The Geomancer's Apprentice by Leong Yin

Author:Leong, Yin
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781737125204
Publisher: Kampung Kreepy Books
Published: 2021-02-03T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

The second firefighter turned out to be a woman. She hustled Joe and Junie out while her colleague continued checking the chamber for gas.

“Are we still in danger?” Joe asked.

“No, sir. The gas level never got to the lower explosive limit. Apparently someone shut off the gas supply in time.” She pointed to her SCBA. “This is a precaution until we can reduce the levels to zero percent. In the meantime, I have to make sure the two of you are out of here as quickly as possible.”

“Did everyone make it out safely?”

“I think the homeowner was transported by ambulance to a hospital. There were a few other injuries, including one gentleman who tripped and broke his wrist while trying to vault over a chair.” She paused for a beat. “Hopefully, you two are the last of the stragglers.”

The firefighter had a friendly voice but a no-nonsense manner. Joe didn't dare ask if they could stay a little longer in the cellar.

The firefighter gestured at Junie's bleeding arm. “You should ask the paramedics to check that out. What happened?”

“I … um … tripped in the dark,” Junie mumbled.

At the main cellar, a group of firemen conferred under the broken gas pipe. Their masked faces swung toward Joe, Junie and their escort as they passed by. Two men wearing T-shirts with the Washington Gas emblem were making their way down the stairs.

“Where did these two come from?” one of the firemen asked, nodding at Joe and Junie.

“They said they got lost,” their friendly firefighter responded.

Upstairs, the three of them ran into more firefighters, some of whom were opening windows to ventilate the house. The guests were all gone and the electricity was turned off.

Their feet crunched on broken glassware and crockery. Their escort’s powerful flashlight also revealed mashed food, pools of spilled drinks and abandoned belongings scattered on the once-pristine floors. Millie’s expensive furniture and artwork were upturned, knocked aside or pushed askew. Everything probably was insured, but her cleaning crew had serious work ahead of it once the authorities deemed the house safe to enter.

Finally, they stepped outside. Fire trucks, police cars and ambulances were parked a little distance away. The vehicles' strobing lights lit up the night and reflected off the house's many panes of glass. Junie had to shield her eyes—sensitive after so long in the dark—from the frenetic lighting. She tried to find her parents’ faces in the crowd gathered outside the authorities’ barricade.

Joe tugged at her uninjured arm. “Come on, we have to get you some medical attention, like the firefighter said. You can look for your parents afterwards.”

He brought her outside the restricted area to a spot where emergency medical technicians were attending to people injured in the evacuation. A paramedic examined her elbow.

“What’s this?” He frowned. “It looks like something bit you. Was it a dog? You may need rabies shots.”

Junie smiled and shook her head at the same time, which confused the man. He stared at her a little longer, then shrugged and began cleaning and bandaging her arm.

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