Life Support (The Breathe Series Book 2) by Zoe Norman Read Free Book Online

God…” I yell into my radio. “Maxwell to Command! I have located the subjects. Bringing them out now!”
    I quickly remove a glove and check for a pulse on both the girls but feel nothing. Tanner finds me in the room and slides to his knees beside me. His air gauge is beeping too. Now we’re fighting time and the fire. He takes hold of the older child while I gather the younger, lifeless girl in my arms. I follow Tanner down the hall and into the apartment’s living room. A portion of the ceiling has given way, and piles of garbage and stacks of newspapers have ignited. Flames are licking all around us and quickly encroaching upon our only exit. I open up my bunker jacket and attempt to shield the small body with my protective clothing as best I can while I run through the dancing flames.
    I dash down the three flights of stairs, carrying the child while it’s getting increasingly harder for me to breathe. My air gauge alarm is pinging hard now. My time is nearly up; my air is depleted. I can’t breathe. I can see the exit to the street… I’m just about there.
    With sheer determination, I clear the stoop of the building, clutching the small girl in my arms. Falling to my knees on the cool, wet grass, I whip off my air mask and take a big gasp of fresh air. I fall forward onto my hand while clutching the tiny body underneath me. I start to choke, my lungs burning. Ignoring the pain, I gently lay the girl on the ground and begin to tap the soles of her feet, trying to get a response while I continue to gulp in air and breathe heavily.
    I remove my gloves, lift the child’s arm, and check her brachial pulse. Not feeling one, I rip open her pajama top and start giving her chest compressions with the heel of my hand. EMTs run up to me with a stretcher and their medical goodie bag. They instruct for me to step aside as they kneel down on the ground with me in an effort to take over. Ignoring them, I finish out the thirty chest compressions and move to give air to the child. An EMT attempts to pull me away, but I shake him off as I bend to give two breaths to the girl.
    “Breathe, little one. Breathe!” I shout, commanding her — willing her — to live.
    When I go to start another round of compressions, two of my Company firefighters pull me away.
    “You did your job, Owen. Let them do theirs,” Saul instructs.
    I nod my head as I continue to take in deep breathes. Exhaustion consumes me, and I rest my hands on my knees as I attempt to catch my breath.
    “My babies! Those are my babies!” a woman wails as she struggles to break free from the arms of the NYPD officers on scene who are holding her back and away from the burning building.
    I look from the crying woman to the EMTs, who are now loading the two fragile bodies into the back of waiting ambulances. She continues to cry as aid cars leave the scene. When I see my commanding officer walking in her direction, it dawns on me that this must be the mother of the children. I straighten my back and stride over to the mother with fierce determination and outrage.
    “You’re the mother of those kids?” I bite out five feet before getting to her. I angrily push aside the NYPD officers and bump my C.O., who is now speaking with her, to the side. “Are you the mother of those kids?” I yell bitterly at her again.
    Her eyes, filled with tears, grow scared when she sees my large presence looming in front of her. “Yes, those are my ba—”
    “What kind of mother are you?!” I spit out, wiping my hand across my face, which is drenched in sweat. The mother recoils in horror. “What mother leaves her young, helpless children home alone so she can go out and party? You’re a fuckin’ selfish bitch!”
    Walt pulls me back by my bunker jacket and I’m pushed away from getting any closer to the mother with the help of the NYPD. I struggle to break free of the hands pulling at me, but the group of men hold me fast.
    “I found them huddled together in a toy box! A