FRIENDLY FIRE: A 9-1-1 fanfiction

Part Six: Leg Day

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EMMA

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"Sarge!" I turned around to face the voice of Henry Shroud, who was waving wildly as me from beside one of our military vehicles, "You're late for work!"

I looked around, trying to figure out where I was. It felt familiar, but I couldn't place it entirely, so I started walking towards him even though some part of me told me that wasn't the right thing to do.

"Sarge, you gotta hurry! You're running out of time!" Henry shouted again, still waving, still laughing.

I sped up slightly, or at least I thought I did. I wasn't moving. But the sand under me was. The sand was surrounding my feet, gathering into a pool, starting to drag me in with it. "Henry! Henry, I can't move!" I yelled out, holding my hand out to him.

Henry just laughed, waving at me again, "Come on, you're late! You're gonna get into trouble with the lieutenant! Come on, Mikayla's waiting for us!"

I fell in the sand harshly, the fuzzy mass entering my mouth, falling down my throat, making it hard to breathe, "Henry! Help me!"

"Come on, Sarge! We're all waiting for you!"

"Henry!" I cried out, somehow managing to kick up a little and grab onto something while I coughed out the sand. "Henry, help me!"

Henry just laughed louder, finally lowering his hand to stop his waving, looking up at the sun burning over our heads, "But Mikayla's helping you already!"

"What..." I gasped out as I tried to breathe, looking around frantically, my eyes trailing up what I was holding onto.

An arm, attached to a severely burnt body. A body I wouldn't have recognised if not for the dog tags, purposely painted pink and yellow with nail polish. Mikayla.

"No!" I tried to let go, but I couldn't. My hand was bound to her burnt skin; I could feel it flaking underneath my palm, the soot moving around, the heat. "Henry! Henry, help me!"

I looked away from Mikayla's body to Henry, but he was gone. In his place, all that was left was blood splatter on the ground.

Then I fell.

"Tía! Tía, wake up! I'm gonna be late for school!"

A gasp tore out of my throat, and my eyes snapped open, my mind racing with images of Mikayla's burnt body and Henry's remains.

"Tía!" Ajay's voice shouted again,

"Give the woman a minute. We were up until four," Hollis snapped a second later.

"But I'm gonna be late!"

"So you be late one day, it's not the end of the world," Hollis gripped, "eat your cereal."

I started to process what was going on. I'd had a nightmare. I was breathing far too quickly. I was lying in a pool of my own sweat, and I was in Hollis's room.

"Tía," a soft giggle forced me to cast my eyes forward, and my eyes fell on Caden, who was standing up in his cot, watching me with a ginormous grin on his face. "Hi!"

I shut my eyes, sucking in another deep breath, "Hi, Cady baby."

"Tía, up!" Caden demanded happily, and I opened my eyes to see him sticking his hands in the air, "Up!"

I raised a hand, dragging it through my damp hair, "Okay, baby, just give me a second." I turned my head to the side, my breaths still coming out in short pants as I tried to adjust to being awake again. I was running late, twenty minutes late. "Never mind, time to get up."