Nic Castell (bleedingheart) wrote in the_dome, @ 2013-12-19 23:13:00 |
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Entry tags: | 04-16-2017, micah, micah and nic, nic |
Fighting Fires
Who: Micah and Nic
Where: One of the fires
When: early morning
Micah had finished off a killer shift at work, people in with burns, people in just scared, shooting at nothing and hurting others, and at least five people he was sure were just hiding out at the hospital because it seemed safer. His first goal was Nic’s with a bed and his boyfriend, but the second wasn’t there. Micah frowned, then showered and changed, heading out into the cold to find Nic. The fires were throwing off his sense of smell, but eventually he found the other man, standing outside a burning building that they seemed to have given up on putting out, just waiting on it to finish burning. Slipping close he rested a hand against Nic’s shoulder, squeezing gently, but not saying anything.
Nic stood beside the burning house, wiping the sweat from his brow as the flames began to die down. They’d done all they could to put the fires out, but some of them they couldn’t get to in time. It was a small dome. There was only one fire truck. The only time something like this would have happened-- multiple fires in various locations-- would have been if they were set on purpose. And Delphi wasn’t prepared for arsen. He didn’t notice Micah until he touched him, and then he was quiet for a moment before speaking. “We weren’t prepared for this.”
Micah was quiet, then he nodded, wanting to pull Nic closer, but knowing not to in front of his coworkers. “No one ever is, none of us are.” He squeezed Nic’s shoulder again. “You did good though.”
“Did I?” he asked, frowning. “We couldn’t save ‘em all. We couldn’t even put this one out. It was burning so bad, we couldn’t even go in. Who would do this?” It was a crazy he’d never had to deal with, something worse than the zombies. At least they were predictable.
Micah sighed, wanting to give him more but not able to. “There’s a lot of scary people in the world, Nic,” he said softly. He’d seen them. The things that had come through his hospital was more than enough to justify that.
“I know,” he said softly, looking over at Micah. “But I guess I’m used to the ones with… with a purpose. Or something. This just seems like chaos.” It reminded him of the first days after the zombies got really bad, when people were attacking anything that moved and the world started to fall apart. He wasn’t sure what was worse, the memories or what was happening now. “I feel like I should be doing more.”
“Sometimes...chaos is the purpose.” Micah had heard of that too, though he’d only ever seen the aftermath in his ER. He paused for a moment, looking at Nic. “Like what?”
“I don’t know,” Nic said with a little shrug. Fighting crime wasn’t his thing, but it was hard to just sit back and let it happen, just to clean up the mess afterwards. “Have you heard anything about who started all this?”
Micah shook his head. “Nothing. Just know we got some dead bodies roll in from last night and now injuries from this. Nothing else.” He shrugged his shoulders and looked around. “Something seems...wrong. Like this was a distraction.” Or maybe that was just him, because he could barely smell anything but rain and smoke.
“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. But from what?” Nic wondered what else had gone on tonight while houses were burning to the ground. Emergency staff had been focused on the fires, so it was possible something else might’ve slipped by. Nic sighed and looked at the scene. “I can probably head home. There’s nothing else we can do here.”
Micah just shrugged. “I wish I knew,” he admitted softly, then tugged on Nic’s arm. “If you can go, you should go. You’ll obsess if you stand here longer.” Which Micah knew was what he’d do too. “Come home?” The last request was softer, more the shy Micah who wasn’t sure if Nic would come or not.
Nic knew Micah was right. If he stayed just to watch the fire die down to nothing at all, he’d spend the whole time obsessing over what he could have done to save just one more person. He couldn’t save everyone, but that wouldn’t stop him from trying. “Okay,” he said, turning away from the smoldering ruins of the house. He gave Micah a small smile and started towards his house. “How was your night?”
Micah still wanted to reach for Nic, but wasn’t sure if he should, so he settled for just walking with him, shoulders close together. “As good as it could be considering.” Burn victims were always the worst. But he’d helped some people and that was always a start.
“Was it just the fires? I know other things were going on the night before,” Nic said, pulling off his gloves and wiping the sweat from his forehead. He’d been working all night, so he hadn’t had a chance to find out anything else that might have happened other than the fires. “Any more attacks?”
“Everyone who got hurt the night before last was too far gone for me to help them,” Micah said. They’d found dead bodies, not struggling ones. “We’ve had a few come in, cuts, scrapes, bites. And December texted something about people being taken?”
“People being taken?” Nic asked, then thought maybe he should check his phone. With the chaos of the fires, he hadn’t had a chance to even see if anything came in. Nic stopped in his tracks as he read, eventually looking up at Micah. “Zania was shot and they took her roommate. A werewolf attacked her.”
“Yeah,” Micah said with a frown. “I said I’d be at the hospital if anyone needs me, but I think I need a couple of hours of sleep, since I was there most of yesterday afternoon and evening…” He trailed off as Nic stopped, turning back to look at him. “You’re kidding. Is she okay?”
Nic nodded, feeling the same way. He’d been busy yesterday, not prepared for a night of fighting fires. Now he just wanted to go home and sleep for a few hours. Zania’s text, however, threw him off that path. “I don’t know. She’s a vampire, so she heals? She says she needs blood, but I just gave her a pint the other day.”
Micah frowned, trying to wrap his head around the situation. “She might need more than that. Getting shot means you lose more than a pint of blood sometimes. Especially depending on where the wound is. It might not be enough.”
“I’ll ask her if she needs more,” Nic said, hoping that she’d gotten some already. She’d sent the text hours ago. “She said she killed the werewolf, but got shot three times. What the fuck was going on tonight?” The fires already seemed suspicious, but now it was clear to him that this was all related.
Micah looked around them, frowning more. “Something bad, that’s what’s going on.” He didn’t have a good feeling about it. “I think I’m going back to the hospital.” Not only was he probably needed, but he knew he’d feel safer there as well.
“You’re going back?” Nic frowned. “You need rest, babe.” And Nic would feel better about everything if Micah was with him. Maybe he needed to get Zania more blood, but the plan after that was still to recover. What else could he really do?
“I can rest there,” Micah said with a frown. He was exhausted, but he didn’t feel right not being at the hospital in a crisis.
“Okay,” Nic sighed. “I need to clean up, but then maybe I’ll come join you.” Nic didn’t feel the same way about the hospital as Micah did, but he didn’t want to stay home either. If Micah was going to be at the hospital, that’s where Nic wanted to be, at least right now.
Micah hesitated for a moment, then looking at Nic, sniffing the air without really meaning to. “I’ll come home with you. For now at least.” He didn’t want to Nic alone. Not without being sure he was okay.
“Then we can go up to the hospital together,” Nic said, willing to make that compromise. Neither one of them wanted to be without the other and, after all that had happened last night, Nic thought it was probably a good idea to be with Micah at all times.
Micah nodded, leaning in closer to Nic, fingers brushing his wrist. “That sounds fair.” Just as long as they were in the same place, though that Nic was willing to let that place be the hospital was even better.