We All Fall Down...
by Icecat62


Kneeling down beside the burnt mass of flesh that had at one time been a little boy, Gage slowly unzipped the body bag. This would be one of those times when his paramedic training would be useless. There was no chance of rescue, no time at all to save him.

Swallowing back the bile that rose up his throat, he carefully maneuvered the body into the dark plastic bag, trying to not break any pieces of flesh off. Just as he went to zip the bag shut, the eyes of the corpse sprang open.

Jumping back, he stumbled and fell against a ceiling beam, screaming incoherently.


"Johnny! Johnny! Wake up!"

Gage's eyes snapped open. He had expected to see a burnt mass of flesh, but instead was greeted by the worried face of his partner, Roy. He blinked once or twice, trying to clear his mind of the horror that he had seen.

Running a hand through his hair, he pushed himself off the floor where he had some how ended up.

"Johnny, are you okay?"

Roy gave him that paternal worried look of his. The one that he hated seeing. The one that made him feel like he was nine years old and his mother had come into his room to check on him after a nightmare.

"Yes mom, I'm okay."

His voice was sarcastic and he immediately regretted it. He knew Roy was worried. He was only trying to help.

Looking around him, he saw that the rest of the crew were all sitting up in bed. Each man wore a sympathetic face. They knew the cause of his nightmare this time. There was no doubts about what he had been dreaming about.

He dropped his eyes to the floor, studying the boots next his the bed.

"You can all go back to sleep...I'm fine."

Bending down, he pulled on his boots and turnout pants and made a quick exit to the kitchen. He knew sleep wasn't going to be coming to him this evening.

Jerking the refrigerator door open, he grabbed a carton of milk and began guzzling it down. He mentally sighed as he watched Roy enter the room. Closing the carton, he grabbed an apple and shut the refrigerator door. Walking over to the small sofa, he flopped down, prepared to wait
the night out watching old movies.

Roy watched his every move and it irritated the hell out of him.

"Are you gonna stand there all night and watch me?"

He again felt a pang of guilt.

"If you want to talk about it..."

"Roy, there's nothing to talk about. I had a bad dream about the kid.  End of story!"

With a frustrated sigh, he jumped up and turned the TV on, flipping from station to station. He finally found a repeat of an old western and left it there. Going back to the sofa he flopped back down. Picking the apple up, he began to aimlessly polish it against the t-shirt he wore.

"Johnny there's nothing wrong with having a nightmare about it."

Gage sighed. "Isn't that what I just said?"

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"What good would it do? The kid's dead. He's dead and I couldn't do anything to save him. He was dead before we even got to the fire."

"Yes he was."

Roy walked over and quietly sat down next to Gage. Neither man spoke, they just sat watching the movie. Roy looked at Gage and smiled slightly.

"Joanne wanted to know if you would come to dinner tomorrow."

"I don't know..."

"The kids were asking when you were coming back over."

Gage knew what he was doing. He had just seen Chris and Jennifer a week ago. Roy just wanted him to see kids. Kids that weren't burned beyond recognition. Kids that still breathed and laughed. Kids that would hug him around the neck and tell him how much they loved him.

Turning the apple over in his hands, he gave Roy a weak smile.

"Sure...why not. Tell Joanne I'll be there."

Roy smiled again.

"Good. I'll let them know you'll be there."

Standing, Roy walked out of the kitchen, giving him a slight wave as he left the room. He knew that Gage wouldn't be going back to bed that night.

Gage leaned back against the sofa and stared at the doorway that Roy had  just disappeared through. With a weary sigh he turned his attention back to the TV, grimacing at the so called "indians" that danced around a fire. If he was going to get stuck watching TV all night, he wished they at least had better programing on past midnight.