Nerds & Geeks

Prologue - The Fire & The Events That Follow

"Tadashi!" Hiro cried out as the building continued to burn. The grip on his brother's cap became harder, almost like a desperate plea wishing for his older brother to come out safely. The flames only continued to devour the building in front of him, blocking off all possible exits. People only continued to panic even more while waiting for the local fire brigade. Aunt Cass suddenly emerged from the crowd that was huddling behind Hiro, finding his nephew on the floor just in front of the steps that led towards the building. Motherly instincts kicked in as aunt Cass dashes to Hiro and crouched down to him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.
"Oh thank goodness you're alright." she expressed breathlessly, most likely from trying to search for her nephews in a sea of large people as soon as the fire started. Hiro jumped from the sudden grip of his aunt, too distracted by the thoughts of his brother. Aunt Cass noticing there's one less Hamada, turns her head frantically hoping to catch Tadashi in her view. He is no where to be seen. She turns back to Hiro who is now looking at her with a worried- almost scared expression.
"Where's your brother?" she asked, hesitation and panic evident. Her face soon mirrored Hiros as he turned his head towards the raging flames consuming the building.
"Oh no..." aunt Cass managed to choke out as it soon dawned on her. Her grip on Hiro suddenly became tighter as her vision started to become blurry.
"I.... I tried to stop him aunt Cass... But... he..." Hiro trailed off as faint sounds of fire trucks sounded off in the background. Aunt Cass turned to the source of the bright, flickering blue lights as she slowly unwrapped her arms from Hiro. Almost instantly the crowd behind the two Hamadas started to part, giving way to several firemen rushing towards the building.
"Ma'am, you and your son need to move back." said one the firemen, taking Hiros arm helping him to his feet. Hiros legs were shaking, his heart thumped faster with every passing second. His brother- Tadashi was still in there! Almost in an instant, without realising, Hiro sprinted towards the building. 'Someone has to help. Someone has to help!' his brother's words kept replying in his head.
"Damn it Tadashi!" Hiro screamed as he felt his eyes water with anger and sadness.
"Hiro no!" screamed aunt Cass from behind, only to have her cries drown out from the cracking of the large, raging flames. Just before he could reach the entrance, a fireman grabbed Hiro firmly by the shoulders.
"My brother's still in there! He needs help! Let go of me!" shouted Hiro, trying to fight off the mans tight grip.
"Do you have any idea what could have happened if you ran in like that?" said the fireman sternly, trying not to caught up in anger.
"My brother's still is in there! Someone has to help!" Hiro yelled desperately, trying to fight off the tears that burned his eyes. Trying not to provoke anymore unneeded actions, the fire man took Hiro by the shoulders and led him back towards his aunt.
"Why aren't you listening to me?! My brother is still in there!" yelled Hiro in hopes of getting the fireman to let go.
"We'll do what we can. But in the meantime, you should stay here where it's safe." he said calmly, hoping to ease Hiro at least a little. Finally letting go of Hiro, the fireman turned back and ran straight into the burning building. Frustrated, all Hiro did was look down and hide his face from aunt Cass.
"Hiro! What were you thinking?!" cried aunt Cass as she turned Hiro around to face her. Feeling guilty, Hiro peeked upwards to see tears coming out his aunts eyes, her body shaking. Hiro immediately looked back down to the ground with clenched fists.
"You'd better be okay big bro." Hiro managed to choke out through all the emotions building up inside him. Noises in the background started to become more distort and faded the longer they waited. 'He has to be okay. He needs to be okay.' Hiro's legs started to feel numb, his heart fell to his stomach. He felt sick.
"We found someone! Get the ambulance here now!" cried out a fireman emerging from the entrance of the building. Almost instantly, a handful of people from the crowd ran back to alarm the ambulance crew. Soon, people who looked to be doctors and paramedics ran from the back of the split crowd, to the steps with stretchers and oxygen tanks ready at the side. Bright lights started to flicker from the parking space just outside the campus ground, blaring sirens as it moved its way closer to the building. Aunt Cass clutched Hiro's shoulders and held her breath, tears still streaming down her now red cheeks. Hiro looked up slowly, fearing the worst. But instead he saw his aunts face wash with relief as she looked at the entrance. 'No way...'. Hiro instantly turned his body to face the the steps. His eyes wide and his heart beating a happier rhythm. 'He's okay!'