Ignite | e. buckley

eighteen

Sleeping in the back of the truck was not comfortable in the slightest. However, Anastasia was one of the lucky ones because she was in the middle seat, so she was able to lean against Buck the entire ride and use him as a pillow, while everyone else used the sides of the truck. Plus, she brought a neck pillow, the same one she used in the jet whenever they had a case at the BAU, so she has some comfort.

When they pulled up to the site, Buck was the only one still asleep, so Anastasia was the one to shake him awake. "Buck, you're drooling all over the window. We're here."

He immediately acted like nothing happened as he wiped the corner of his mouth, and the window with a napkin from their rest stop snacks. "Ooh, what's up with the air? Why does it feel like I'm getting slapped with a wet towel?"

"It's called humidity. Welcome to Texas, everyone."

As if suddenly remembering where Eddie was from, Buck looked over at him with a weirded out expression. "I don't like the way it makes my skin feel." Buck said simply.

"I don't think anyone does."

Since the 118 was one of the farthest stations coming in, everyone was really waiting on their arrival so the Texas native houses could give them all their tasks and information.  "Stas, can you believe they all abandoned us?  They left the pretty ones with the dirty work."  He exasperated.

"You did say you wanted to go hiking before COVID happened."  Anastasia stated.  "Come on, the faster we help them stop the fire, the faster we can get back home."

The two trudged down the path everyone else in their group was going to. With the wind shifting and blowing the fire in a different direction, it was like they were starting all over again, at least for the teams that have been around the whole time. "Hey, you're Phoenix right?" One of the guys from the group asked, the number 126 on his helmet. "Have you met Marjan? She's a viral female firefighter too."

"Um, no. I don't really meet viral people off social media like that. Just work." Anastasia responded panting, using it as an excuse to take a brief break from pounding at the dirt.

"Oh, well she's here. She's actually from our station in Austin." He responded. "I'm Mateo by the way. Do you guys know my cousin, Marvin Chavez? Everyone says we look like twins."

The two, Anastasia and Buck, shook their heads at Mateo. "No, that name doesn't ring any bells."

"Oh, he's in jail anyways. Have you ever gotten calls at Disneyland?"

Already, the duo was able to tell that he was going to be very talkative. The group was eventually joined by someone else from the 126, TK strand. For a few minutes, they were comparing some of the calls they were called to in their respective hometowns. When they were talking about the active volcano that was all over the news, a car came flying down the mountain, and both Anastasia and Buck were tackled by TK. Luckily for the car and the passengers, it fell right to a bunch of firefighters, so everyone immediately jumped into action, using a fire extinguisher to put out the fire at the front of the car, and an ax to break open the driver's window. However, all that came out was a black Pitbull named Clyde.

"That was weird." Buck and Anastasia said simultaneously.

TK looked at the two, weirded out that they both said it at the same time in the same exact same tone of voice. Nonetheless, he agreed with the two before they were all ushered to get back to digging.

× × ×

When it hit sunset, because it was too dangerous for them to work in the dark, the group finished up and started making their way down the mountain. On the walk down, Buck and TK continued comparing calls they've each been to, while Mateo and Anastasia walked behind them, pitching in when they felt needed. The sun was gone by the time they made it down, and they saw that the strike team, who got to ride ATVs on the mountain.  "Nice to see the strike team already kicking up their feet."