!

He scrambled for the entrance, but the opening had disappeared. Someone grabbed him in the darkness. He clawed at the rubble around him, but he couldn’t move. Couldn’t feel his legs. Something was pinning him in.

He heaved against the weight on his calves and searing pain sliced into his thigh. He tried to move again, but the pain robbed him of breath. He found a crumb of comfort in the fact that he still had feeling in his legs.

“My dad’s down there!” His voice was raspy from the smoke. He couldn’t seem to get enough air to propel his words. “Somebody get down there! Pop! God! Help!”
The wail of sirens drowned his cries, and everything faded into blackness.

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