The Rescue - Part 1

Good morning Friday Fiction Fans,
How has your week been? I hope it was good. Mine was fast. But it was good also. Right now the weather is chilly, but delightful. We're at the time of year when one day will be warm and the next chilly. I think I'm ready for a cold snap though. I want the leaves on the trees to change color. I want all the webworms to die! And I want to wear sweaters and long sleeves. What about you? Are you ready for colder weather or do you already have it? Or do you dislike cold weather?

Here's an update on my writing. My new book "Through the Tunnel" has reached the end. My mom and sister were teasing me asking if I was SURE it was the end since I thought I had reached the end before. I'm almost positive this time. I haven't had any brilliant ideas to continue the story and I liked the ending much better than the first one. But we'll see what my editor says. :)

This story that you are about to read, was written way back when we had all that rain. All that flooding in Texas and other places was in the news. Well, after seeing some of the flooding near us, I went and looked up other flooding. This story (which I fictionalized) came from a news story down in TX. So, now that the flooding is over and fall is here, I'll let you read it.
(And see if you can find the pattern for the names I used. :) )

The Rescue

Part 1

    Bret Endky peered out of the fire truck windows at the steady rain and shook his head. “I don’t imagine we’ll be heading back to the station for a long time,” he remarked to the other men in the truck.
    There was a collective murmur of agreement as Ladder Truck 7 drove slowly down the street. Every yard was a swamp, every low lying bit of land a lake, and the water rushing down the streets along the curbs was at least a foot wide, often spreading out to two or three feet and covering the curb itself. For days the rain had been coming down, though not all the time; the sun had been out three afternoons, but that hadn’t been enough to dry the ground before clouds once more collected in the heavens to dump yet another load of excess moisture. This new rain only added to a ground already fully saturated and oozing with water.
    “How many people do you think we’ll have to rescue today, Bret?” Charlie asked from the driver’s seat.
    Being the most experienced water rescuer on the truck, Bret usually took the lead in any rescues unless the fire chief was around, and even sometimes then. “Well,” he began slowly, his fingers toying with the strap of his seat belt, “that all depends on how many stupid people are out driving in this weather.”
    “Surely not all those who need rescued are doing something stupid,” Drew protested. “What about that older lady whose house was washed off its foundation and she was in it?”
    “I didn’t say everyone needing rescued is stupid, Drew, but you’ll have to admit that there seem to be an over abundance of those in need of help who have only themselves to blame for their trouble.”
    “Yeah, I think you’re right, Bret,” agreed Frank with a nod. “It seems that we always have plenty of rescues that could have been avoided had someone not done something crazy.”
    “Well, it certainly keeps things exciting,” Charlie said before silence fell over the truck.

###

    “Hey, you think they’ll have the pizza ready by the time we get there?” Gene Everman asked, turning the wipers up a notch on his car.
    From the other front seat, Holly Osbourn pushed back her dark hair and laughed. “Probably not. I just got a text asking where we were.”
    “Who from?” the question came from the back seat where Jared Adams sat. He was the oldest one in the car having been eighteen for two months while the other two were still seventeen.
    Holly glanced down at her phone and replied, “Kinsey. She said some of the others are late too.”
    “It’s all this rain,” Jared remarked, looking out over flooded yards and sidewalks turned into pools. “If it doesn’t stop raining soon we’ll all have to get boats to get around town.”
    Gene laughed. “Don’t worry, this car is so light she’d float like a cork.”
    “Yeah, and just how would you steer her?”
    “I’d just go where she went. I’d see the world that way, and when we ran out of water, I’d just drive away.” Gene laughed again. He was proud of his new car and loved to boast of her power and speed to his friends. Nothing seemed to please him more than showing it off to the girls and guys he knew, unless it was eating pizza
    Flipping on his blinker, Gene turned onto another road to cross town. It was a shorter way to Kinsey’s house than going all the way to the bridge over Lostman Creek, and he was getting hungry.
    “There’s water over the road!” Holly exclaimed suddenly, sitting up and staring out the front window.
    “Ah, that’s not much,” Gene scoffed, not slackening his speed.
    Leaning forward and resting his arms on the back of the seats in front of him, Jared asked, “Are you sure you should try it, Gene?”
    “Hey, I’ve driven through that much before. It’s no problem. But I’ll let you out and you can swim across, Jared, if you don’t trust me.”
    Jared didn’t say another word but quietly unbuckled his seat belt as he looked at the rushing water before them. It seemed to be moving rather quickly. Too quickly for his comfort. He opened his mouth to say something and then closed it again. What was the use? Gene would only laugh at him, and so would the other guys when they heard about it. Besides, after his boasting there was no way Gene would back out now, not with Holly there, and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to know Holly wasn’t about to get out if Gene said it was safe.
    The dark car entered the water with a shower of spray. For a moment Jared’s fears seemed foolish, but then, without warning, the car made a sudden movement, bobbed up and down, and began to turn. Holly gasped and turned pale.
    “We’re floating!” Jared’s words were hardly necessary, for the scared faces of the two teenagers in the front showed that they knew it too. As the swift current caught the car and shoved it off the road, Jared quickly reached over and pressed the button to roll his windows down.
    “Jared, what are you doing? Are you trying to drown us all?” Gene half turned in his seat to glare at his friend.
    “No. But we have to get out of the car. Roll yours down. Quick, before the water kills the engine! There’s no time to argue, Gene,” Jared said, his voice rough. “Water is going to fill the car sooner or later, and I for one would rather be on top of it not inside, when it goes down. Holly!”
    Somehow Jared’s sharp voice roused Holly and she pressed her window button with a hand that trembled.

Have you ever tried to drive through water?

Do you know how to escape if your car starts floating?

Do you think Jared should have done something different?