A light brown-haired man opened the door of his apartment, and before leaving, he closed it while he was also rubbing his green eyes. After not so long, he yawned.
"... I should stop with this shit. I am too old to lose half of my sleeping time trying to speed run Elden Ring,"
It was almost eight, so he decided to hurry for his job. His name is Adam, a twenty-five years old and single firefighter. Despite his occupation, he was someone who was a bit childish since he still slept four hours a day because of games. Despite that, his facial expression changed, and he tried to make himself look more reliable and confident when he heard the sound of the door of the neighbor opening.
"Oh, my. Good morning, Adam," an astonishingly pretty redhead accompanied by a ten years old boy said.
"Good morning, Miss Amelia," Adam said while smiling. "It looks like today will be a fine spring day again."
Amelia was a single mother who had recently moved into the apartment complex, and while she was in her early thirties, one could easily think that she was just the older sister of the boy. Naturally, Adam knew better than using such an old pickup line on her. Regardless, she was also a lawyer, so seeing her in her working clothes made Adam more than a bit happy. She also had a sexy body that combined well with her red hair and green eyes. Despite having such a mother, her son, Chris, sure looked grumpy.
"What is wrong, Chris?" Adam asked. "Did your mom put too many fruits and fewer cookies in your lunchbox box this time?"
"No one uses lunchboxes anymore… They are lame," Chris said while frowning.
"Oh, really? I guess I am old school, then," Adam said while hiding his own lunchbox.
"It must be good to wake up early and make your own lunch. I am so beat all the time that I can barely work early enough for work," Amelia said. "It must be nice having that much energy, and it makes you a lot more reliable in your line of work."
"Well, I like spicy food, and it is hard to find on the level that I prefer," Adam said. "Besides, men must get and stay up and full of energy all day… wait… I should have phrased this better."
"Hahaha, you should have," Amelia said after laughing a little.
They were late for their own things, so they hurried to the parking lot. The roads were usually packed after that time of the day, but fortunately, Adam reached his working place just thirty seconds late. Unfortunately, that didn't prevent his Captain from scolding him.
"How many times do I have to say this? STOP ARRIVING SO FUCKING LATE!" The Captain said.
Adam's Captain was a pretty chill guy. He even called his coworkers to the birthday parties of his wife and daughter. Pretty often as well, he paid for the drinks when they went together to party. Still, he was severe enough to scold someone for a thirty seconds delay. With that in mind, Adam just accepted that.
"It seems you are repenting your foolishness… That isn't enough, though," the captain said. "Next time, you will pay for everyone's drinks."
"Eh… But I was saving for… Sir, Yes! Sir!" Adam shut up when he felt a shiver. "It will be my treat, sir!"
The other coworkers laughed a little and then returned to their posts. Once that happened, the Captain sighed and then patted Adam's back.
"You shouldn't spend so much time talking with the sexy lady next door in the morning. How many times do I have to say that?" The Captain asked and then sighed.
"I can't help it, man. It is just a few minutes that make my whole day," Adam said.
Truth be told, the Captain was like Adam's uncle, he became a firefighter along with Adam's father, and when he died, he helped Adam's mother raise him as well. His name was Lucian, and he was practically a legend when it came to successful operations in his line of work.
"I always knew that you would grow up to be as reckless as your father, but then going for a woman who has a ten years old kid… You sure have some steen balls," Lucian said.
Adam wanted to laugh, but he couldn't. A woman like Amelia was hard to come by, so that was why he was trying not to mess up by going too fast. She was sexy, intelligent, and independent. She was also pretty humble, considering that she could raise a kid and could openly say that she had a hard time waking up early to work. Most people nowadays aren't really confident enough like her to talk about her shortcomings.
In any case, Adam assumed his post at work and then prepared to move if something happened. Still, it was the middle of the spring, and it was hard for emergencies to take place in that city. The other teams left a few times during the day, but only to deal with the small stuff.
Since he was broke, Adam's turn lasted for sixteen hours, and then he took a break overnight and continued over the next day for more than eight hours. Still, nothing happened during those hours, so Adam considered himself lucky… unfortunately, they received an alert that a fire had started in downtown, and they moved faster toward it.
Adam had a bad feeling when they took the high road and approached the direction of his apartment complex… when he finally found his building and a fire on the floor that he lived on, his blood turned cold. Around that time of the day, few people were there. However, Chris had the bad habit of returning to school alone instead of waiting for his mother, and that was exactly the short window of time of the day.
"This is bad… it looks like the whole floor has been taken," Lucian said. "Fortunately, we didn't hear anything about people being in there."
Adam didn't hear that… he wanted to confirm things with his own eyes. His mask was already on, and he didn't wait for his coworkers. He ran toward the entrance of the building and then began to climb the stairs.
"Adam! Wait, Adam!" Lucian said. "That is an order!"
Lucian felt shivers since that scene was the same as the one he witnessed twenty years ago… his best friend was charging recklessly to a building on fire to save a little girl there. The bad feeling only worsened when he realized that Adam lived there.
"Quick! Use the stairs to approach and extinguish the flames!" Lucian said.
While his team was working on that, Adam had already reached the floor of his apartment. He knew that every second was too precious, and even with their hard work, they wouldn't start things before he could start. There was a lot of os smoke on that floor, and some walls were already on fire. Still, Adam ignored that and then headed to the apartment of his neighbor.
He clicked his tongue when he saw some black smoke coming from the room. Still, he didn't hesitate and unlocked the door using his ax against it. Adam saw the couch, a bed, and some electronics on fire when he got inside. He found Chris' backpack on the ground, and he confirmed that he was there.
Adam found a closet on fire, blocking the entrance of the bathroom, and he jumped over it and found Chris unconscious on the ground. Fortunately, he was still breathing, and there were no signs of burn marks on him.
"Hang on, kid," Adam said and put the gas mask on him. "I will get you out of here."
Adam picked Chris, and then he heard a crack behind him. Instantly, he lowered his posture and protected Chris' body. An explosion happened in the living room, and then Adam felt a sharp pain in his back. He grunted in pain, and while sweating cold, he got up.
"Don't look at it, don't look at it…" Adam thought while he began to move.
With each step, Adam felt that the pain was getting more intense. That wasn't a good sign… Still, he managed to move to the window when he heard the sound of water being used. When he opened the window, he saw Lucian in front of him.
"Hey, Captain… you missed all the fun," Adam said while raising Chris toward him. "Sorry for not giving you the chance to be a hero again… I had to do it this time."
"You moron…" Lucian approached when he saw that Adam was pale as a ghost.
Lucian got the kid and then offered a hand to help Adam, and then he found a huge stake piercing Adam's back.
"Sorry, captain… it looks like the next round of drinks won't be on me," Adam said, and then he collapsed in front of the window. "Ah, if it only had been the truck-kun instead of the stake-kun…"
Those were Adam's last words…