Colin had been at the shop when he got the call about the Mill fire. He’d recently signed on as a volunteer with the local fire department, and other than the occasional cat-stuck-in-a-tree or cow-stuck-in-a-ridge, this was the first bit of real action he’d seen. He’d much rather it not have been, however. Alistair was a good man, a true pillar in the community and if, God forbid, anything happen to him, he’d be sorely missed.

Telling Dom to watch the shop, he quickly jumped into his tow-truck and headed out. By the time Colin reached the Mill, the fire had been put out and Alistair was being loaded into the Ambo and rushed off to the hospital in Coff’s. Nothing left to do now but clean-up the mess the fire had left, making sure there weren’t anymore burning embers.

Pulling on his protective gear, Colin dug right in and got to work. It seemed the main thing that had burned was an old couch, and as Colin helped carry the load out of the house, he couldn’t help but think of how lucky Alistair was that someone had happened along when they did.

Stopping to catch his breath and wipe a bit of soot from his brow, Colin couldn’t help but overhear some of the others talking about the stranger that had wandered by, pulling Alistair from the fire, then, after receiving a bit of medical attention himself, simply disappeared into the woods. "Who the hell would do a thing like that?" Colin wondered, looking off into the distance.

He gave his brow a final wipe with a rag, then shoving it back into his pants-pocket, dug back into to lend a helping hand with the rest of the clean-up.