Page 75 of Wild Fires

He gasped and stared to panic. In his fight to get it off, he pushed us away.

“Calm down,” Dan ordered, but it did nothing to help.

“Hold him,” I yelled.

He was too panicked to get the helmet off himself. Still, he fought them when they tried to remove it.

I stepped up and kneed him in the groin as hard as I could. It didn't really hurt him through the thick suit, but he dropped to his knees on instinct allowing the others to do what they needed to do.

I grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. “You're okay, Rodney. I'm not going to let you die out here. Just stay calm. It's almost over.”

His instinct was to gulp in air the second his helmet was removed, but this only landed him with a lung full of smoke and ash. He coughed and sputtered. A blister began to form on his cheek, and he screamed in pain as Dan and Big Dick shoved my helmet onto his head and reconnected the oxygen.

It took him a minute to calm back down and realize he was safe, but I could relax some knowing he was.

The air was hard to breathe and even though I wasn't on fire, my body was still sweltering from the heat.

“I'm going to shift now so that if I do catch fire the transformation will be faster,” I told them, grateful that we hadn't removed either of our radio systems in the process and I could still talk to them.

“I'll stay behind with her and make sure Gracie gets out of this,” Big Dick said.

“No. That should be my job. My team. My decision,” Dan argued.

“I'm fine now,” Rodney confirmed as oxygen flowed to him once more.

“We stay together.”

I nodded and then started to shift, but it was too late.

“Shit! I can't shift until I transform.”

“Keep moving,” Dan said.

“No,” Big Dick argued. “I'm begging you. Take Rodney and get him to safety. She has to stay put until the full transformation occurs.”

“He's right. Go. We'll be okay.”

“I'm not leaving you!” Dan yelled.

“What the hell is going on out there? Dan, check in.”

He hesitated before responding as they all just stared at me in horror. I knew my skin was already on fire, but I was still in my suit, making it more difficult.

I started to remove it.

Dan shook his head and began to freak out.

“I'm already on fire. The suit is just slowing the process.”

“Damn it, Gracie. Do not get out of that suit,” Clarence ordered.

Dan took a deep breath and this time he nodded.

“It's too late for that, Chief. We had a situation.”

“What the hell do you mean a situation?”

“You're going to have to wait and read it in his report, Chief. Right now, Dan is busy doing his job,” Big Dick said.