LITMIR.BIZ

       CHAPTER THREE

      ALESHA DREW DEEP breaths in an attempt to stop puffing so hard. Time to find a gym if this was what a short run up a gently sloping hill did. Beside her Kristof was barely breathing any faster than normal.

      ‘Bystanders are saying there’s a family of four inside,’ he told her. ‘I’m going to see how close I can get.’

      ‘Be careful.’ Look out for yourself, don’t get injured. Clench, clench went her stomach for her new—What? Friend?

      She couldn’t hear any sirens. ‘How far away is the fire station?’ She picked her way through the crowd behind him.

      ‘Ten minutes. Stay back here.’

      ‘And if you find someone in need of medical attention?’

      ‘We’ll bring them out here and you can help me.’

      ‘We?’ That was when she realised two other men were pushing ahead on the same track Kristof was following. ‘Fine.’ She was wasting precious time, holding him back from possibly saving someone. ‘Go.’ Her heart sank. If there really was a family in that inferno their chances of survival were slim, and getting smaller by the second. When she was training back in Christchurch she’d worked in a burns unit and had hated it. The stench, the raw agony, the horror in her patients’ eyes as they stared at their scars, had drained her emotionally in a way no other field of nursing had.

      Around her people were talking as they gaped at the scene. Unfortunately she couldn’t understand a word. Someone pointed towards the house and there was a shout as a burning piece from the roof plunged to the ground. Kristof towered above everyone, making it easy to keep an eye on his progress.

       Be safe, please.

      He was in charge. No doubt about that. He seemed the kind of guy who’d take note of the situation and still charge in to save whoever he could with little regard for his own safety. Not that she could explain why she felt that, she just did. He’d impressed her with the way he’d looked after her earlier. No one had ever gone out of their way for her before, and it made her feel special, as if she counted for something. Then she’d repaid him by coming on to him. It was a wonder he’d spoken to her at all after that.

      ‘Does anyone know if the family was definitely at home when the fire broke out?’ she asked without thinking, and got a surprise.

      ‘The mother and son came home thirty minutes ago,’ the woman beside her answered. ‘The husband and other son are still out.’

      ‘Two safe. That’s a start.’ Where had Kristof gone? There was no way he could get inside. Not and survive. It was a furnace in there.

      ‘I hear sirens,’ said the woman.

      There was movement ahead, and the crowd parted. Kristof strode towards her, a body in his arms. ‘Alesha? I’ve got the lad. He’s unconscious.’ Kneeling down, he laid his precious bundle on the ground.

      Running forward, she dropped to her knees, ignored the gravel digging into the earlier bruises. ‘That’s a nasty cut on his head.’ Blood oozed through the lad’s hair. Her fingers gently probed, touched swollen flesh. ‘Something must’ve fallen on him. Where did you find him? You’d better not have gone inside.’ What did that matter now? If he had he was out safe.

      ‘On the back porch lying half out the door.’ Kristof began checking the boy over, gently rolling him onto his right side. ‘Burns to his back and left arm.’

      ‘Don’t pull that shirt off,’ she warned. They didn’t need to cause any further damage.

      ‘Agreed.’ Kristof was feeling the bones in an oddly shaped elbow, a competent doctor at work. ‘Fractures for sure. He’s got cuts as well as massive trauma bruising. Someone mentioned an explosion.’

      ‘Do people here use gas for cooking?’ That could explain the injuries and the fire.

      ‘Yes.’ He gave her a nod of acknowledgment. ‘You know your stuff.’

      ‘Worked in a burns unit. He has respiratory problems, probably due to smoke inhalation.’

      ‘I’ll check his heart.’

      Cardiac arrest often followed respiratory failure. ‘Will an ambulance come with that fire engine?’ A defibrillator wouldn’t go astray right now, just in case of the worst-case scenario.

      ‘Of course. From what I’m hearing two fire trucks and one ambulance have just pulled up. The good news is the hospital is only a mile further up the road.’

      ‘Knowing the lingo is a plus.’ Never had she felt so useless. Not understanding what was going on was disturbing. But she did understand this boy’s dilemma and that was all that really mattered. He needed her help, not her doubts and frustration.

      ‘Great nursing skills don’t need interpreting.’ Kristof underscored her thoughts as his hand touched the back of hers briefly. Except she hadn’t thought great was true, just thorough.

      Someone in uniform knelt beside her, asking rapid questions in Croatian. No doubt a paramedic. She locked eyes on Kristof. ‘You take this.’

      He was already talking to the other man. She continued taking the boy’s pulse for a second time. ‘Slower.’

      Another person in ambulance uniform joined them and Alesha was nudged aside. Her back cricked as she stood up and looked around. ‘What about the mother?’

      Screams rent the air. Someone was pushing through the crowd. A woman. In her late thirties? The boy’s mother? Alesha crossed her fingers. That would mean she was safe and not inside. The woman dropped to the ground beside the boy, crying and shouting, reaching to touch her son, being gently held back by Kristof and another lady.

      Alesha stepped away. The woman’s grief was personal, and heart-wrenching. On the other side of the road she stopped amidst the crowd to take stock. Around her voices were low and all eyes seemed to be on the mother and boy. Time to head back to the apartment. There was nothing else she could do to help here.

      ‘He’s going to be in hospital for a while but I think he’ll be all right.’ Kristof materialised out of the gloom. ‘None of those injuries look life-threatening.’

      ‘If you don’t count the scars he’ll have.’