Chapter 116

When Dane turned to him with a frowning face, DeAndre asked with a surprised expression.

"What are you doing? Trying to make Miller work? Are you serious?"

DeAndre looked alternately at Greyson and Dane with an incredulous expression. To him, Dane answered in his usual tone full of annoyance.

"This guy needs to take on something too, we can't just let him keep watching. I taught him how to spray water, so he should be able to do it."

"You taught him? You? Miller?"

DeAndre asked again in surprise. Dane answered without hesitation.

"Yes."

My goodness, what's going on? The guy who lives with 'bothersome' on his lips even went so far as to teach Miller himself? Really? Looking at him with his eyes wide open, Dane added as if it were natural.

"We need to finish the job quickly so we can go rest, idiot."

"Ah."

That was a sufficiently plausible answer. This guy would often complain with a face that looked bored to death every time they were deployed. Dane Striker was, to his knowledge, the man who hated working the most and just liked to play and eat. In fact, he was nothing short of a slacker.

...Still, it didn't make sense that he would voluntarily do such a bothersome task to get off work early.

As DeAndre's attitude subsided, Dane ordered with a chin gesture as if it were bothersome.

"Just do your job, don't waste time hanging around."

"...Alright."

Though reluctant, he had nothing more to say. After taking his eyes off his retreating back, Dane glanced at Greyson. Greyson brought up his characteristic smile as if nothing had happened. Dane threw words at him bluntly.

"How many times do I have to tell you to put that face away?"

It wasn't the time to hold him and talk about this and that. The sounds of burning and the shouts of colleagues mixed loudly from all directions. Dane quickly informed Greyson of what to do and then put on his equipment. He was preparing to enter. Greyson moved with the hose as instructed to spray water. After he took his position, Dane immediately turned on the water. The strong stream of water poured down over the flames, creating a whitish rainbow.

"Well done, keep doing it like that."

Dane, who lightly patted Greyson's shoulder, soon finished preparing to go inside with Ezra.

"Is there no one inside?"

At Ezra's question, Wilkins nodded.

"They say everyone evacuated. You two first go in and..."

As Dane was standing with Ezra listening to him, the figure of a man suddenly entered his line of sight. Wilkins, who followed his gaze, said, "Ah."

"That's the homeowner. He said he came home from work and found the fire, so he reported it."

"Seems like he lives alone."

At Ezra's words, Wilkins nodded.

"He's divorced. His wife left the house."

The man was standing in a daze, looking at the burning house. With his wife gone and now about to lose all his property, it's understandable if he's losing his mind. Dane even felt like he could understand him to some extent. Probably because of the shared experience of losing a house to a fire.

Leaving them to focus again on Wilkins' words, DeAndre joined his colleagues who were moving busily. As soon as he arrived, someone asked as if they had been waiting.

"What's going on, what happened?"

It was about Greyson. DeAndre glanced in the direction he had come from and said.

"I don't know, Dane must have taught him roughly. Maybe he thought it would help if he did something..."

"It might help, but will that bastard do it properly?"

Another guy spoke up with dissatisfaction. Soon, words poured out from here and there.

"Who would trust Miller? It's Dane we trust."

"It'll be fortunate if he doesn't cause an accident."

"Anyway, let's check on him from time to time. Even though we're all busy."

"Right, if something seems off, we need to go and fix it right away."

The firefighters, who had exchanged high-fives in turn, quickly began to move to perform their assigned tasks. And Dane and Ezra entered the flames.

* * *

Already, most of the interior of the house had turned to ashes. Soaked by the streams of water pouring over the burned structures, there was hardly any space left that hadn't collapsed. Dane, who was looking around the inside while stepping on debris, examined the interior of the house past walls and furniture that had all collapsed and fallen. As they had already heard, there was no trace of people. While swinging the hose of the fire extinguisher on his shoulder here and there to put out the remaining embers, the sounds of burning and collapsing continued to be heard.

"Looks like it's almost over."

Ezra, who came out of another room, said.

"Was the report late? For it to burn down so completely..."

One might think, since it was discovered after work, it couldn't be helped, but questions still remained. If so, there would have been no one in the house, so how did the fire start?

"The fire seems to have started here."

Ezra said as they entered a space that was particularly blackened and turned to ash. In what appeared to be a child's playroom, there remained only dolls and a child's bed that had already burned, barely recognizable in form. It was while they were looking around, putting out the visible fires.

"...?"

Dane, who had turned his body toward the bed, hesitated. Something felt strange. Under the bed, something that shouldn't be there...

"Dane?"

Ezra shouted in surprise at the sight of Dane immediately bending down. Soon after, seeing what Dane had found under the bed, Ezra turned pale and swallowed his breath. A child who had stopped breathing was there, blackened.

Dane, who urgently pulled out the child, froze in shock for a moment. The skin that remained here and there was all entangled with bruises and bloodstains. There was no intact skin to be found.

"W-what is all this?"

Ezra also muttered in a trembling voice. Anyone could see that these were certainly not injuries caused by the fire. Dane, without wasting any more time, urgently ran outside with the child in his arms.

* * *

Do these bastards take me for a fool?

Greyson suppressed the irritation that was gradually rising and focused only on spraying water. The other guys had been glancing at him all along. The meaning of those glances was well known. They were watching nervously in case Greyson made a mistake. At this fact, Greyson was just dumbfounded.

Just spraying water, how difficult can this be?

Plus, he was quite focused right now. Because he hoped Dane would think he was useful when he returned. If possible, it would be nice if he gave him a kiss too...

It was when he slightly raised the corners of his mouth. Suddenly, there was a commotion. The reason was soon apparent. Dane had urgently run out, with a young child in his arms.

"Oxygen, give oxygen!"

"Dane, over here! Lay the child here, quickly!"

"Prepare CPR, hurry...!"

The paramedics ran around urgently, but the commotion didn't last long. They urgently performed cardiac massage and supplied oxygen, but it was already too late. Everyone knew that fact. A heavy silence descended. Ezra placed his hand on Dane's shoulder, who was just looking on in a daze.

"It was already too late when we first saw, you know that."

Dane looked at him blankly and then turned his gaze back to the child. After drooping his shoulders listlessly, he belatedly took off his helmet and covered his face with one hand. The child's face, visible between his fingers, was blackened in places, charred by the fire. There was no vitality felt in the limp body. How much must the child have trembled in fear in those hot flames? How much must the child have suffered and desperately waited for help? How much, how much.

Then, anger welled up inside him. Dane immediately turned his head to look in the direction where the man who was said to be the owner was standing. He was still there. Despite such a commotion, he just stood there blankly, blinking his eyes as if it were someone else's business.

"Dane, Dane?"

"Hey, where are you going?"

People shouted in surprise from here and there at the sight of him suddenly moving as if running. Greyson also stopped spraying water and shifted his gaze to follow Dane. And the next moment.

With a loud "thwack" sound, Dane swung his fist at the man.

"It was you?"

Leaving the surprised firefighters behind, Dane shouted at the man who had fallen to the ground.

"You killed them, didn't you? You son of a bitch!"