firefly | zhong chenle

CH18

"she finally saw light"

-

"Renjun, prep the equipment. Now" Chenle yelled, his entire demeanour switched to a facade that was trying to hide his dying panic.

Renjun could barely process what was happening, standing frozen in spot.

"Fucking go!" Chenle exclaimed, running off towards the garage alone. There were too many emotions he was trying to suppress right now. Anger that Jisung couldn't even keep one person safe, panic that something would've happened to them, guilt because he was in charge of this mission. He regretted leaving Arin with Jisung now as even though Jisung knew everything he had to do and has gone through training, but in a situation where they're stuck in an enclosed room with no equipment whatsoever, it's tough.

"All members of unit 3 to the trucks to get equipment. North wing has a sudden fire that is currently out of control. All members of unit 3..." Chenle spoke into his walkie-talkie, barely being able to finish his entire sentence "...get all your asses here in 2 minutes or you're all running 10km after"

Chenle made it to the building that was heavily burning down. Luckily, he found a fire extinguisher that was going to have to make do before the rest come. Yanking on the door, he couldn't open it despite attempting to kick it down.

"Arin!" Chenle called, slamming his fist against the wall from the outside "Jisung!"

Arin heard her name and a wave of relief washed over her. She had been helplessly crouched in the corner, waiting for Jisung to figure something out or Chenle to come. If only she knew more about fire safety, because never in her life had she truly felt so utterly useless.

"Chenle!" Jisung yelled "Come to the back. There's an opening"

Chenle ran around to the back, spotting an open window with smoke coming out of it.

"Jisung" Chenle yelled, stepping on a rock to lift himself towards the window.

"The fire in here is too big. We need someone to pry the doors open but it's locked shut. One more hour here and we won't last. I've dug stepping holes in the wall to climb our way out but this building is far too old. I don't want to risk it because I doubt the walls can handle our body weight"

"Fuck" Chenle cursed "Take the fire extinguisher. I'll get you guys out. The others are coming in a minute". Chenle threw the fire extinguisher through the window, only to realise the opening was far too narrow.

"It won't go in...God damnit" Chenle could feel every ounce of him beginning to drown with anxiety. Once he heard the blaring of the truck sirens, he let a sigh of relief out "It's going to take a while for us to pry the door open considering how tightly shut it is. Arin doesn't have any protective uniform so please keep her safe. Hang in there"

Chenle ran towards the trucks, barking orders at Haechan and Jeno to try and get the door open. It was as if someone had locked it completely, not just from one place, but locked it in multiple areas.

"Use the power saw" Jeno yelled and immediately, Jaemin brought the saw to the door.

"Move out the way Arin and Jisung. We're cutting the door open" Jeno hollowed, in which Arin heard and backed out. But she could slowly feel her body weakening, the temperature far too high for her to handle in there. With the addition of the smoke, she was barely able to breathe. Thankfully she had wet her clothes with the water Jisung gave her, which helped lower her body temperature. However, the saw wasn't working, the engine failing on them to the point they had to get Renjun to come fix it whilst they think of any other ideas to get into the room.

Whilst they were doing that, Chenle stuck one of the hoses through the open window, which Jisung caught from the inside.

"Open the tap Mark!" Chenle yelled, in which Mark turned it on and the hose began spraying the area with water, finally killing some of the fire. Jisung held the hose, precisely aiming it at every place as Arin stood in the corner, hand wrapped around her trembling body. For a split second, the water died and Jisung's body fell, his eyes shutting off for a second.

"Jisung" Arin ran towards him, placing her finger against his pulse "Hyperthermia...". Because Jisung had given all his water to Arin, despite his fire proof uniform, the heat and the overworking of the body to dig the holes and trying to control the hose was killing him. Jisung didn't have anything on him—without the oxygen masks and all sort of equipment, it was amazing how he's lasted till now with the amount of exhausting exercise he had to do under these conditions

"What do I do" Arin looked around at the room, and at the door that didn't seem to be getting cut down at all.

"Think Arin think" Arin, despite being deathly terrified, was trying her very best to live up to her responsibilities as a doctor. Doing the only thing she could, she ripped off a bit of her shirt that was trenched in water, and placed it upon Jisung's forehead to try and lower his body temperature.

"I'm fine" Jisung croaked out, his hand wrapping around her arm to try and stop her from worrying.

"Shut up" Arin tried to think of all different solutions, but the lack of things in this garage made it impossible to do anything at all "Take deep breaths Jisung. Slow your heart rate down and it'll help you"

"What's happening?" Chenle called from outside

"Jisung's body got too weak. He's breathed in too much smoke" Then an idea came to her "The hose...can you turn on the water Chenle?"

"The water pressure is too high. You wont be able to handle it like Jisung. If you can't control the hose it could potentially hurt you even more"

"But-"

Another thing exploded in the corner of the room, sending Chenle to back away and Arin to hold Jisung close and bury her head downwards. Even when Jisung was basically out cold, his palm touched her head as if to protect her. Due to that explosion, another segment of the garage set on fire, more fierce than the last.

"We don't have any more time to waste" Arin wrapped Jisung's arm around her, pulling them both up. It wasn't until she heard a ear deafening bang, that she finally saw light.

a/n:
second lead syndrome anyone?