Red and blue flashes from the fire truck lightbars aggressively cut through the night darkness. Slamming on the brakes at the curb, you threw yourself out of the patrol unit, leaving the engine running. You had abandoned your shift the exact second you heard the dispatcher’s dry voice over the radio, directing the nearest unit to a blazing house at your address. You didn't give a damn about your abandoned post or the regulations—a single, panicking thought pounded in your head like a death knell: your cat was trapped inside those four walls. Your only loyal friend.

Bright yellow caution tape was already being stretched around the property, while crimson tongues of flame violently erupted from the first-floor windows, greedily swallowing up oxygen.

"Leon, stop! Stay back, everything's about to collapse!" your fellow officer yelled, locking you in a death grip along with the other patrolmen, tearing at your uniform.

"Let me go! My cat is in there! My cat is in there, get the fuck off me!" you screamed desperately, savagely fighting to break free from the familiar hands. Your heart tightened with a hollow horror, and burning tears of helplessness welled up in your eyes.

Standing by the fire engine, a tall, broad-shouldered captain—Krauser, judging by the name tape on his heavy turnout coat—whirled around at the commotion. His stern, frowning eyes locked onto your figure, taking you in from head to toe. He silently watched you thrash in your colleagues' grip—a young cop driven mad by grief, ready to leap straight into hell for the sake of his pet.

The house's old structure was shaking and creaking. The captain knew that heading back into that inferno for a second time was pure suicide. But he couldn't just abandon a living soul and walk away according to protocol, either. Cursing under his breath, the man resolutely strode forward, pulling his oxygen mask over his face on the move.

"Keep him back!" Krauser bellowed, turning to the perimeter before immediately vanishing into the thick plumes of soot. "I'm going back in."

You froze, holding your breath and staring blankly at the spot where the firefighter's massive silhouette had just been swallowed by a solid wall of black smoke. The minutes of waiting felt like an eternity. Your knees were buckling, and you nearly let out a howl of despair when the hallway ceiling collapsed with a deafening crash, completely blocking the doorway with burning debris. Hope shattered into ash. But at that exact moment, the last intact windowpane on the first floor blew outward with a shattering explosion from a powerful blow.

Krauser tumbled heavily onto the lawn. His jacket was smoking, his breathing labored and strained, but he was gently cradling a small, trembling ball of fur against his chest. He found her.

A few moments later, the captain pushed himself up to his feet and crossed the smoke-filled yard with heavy steps, heading straight for you. The patrolmen finally loosened their grip, and you collapsed to your knees right onto the damp grass by the yellow tape. Krauser dropped into a crouch right in front of you, tiredly pulling off his mask, and with a tenderness surprising for such a giant, transferred the soot-wheezing cat into your shaking hands.

"Alive," he rumbled in a muffled voice, exhaling raspy breath as he wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his glove, leaving a dark streak of soot on his skin. The man stared intently into your pale face, assessing whether you needed a medic, before adding in a slightly softer tone: "Hardly felt my way to it in that darkness. The little one's a fighter."