Fire in the Firehouse 18 : (From Mikey)

Recapping part 17:

Colby went the way he hoped he wouldn't. "Fine, fuck you both!" He walked over, climbed on the railing and hung over. He began lowering himself down, still not able to do it all at once. He was going to call their bluff. He lost his grip. "Help, Mitch, Cory, help me! I was wrong! I don't want to die! Please help me! Oh God, please!" He hung, feet and a good portion of his body shaking in the wind. He held some outer parts of the bridge. His heart pounded, begging to me jump out his body. 

Cory and Mitch flew to help. Mitch was powerless. His abilities were useless at a time like this. Empathy and premonitions couldn't do a thing in this position. The two men reached over, trying to reach the one they loved and cared for so much. They stared into one another's eyes, fear gripping them all. Colby was starting to slip, the empty abyss called his name and begged him to fall. 

The odds were stacked higher than ever now. Death was one heart beat away now. Colby began slipping. His lover and brother having nothing to offer him to reel him up. They were seeing his life slip away. 

In one fell swoop, he was gone. Mitch and Cory stood helpless. They couldn't see. The fog and darkness stole their final glances. The mystery hung in the air of his fate. The two men grabbed each other and simultaneously broke out in tears. They cried and screamed into the night. How could God let this happen? Why, damn it? Why?

The two men stood side by side, embracing the other, pulling from the other for comfort. They were beside themselves with emotion. They failed. They'd worked so hard at the end to save Colby. Another loss had come to them so fast, with them barely having time to cope and move on from the last tragic event. What was happening? More to the point, why was it happening? Where had they gone wrong?

Mitch ran into the middle of the bridge which, normally would be inundated with traffic of some sort, looking towards where people believed Heaven is and muffled a scream, "God, why? What have I done to offend you? I try and try and try some more. Every time I turn around its a myriad of new problems." He dropped to his knees, seemingly in slow motion. It hurt to breathe. It literally and actually hurt for him to breath. Pain was everywhere. Haunting pain like this seemingly becoming the norm. He was grief stricken deeper than he'd ever been, feeling cold, isolated from the rest of the world and like he'd failed on so many levels. He failed and he knew it. He accepted his faults, but not his failure. When Colby needed him most, he blew it.

Cory slightly hung his head over the railing. The cool breeze from below rushing up to touch him, whisking his tears into the ocean, those that didn't dissipate before coming in contact with the unforgiving abyss. He sobbed heavily. "How? Why? I needed you, damn it. Oh, Colby how could you leave me? The brother I've wanted and waited for all my life, gone before I truly knew you. You survived Marie, a human demon but yours were too strong."

Through their collective sobbing the two men began hearing a faint, almost shocking sound. Neither spoke, both fearing someone just saw what happened and would construe it as them pushing Colby to his death, they had to stay in stealth mode as best they could. They strained more to hear. Not certain what they were hearing.

"A little help here people! Hurry up already!" Could it be? Impossible. They thought a moment before instinctively leaning over the rail to see what they heard and what sounded familiar. "Yeah, hi! Not gunna last forever! Little help here. The sooner the better!" When they hung over they saw something that filled their hearts with extreme joy. It was Colby! But how?

Both men thought for a second, Mitch speaking to Cory, "Makes sense, we never heard a splash, huh?" They fed off this as it was something to go on. It made sense. 

Colby grew a bit annoyed. "Hello, yeah, see. Let's connect the dots later. How I survived is tomorrow's problem. Its cold and I'm not a bird and not into roosting on metal pipes. So, any chance you two find, can we work towards saving me? Preferably now works for me." He was quite forceful with his words.

But how was the real question. Could he have survived the plummet? Could they hear him this high up? None of this mattered, he was alive. Itch assumed the lead role as he'd grown accustomed to doing. "Cory, run to my truck and grab some rope! Hurry!" Cory bolted as fast as he could, the fog concealing him still. Night was on their side, too. He made it to the truck fast and was on his way back practically before getting there.

Mitch yelled out, "Cory went to get some rope! How the hell...What the hell?" He was still beside himself. A few moments prior all seemed lost for good. But here was Colby, wrapped up on some metal underneath. He'd managed; before dropping into the ocean to wrap his legs around some of the bridge and used his past experience in gymnastics to save himself.

Colby shot back, "Save now, details later!" Colby was relieved he'd survived, but the cold, deep waters still hung ominously below. His heart was in his throat. Content being alive, fearful if they didn't hurry where he'd wind up.

Cory flew back, rope in hand. He stopped to catch his breath while Mitch unraveled the lengthy material. Mitch took over, his fire training coming into play. "Ok, its like this: I'm the bigger man, so I'm gunna wrap the rope around my waist and we'll lower a good portion of rope down so Colby can wrap himself in it and he can tighten it, too. Cory, you get closer to the ledge and pull. Tell Colby what we're gunna do. And tell him to slide the lasso part around him, looping it under his armpits. We need to hurry in case the fog goes to lift at all. And so that he doesn't wind up in a watery grave."

Cory leaned over, "Bro, Mitch is gunna tie the rope around himself and I'm gunna pull, wrap the lasso part of the rope around you. Slide the rope under your pits, make sure you tighten it, don't need for you to slip out. And this is a hell of a time to remember I HATE heights." He knew there wasn't time for this fear now. His brother's life remained in the balance. 

Mitch looked down and saw between the pedestrian walkway and the road itself there was a drain. He could lock his left foot in it and use his right as a way to anchor his body if it became difficult to hang on. No sense having all three men perish.

Cory lowered the rope down to his twin, praying he'd reach it. There was little to no room for errors. Time was not on their side either. Both men on the top part of the bridge hoped and waited, scared what could come to be. At the same time focused on the task at hand. There was so much on the line.

Colby managed to snag the rope first try, "Talk about luck," he whispered. He'd have yelled out to the other two, but inside he feared any false move might lead to his slipping and meeting a watery grave. He shook a bit, afraid if he moved too much he'd lose his step and down, down, down he'd go.

Colby berated himself in his mind. He couldn't believe where he was and his own actions caused it. It seemed so surreal. It was terrifying and plain stupid he admitted to himself. He definitely was going to be working towards moving his life back up the spiraled mess he'd just come down.

Mitch and Cory worked frantically, trying their best to remain calm and focused. They didn't need to be caught; they had enough to worry about at this point, trouble with the law wasn't what they needed on top of everything else. Mitch called the shots. "Ok bud, he's got the rope around him. We need to pull hard and fast. The night air's already starting to make the rope slick." Cory and Mitch put all their strength into the task. Colby was frightened, fearful of what might come to pass. He stayed fixated on the task at hand.

Mitch anchored his feet down on the pavement. He squeezed so hard, it almost felt like he was burying his right foot into the asphalt. He was bearing most of his weight down on that leg. Cory had a strong grip on his part of the rope. The negative resistance begged to take Colby down and them along with it. Gravity was fighting back hard. The ocean wanted its victory. Colby's brother and lover weren't going to give up without a fight. Cory cried out through gritted teeth, "Fuck you gravity and fuck you ocean! He's ours! You can't have him this night!" Both men dug deep as Colby dangled in the air. The rope laid out over the railing was making it more difficult. If the rope were hanging freely in the air, it would've been easier. But dragging it over the metal made the act of pulling the man to safety a tough job as it bore down on the bridge.

Colby felt cold, sad and empty, and incredible guilt. He'd put himself in to this tight squeeze and failed to realize his actions might cost all three of them their lives. He dangled heavily in the cold, gray night air. He wasn't even able to do anything to help. He was at their mercy. His fate was in their hands.

Slowly and steadily they pulled and tugged. Their muscles ached and screamed. Atrophy was kicking in. Mitch then put his back into it using his back muscles, arms and more to pull Colby up from his impending descent. Cory had wrapped his fist around the rope. It was a struggle, no doubts there.

A few minutes passed, Colby's face came into view signaling victory was at hand. Neither of his rescuers wanted to make any more of it than necessary. He wasn't totally safe yet. Little by little more of his body came into view. He even began pulling himself up a bit himself. 

Mitch and Cory eased up a bit, allowing Colby to hoist himself up, most of it was in his hands now. The two men on the bridge casually let out a slight sigh of relief. They'd tempted fate again and won. They still held the rope to be sure, waiting for Colby to be safe with them.